ZENOBIA (United Artists, 1939), directed by Gordon Douglas for the Hal Roach Studios, stars Oliver Hardy from the Laurel and Hardy comedy team fame, in his first solo performance since his union with Stan Laurel dating back to 1926. The story is not set in some far away place called Zenobia, nor are there any characters in this photoplay going by the name of Zenobia. In fact, Zenobia happens to be an elephant. No not the chubby Oliver Hardy, but a 6,132 pound elephant belonging to his Stan Laurel-type co-star, played by former silent screen comedian, Harry Langdon. Although labeled a comedy, it's more of a wholesome post Civil War story set in 1870 Carterville, Mississippi, where slapstick and chases normally found in Laurel and Hardy comedies are non-existent here. In fact, for the first time since his union with Laurel, Oliver Hardy assumes a character name rather than his very own, indicating how Ollie shows his flare of being a capable actor without losing any of his dignity.Plot: Doctor Emory Tibbitt (Oliver Hardy) is a kind-hearted Southern doctor with a dizzy wife, Bessie (Billie Burke) and beautiful daughter Mary (Jean Parker), engaged to marry Jeff Carter (James Ellison). Carter invites his mother, Emily (Alice Brady) to their engagement party. Being a social climber and self-centered woman, Mrs. Carter brings Virginia Randall (June Lang) to the affair, hoping that the presence of Jeff's childhood sweetheart would break up the engagement. In the meantime at the Spangler Carnival, Professor McCrackle (Harry Langdon), a medicine man selling bottles, has an elephant named Zenobia, who happens to be ill. Doctor Tibbett is called to examine. Although not an animal doctor, he assists the elephant in her time of need. Now that the elephant is cured, Zenobia shows her very much appreciation for the good doctor by following him wherever he goes, even to a point of disrupting the engagement party and his personal life. This situation soon leads McCrackle to take Tibbett to court for abduction of his prize possession.Also in the cast are: Stepin Fetchit (Zero); Hattie McDaniel (Dahlia, the Maid); J. Farrell MacDonald (Judge John); Hobart Cavanaugh (Mr,. Dover); and Clem Bevans (The Sheriff). Philip Hurlic stands out in the cast as Zeke, the Negro boy, who earns his quarter from the doctor by reciting the Declaration of Independence from July 4, 1776, verbatim. This scene is reminiscent to Charles Laughton's excellently reciting Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" from RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935). The Hall Johnson Choir perform some traditional early American songs, along with Oliver Hardy vocalizing "I Dreamnt I Dwelt in Marble Halls" (from Michael Balfe's "The Bohemian Girl") and Jean Parker and The Hall Johnson Choir doing "In the Evening By the Moonlight." While it's been said that ZENOBIA had been considered a project for Laurel and Hardy, but became a Hardy and Langdon project instead. It's a wonder how this would have turned out with the story as it is, having Laurel and Hardy split teaming playing characters who meet as opposed to them already friends from the moment the film begins. Maybe not so good, but even just this once, would have been a welcome change of pace for this comedy team. Even if Laurel wasn't able to appear in ZENOBIA due to contract disputes, Harry Langdon fits in quite satisfactory as do the period settings, costumes and plantation background. The scene involving the examination of Zenobia, Langdon and Hardy is done in similar style to a Laurel and Hardy routine. Following its theatrical release, Laurel and Hardy reunited and resumed their on-screen chemistry well into the 1940s.Available on video cassette (followed by Laurel and Hardy's comedy short LAUGHING GRAVY from 1931) and later on DVD, ZENOBIA, the elephant who never forgets, has turned up from time to time for observation on Turner Classic Movies. (TCM premiere: January 5, 2006) A real curio at best. (**)

Zenobia (1939) stars Oliver Hardy and Harry Langdon. Stan Laurel's contract with producer Hal Roach had expired and Stan refused to renew the contract unless Roach agreed to increase Hardy's salary to the same figure as Stan's. Roach refused on the grounds that Hardy's box office lure was not as powerful as Stan's, and to prove his point he cast Oliver as the lead in Zenobia. The movie was not a success. In fact, it actually lost money when first exhibited, and in a desperate move to bolster its appeal, the title was changed to Elephants Never Forget. That didn't work either. The movie was lucky to find a niche at New York's newsreel theatre, The Globe, on May 14, 1939, where it actually lasted the whole week before being replaced by Columbia's Chester Morris "B", Blind Alley. (I wouldn't mind seeing that one. It was directed by Charles Vidor). Anyway, even with the best will in the world, Zenobia is a chore to sit through. Furthermore, it boasts Stepin Fetchit in its roll-up of support players. I'll admit that Mr. Fetchit is only half as obnoxious in some movies, but in this one, Stepin takes up a great deal of the footage with his full, nauseating zombie treatment, so that further reduces Zenobia to a one-joke story that – despite the clumsy efforts of Hardy and Langdon – was neither particularly funny to begin with nor amusingly developed,

For those looking for the magic of Laurel and Hardy, "Zenobia" offers an alternative that occurred because of Laurel's contract negotiations. Made the same year as "Gone With The Wind", Zenobia takes place in a time before the Civil War, where a small Southern plantation town at peace, is disrupted when the excitable traveling promoter (Harry Langdon), seeks aid for his ailing partner. A beloved country doctor (Oliver Hardy) is surprised and resists, but is coerced into treating a fully grown elephant for a terrible condition. Proving that a good deed never goes unpunished for Hardy, the patient, attempting to say 'thanks', relentlessly follows the good doctor and there is no place to hide, not even a formal social gathering. With the town in an uproar and his wife (Billie Burke) embarrassed at the spectacle, Dr Tibbetts is the focus of laughter, ridicule and a lawsuit. Twelve year old Philip Hurlic turns in a memorable performance that needs to be seen in the context of today.Langdon is little known by most and seems very much like Buster Keaton, but just a bit more shy. Although, Langdon is not as appreciated for his works as Stan and Ollie, his touching performance in "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!" when he meets Joan Crawford, the girl of his dreams, face to face for the first time is something to behold. If you can look past Laurel's absence in this rare partnership, Zenobia will have you laughing at a moment in time when fate put two funny men and an elephant on a collision course. On such paths they prove there is just no dignified way to get around a loving elephant.

Oliver Hardy shines as a small town doctor in this amusing comedy set in the Old South. After tending to an ailing elephant Hardy can't get rid of the beast since she is so appreciative and an elephant never forgets. It's a fun path as Zenobia follows the portly doctor just about everywhere he goes. This is one of the few times that Hardy appeared in a film without his partner Stan Laurel however he handles it quite well. Co-starring are Jean Parker, James Ellison, Alice Brady, Billie Burke as the doctors befuddled wife and the ever dependable Hattie McDaniel. It's available on VSH folks.