Come Clean is a 1931 American pre-Code short film starring Laurel and Hardy, directed by James W. Horne and produced by Hal Roach.

Plot

Mr. and Mrs. Hardy anticipate a quiet evening at home, but their plans are disrupted when Mr. and Mrs. Laurel unexpectedly visit. Subsequently, Stan and Ollie venture out to procure ice cream, only to encounter a distressed woman named Kate on the verge of attempting suicide. After intervening, the duo finds themselves entangled in Kate's demands for assistance, prompting a frantic effort to conceal her from their wives. Despite their best efforts, Kate's presence is eventually discovered, leading to her arrest as a wanted criminal. Surprisingly, Stan learns that he is eligible for a $1,000 reward for capturing Kate, but his suggestion to use the money for ice cream results in an unexpected consequence orchestrated by Ollie.

Cast

Production notes

The opening scene of Come Clean is a revisitation of a sequence from Laurel and Hardy's silent film Should Married Men Go Home?. The plot of Come Clean served as the basis for the movie Brooklyn Orchid (1942), a Hal Roach Streamliner production starring William Bendix and Joe Sawyer. Linda Loredo, portraying Mrs. Laurel in the film, had previously appeared in various foreign-language versions of earlier short films by Laurel and Hardy, marking her sole English-language role in their films. Loredo died on August 11, 1931, a month before the release of the film.