Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular comedy teams of the early to midClassical Hollywood era of American cinema. Composed of thin, English-born Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and heavy, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) they became well known during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s for their work in motion pictures; the team also appeared on stage throughout America and Europe.
The two comedians first worked together on the film The Lucky Dog. After a period appearing separately in several short films for the Hal Roach studio during the 1920s, they began appearing in movie shorts together in 1926.[1]
Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year, and soon
became Hal Roach's most lucrative stars. Among their most popular and
successful films were the features Sons of the Desert (1933), Way Out West (1937), and Block-Heads (1938)[2] and the shorts Big Business (1929), Liberty (1929), and their Academy Award-winning short, The Music Box (1932).[3]
The pair left the Roach studio in 1940, then appeared in eight "B" comedies for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1945.[4]
Disappointed in the films in which they had little creative control,
from 1946 to 1950 the team did not appear on film and concentrated on
their stage show, embarking on a musical hall tour of England, Ireland
and Scotland.[4] They made Atoll K, a French/Italian
production and their last film, in 1950/1951, before retiring from the
screen. In total they appeared together in 106 films. They starred in 40
short sound films, 32 short silent films and 23 full length feature films, and in the remaining 11 films made guest or cameo appearances.[5]
Stan Laurel (June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965) was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire (now Ulverston, Cumbria), England.
His father, Arthur J. "A.J." Jefferson, was a showman who served as
actor, director, playwright and theatrical entrepreneur in many northern
English cities.
Laurel began his career in the Glasgow Britannia Theatre of Varieties and Alhambra Theatre Glasgow at the age of 16, where he crafted a comedy act largely derivative of famous music hall comedians of the day, including George Robey and Dan Leno. He gradually worked his way up the ladder of supporting roles until he became the featured comedian, as well as an understudy to Charlie Chaplin in Fred Karno's comedy company.[6] He emigrated to America
in 1912 where he decided to change his name; he worried that "Stanley
Jefferson" was too long to fit onto posters. He shortened it to "Stan"
and added "Laurel" at the suggestion of his superstitious vaudeville
partner, Mae Dahlberg who fretted that his original stage name was composed of 13 letters.[7]
Making his first film appearance in Nuts in May (1917), Laurel continued to make more than 50 other silent films for various producers.[8] At first he experienced only modest success as a solo comedian. Producer Hal Roach later attributed this to the difficulty in photographing Laurel's pale blue eyes on early pre-panchromatic
film stock, perhaps giving the appearance of blindness (which, in his
earliest films, Laurel tried to remedy by adding heavy defining makeup
around his eyes). Moreover, Laurel did not have an identifiable or
easily marketable screen character, like that of Chaplin, Harold Lloyd or Buster Keaton.
It was only when Laurel began appearing in satires of popular screen
dramas that audiences really took notice of him. Between 1922 and 1925
he starred in a number of films including Mud and Sand (1922) (a parody of Blood and Sand, featuring Stan as "Rhubarb Vaselino") and Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde
(1925) (with Stan playing both the gentle doctor and the manic
monster). Many of these comedies had crazy visual gags along with
Laurel's eccentric pantomime, establishing the star as an inspired "nut
comic."
Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia.[9]
As a tribute to his father (who died when Norvell was very young), he
took his father's first name (although not legally), henceforth calling
himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy." His offscreen nicknames were "Ollie" and
"Babe."
Hardy's nickname "Babe" originated during his (pre-Laurel) early
silent film career. Hardy was a frequent visitor to an Italian
barbershop near the Lubin Studios in Jacksonville, Florida
where he worked. After cutting his hair and giving him a shave, the
barber would then pat his face with talcum powder whilst saying, "That's
nice a baby!" With the barber's Italian accent, "baby" sounded like
"Babe." That nickname stuck with Hardy for the rest of his life. Hardy
was billed as "Babe Hardy" in his early films.[10] In some of the duo's first silent films, Laurel can be seen mouthing the word "Babe" when calling out to Ollie.
