The most beloved "double act" in American comedy started out together in 1925 at the Hal Roach Studios near the west LA town of Culver City, California. Stanley (Jefferson) Laurel (1890-1965)was an English music hall comedian whose father was a theater manager. He grew up wanting nothing but to be a stage comedian. Laurel came to America around 1912 on a tour with the Fred Karno Troupe, which also included a young Charlie Chaplin. After a respectable solo film career in short films-- as both actor and later director--he continued to work almost exclusively with Oliver Hardy in a series of over ninety films, mostly short "two reelers" of about 18-20 minutes in length.
Laurel was the creative force behind the films. He worked out a lot of the classic scenes, helped edit them together with their director of the moment, and then worked on sharpening the comedy when the films were shown to preview audiences by gauging what worked and what could be cut or improved on.
Oliver Hardy (1892-1957) was a native of Harlem, Georgia, and started his own career out in films in near-by Jacksonville, Florida. Sometime between there and his migration to Hollywood, he acquired the nickname "Babe". A great deal of his early work was in playing "heavies" or villians. In their first few films, the first 30 of which are silent, the chemistry was not set. Sometimes Hardy was the more agressive partner, sometimes it was Stanley. By 1927 the formula began to set as millions remember them from films and later television broadcasts of their work: Oliver as the bossy fellow who always got worst of the situation, and Stan as the more passive and polite friend who, inadvertently, could turn any job of work or sticky situation into a complete disaster.
Here's a clip from one of my favorite shorts of theirs, called "Hog Wild"(1930). It seems Mr Hardy's wife wants him to put a radio antenna up on the roof of their house so she can listen to a broadcast from Japan(!) Mr. Laurel tries to help out as any good neighbor would. The ending to this sequence is a great example of how they not only used slapstick humor, but would slow down the mayhem a bit to give the audience time to laugh over the situation and then "drop" in a gag at the last part ("a topper") to complete the scene.
Here "The Boys" do battle at a swank Hollywood night club in the 1934 feature, "Hollywood Party". The woman who gives as good as she gets is Mexican singer-actress Lupe Velez (1908-44) who was then married to the most famous movie Tarzan, ex-Olympic swimmer Johnny Weissmuller.
The last one here is a bit of charming whimsy from the film 1939's "The Flying Deuces". As they are about to go on an unauthorized skip-out from the French Foreign Legion, Ollie and Stan give their comrades in arms a little musical farewell. For more on these great entertainers, check out the L & H Website Official website
90!
ReplyDeletewish i could watch these...
i tried to prepare the response to your question about desoto's deserved demise today but yahoo ate it. maybe i'll try again tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteThere's a large number I haven't seen. The films are not on television as much anymore, but some of the larger DVD rental stores still carry the shorter films made from 1930-35, which I think are their classic work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for trying Mary. I look forward to it.
ReplyDeleteLaurel and Hardy were truly talents. I enjoyed all three clips.
ReplyDeleteThey truly were. One film writer, Ted Sennett, referred to them as "two innocents in a dangerous world." Not much innocence in comedy anymore... just irony.
ReplyDeletelol love the clips. Its hard to imagine anyone wearing a suit or a tie to work on a roof these days.
ReplyDeleteLOL. It is hard to imagine today, but if you look at shots of people on the streets from that era and though the fifties, hats and ties were mandatory for grown men on the street, so why not just keep them on around the house I guess.
ReplyDeleteI can still remember my mother getting me all dressed up to take a plane flight in the sixties. It was a big deal, and you wanted the kids to look presentable I suppose. Nowadays, except for flight attendants, everyone flies casual.
I don't think I could be without my Laurel and Hardy. I have many of their clips and I'm sure there are more to delight me. I love the way they travelled through time to please even the youngsters of today. Their humour lifts us out of the doldrums! Wonderful, thank you, Doug.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Cassandra. I lived just across the street from my elementary school and as a youngster I was allowed to go home for lunch. One of my most pleasant memories, along with my mom making lunch for me as a kid, was the chance to see the Laurel and Hardy comedies that played at noon on a local station. They remain a favorite of mine.
ReplyDeleteLaurel and Hardy were a staple on afternoon and/or late night television in America for years. The only sad thing about that was neither man (nor their families) ever got any residuals. Stan Laurel was apparently philosophical about it, but it seems a shame.
When you think of the times their clips are play on one station or another, there must have been a potential fortune. If only it could have been set up as some kind of trust fund for their families. Maybe people didn't expect so much in those days and the fame was prize enough...I wonder!
ReplyDeleteIndeed that would have been just. Very few film stars got clauses in their contracts for television residuals--that doesn't apply to any film made before 1960. I believe now that Stan Laurel's heirs (or those of any other past star) do receive money via law from any company that licenses their image for commercial use.
ReplyDeleteAt least that seems fair. I can't imagine anyone in films from the 60s onwards, taking a back seat and expecting no return. I guess we are more clued up on our rights these days.
ReplyDelete