Roach - Laurel Relationship

[Gary Johnson]

I've been reading varying accounts of how Roach & Laurel's business relationship
soured after BABES IN TOYLAND. Randy Skretvedt seems to imply that they
rarely talked after that movie while Richard Bann insists that they stayed friends
right up to their contract termination in 1940.

Is the truth somewhere in the middle?

[Richard M Roberts]

I've been reading varying accounts of how Roach & Laurel's business relationship
soured after BABES IN TOYLAND. Randy Skretvedt seems to imply that they
rarely talked after that movie while Richard Bann insists that they stayed friends
right up to their contract termination in 1940.

Is the truth somewhere in the middle?

Yes.

I've really got the impression from the way Roach talked about all of his comedians ln late-life that he really didn;t like any of them greatly. Ironically, I also think that somewhere deep-down, Roach never really wanted to be a comedy film producer at all, it was just what he found success at and then it was at the mercy of comedians who always wanted more money and the ability to call the shots. All through his career, Roach was always trying to break away and make serious films, westerns, serials, etc.,and then in the thirties when he was really forced to become a feature producer, treated his comedian assets rather cavalierly, to his and his studios final detriment. Even with Laurel and Hardy being his top asset in the late thirties, he was always coming to loggerheads with Laurel, sometimes rightly on Laurel's side over control of their films and contract issues (Roach always tried to keep them separate by having their contracts lapse at different times), and sometimes rightly on Roach's side during a period when Laurel's personal life was out of control.
Think about it, most comedians are not the most loveable human beings to begin with, and you're running a studio full of them. Laurel and Hardy had various personal issues, Charley Chase had drinking, personal, and health issues, Thelma Todd was dating unsavory characters and having an troubled personal life, and even Roach's production staffs like Jimmy Parrott, Robert McGowan, Frank Terry, among others all had interesting troubles of their own. Keeping them all working on anything resembling an even keel and dealing with Louis B. Mayer above you doesn;t sound like a picnic.



RICHARD M ROBERTS