By his late teens, Hardy was a popular stage singer, and he operated his own movie house in Milledgeville, Georgia, the Palace Theater, financed partially by his mother.[11]
Seeing film comedies inspired him with an urge to take up comedy
himself and in 1913, he began working with Lubin Motion Pictures in
Jacksonville, Florida. He started out by helping around the studio with
lights, props and other duties, gradually learning the craft as a
script-clerk.[11] Around the same time, he married his first wife, Madelyn Salosihn.[12]
In 1914, Babe acted in his first film called Outwitting Dad.[10] Between 1914 and 1916, Babe made 177 shorts with the Vim Comedy Company, which were released up to the end of 1917.[13]
Exhibiting a versatility in playing heroes, villains and even female
characters, Hardy became much in demand as a supporting actor, comic
villain or second banana. For the next 10 years he memorably assisted star comics Billy West, a Charlie Chaplin imitator, Jimmy Aubrey, Larry Semon and Charley Chase.[14]
In total, Hardy starred or co-starred in more than 250 silent shorts,
about 150 of which have been lost. While in New York, his abortive
effort to enlist in 1917 led him and his wife, Madelyn, to seek new
opportunities in California.[15] Hardy became a member of Hal Roach's stock company when he began working regularly with Stan Laurel.
Laurel and Hardy appeared for the first time together in The Lucky Dog (1921). In this lobby card
scene, Stan Laurel (left), is attacked by Oliver Hardy (above) as Jack
Lloyd spots that Stan's faithful dog has retrieved Oliver's lit stick of
dynamite.
The location used in the Academy Award winning The Music Box (1932), in which the team must climb a steep flight of outdoor steps to deliver a piano, still exists in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles. It is considered a landmark and is marked with a plaque and sign.
The first film pairing of the two comedians (albeit as separate performers) took place in The Lucky Dog, produced in 1919 by Sun-Lite Pictures and released in 1921.[16] Several years later, both comedians appeared in the Hal Roach production 45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926). Their first "official" film together was Putting Pants on Philip, although their first appearance as the now familiar "Stan and Ollie" characters was The Second Hundred Years (June 1927), directed by Fred Guiol and supervised by Leo McCarey, who suggested that the performers be teamed permanently.
Hal Roach kept them a team for the next decade, making silent shorts,
talking shorts, and feature films. While most silent-film actors saw
their careers decline with the advent of sound, Laurel and Hardy made a
successful transition in 1929 with the short Unaccustomed As We Are.
Laurel's English accent and Hardy's Southern American accent and
singing brought new dimensions to their characters. The team also proved
skillful in their melding of visual and verbal humor, adding dialogue
that served to enhance rather than replace their popular sight gags.
Laurel and Hardy's shorts, produced by Hal Roach and initially released through Pathé and then in 1929 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer,
were among the most successful in the business. Most of the shorts ran
two reels (10 minutes per reel), although several ran three reels long,
and one, Beau Hunks, was four reels long. In 1929, they appeared for the first time in a feature as one of the acts in The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the following year, they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-Technicolor musical feature entitled: The Rogue Song.
This film marked their first appearance in color. Considered a "lost
film", only a few fragments of this production have survived, along with
the complete soundtrack. In 1931, Laurel and Hardy's first starring
feature was released, Pardon Us. Following its success, the duo made fewer shorts in order to concentrate on feature films, which included Pack Up Your Troubles (1932), Fra Diavolo (or The Devil's Brother, 1933), Sons of the Desert (1933), and Babes in Toyland (1934).[1] Their classic short The Music Box, released in 1932, won the first Academy Award for Best Short Subject, (Comedy).
The humor of Laurel and Hardy was generally visual with slapstick used for emphasis. They often had physical arguments with each other, which were quite complex and involved cartoon violence.
Their characters preclude them from making any real progress in even
the simplest endeavors. Much of their comedy involves milking a joke,
where a simple idea provides a basis from which to build several gags.
Many of their films have extended sequences constructed around a single
problem the pair is facing, without following a defined narrative.
Laurel did most of the planning and construction of gags while Hardy
was more limited in his contributions to the comedy routines.[12]
A common routine the team often performed was a "tit-for-tat" fight with an adversary. Typically, Laurel and Hardy accidentally damaged someone else's property. The injured party would retaliate by ruining something belonging to Laurel or Hardy, who would calmly survey the damage and find something else to vandalize.
The conflict would escalate until both sides were simultaneously
destroying property in front of each other. An early example of the
routine occurs in their classic short, Big Business (1929), which was added to the Library of Congress as a national treasure in 1992, and one of their short films, which revolves entirely around such an altercation, was titled Tit for Tat (1935).
In some cases, their comedy bordered on the surreal, a style Stan Laurel called "white magic." [17] For example, in Way Out West
(1937), Laurel clenches his fist and pours tobacco into it, as if it
were a pipe. Then, he flicks his thumb upward as if he held a lighter.
