The first of our Plaza Days programs is a study in film preservation contrast. The great silent comedian Charley Chase stars in the unrestored His Wooden Wedding (1925, 20 minutes) as an anxious bridegroom ducks his bride at the altar after his “best man” lies that she has a wooden leg. Sight gags galore ensue. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy weren’t officially a team when they made Sailors, Beware! (1927, 21 minutes). Laurel stars as a stiffed cab driver who follows his fare — a pair of jewel thieves, one disguised as a baby — on an ocean liner where the befuddled Hardy works. This short, beautifully restored in 2023 by Blackhawk Films, was thought to have been lost. Both will be accompanied by Walt Strony on the Plaza Theatre’s original Wyler Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ (he accompanies Harold Lloyd’s Speedy at 3:30 pm Sunday, July 21). — Doug Pullen
