Laurel and Hardy: Heroes of Early Cinema

It has been 98 years since Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy first graced our cinema screens. The pair would go onto become the best known comedy duo in the world over the next twenty years. Recently, the duo have been the focus of a movie directed by Jon S. Baird, which tells the story of their famous final tour of Britain in the twilight of their career, starring Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly as Laurel and Hardy respectively. But who were these pioneers of buddy comedy?

Stan Laurel, born Arthur Stanley Jefferson, honed his skills in pantomime as well as the music hall, and worked as an understudy to Charlie Chaplin. Oliver Hardy, born Norvell Hardy, was working as a vaudeville singer as well as doing various jobs in a cinema, where he became enraptured with the motion picture business.

Laurel moved to America, where he intended to work as a writer and director, but when a member of his comedy troupe was unable to appear in a movie, Laurel stepped in at the last minute; he would make his debut in Nuts In May in 1917. Hardy had already made his film debut by this time, having appeared in the 1914 comedy Outwitting Dad under the screen name of ‘Babe Hardy’.

Laurel, with his skinny appearance, quirky look and bowler hat, became perfect comedy fodder. Hardy, on the other hand, standing over 6 feet tall and being over 300 pounds, often found himself playing the villain. The pair would first appear on screen together in 1921’s The Lucky Dog, but they weren’t the iconic duo, not yet.

Stan and Ollie continued to appear in the same movies frequently. They were both signed to the Hal Roach Film Studio, and after seeing the pair have such great chemistry, they were formerly paired up and billed as ‘Laurel and Hardy’. Their first official film as a duo was 1927’s Putting Pants on Philip, and they would continue to appear in a number of silent films during the late 20s, including Should Married Men Go Home?, Liberty and Wrong Again. But next would be the jump to the talkies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JRUV46WvQw

Laurel and Hardy had great success as a silent movie duo, but many acts proved that moving from silent to talking pictures wasn’t an easy task. Harold Lloyd’s ‘happy-go-lucky’ character simply wasn’t in touch with the Great Depression which hit the USA in the 1930s. Charlie Chaplin, despite having a huge silent movie hit in 1930, feared becoming old-fashioned, and throughout the 30s struggled to work his act into talking pictures. Buster Keaton joined MGM Studios, but found his creativity squashed by studio politics, which led to him losing his love of the American studio system. All men lost a significant amount of popularity during the early talkie era.

Unlike many of their peers, Laurel and Hardy seemed to move from silent to talkies seamlessly, going from silent movie hits, to even bigger talking pictures. The 1930s would see Laurel and Hardy have a decade of hits. Their short movies would feature heavily in the early part of the decade, with classics like Below Zero, Laughing Gravy, and the Academy Award winning short The Music Box all being released amongst other well loved movies.

Later in the decade, the pair would focus more on feature film work, where Sons of the Desert, Block-Heads and A Chump at Oxford would also become big hits. However, the decade wouldn’t be smooth sailing for the duo, as Stan Laurel had a dispute with studio owner Hal Roach, and his contract was terminated. As the pair were signed separately, Hardy remained with Roach and appeared in the movie Zenobia alongside Harry Langdon. Stan Laurel sued Roach over the termination, but Roach agreed to take on Laurel again, if he dropped the case. He did.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiAeMz-OkGM

After the trouble Laurel and Hardy would only make two more films with Hal Roach, the last being Saps at Sea, before the pair joined 20th Century Fox in 1941. This is where things started to take a downturn. The contracts with Fox were much more lucrative, but allowed them less artistic freedom, and the pair suffered from the same problems that Buster Keaton had in the previous decade. Their films became more standard, and in turn less successful.

Stan Laurel previously had a lot of control over his work, but at Fox he had very little. The pair had always shot their movies in sequence before — now they weren’t able to. Also Fox employed their own screenwriters, which they never had at Roach, and the pair had little say over the direction of their work. The last three films for Fox fared a little better, with director Malcolm St. Clair seemingly letting the pair do what they do best on screen, but the scripts were uneven at best. The pair also did two movies with MGM during the 1940s, which were considered to be some of their worst.