His thumb ignites, and he matter-of-factly lights his "pipe." The
amazed Hardy, seeing this, would unsuccessfully attempt to duplicate it
throughout the rest of the film. Much later in the film, Hardy finally
succeeds - only to be terrified when his thumb catches fire.
Rather than showing Hardy suffering the pain of misfortunes such as
falling down stairs or being beaten by a thug, banging and crashing
sound effects were often used so the audience could visualize the scene
for themselves. Routines frequently performed by Laurel were a high
pitched whooping when in peril and crying like an infant when being
berated by Hardy. Hardy often looked directly at the camera, breaking the fourth wall, to express his frustration with Laurel to the film audience.
Laurel and Hardy's onscreen personas are of two dim but eternally
optimistic men, secure in their perpetual and impregnable innocence.
Their humor is physical, but their accident-prone buffoonery is
distinguished by their affable personalities and mutual devotion;
essentially "children" in an adult world.
Laurel and Hardy had an inherent physical contrariety which was
enhanced with small touches. Laurel kept his hair short on the sides and
back, but let it grow long on top to create a natural "fright wig"
through his inveterate gesture of scratching his head at moments of
shock or wonderment and simultaneously pulling up his hair. In contrast,
Hardy's thinning hair was pasted on his forehead in spit curls and he
wore a toothbrush moustache.
To achieve a flat-footed walk, Laurel removed the heels from his shoes
(usually Army shoes). Stan Laurel was of average height and weight, but
appeared small and slight next to Oliver Hardy, who was 6 ft 1 in
(1.85 m) tall[18] and weighed about 280 lb (127 kg) in his prime. Both wore Bowler hats, with Laurel's being narrower than Hardy's, and with a flattened brim. The characters' normal attire also called for wing collar shirts, with Hardy wearing a standard neck tie which he would twiddle and Laurel a bow tie. Hardy's sports jacket was too small for him and done up with one straining button, whereas Laurel's double breasted jacket was loose fitting.
Part of Laurel and Hardy's onscreen images called for their faces to
be filmed flat, without any shadows or dramatic lighting. To invoke a
traditional clown-like appearance, both comedians wore a light pancake makeup on their faces, and Roach's cameramen, such as Art Lloyd
and Francis Corby, were instructed to light and film a scene so that
facial lines and wrinkles would be "washed out." Art Lloyd was once
quoted as saying, "Well, I'll never win an Oscar, but I'll sure please
Stan Laurel."
Offscreen, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were quite the opposite of
their movie characters: Laurel was the industrious "idea man," while
Hardy was more easygoing.[19] Although Hal Roach employed writers and directors such as H.M. Walker, Leo McCarey, James Parrott, James W. Horne, and others on Laurel and Hardy
films, Laurel would rewrite entire sequences or scripts, have the cast
and crew improvise on the soundstage, and meticulously review the
footage for editing, often moonlighting to achieve all of these tasks. While Hardy did contribute to the routines,[19] he was generally content to follow Laurel's lead and spent most of his free time on hobbies such as golf.
By 1936, although the relationship between Laurel and Hardy remained
strong, Laurel's dealings with producer Roach became strained amid a
tangle of artistic differences. Roach insisted that his feature-length
comedies should also contain musical numbers and/or subplots. (Roach
always contended that if you watched any comedian for an hour at a time,
"you'd be bored to hell with him.") Laurel maintained that such padding
distracted from the team's comedy. Because of this friction, extended
stand-off periods became common during the late 1930s, with Roach
occasionally threatening to pair Hardy with someone else.
Laurel countered Roach's announcement with one revealing his own plans. In October 1938, Roach's old rival Mack Sennett announced that he had signed Laurel to star in comedy features for his new Sennett Pictures Corporation Studio.[20]
Those films were not made, since by April 1939 the dispute between
Laurel and Roach was settled and the comedy team was again intact for
further work with Roach. They made two more films for Roach, A Chump at Oxford (filmed in 1939, released 1940) and Saps at Sea (1940). Both of these films were released through United Artists,
as Roach's distribution arrangement with MGM had ended in 1938. As
their new agreement with Roach was non-exclusive, Laurel and Hardy also
starred in The Flying Deuces, a feature-length remake of Beau Hunks produced and released by RKO Radio Pictures.
