A Chump at Oxford, directed in 1939 by Alfred J. Goulding and released in 1940 by United Artists, was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Hal Roach studios. Originally released as a streamliner featurette at forty minutes long, the original streamliner version was slightly re-edited, and twenty minutes of footage largely unrelated to the main plot were later added for European distribution and, ultimately, American distribution. A later reissue version was further re-edited, jumping from Stan and Ollie`s entrance into the employment agency to them sweeping the streets. A 20-minute version created for television
distribution is entitled ALTER EGO. The longer version is the one most often seen today. The title echoes the popular film 'A Yank at Oxford' (1938). Stan and Ollie are down to their last six bucks and call a lift to a job agency to find work. A City Water Dept. truck driver offers them a lift, drenches them with water as a joke, and leaves them behind. They finally arrive in a badly damaged car that has been towed away. At the job agency, a call comes from Mrs. Vandeveer, who is looking for a maid and butler to help at a dinner party she is holding that night. Ollie tells the receptionist they can fill the post and to leave it to them. They arrive, and Stan is dressed in drag, pretending to be the maid "Agnes".