For this Keystone slapstick to be believed, you must be able to imagine that Roscoe Arbuckle could put on a pair of Charley Chase's pants and a tuxedo jacket and the only problem is that the legs would be too short for the pants and the jacket sleeves would be too short and that he couldn't close the jacket. In reality, Arbuckle couldn't get either garment on.
If you can overlook this obvious problem, this is a pretty funny short and is one time that Arbuckle doesn't come out on top in the end. Roscoe and Charley Chase are both competing for the affections of Minta Durfee to attend a dance that evening that requires dress clothes. Charley has either rented or bought a tux earlier, Roscoe hadn't. Charley stops by on his way home (conveniently located next door to Roscoe's house) to show off his tux. Roscoe tries to get his mother to let him have 50 cents to rent a tux and she refuses. It's kind of implied that Roscoe is lazy and doesn't do any work by his mother pointing to his arms and pointing out how strong he is. He stretches out his arms and makes some motions like, yes, he is strong, but, instead, starts yawning.
Roscoe then tries to steal Charley's tux by knocking him out while he's standing next to Minta. She knocks him over, Charley and Roscoe start fighting and Charley appears to have the upper hand until a cop shows up. During all this, the tux apparently needs to be aired out, so Charley hangs the tux and top hat on his clothes line, which is also attached to Roscoe's house, and this allows Roscoe to steal the tux.
Charley doesn't find out that his tux has been stolen until it is time to go to the dance where he sees Roscoe wearing his tux with the incredible shrinking waistband and unusually broad shoulders in the back of the jacket. Charley sneaks in through a window, and comically removes the tuxedo from Roscoe, although, at first, only the pants. Roscoe is embarrassed as he helps Al St. John, in an extremely subdued performance for him, move a table from one room into the room where everyone is dancing. This is when everyone sees Roscoe without pants and a fight breaks out.
In the end, Roscoe, basically in his underwear, is out on the street getting arrested and hauled off to jail wearing a barrel as Charley and Minta laugh out of a window.
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