Hoping for greater artistic freedom, Laurel and Hardy split with
Roach and signed with major studios 20th Century-Fox and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. However, the working conditions were now completely
different, as they were hired only as actors, relegated to the B-film
divisions, and initially not allowed to improvise or contribute to the
scripts. When the films proved popular, the studios allowed the team
more input with Laurel and Hardy starring in eight features through
1944. These films, while not considered the team's best, were extremely
successful. Budgeted at $250,000 to $300,000 each, the films earned
millions at the box office. The films were so profitable that Fox kept
making Laurel and Hardy comedies after discontinuing its other "B"
series.
After spending the rest of the 1940s performing on stage in Europe, Laurel and Hardy made one final film together in 1950. Atoll K, later reissued in abridged form in the United States as Utopia,
released in 1954, was a French-Italian co-production directed by Leo
Joannon, which was plagued by language barriers, production problems,
and both Laurel and Hardy's grave health issues during shooting. Hardy
began to lose weight precipitously and developed an irregular heartbeat
while Laurel experienced painful prostate complications.[21]
Critics were disappointed with its storyline, English dubbing, and
Laurel's sickly physical appearance with his weight down to 114 pounds
(52 kg; 8.1 st).[18]
The film was not a success, and brought an end to Laurel and Hardy's
film careers, yet due to copyright problems in the United States, the
film became available under the provisions of public domain, and was widely distributed by small distributors, remaining the most easily available of the team's features.[21]
After Atoll K, Laurel and Hardy took several months off, so
that Laurel could recuperate. Upon their return to the European stage,
they undertook a successful series of public appearances in short
sketches Laurel had written: "A Spot of Trouble" (in 1952) and "Birds of
a Feather" (in 1953).[22]
On December 1, 1954, the team made their only American television appearance, surprised by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program, This Is Your Life. Lured to the Knickerbocker Hotel as a subterfuge for a business meeting with producer Bernard Delfont,
the doors opened to their suite #205, flooding the room with light and
the voice of Ralph Edwards. At first the boys reacted incredulously,
like deer caught in headlights. From the moment the boys realized
they're on camera, Stan smiles graciously, and did so all night. Ollie
comically drinks the rest of his "beverage" before hurriedly being
ushered to an awaiting car on Ivar Ave, to the Hollywood Blvd.'s El
Capitan theatre down the street, for their night of tribute. The
telecast was preserved on a kinescope
and later released on home video. Partly due to the positive response
from the television broadcast, the pair was renegotiating with Hal Roach
Jr. for a series of color NBCtelevision specials to be called Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables. However, plans for the specials were shelved, as the aging comedians suffered from declining health.[22]
In 1955, Laurel and Hardy made their final public appearance together, taking part in a BBC television program about the Grand Order of Water Rats, the British variety organization, titled This is Music Hall.
Laurel and Hardy provide a filmed insert during which they reminisce
about their friends in British variety. They made their final appearance
on camera in 1956 in a home movie titled "One Moment Please". The film
was shot by a family friend at Stan's home, it is without audio and
lasts three minutes.
Under doctor's orders to improve a heart condition, Hardy lost over
100 pounds (45 kg; 7.1 st) in 1956. Several strokes (that some doctors
partly attribute to the rapid weight loss) resulted in loss of mobility
and speech. He died of a major stroke on August 7, 1957. Longtime friend
Bob Chatterton said Hardy weighed just 138 pounds (63 kg; 9.9 st) at
the time of his death. A depressed Laurel did not attend his partner's
funeral, due to his own ill health, explaining his absence with the line
"Babe would understand." Hardy was laid to rest at Pierce Brothers
Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood.[23]
Just after Hardy's death, Laurel and Hardy returned to movie theaters, as clips of their work were featured in Robert Youngson's silent-film compilation The Golden Age of Comedy. For the remaining eight years of his life, Stan Laurel refused to perform, even turning down Stanley Kramer's offer to make a cameo in his landmark 1963 movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
In 1960, Laurel was given a special Academy Award for his contributions
to film comedy. Despite not appearing onscreen after Hardy's death,
Laurel did contribute gags to several comedy filmmakers. He also kept
his comedic instincts and skills sharp by continuing to write "Laurel
and Hardy" gags and scenarios, even though he knew they would never be
performed and would seldom be shared with anyone other than close
friends and associates. Most of his writing was in the form of
correspondence; he insisted on answering every fan letter personally.
Late in life, he hosted many visitors of the new generation of comedians
and celebrities, including Dick Cavett, Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers, Marcel Marceau and Dick Van Dyke.
