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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (May 24, 1961)
The Nebraskon Wednesday, May 24, Poge 4 To Laurel and Hardy, with Love... By Joha C. West There's a scene from an early six-reel comedy where a fat man with a derby hat and a tall, thin man with a sad face find themselves imprisoned for bootlegging. (They sold their first batch to a Prohibition agent.) As part of their rehabilitation, they , are enrolled in a classroom in which the following dialogue takes place: Teacher: "Three goes into nine how many times?" Stan: "Three time . . . Teacher: "Correct!" SUa: ". . . and two left aver." ' (OIlie laughs unroariously.) Teacher: "What are yon laughing for?" OIlie: "There's only one left over." (from PARDON US, 193 1) For years, the intelligentsia heaped lav ish praise upon clowns like Charles Chaplin and the Marx Bros. at the same time treat ing two of their equals with snobbish neglect. But, the release of Robert Youngson's THE GOLDEN AGE OF COMEDY and WHEN COMEDY WAS KING has revealed to astonished critics, and a less astonished public, just how amusing a team Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were. Starring in 62 short comedies and 27 feature-length films (made between 1926 and 1950), these two remarkable funnymen made an indel ible contribution to an artfonn developed in our century and our nation. Why was their greatness forgottea? Per haps because Laarel and Hardy defied eoa ventioa. They never played for tears, com pletely ignoring the axiom that a down mast make aadieaces cry, as well as langa. And, ia so doing, their humor shrewdly avoided the tragic hamiliatioa that other comedians chose to undergo ia the name of pathos. They were merely fanny! Also, Stan and OHie sever coascionsly injected into their picture the elements of social sig nificance which often eonfnsed the comic artfnlaess of Chaplin, Guaness, Tati, etc. bat which delighted the critics. "Never try to outsmart the aadieaee," was Laurel's simple credo. 'And play to the people they did! The humor of Laurel and Hardy was pre dicated upon situation. In THE MUSIC BOX (Academy Award winner, 1932), the boys buff, puff and grunt in their attempt to get a piano up a high-terraced rise of steps leading from the street to a house on top of the hill When they finally reach the top, a postman informs them that it would have been easier to drive the piano up a back road. Gracefully, they thank him and toil back down the stairs to return via the easier way. The late critic, James Agee recalled a famous scene in SWISS MISS (1338): "sim ple and real ... as a nightmare. Laurel and Hardy are trying to move a pka across a narrow suspension bridge (a piaAO was oft en a not-so-silent partner to L-&IL antics). The bridge is slung over a sickening chasm, between a couple of alps. Midway they meet a gorilla!" In BLOCKHEADS (1338), Ollie's wife chases him and Stan around the back of an apartment building. When she fires at them with a shotgun, about 25 guys jump out of various windows some of them car rying their trousers. Perhaps this seems blunt, but one has to admit it's awfully funny. The contrast of characters between the fat and the thin man added greatly to their appeaL Stan was always one beat behind everyone else's thinking: the classic simple tea, the odd-maa-oat, the rebeCious child who, more often than not, struck back at adversity fast long enough to conquer It- It was be who fostered the Insane schemes which inevitably backfired ia OSk's face while staa stood by unharmed, looking "3 T --IWs x" c S - ' , f with helpless wonder npoa the chaos be had innocently caused. "Here's another fine mess yoa've gotten me into," was Ms part ner's standard reaction. As Stan was the light-footed, timid little creature, the round and juicy Oliver walked with elegant self-assurance. But, behind his delicate, elephantine gestures, exasperated pompousness, sublime incompetence and elaborate bows, beat a heart even more in nocent and child-like than that of Stan's. Hardy effectively stretched the simplest reactions and situations to ever-amusing lengths. In BE BIG (1930), he labored for two reels to get a riding boot onto his enor mous foot His small talk was magnificant: "A lot of weather we've been having lately." Pause and grin. "Only four months until Christmas." (from WAY OUT WEST, 1937). Their most natural contrasts were of sound and size. Laarel speaks to this day with a Lancaslure-Qdaey-Ho33ywood ac cent which is, for