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Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are probably the most famous comedy duo in film history.
Stan Laurel (June 16, 1890 - February 23, 1965) was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire (now Ulverston, Cumbria), England. Laurel began his career as a comedian in English music halls where he was an understudy to Charlie Chaplin in Fred Karno's comedy company. He emigrated to America in 1910 and embarked on a vaudeville career. He made his first film appearance in 1917 (Nuts in May). He stayed in film and did minor and undistinguished work for Hal Roach, Anderson and Universal.
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Before his partnership with Oliver, Stan appeared solo in more than 50 silent one-reelers and two-reelers. He had to use eyeliner, as his pale blue eyes wouldn't photograph well on the black and white film at the time. He also removed the heels from his shoes to give himself a "foolish" walk.
Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 - August 7, 1957) was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia, near Augusta. When he turned 18, he changed his first name to that of his father, who died before he was a year old, thenceforth calling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy". He was nicknamed '"Babe".
Before Hardy started his film career as a "heavy" actor in 1914 (Outwitting Dad), he had been a movie house projectionist/manager at the Palace Theater in Milledgeville, GA. Before his partnership with Stan, Oliver appeared solo in more than 250 silent one- and two-reelers, only about 100 of which are extant. He starred in the 1939 feature film Zenobia without Laurel, playing a role unlike the "Ollie" persona.
Hardy had a very pleasant singing voice, and often enjoyed performing for those on the set as well as singing in his own movies.
The first encounter of the two comedians in a film took place in The Lucky Dog (1921). They first appeared in the same Hal Roach film in Forty-Five Minutes From Hollywood (1926), and their first 'official' film was The Second Hundred Years (June 1927), directed by Fred Guiol and supervised by Leo McCarey, who was the one to suggest that Stanley and Oliver be teamed permanently.
From 1926 onwards they starred in Hal Roach comedies, including silent shorts, talkie shorts and feature films – 106 in all. They made a great number of popular shorts before their first feature film with director James Parrott, Pardon Us (1931). The duo reduced the number of shorts they made to concentrate on feature films, such as Pack Up Your Troubles (1932), Fra Diavolo (1933), Sons of the Desert (1933), and Babes in Toyland (1934). They made the classic short The Music Box in 1932, which won the Academy Award for Best Short Subjects, Comedy, and stopped making shorts in 1935.
The duo's subsequent feature films (produced by Roach and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) were Bonnie Scotland (1935), The Bohemian Girl (1936), Our Relations (1936), Way Out West (1937), Swiss Miss (1938), and Blockheads (1938).
Way Out West includes the famous song "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine", sung "straight" by a group of cowboys, and then later obviously lip-synched by Stan, who appears to be singing it in a deep baritone voice. Ollie whacks him over the head, and he sings the last part of it in a girlish voice, just before passing out. The song was released as a single in 1975 and reached No. 2 in the UK charts. |
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LAUREL & HARDY PICTURES |
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