Laurel lived until 1965, surviving to see the duo's work rediscovered
through television and classic film revivals. He died in Santa Monica, and is buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.[24]
A number of their films were reshot with Laurel and Hardy talking in Spanish, Italian, French or German.
The plots for these films were similar to the English language version
although the supporting cast were often native language actors. Laurel
and Hardy couldn't speak a foreign language and they received voice
coaching to reproduce their lines. Pardon Us (1931) was reshot in all four foreign languages. Blotto (1930), Chickens Come Home (1931) and Below Zero (1930) had a French and Spanish version. These film versions helped to boost the duo’s popularity internationally.
In some languages they are known by their English names, however in
Spanish they are known as "El Gordo y El Flaco" ("the fat one and the
skinny one"), in Italian as "Stanlio & Ollio", and in Swedish and
Norwegian as "Helan & Halvan" ("The Whole One" and "The Half One").
In Danish, they are known as "Gøg og Gokke" and in Polish as "Flip i
Flap". In German, they were known as "Dick und Doof" ("Fatty and Idiot")
until the 1970s, then as "Stan & Ollie" or by their English names.
Most of the Laurel and Hardy films survive, and have never gone out
of circulation permanently. Three of their 106 films are considered lost, as they have not been seen in full since the 1930s. The silent Hats Off (1927) has vanished completely. The first half of Now I'll Tell One (1927) is lost and the second half has yet to be released on video. In the operatic Technicolor musical The Rogue Song
(1930) Laurel and Hardy appear in 10 sequences, only one of which is
known to exist. Two other films have missing content although they
aren't considered lost. Duck Soup
(1927) was considered lost until a print was discovered in the
mid-1970s, this print appears to be missing a few minutes of footage at
the beginning and end. The Battle of the Century (1927) has several minutes of missing footage bridging the first and second halves, and the final half-minute is also missing.
Although uncredited, the composer Leroy Shield composed the great majority of the music used in the Laurel and Hardy films. A compilation of songs from their films titled Trail of the Lonesome Pine was released in 1975.
The duo's famous signature tune, known variously as "The Cuckoo
Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos", was composed by Roach
musical director Marvin Hatley
as the on-the-hour chime for the Roach studio radio station. Laurel
heard the tune on the station, and asked Hatley to use it as the Laurel
and Hardy theme song. In Laurel's eyes, the song's melody represented
Hardy's character (pompous and dramatic), while the harmony represented
Laurel's own character (somewhat out of key, and only able to register
two notes: "coo-coo"). The original theme, recorded by two clarinets in
1930, was re-recorded with a full orchestra in 1935.
The catchphrase most used by Laurel and Hardy on film is:
“
Well, that's another nice mess you've gotten me into!
”
The phrase was first used in The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930). In popular culture the catchphrase is often misquoted as "Well, here's another fine
mess you've gotten me into." The misquoted version of the phrase was
very rarely used by Ollie; the misunderstanding stems from the title of Another Fine Mess (1930).[25] Numerous variations of the quote appeared on film. In Chickens Come Home (1931), Ollie says impatiently to Stan, "Well...." with Stan replying, "Here's another nice mess I've gotten you into." In Thicker than Water (1935) and The Fixer-Uppers (1935) the phrase becomes "Well, here's another nice kettle of fish you pickled me in!". In Saps at Sea (1940) it becomes "Well, here's another nice bucket of suds you've gotten me into!".
“
D'oh!
”
"D'oh!" is a catchphrase used by James Finlayson,
the mustachioed Scottish actor who appeared in 33 Laurel and Hardy
films. The word was used as a replacement for "Damn!". His catchphrase
was the inspiration for "D'oh!" as spoken by the fictional character Homer Simpson in the long running animated comedy The Simpsons. The Simpson's first intentional use of "d'oh!" occurred in the Ullman short "Punching Bag" (1988).[26]
The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is known as The Sons of the Desert, after a fraternal society in their film of the same name (1933). It was founded in New York City in 1965 by Laurel & Hardy biographer John McCabe, Orson Bean, Al Kilgore, Chuck McCann
and John Municino; with the sanction of Stan Laurel. Since the group's
inception, well over 150 chapters of the organization have formed across
North America, Europe and Australia. An Emmy-winning film documentary
about the group, Revenge of the Sons of the Desert, has been released on DVD as part of The Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1.
