happy ending. Production A Chump at Oxford was originally conceived as a streamliner featurette. The completed film ran 42 minutes in length. Roach's distributor, United Artists, rejected the featurette and insisted on a full-length feature film, forcing Roach to add 21 more minutes of action. The added scenes, partially reworking the silent film From Soup to Nuts (1928), show Laurel and Hardy trying to find temporary jobs at the employment agency, and being assigned to work at the dinner party. The shorter version was shelved, and the longer version was released to theaters and later to television; this 63-minute print is the version most often seen today. The shorter version was ultimately released to theaters in 1943. A later reissue was further reedited, jumping abruptly from Stan and Ollie's entering the employment agency to them sweeping the streets. A 25-minute version created for television distribution is entitled Alter Ego. As Lord Paddington, Stan Laurel employs an upper class received pronunciation accent, the only time he affected a voice different from "Stan" on film. Cast Stan Laurel as Stan / Lord Paddington Oliver Hardy as Ollie Forrester Harvey as Meredith Wilfred Lucas as Dean Williams Forbes Murray as Banker Frank Baker as Dean's Servant Eddie Borden as Student Ghost Gerald Rogers as Student Johnson Charlie Hall (credited as Charles Hall) as Student Victor Kendall as Student Gerald Fielding as Student Peter Cushing as Student Uncredited Evelyn Barlow Louise Bates Harry Bernard as policeman Stanley Blystone as policeman Tom Costello Richard Cramer Jean De Briac as Pierre Marjorie Deanne as dinner party guest Herbert Evans as Professor Crampton James Finlayson as Mr. "Baldy" Vanderveer Anita Garvin as Mrs. Vanderveer Mildred Gaye Mack Germaine Alec Harford as cab driver Jack Heasley as Hodges Jewel Jordan Robert Kent Rex Lease as robber Ethelreda Leopold as bank manager's secretary Lois Lindsay Sam Lufkin as water wagon driver George Magrill as tow-truck driver Stan Mckay James Millican as chauffeur Edmund Mortimer as dinner guest Doris Morton Edgar Norton as Professor Witherspoon William O'Brien as man in unemployment office Vivien Oakland as receptionist Jack Richardson Ronald R. Rondell as dinner party guest Elmer Serrano Al Thompson Bobby Tracy References External links 1940 films American buddy comedy films American black-and-white films Films about amnesia Films directed by Alfred J. Goulding Films set in Oxford Films set in universities and colleges Laurel and Hardy (film series) University of Oxford