Laurel and Hardy were a double act from 1927 to 1955, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a team in the silent film era, they transitioned easily to the new talking pictures and became internationally famous for their slapstick comedy. Laurel's character was clumsy and childlike; Hardy's was domineering and genteel, but both were inseparable friends. Their theme song, known variously as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" (by Hollywood composer T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as identified with them as their derby hats.
Before becoming a team, both had well-established film careers. Stan Laurel had been a vaudeville performer on European and American stages before joining the film industry in 1917; he was primarily a comedian but was also a talented writer and director. Oliver Hardy entered the film business as a theater projectionist, and became an actor in 1913. They first appeared together in 1921—purely by chance—in the short film The Lucky Dog, but did not encounter each other again until 1925, when both were working at the Hal Roach film studio. They officially became a team in 1927 when they appeared in the silent short Putting Pants on Philip. They remained with Roach until 1940, and then appeared in eight B movie comedies for 20th Century-Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1945. After finishing their film commitments at the end of 1944, they concentrated on performing stage shows, and embarked on a music hall tour of the British Isles. They made their last film in 1951, a French–Italian co-production called Atoll K. Thereafter they performed on stage, exclusively in Europe, until 1954.
They appeared as a team in 107 films, starring in 32 short silent films, 40 short sound films, and 23 full-length feature films. They also made 12 guest or cameo appearances, including the Galaxy of Stars promotional film of 1936.Seguin, Chris. "Forgotten Laurel & Hardy film emerges on French DVD." On December 1, 1954, they made their sole American television appearance, when they were surprised and interviewed by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program This Is Your Life.
Since the 1930s, their films have been released in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals, 8 mm and 16 mm home movies, feature-film compilations, and home videos. The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is The Sons of the Desert, named after a fictional fraternal society in the film of the same name.
Early careers Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel (June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965) was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire, England, into a theatrical family.Louvish, Simon. Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy, New York, St. Martin's Press, 2002, p. 11. . His father, A. J. (Arthur Joseph) Jefferson, was a theatrical entrepreneur and theater owner in northern England and Scotland who, with his wife, was a major force in European show business.Louvish, p. 14. In 1905, the Jefferson family moved to Glasgow to be closer to their business mainstay of the Metropole Theatre, and Laurel made his stage debut in a Glasgow hall called the Britannia Panopticon one month short of his 16th birthday.Mitchell, Glenn. The Laurel & Hardy Encyclopedia, New York, Batsford, 2010, p. 200. . Arthur Jefferson secured Laurel his first acting job with the juvenile theatrical company of Levy and Cardwell, which specialized in Christmas pantomimes.Louvish, p. 25. In 1909, Laurel was employed by Britain's leading comedy impresario Fred Karno as a supporting actor, and as an understudy for Karno's principal comedian Charlie Chaplin.Mitchell, p. 159. Laurel said of Karno, "There was no one like him. He had no equal. His name was box-office."McCabe, John. Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy, An Affectionate Biography, New York, Doubleday, 1961, p. 26.
In 1912, Laurel left England with the Fred Karno troupe to tour the United States. Laurel had expected the tour to be merely a pleasant interval before returning to London; however, he decided to remain in America.McCabe, pp. 42–43. He teamed with vaudevillians Baldwin and Alice Cooke as "The Keystone Trio", with Laurel imitating Charlie Chaplin. In 1917, Laurel teamed with Mae Dahlberg for stage and film; they were living as common-law husband and wife.Mitchell, p. 169. The same year, Laurel made his film debut with Dahlberg in Nuts in May.Mitchell, p. 158. While working with Mae, he began using the name "Stan Laurel" and changed his name legally in 1931.Louvish, p. 113. Dahlberg demanded roles in his films, but her tempestuous nature made her difficult to work with. Dressing-room arguments were common between the two; producer Joe Rock paid her to leave Laurel and to return to her native Australia.Joe Rock, interviewed by Bernard Rosenberg and Harry Silverstein in The Real Tinsel, Macmillan, 1970, p. 59. In 1925, Laurel joined the Hal Roach film studio as a director and writer. From May 1925 to September 1926, he received credit in at least 22 films.Louvish, p. 182. Laurel appeared in more than 50 films for various producers before teaming with Hardy.McCabe, p. 249.
Oliver Hardy
Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia, United States.Louvish, p.. 37. By his late teens, Hardy was a popular stage singer and he operated a moviehouse in Milledgeville, Georgia, the Palace Theater, financed in part by his mother.Bergan, Ronald. The Life and Times of Laurel and Hardy, New York, Smithmark, 1992, p. 26. . For his stage name he took his father's first name, calling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy", while offscreen his friends called him "Babe". The nickname "Babe" originated from an Italian barber in Jacksonville, Florida, who would rub Hardy's face with talcum powder and say "That's nice-a baby!" His co-workers mimicked this, and Hardy was billed as "Babe Hardy" in his early films.McCabe, Babe: The Life of Oliver Hardy, Secaucus, N.J., Citadel Press, 1989, p. 19.