Since the 1930s, the works of Laurel and Hardy have been re-released
in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals (broadcast,
especially public television, and cable), 16mm and 8mm home movies,
feature-film compilations, and home video. After Stan Laurel's death in
1965, there were two major motion-picture tributes: Laurel and Hardy's Laughing '20s, Robert Youngson's compilation of the team's silent-film highlights; and The Great Race, a large-scale salute to slapstick which director Blake Edwards dedicated to "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy." For many years the duo were impersonated by Jim MacGeorge (as Laurel) and Chuck McCann (as Hardy) in television commercials for various products.[27]
Merchandiser Larry Harmon
claimed ownership of Laurel's and Hardy's likenesses, and issued Laurel
and Hardy toys and colouring books. He co-produced a series of Laurel and Hardy cartoons in 1966 with Hanna-Barbera Productions.[28] His animated versions of Laurel and Hardy also guest-starred in a 1972 episode of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In 1999, Harmon produced a direct-to-video feature, the live-action comedy The All-New Adventures of Laurel and Hardy: For Love or Mummy, with actors Bronson Pinchot and Gailard Sartain playing the lookalike nephews of the original Laurel and Hardy, Stanley Thinneus Laurel and Oliver Fatteus Hardy.[29]
Many Laurel and Hardy films have been colorized. Helpmates
(1932) was the first film to undergo the process, it was experimented
upon by Colorization Inc., a subsidiary of Hal Roach Studios in 1983.
Colorization became a success for the studio and Helpmates was released
on home video with the colorized version of The Music Box (1932) in 1986. The technology for this process was inferior compared to today's digital
colorization technology. There were numerous continuity errors and
garish color design choices. However the most significant criticism that
these versions received revolved around their editing, whole scenes
were altered or deleted altogether, changing the character of the film.
There are two Laurel and Hardy museums, one in Laurel's birthplace, Ulverston, United Kingdom,[30] and the other in Hardy's birthplace, Harlem, Georgia, United States [31]
In one of the few instance of incorporating the famous duo's visages into popular literature, author/illustrator Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen (1970)[32] showed three identical Oliver Hardy figures as bakers preparing cakes for the morning in his award-winning
children's book and is treated as a clear example of "interpretative
illustration" wherein the comedians' inclusion harkened back to the
author's own childhood. Sendak described his early upbringing as sitting
in movie houses fascinated by the Laurel and Hardy comedies.[33][34]
Laurel and Hardy were featured alongside many other celebrities in cutout form for the cover of the Beatles's 1967 masterpiece album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Of the two, Stan is more recognizable.
In 1976, STV (Scottish Television) produced a half-hour play by Alex Norton called Stan's First Night, about a 16-year-old Stan Jefferson's (Stan Laurel's real name) first appearance on stage at the Panopticon variety theatre in Glasgow.
Kurt Vonnegut's 1976 novel Slapstick
not only owes its title to the "grotesque situational poetry" of Laurel
and Hardy's film comedies, but also bears the dedication to "the memory
of Arthur Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy, two angels of my time"
and features the 1975 caricature of the pair by Al Hirschfeld on the page opposite.
Based on a 2005 poll of the top 50 comedians featured in The Comedian's Comedian,
a TV documentary broadcast on UK's Channel 4 on January 1, 2005, the
duo was voted the seventh greatest comedy act ever by fellow comedians
and comedy insiders, making them the most popular double act on the
list.[35]
In 2006, BBC in the UK broadcast a drama Stan about Laurel's
final visit to see the dying Hardy. The TV programme derived from a
radio play first broadcast in 2004. Both radio and TV versions were
written by Neil Brand.
In Indian (Hindi) comicstrip culture, the most well known pair of foolhardy jokers: Mottoo and Patlu मोटू और पतलू (The Fat Guy and the Thin Guy) were inspired by Laurel and Hardy.
^ Pryor, Thomas M. "Laurel to Make Film Series for Sennett". The New York Times, September 12, 1938. Excerpt: "...Mack Sennett
announced that he had signed Stan Laurel to star in a series of films
he will make with a new producing company to be known as Sennet Pictures
Corporation. Laurel was under contract to Hal Roach as member of the
Laurel and Hardy comedy team, until last month, when Roach broke up the
combination, alleging that Laurel violated his contract, and substituted
Harry Langdon as Hardy's mate..."
^ Sendak, Maurice. In the Night Kitchen. New York: HarperCollins, First edition 1970. ISBN 0-06026-668-6.
^ Lanes, Selma G. The Art of Maurice Sendak. New York: Harry N. Abrams; 2nd revised edition, 1998, first edition, 1980, p. 47. ISBN 0-81098-063-0.
