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FEATURE FILMS |
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Stan and Ollie made their first feature film in 1931 entitled Pardon Us. A six reeler with Hardy singing Southern songs and included a soft shoe dance routine. This was followed by Pack Up Your Troubles (1932) but after seven years of film making it was time for a rest. Stan decided to take his family to see relatives in England and Oliver decided to play some golf in Scotland. However, the duo had no idea just how popular they really were. They were mobbed in Chicago and New York by fans, reporters and photographers. They set sail on board the Aquitania, to England arriving in Southampton to hordes of fans whistling their theme tune, The Cuckoo Waltz. The number of fans delayed the train to London where even more fans awaited their arrival. MGM set up a cash-in tour and they visited Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. To escape the attention the duo went to France only to be met by the president s car to take them to their complimentary suites at Claridges. They quite simply had no idea that they had a huge following world-wide. Back at the Roach studios they went on to make eighteen films, twelve of these being feature length. Although it was never in doubt that their comedy was better suited to the shorts, the big money lay in the features. Some of these features were often of poor quality because they were to use different directors for comedy and straight sequences. Also, Laurel and Hardy found they had less input than the earlier films. Some of these films were Fra Diavolo (The Devil's Brother, 1933), the excellent Sons Of The Desert (1934), Babes In Toyland (1934), Bonnie Scotland (1936) and The Bohemian Girl (1936). The next feature was produced by Stan Laurel Productions for Hal Roach, Our Relation's (1936). Probably their best feature was Way Out West (1937), another Stan Laurel Production. This movie more than any other, shows Laurel and Hardy at their very best. Everything about this movie, the dancing outside the saloon, the songs (including the team's duet, The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine which, reached number two in the UK charts in 1975), Jimmy Finlayson, Sharon Lynne. . . . If you only ever own one Laurel and Hardy film, make it this one (with a copy of The Music Box of course). More features followed, Swiss Miss (1938), the very visual Blockheads (1938) and for RKO Radio they made Flying Deuces (1939). Script clerk for this picture, Lucille Jones later went on to marry Oliver on 7th March 1940. A Chump At Oxford, Saps At Sea both made in 1940 were to be the last pictures for Roach. The lure of live work beckoned again and The Laurel and Hardy Revue toured the Midwest and East Coast and a smaller version of the show went on to the Caribbean and Detroit, and later Boston until Oliver's laryngitis saw the show closed.
It was two years away from film making that they entered into agreements with Twentieth Century Fox and MGM and made eight films between 1941 and 1945. These films are now considered by many as their worst and unfortunately this writer has seen very few of them. The films are rarely shown on British television but are available on video. Some of them are A Haunting We Will Go, Jitterbugs and The Bullfighters. Laurel and Hardy can be forgiven as they had no control over the films, the material according to the resource material I have used was, tired and mediocre, with tight production schedules which , left no time to create new scenes and dialogue more appropriate to their ageing characters.
1945 saw the boys deciding to get out more. Bernard Delfont approached the boys to tour the music halls of Great Britain, they accepted. Stan married Russian, Ida Kitaeva and they set sail to England. Their popularity was still in evidence and they played to packed houses, they continued to pack'em in, in Sweden, Belgium and France. The tour was so successful, three more followed. Back in the states Hardy appeared in the 1949 John Wayne film, The Fighting Kentuckian and followed by Frank Capra's Riding High (1950) in a cameo appearance.
1950 and a French producer ask them to make a film in France. At last Laurel and Hardy were back together to star in a brand new feature. The film took a year to make and was beset with problems. Communications problems with the crew speaking French and Italian and the stars in English, did not help with the production. Also during the filming of this film, Atoll K (1950-51) Stan became very ill, had an operation and lost 50 pounds. He however struggled on but his appearance in the film for this writer was harrowing. It is hard to laugh when it is plain to see that he just looks so ill and ravaged. To make matters even worse, Stan contracted diabetes and the duo returned home after filming. 1952 saw Stan well enough to complete another nine month tour of Britain. Again these dates were very successful and another tour for 1953 was planned and a moving reception awaited them in Cobh, Ireland, Hundreds of their fans greeted them, cheering and whistling. Stan recalls ". . .something happened that I can never forget. All the church bells in Cobh started to ring out our theme song, and Babe (Hardy) looked at me, and we cried. Maybe people loved us and our pictures because we put so much love in them. I don't know. I'll never forget that day. Never." They returned to the States in 1954 for retirement. Their popularity has never really faded. Their films have been sold to television distributors and television stations and their images used for advertising. They however never received any royalties from this usage. They commented that they did not mind this but were not happy about their images being used for advertising purposes (just as well they are not around today then –ED). Television stations were still getting telephones calls, and letters asking if they were still around, this interest was enough for Hal Roach Jr, to approach them with a proposal for a comeback. The year was 1955, they agreed to make four hour long television films, shooting was about to begin when Stan had a stroke. It was not serious but filming was postponed. However then Oliver became ill and his doctor instructed him to lose weight because of a heart condition which, had prompted two minor heart attacks. These attack had been kept quiet but he took the doctors advice and lost 100 pounds. All seemed well when in 1956 , he suffered a very serious stroke, which left him paralysed and speechless. To make matters worse he also had a gall bladder condition which could not be operated on because of his weak heart. Oliver was still keen to work but alas it was not to be. Oliver Norvell Hardy passed away on 7th August 1957. It was the end of an era. Laurel and Hardy had been together for twenty nine years, now it was over but their popularity continued to soar. By the 1960's a revival was in full swing. Stan, although beset by illness, continued to write fan mail. Stan was given an honary Academy Award for his contribution to film comedy and shortly before his death he helped create a group called The Sons of the Desert (named after the film of the same name), a scholarly and social group to the continuing enjoyment of Laurel and Hardy movies. Different cities were givens tent names each named after one of their movies and Stan helped to ensure that it would neither be merely a fan club nor take itself too seriously. Stan died shortly before his seventieth birthday on 23rd February 1965. To this writer Laurel and Hardy are the funniest comedy duo ever. I own most of their films on video and not many weeks go by when I don't watch one (or five) of them. They are so popular that most, if not all their films, have been restored and updated using computer colour technology. It is a little strange though to watch L&H in colour. It is hard to sum up Laurel and Hardy in just a few sentences, I could write several pages on just how much I like them, however, I would like to sum up by using a phrase written by Bill Scott from the compilation film, The Crazy World of Laurel and Hardy. He said "A whole generation of movie goers from Alaska to Zanzibar have laughed at these two beguiling blockheads. So it seems their crazy world of make believe must be a real world to millions of people, a world ruled by two monarchs of merriment, who asked only the loyalty of the light heart. In their pictures they have left us such a legacy of laughter that it is with deep respect and thanks, that we bid farewell, if only for a while, to Mr. Laurel, and Mr. Hardy. Two funny Gentlemen and two funny gentle men." To some of the younger readers of Free For All, Laurel and Hardy may be something that belongs to the past, well if you are one of them, try and check them out A.S.A.P. you just might be surprised and all the better for it.
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