By 1945, Laurel and Hardy had starred in eight movies for 20th Century Fox and MGM combined when the pair left the studio. Flattened by the experience of having little control over their act, the pair embarked on a six week music hall tour of the UK, which was met with huge acclaim and was extended to accommodate dates in Europe, as well as the Royal Variety Performance. In 1949, Stan Laurel discovered he had diabetes, and encouraged Oliver Hardy to find work without him, which led to Hardy appearing in The Fighting Kentuckian with John Wayne in 1949 and Frank Capra’s Riding High in 1950.

Laurel and Hardy were interested in making more pictures together, and were invited to France to make a big budget comedy, the infamous Atoll K. With an intended shooting schedule of three months, they would end up spending 12 months away from the United States to make the movie. Laurel was reportedly unhappy with the screenplay and to make matters worse, director Léo Joannon spoke little English, and Stan and Ollie spoke no French.

Illness and injury stalled the film continuously. Ollie was struck down with flu and suffered with atrial fibrillation, while Stan suffered from colitis and dysentery, on top of his worsening diabetes. Italian actor Adriano Rimoldi was also injured on set, and had to spend a month recuperating in hospital. Director Léo Joannon was eventually taken off the picture, and was replaced with blacklisted Hollywood director John Berry, who was credited under a different name.

Atoll K was eventually released under various different titles. Atoll K in France, Atollo K in Italy, Robinson Crusoeland in the UK and Utopia in the States. Each version was released at a different time and featured different editing and runtime. The film was critically savaged. The pair wouldn’t make another film together, but did make a number of televised appearances over the next few years. Hal Roach Jr attempted to negotiate a deal based on the popularity of these appearances, and hoped to create a number of specials called ‘Laurel and Hardy’s Fabulous Fables’, however the project was shelved due to the pair’s ill health.

Oliver Hardy suffered a heart attack in 1954. It was fairly mild, but doctors recommended he take care of himself. He did so and lost a dramatic amount of weight quickly, however those close to Hardy suggest he may have had terminal cancer, but this has never been confirmed. Hardy would then suffer a major stroke in 1956, which left him unable to communicate for some time, and became bed bound. He was hit by two more strokes in 1957, and died August 7th that year. Stan Laurel was too ill to make it to Oliver Hardy’s funeral, and was quoted as saying “Babe would understand.”

Stan Laurel was devastated by the death of his friend, and never fully recovered from it. He would continue to write Laurel and Hardy sketches for many years after Oliver’s death, and refused to appear on screen without him. Stan continued living in California for the rest of his life, and his number was publically available for anyone to call. Many future stars managed to contact Stan Laurel this way, and in later years met with the likes of Dick Van Dyke, Jerry Lewis and Peter Sellers.

Stan received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1961, which he was too ill to accept himself. He spent much of his retirement answering fan mail, but was offered a role in the huge 1963 hit ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’. Despite this, he would contribute some gags for comedy filmmakers. Stan Laurel passed away on the 23rd of February 1965, four days after suffering a heart attack. His funeral was attended by the likes of Dick Van Dyke and Buster Keaton, amongst others.

Laurel and Hardy have enjoyed peaks and troughs since their deaths, but despite the varying levels of popularity, they have never left the public consciousness. In the decades following their deaths, there have been a number of attempts to bring the pair back. A cartoon series by Hanna-Barbera was produced in the 1960s, and a DC comic book based on the series appeared in the early 70’. In 1999, a movie called ‘The All New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy in For Love or Mummy’ was released directed by John R. Cherry III, featuring actors playing the classic characters.

Even though it has been well over sixty years since their last movie, Laurel and Hardy have endured and are probably still America’s most famous, and certainly most recognisable, comedy duo. Their chemistry, writing, and timing made these two men masters of their art, but it was their love for silliness, cinema and most importantly, each other, that has made them two of the most beloved early movie stars to have ever lived.

Stan & Ollie is currently out in cinemas now.