Seeing film comedies inspired him to take up comedy himself and, in 1913, he began working with Lubin Motion Pictures in Jacksonville. He started by helping around the studio with lights, props, and other duties, gradually learning the craft as a script clerk for the company.Bergan, p. 26. It was around this time that Hardy married his first wife, Madelyn Saloshin. In 1914, Hardy was billed as "Babe Hardy" in his first film, Outwitting Dad.McCabe, Babe: The Life of Oliver Hardy, p. 19. Between 1914 and 1916 Hardy made 177 shorts with the Vim Comedy Company, which were released up to the end of 1917. Exhibiting a versatility in playing heroes, villains, and even female characters, Hardy was in demand for roles as a supporting actor, comic villain or second banana. For ten years he memorably assisted star comic and Charlie Chaplin imitator Billy West, and appeared in the comedies of Jimmy Aubrey, Larry Semon, and Charley Chase.Louvish, pp. 107–108. In total, Hardy starred or co-starred in more than 250 silent shorts, of which roughly 150 have been lost. He was rejected for enlistment by the Army during World War I due to his large size. In 1917, following the collapse of the Florida film industry, Hardy and his wife Madelyn moved to California to seek new opportunities.
History as Laurel and Hardy Hal Roach Hal Roach recounted how Laurel and Hardy became a team: Hardy was already working for Roach (and others) when Roach hired Laurel, whom he had seen in vaudeville. Laurel had very light-blue eyes, and Roach discovered that, due to the technology of film at that time, Laurel's eyes would not photograph properly: blue photographed as white. This problem is apparent in their first silent film together, The Lucky Dog, which tried to compensate for the problem by applying heavy makeup to Laurel's eyes.
In 1925 Laurel had just completed his starring series for Joe Rock, and a clause in the contract stipulated that Laurel could not appear on screen in competition with the Rock productions.Joe Rock, in The Real Tinsel, p. 61. Forced off the screen temporarily, Laurel worked behind the scenes for Hal Roach as a writer. Then panchromatic film was developed; they tested Laurel, and found the problem was solved. Laurel and Hardy were then cast together in a film. Comedy teams were usually composed of a straight man and a funny man, but these two were both comedians; each complemented the other and could play straight for each other. Roach said, "You could always cut to a close-up of either one, and their reaction was good for another laugh." Redfern Nick. Research into Film. April 22, quoting from The Silent Picture, issue 6, Spring 1970, p. 4.
Leo McCarey Screenwriter, director, and producer for Hal Roach Studios, Leo McCarey told an anecdote on the NBC television program This Is Your Life on December 1, 1954, of how a leg of lamb brought Laurel and Hardy together: "Babe was cooking a leg of lamb and for some reason he left his arm in the oven too long or something, and he got it so badly blistered that we had to cut down his part in the next picture. So we decided to put Stan in the picture to bolster up the comedy; and so when we saw the two of them on the screen together we decided: 'There's a real team.' And from that time on they really went places. All on account of 'Hardy had a little lamb.'"Leo McCarey, NBC-TV broadcast of This Is Your Life, Dec. 1, 1954.
Style of comedy and characterizations
The humor of Laurel and Hardy was highly visual, with slapstick used for emphasis. They often had physical arguments (in character) which were quite complex and involved slapstick violence. Their ineptitude and misfortune precluded them from making any real progress, even in the simplest endeavors. Much of their comedy involves "milking" a joke, where a simple idea provides a basis for multiple, ongoing gags without following a defined narrative.
Stan Laurel was of average height and weight, but appeared comparatively small and slight next to Oliver Hardy, who was and weighed about in his prime. Details of their hair and clothing were used to enhance this natural contrast. Laurel kept his hair short on the sides and back, growing it long on top to create a natural "fright wig".McCabe, Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy, p. 136. Typically, at times of shock, he simultaneously screwed up his face to appear as if crying while pulling up his hair. To achieve a flat-footed walk, Laurel removed the heels from his shoes. In contrast, Hardy's thinning hair was pasted on his forehead in spit curls and he sported a toothbrush moustache. Both wore derby hats, with Laurel's being narrower than Hardy's, and with a flattened brim. The characters' normal attire called for wing collar shirts, with Hardy wearing a necktie which he would twiddle when he was particularly embarrassed or self-conscious; and Laurel, a bow tie. Hardy's sports jacket was a little small and done up with one straining button, whereas Laurel's double-breasted jacket was loose-fitting.
A popular routine was a "tit for tat" fight with an adversary. It could be with their wives—often played by Mae Busch, Anita Garvin, or Daphne Pollard—or with a neighbor, often played by Charlie Hall or James Finlayson. Laurel and Hardy would accidentally damage someone's property, and the injured party would retaliate by ruining something belonging to Laurel or Hardy. After calmly surveying the damage, one or the other of the "offended" parties found something else to vandalize, and the conflict escalated until both sides were simultaneously destroying items in front of each other. An early example of the routine occurs in their classic short Big Business (1929), which was added to the National Film Registry in 1992. Another short film which revolves around such an altercation was titled Tit for Tat (1935).