the most part, an out . growth of his early musk hall days. Hardy's voice was a warm and gentle Southern tenor. And, as the anatomy of their humor is appealing, the humor of their anatomy was even more so. For without Stan's long jawer, dopey expressions, and the pained resignation OIlie achieved simply by ar- L ' It' 1 ... v y a Joha Charles West was reared ia Chicago and came to the University of Nebraska ia IS5A. He has eentianed his major to radio and television prod actio fate gradaate sehooL Intensive interest, fa all aspects of filmmaking hat inspired his leadership ia Nebraska Uaioa FOm Committee activities sad the motion picture column be eoadacted for the Daily Nebraskaa for five semesters. This essay is based apoa a personal eorre speadence with Staa Laarel and research gathered for "The Comedy FOm," a pro gram ia KUON-TVs forthcoming documen tary series, THE FLICKERING AST. ranging his dimples, an important part of the act would have been lost. An endearing aspect of Laurel and Hardy's screen personalities was their basic child ish innocence. Dr. John McCabe, ia his re cent biography, "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy," summed it np best by observing that they were "the epitome of all the Babes in all the Woods.' Danny Kaye later pointed oat that this made as laugh "he cause, la them, we saw ourselves rldica loits, frustrated, ap to ear necks in trouble, bat nevertheless ourselves." Off the screen, Stan and "Babe" (as Oliver had been called for years in private life) were not a great deal unlike the charac ters they created. Hardy was courtly, gen tle, a good golfer, and sensitive about his size. Laurel, now 70, enjoys the relatively quiet life he did in the years the films were made. He resides with bis wife in a Santa Monica apartment-hotel, where much of his time is spent personally answering quan tities of fan mail from an admiring world wide public which his films on television have helped to increase. Not well known is the fact that Stan himself had a forceful hand in the writing, direction and editing of most of the Laurel and Hardy pictures. From his fertile mind sprang many of the universally humorous notions that have been borrowed so freely by other comedians in later years (Gteason and Carney, etc.). For his real,, and characteristically unassuming, achieve ment in the Field of film comedy, he was awarded an Oscar by the Academy of Mo tion Picture Arts and Sciences earlier this year. Because of an eye hemorrhage, Stan was unable to receive his award in-person, however, be has recently announced that a return to health will allow him to act as story consultant in a proposed theater and TV series of cartoons built around the Laurel and Hardy characters. Oliver Hardy died in August of 1957. Laurel later recalled: " yoa'd think people would forget, bat they dent. The love aad affection we found that day at Ceba (daring a 1933 persoaal appearance fear ia Ireland) was simply aa believable. There were hundreds of boats blowing whistles, and mobs aad mobs of people screaming on the docks. We jast couldn't understand what it was aS about. Aad then something happened that I eaa ever forget. All the church bells ia Cobb started to ring out our theme song ("The Cukoo Song"), aad Babe looked at me, aad we cried. Maybe people loved us aad oar pictures because we put so much love in them. I dent know. 111 aever forget that day. Never ... He (Babe) was like a brother to me. We seemed to sease each other. ... whatever I did was tops with him. There was never aay argument between as, never. I hope that wherever he is now that he realizes bow mora people loved aim." Perhaps the greatest distinction of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's comedy work was their ability to perform with equal suc cess in both silent and talking pictures. As other comedians had felt out of place in sound films (Notably, Keaton; Chaplin waited 13 years after the coming of sound to speak on the screen), Stan and OILe were equally at home when the movies assumed their new dimension. The act was qukkly adapted to include inventive sound effects (Stan clunks OIlie on the head ia THE PER FECT DAY, 1929. and the blow sounds l ie an anvil striking a hammeran idea later stolen by cartoon producers), and musical numbers (the son and dance routines ia WAY OUT WEST). At the same time, their sound pictures retained an essential rerpect for their abilities with panlomine. Dialogue was always subordnale to sight gags. (Continued Page f )
