Laurel and Hardy
Stan and Ollie

With the rise of television in the 1950's the baby boomers became familiar with the movie actors and actresses of the 1930's and 40's. Certainly the most popular comedy team were Larry Fine and the Howard brothers, Moe, Curly, and Shemp. The Three Stooges - although there were actually six or arguably seven - had specialized in short subjects. That is, their films lasted between 15 and 20 minutes to be shown as a comedic prelude for whatever full length film was being shown. But the brevity of the "shorts" was perfect for adopting to the small screen programing medium. During the 1950's and early 1960's, the Stooges could be found on all channels.

On the other hand comedians of the era who specialized in full length films - Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, and W. C. Fields - were not widely popular with the kids. If the movies were shown it was usually in the late night slots. That was too late for most of the kids unless their parents were not at home and the baby sitters ignored the stipulated bedtimes.

Also the films - particularly those with Groucho and W. C. - often had a bit of a risqué repartée (even though we all know Mae West did not ask W. C. Fields "Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"). The real "rediscovery" of the Marx Brothers and W. C. Fields wouldn't happen until the late 1960's when the baby boomers were old enough to leave home.

One exception to the feature films not being suitable for the kiddies and convenient for the TV scheduling were the pictures of the comedic duo of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. During the 50's and 60's Stan and Ollie's feature films appeared in late afternoons and even on Saturday mornings. Although not as popular as the Stooges, they were popular enough.

Much of Stan and Ollie's humor arose from their unique vocal delivery - Stan with his slightly Americanized English accent and his air of distraction together with his weeping distress whenever something went wrong. All this was in contrast to Ollie with his long suffering sense of pompous exasperation who clearly thought he was the intellectual of the pair although he was really as much of a bumbler as Stan. Everyone knew who Laurel and Hardy was and they had the ultimate compliment paid to them as they became favorite targets for impressionists and impersonators, both for their appearance and their voices.

What surprised many of the baby boomers was when they learned that Laurel and Hardy had also been one of the biggest comedy acts in silent films. The actual number of films they made varies considerably depending on source and definition. But we can say with some confidence that they filmed 15 silent shorts from 1921 to 1929 after which they switched to sound. From 1930 to 1952 they shot 15 full feature sounds and 40 short talkies.

It's important to remember that not all of the shorts with Laurel and Hardy featured the Laurel and Hardy team. A goodly number of the films were simply short subjects which featured Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Before then both men and performed in a number of films and Oliver also performed on stage where he displayed his fine tenor voice.

Stan was also a veteran of the music halls. Both of his parents - Arthur and Madge Jefferson - were actors and his dad managed a theater. Yes, Laurel was a stage name and Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born in Ulverston, England in 1890. When working in the theater he had been the understudy for Charlie Chaplin. Ollie, though, had been born in Georgia in a family that before the Civil War had been prosperous. However, changes in American Society after 1865 put the family - if not in poverty - then in less genteel circumstances.

Ollie was born Norvell Hardy near Augusta, Georgia in 1892. He adopted the name Orville from his father who had died when Ollie was less than a year old. All his life his best friends called him "Babe". His mother took in boarders but Ollie naturally tended toward performing and began to sing in theaters. Working in such an exotic profession was not that unusual even for a down-home boy since there was a considerable demand for talented entertainers. If you wanted entertainment and music, it had to be live entertainment and music.

By the time both men were in their twenties, motion pictures had already emerged as a popular form of entertainment. The popularity wasn't just with the public. Theater owners preferred the new media as well. After the initial capital investment for the projectors, it was far cheaper to show films than pay live actors for each performance.

Stan's first film was Nuts in May in 1917. This was filmed in England but was shown in Los Angeles later that year. Carl Laemmle, one of the founders of Universal Pictures, saw the film and signed Stan with the studio. Stan soon got the reputation of being not just a hard working actor but a talented writer and director as well although he rarely got credit for the latter contributions.

Stan had over 80 films before he appeared in The Lucky Dog in 1921. This was produced by one of the dynamic duo of early comedy films, Hal Roach (Max Sennett was the other, albeit independent, member of the duo). Stan was the star and one of the supporting characters was Oliver Hardy. This was the first film to feature both Stan and Ollie although it's not, strictly speaking, a Laurel and Hardy movie.

It wasn't until 1927 that we see both men as a comedy team with the release of Hats Off. By then silent pictures were on their way out. A number of silent actors made the transition to sound - including John Wayne, Gary Cooper, and Gloria Swanson. But Stan and Ollie were probably the only comedy team that were more popular after they moved to sound.

Stan and Ollie's last real film was The Bullfighters in 1945 although strictly speaking they later made Robinson Crusoeland which was a big flop. Still they were hired by Hal Roach to make another series of films. Then in 1955 Ollie had a major stroke that left him incapacitated. He died in 1957.

Ollie's first marriage had been unhappy and lasted seven years. He remarried (happily) in 1920 and became much the family man who after a day's work preferred hitting the golf course and then going home . Stan, though, had a confusing set of relationships of marriage, remarriage, and common-law marriage with a number of women. Naturally this made for a tempestuous and complicated personal life. Stan himself died in 1965.

References

Stan and Ollie: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy, Simon Louvish, Faber and Faber, 2001.

Babe : Life of Oliver Hardy, John McCabe, Citadel Press, 1989.

The Comedy World Of Stan Laurel, John McCabe, Doubleday 1974.

Stan: The Life of Stan Laurel, Fred Guiles, Stein and Day, 1980.

"Stan Laurel's Life in Laughter", Randy Skretvedt, UCLA Film and Television Archive, https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/support/stan-laurels-life-laughter