The Independent: That's another fine birthday celebration

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Bruce Calvert
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The Independent: That's another fine birthday celebration

Postby Bruce Calvert » Sat Jun 20, 2009 2:50 pm

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment ... 81489.html

That's another fine birthday celebration
By Paul Whitington


Saturday June 20 2009

One hundred and nineteen years ago this week, a baby boy was born in Ulverston Lancashire who would end his life far from the factories and chimney stacks of his birthplace, and become half of the most famous double act the world has ever seen.

Arthur Stanley Jefferson was named after his father, but even his parents tended to call him Stan. It was when he was first touring in America in 1912 that he decided to adopt the stage name of Stan Laurel because he feared that 'Stanley Jefferson' would be too long for the posters. But it wasn't until he met one Oliver Norvell Hardy that Stanley's destiny as a comic legend was assured.

Though both men had established themselves as solid comic performers in Hollywood before they met, it was only when they came together that something special happened. Their physical differences were only one aspect of the magic formula that set them apart from the general run of silent comics, and they effortlessly survived the transition to sound.

Perhaps the secret of the duo's incredibly enduring appeal lies in the sheer unlikeliness of their partnership: two men from different continents and very different backgrounds, they should never even have met in the first place. And at the heart of their remarkable story is a very touching friendship.

Born on June 16, 1890, Stanley Jefferson was the child of theatre folk and grew up in awe of actors and the stage. He made his stage debut at 16, and quickly worked up a routine based on the acts of leading music hall comedians of the time. His slender frame and puzzled look marked him out as a natural comic, but he wasn't perhaps distinctive enough to make a big splash.

He was, however, a hard worker and a clever performer and by the age of 20 had become a leading comedian in the slapstick troupe of music hall impresario Fred Karno. He made his first trip to the US on the same boat as Charlie Chaplin -- both men were part of a Karno tour to America, and Laurel was Chaplin's understudy.

Stan settled in the States after being offered a part in a two-reel silent comedy called Nuts in May, in 1917. He first appeared on screen with Oliver Hardy in a film called The Lucky Dog, made in 1918 but not released till 1921. But Stan was the star, Ollie a bit player, and their combined potential went unspotted. They met again in the mid-1920s, when both were contracted to the Hal Roach Studios.

Their first proper film together was the 1926 short Putting Pants on Philip, a brisk and breezy affair in which they played a Scottish uncle and his nephew. It was hardly vintage stuff, but Leo McCarey saw that they were made for each other, and suggested that they work together permanently.

McCarey, an inspired director of comedy who would go on to make such classics as Duck Soup, co-wrote Laurel and Hardy's next film together, and it was in The Second 100 Years that the 'Stan' and 'Ollie' characters first appeared. Their gormless but strangely graceful slapstick found instant appeal -- it was the beginning of a partnership that would only end in death.

Born in Harlem, Georgia, on January 18, 1892, Oliver Hardy had grown up steeped in the lore of the old South. His father was a Civil War veteran, and not best pleased when his outgoing son developed an interest in acting. By 18 Hardy was running the local cinema, and became convinced he could do a better job than some of the hams up on the screen.

He moved to Hollywood and became a competent and sought-after comic performer at the Roach Studios and elsewhere, but like Stan Laurel was a bit like a joke in search of a punchline -- until he found his other half.

Though they would perform together until the mid-1950s, Laurel and Hardy's heyday was comparatively brief. After becoming a star act in the last days of the silent era, they survived and thrived in the transition to sound. Stan and Ollie's appeal was only enhanced by the microphones, as Hardy's rich southern drawl and Laurel's plaintive English whine added to the glaring contrast between them.

In the 1930s, they became two of the biggest stars in Hollywood through a string of often brilliant 30-odd minute comedies that combined slapstick with moments of surprising elegance and grace. Pack Up Your Troubles, Babes in Toyland, Sons of the Desert and The Music Box among others contain some of the most disarmingly funny routines ever committed to film. But though they continued to make a series of commercially successful movies in the 1940s, they were considered inferior to their finest work, and their box office appeal began to decline.

Their popularity with the public, however, did not, and with the advent of television their short films would become beloved staples on the network schedules.

What has made their comedy endure is a very distinctive mix of emotion and madness. The seeming ease of their routine was in fact carefully worked out and meticulously planned by Laurel. It was he who came up with the bowler hats, their mutual gormlessness, and their touchingly childlike approach to the world. And he tirelessly rewrote routines and scripts to make sure they were up to scratch.

Neither of them made much money for their trouble, mainly thanks to the unscrupulous Hal Roach. They fell out with Roach, but never with each other, and their close friendship persisted through financial troubles and their various marriages (Stan alone had five). It was the jovial and easygoing 'Babe' Hardy who died first, of a stroke in 1957, at the age of 65. Stan Laurel was so depressed and broken by his friend's departure that he was unable to attend the funeral, commenting simply that "Babe would understand".

He vowed never to act again and he kept his promise, though he did welcome wellwishers and professional admirers like Jerry Lewis and Dick Van Dyke to his modest Santa Monica apartment. When he died in 1965, Van Dyke gave the eulogy and comic royalty like Buster Keaton turned out to see him off. On his grave are the words 'Stan Laurel -- A Master of Comedy', which just about sums it up.

pwhitington(at)independent.ie

- Paul Whitington

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