The Chimp

Stanley and Oliver are bumbling bit performers in a small struggling circus, and the accidents they cause help drive the circus into ruin. Because the owner can't pay wages owed, he decides to randomly divide the circus property up among the employees as payment. Stanley gets the flea circus, while Oliver gets an oversized, intelligent, tutu wearing "chimpanzee" named Ethel. With no money and no job, they decide to check into a boarding house and sell Ethel the next day for rent money. Their attempts to sneak Ethel into their room are greatly hindered by a circus lion on the loose, and once in their room, they have problems caused by Ethel, the flea circus, and by the fact that the landlord's cheating wife is also named Ethel.