^ Salamon, Julie. "Sendak in All His Wild Glory." New York Times, April 15, 2005. Retrieved: May 28, 2008.
^"The List."The Comedian's Comedian, 2005. Retrieved: 3 March 2010.
Bibliography
Andrews, Robert, Famous Lines: A Columbia Dictionary of Familiar Quotations. New York: Columbia University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-23110-218-6.
Anobile, Richard J., ed. A Fine Mess: Verbal and Visual Gems from The Crazy World of Laurel & Hardy. New York: Crown Publishers. 1975. ISBN 0-51752-438-4. (Laurel & Hardy film frames and dialogue reproduced in book form)
Barr, Charles. Laurel & Hardy. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1974, first edition 1967. ISBN 0-520-00085-4. (Insights and observations about the screen characters portrayed by Laurel and Hardy)
Bergen, Ronald. The Life and Times of Laurel and Hardy. New York: Smithmark, 1992. ISBN 0-8317-5459-1. (Career overview and numerous large-format color and monochrome photographs)
Brooks, Leo M. The Laurel & Hardy Stock Company. Hilversum, Netherlands: Blotto Press. 1997. ISBN 90-9010461-5.
Byron, Stuart and Elizabeth Weis, eds. The National Society of Film Critics on Movie Comedy. New York: Grossman/Viking, 1977. ISBN 978-0670491865.
Crowther, Bruce. Laurel and Hardy: Clown Princes of Comedy. New York: Columbus Books, 1987. ISBN 978-0862873448.
Durgnat, Raymond. "Beau Chumps and Church Bells" (essay)." The Crazy Mirror: Hollywood Comedy and the American Image. New York: Dell Publishing, 1970. ISBN 978-0385281843.
Everson, William K.The Complete Films of Laurel and Hardy. New York: Citadel, 2000, 1967. ISBN 0-8065-0146-4. (First book-length examination of the individual films)
Everson, William K. The Films of Hal Roach. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1971. ISBN 978-0870705595. (Digest overview of producer Hal Roach's films, published in connection with a film retrospective)
Gehring, Wes D. Film Clowns of the Depression: Twelve Defining Comic Performances. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 2007. ISBN 978-0786428922.
Gehring, Wes D. Laurel & Hardy: A Bio-Bibliography. Burnham Bucks, UK: Greenwood Press, 1990. ISBN 978-0313251726.
Guiles, Fred Lawrence. Stan: The Life of Stan Laurel. New York: Stein & Day, 1991, first edition 1980. ISBN 978-0812885286.
Harness, Kyp. The Art of Laurel and Hardy: Graceful Calamity in the Films. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, 2006. ISBN 0-78642-440-0. (Critical assessment of the comedians and their films)
Kanin, Garson. Together Again!: Stories of the Great Hollywood Teams. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1981. ISBN 978-0385174718.
Kerr, Walter. The Silent Clowns. New York: Da Capo Press, 1990, first edition 1975, Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 978-0306803871.
Lahue, Kalton C. World of Laughter: The Motion Picture Comedy Short, 1910-1930. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966. ISBN 978-0806106939. (History of silent-comedy films and producers, including Hal Roach and Laurel and Hardy)
Louvish, Simon. Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy. London: Faber & Faber, 2001. ISBN 0-571-21590-4. (Biography, with new research revealing more about the comedians' personal lives)
MacGillivray, Scott. Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded. New York: iUniverse, 2009; first edition Lanham, Maryland: Vestal Press, 1998. ISBN 1-440172-39-0. (Discussion of the post-1940 films, unrealized projects, revivals, compilations and TV, home-movie and video releases)
Maltin, Leonard. The Great Movie Comedians. New York: Crown Publishers, 1978. ISBN 978-0517532416. (Discussion of famous film comedians, including Laurel and Hardy)
Maltin, Leonard. The Laurel & Hardy Book (The Curtis Films Series). Sanibel Island, FL: Ralph Curtis Books, 1973.
Maltin, Leonard. Movie Comedy Teams. New York: New American Library, 1985, first edition 1970. ISBN 978-0452256941.
Maltin, Leonard, Selected Short Subjects (first published as The Great Movie Shorts. New York: Crown Publishers, 1972.) New York: Da Capo Press, 1983. ISBN 978-0452256941
Marriot, A.J. Laurel & Hardy: The British Tours. Hitchen, Herts, UK: AJ Marriot, 1993. ISBN 0-9521308-0-7.
Mast, Gerald. The Comic Mind: Comedy and the Movies. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979, first edition 1973. ISBN 978-0226509785.
