Plot
Two familial units embark on a Sunday outing, utilizing a Ford Model T as their mode of transportation. However, their journey is fraught with challenges stemming from the unreliable nature of the vehicle. Laurel, Hardy, their respective spouses, and the cantankerous Uncle Edgar encounter a series of mishaps necessitating repeated exits and reentries into the automobile, punctuated by the refrain "goodbye." Tensions escalate when a dispute with a neighbor escalates into a potential conflict involving thrown projectiles, prompting the intervention of the local clergyman to defuse the situation. Despite these setbacks, the families persist in their excursion, only to encounter further adversity in the form of an unexpectedly deep pothole, derailing their plans yet again.Cast
Production notes
''Perfect Day'' was written in May 1929 and filmed between June 1–8, 1929. The original 1929 release of ''Perfect Day'' contained no music other than that used over the opening credits. The Roach Studios would reissue the film in 1937 with an added music score being utilized at the time in other Roach comedies. The 1929 version was considered lost until the 2011 DVD release ''Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection'', when the original Vitaphone disc track sans the incidental music became available. Adding the soundtrack in 1937 to the existing film resulted in a slight reduction of the correct frame ratio: several scenes feature a slightly cropped picture at the top and left hand sides to allow for inclusion of the soundtrack strip. The UCLA Film and Television Archive screened a newly restored version of the film at the 2019 UCLA Festival of Preservation. The archive "continues its mission to save the Hal Roach films of Laurel and Hardy," Head of Preservation Scott MacQueen wrote. "No body of classic comedy has been as badly abused as the Laurel and Hardy negatives, mercilessly pushed through laboratory meat grinders for decades to extract every showprint to garner every last nickel from a relentless audience. Restoring these films includes not only finding the pictorially and physically best surviving copies, but authentic content such as day-and-date title sequences lost when reissue distributors appended their own credit cards." For Perfect Day, "the original soundtrack (replaced in the mid-1930s with new music mixes) had to be recovered. Digital technology now permits us to achieve repairs once thought impossible" so that this film "looks and sounds as it did nearly 90 years ago." The script for ''Perfect Day'' originally concluded with the family partaking in their picnic, but this was discarded when the extended gags centering on the troublesome Model T provided enough comic material to sustain the entire film. ''Perfect Day'' was also filmed outdoors, which freed it from the stagebound claustrophobia common to many early talkies. The opening scene is the only one set indoors (the sound of whirring cameras can be heard in some shots), while the exterior sound recording was technically impressive during an era of filmmaking when most actors had to stand close to the overhead microphone. The live outdoor recording also revealed the improvisatory nature of most early Laurel and Hardy. A seated Edgar Kennedy manages to ad lib "Oh, shit!", which escaped the scrutiny of movie and television censors.Bann, Richard W. Liner notes for 2011 DVD release ''Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection'' Laurel and Hardy's home was 3120 Vera Avenue in Los Angeles. The house next door (the neighbor with the garden hose) was 3116 Vera Avenue. Both homes still stand as of 2024 and look very much like they do in the film. Despite the fact that the film industry was still adjusting to the making talking pictures, Laurel and Hardy mastered the new technology early on; the overall excellence and high reputation of ''Perfect Day'' bears testimony to the team's fruitful use of the new medium. Using sound effects to punctuate a visual gag — a technique1937 reissue soundtrack
*"Ku-Ku" (The Sons of the Desert
Chapters — called Tents — ofReferences
External links
* * * * {{Authority control 1929 short films 1929 comedy films American black-and-white films 1920s English-language films Films directed by James Parrott Laurel and Hardy (film series) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films Films with screenplays by H. M. Walker American comedy short films 1920s American films Films scored by William Axt English-language comedy short films