McCabe, John. Babe: The Life of Oliver Hardy. London: Robson Books, 2004, first edition 1989, Citadel. ISBN 1-86105-781-4. (In-depth biography of Oliver Hardy, drawing upon unused material from McCabe's earlier biography)
McCabe, John. The Comedy World of Stan Laurel. New York: Robson Press, 1990, first edition 1974, Doubleday & Co. ISBN 978-0940410237.
McCabe, John. Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy: An Affectionate Biography. London: Robson Books, 2004, first edition 1961, 1966, Doubleday & Co. ISBN 1-86105-606-0.
(The authorized Laurel & Hardy biography, containing firsthand
recollections by Laurel and Hardy themselves, and quotes from family
members and colleagues; Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy: An Affectionate Biography title changed in 1966 edition to Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy: An Affectionate Biography of Laurel and Hardy and changed again in 1976 and 2004 reprint editions.)
McCabe, John with Al Kilgore and Richard W. Bann. Laurel & Hardy. New York: Bonanza Books, 1983, first edition 1975, E.P. Dutton. ISBN 978-0491017459. (Photographs and text replicating the sequences seen in the films)
McCaffrey, Donald W. "Duet of Incompetence" from The Golden Age of Sound Comedy: Comic Films and Comedians of the Thirties. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1973. ISBN 978-0498010484.
McGarry, Annie. Laurel & Hardy. London: Bison Group, 1992. ISBN 0-86124-776-0. (Brief overview of the films, drawing upon previously published sources)
McIntyre, Willie. The Laurel & Hardy Digest: A Cocktail of Love and Hisses. Ayrshire, Scotland: Willie McIntyre, 1998. ISBN 978-0953295807.
Mitchell, Glenn. The Laurel & Hardy Encyclopedia. New York: Batsford, 1995. ISBN 0-7134-7711-3.
Nollen, Scott Allen. The Boys: The Cinematic World of Laurel and Hardy. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 1989. ISBN 978-0786411153.
Robb, Brian J. The Pocket Essential Laurel & Hardy. Manchester, UK: Pocket Essentials, 2008. ISBN 978-1842432853.
Robinson, David. The Great Funnies: A History of Film Comedy. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1969. ISBN 978-0289796436.
Sanders, Jonathan. Another Fine Dress: Role Play in the Films of Laurel and Hardy. London: Cassell, 1995. ISBN 978-0304331963.
Scagnetti, Jack. The Laurel & Hardy Scrapbook. New York: Jonathan David Publishers, 1982. ISBN 978-0824602789.
Smith, Leon. Following the Comedy Trail: A Guide to Laurel & Hardy and Our Gang Film Locations. Littleton, Massachusetts: G.J. Enterprises, 1984. ISBN 978-0938817055.
Skretvedt, Randy. Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies (2nd ed.) Anaheim, California: Past Times Publishing Co., 1996, first edition 1987, Moonstone Press. ISBN 0-940410-29-X. (Film-by-film analysis, with detailed behind-the-scenes material and numerous quotes from colleagues.)
Staveacre, Tony. Slapstick!: The Illustrated Story. London: Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1987. ISBN 978-0207150302.
Stone, Rob et al. Laurel or Hardy: The Solo Films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Manchester, New Hampshire: Split Reel, 1996. ISBN 0-965238-407. (Exhaustive study of the comedians as solo performers, 1913–26)
Ward, Richard Lewis. A History of the Hal Roach Studios. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0809326372.
Weales, Gerald. Canned Goods as Caviar: American Film Comedy of the 1930s. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. ISBN 978-0226876641.
Click the download link above or Right-click the wallpaper and choose Set as Background or Set as Wallpaper.
Mac OS X:
Drag it onto your desktop, go to System Preferences, go to the Desktop icons, click the Collection drop-down and Choose Folder to find the new wallpaper on your computer.
Mac OS 9:
Drag it onto your desktop, go to Control Panel and choose Appearance, click Set Desktop and choose the new wallpaper that you just downloaded.
(c) site design and all
desktop works by
art-wallpaper.net 2010 -
Tags: Paintings, Art, Wallpaper, Desktop, Wallpapers,
1024 x 768, 1280 x 1024, 800 x 600, Backgrounds, Images, Pictures, Photos,
Computer Wallpaper, Desktop Art, Desktop Paintings, Art Wallpaper
Featured art
categories
To set this wallpaper as your desktop wallpaper
