GENTLE PIANO MUSIC
What's your name?
Stanley Laurel.
Say "sir" when you're addressing me.
Now, what's your name?
Sir, Stanley Laurel.
What's your name?
Oliver Norvell Hardy.
Sir.
Laurel and Hardy.
Laurel et Hardy.
Dick und Doof.
HE SCREAMS
THEY LAUGH
APPLAUSE
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
TYPEWRITER CLACKS
Stan Laurel in the early '60s.
He lives with his wife Ida in Santa Monica, California.
Laurel is retired after leaving showbusiness.
For 30 years he and his best pal Oliver Hardy were a team.
PHONE RINGS
The world-famous comedian has no star complex.
He is even listed in the phone book.
I called him up on the phone and I said, "Hi, is this Stan Laurel?"
He says, "It certainly is. Who's this, lad? What's your name?"
I said, "Chuck McCann."
He said, "Does your mother know you're calling?"
I said, "Well, I'm calling..." "Where you calling from?"
I said, "New York City." He says, "Oh, my golly!"
In those days it was more than a quarter a minute, you know?
He says, "You make sure your mother knows you're calling."
I said, "No, it's absolutely all right,
"Mr Laurel, I just wanna say hello to you," and so forth.
We carried on and had a wonderful conversation.
What do you think of it? It's very nice. Brief.
And right to the point.
Laurel and Hardy's comedies are also shown on TV.
So Stan is swamped by fan mail from all over the world.
He answers every letter personally.
And he continues to write new skits,
although he knows that Laurel and Hardy will never stand in front
of a camera again.
Once a comedian, always a comedian.
He still was fascinated by the idea of Laurel and Hardy today.
How would Stan do it? How would they do it?
Such things as at that time we were talking about going to the moon
and he would be thinking about,
"What would Laurel and Hardy do if they were astronauts?"
So he continued playing with the idea of the characters.
We sure used to have a lot of fun, didn't we? We sure did.
You remember how dumb I used to be? Yeah.
Well, I'm better now. Well, I'm certainly glad to hear it.
Stan Laurel can look back on a great career.
He and his partner made 106 comedies together.
Laurel and Hardy are the best-known
and most popular comedy duo in the world.
Did you ever have any relatives?
Where were you born?
I don't know.
Fancy not knowing where you were born!
Well, I was too young to remember!
How do I know where I was born?
The county of Cumbria in north-western England.
Stan Laurel is born in the sleepy town of Ulverston
on the 16th of June 1890 as Arthur Stanley Jefferson...
..in this house.
And this is where he spends the first years of his childhood.
Stan's father was in showbusiness.
As a comedian.
On the birth certificate he's listed as a comedian.
However, by Stan's birth he was mainly doing more to do with
management. He managed theatres up and down the country -
in Ulverston there was a small theatre,
in North Shields, and in Glasgow also.
Arthur Jefferson, also known as AJ, has a leading actress -
his wife and Stanley's mother, Madge Jefferson.
What have I got to do with it?
What have you got to do with it?
I don't want to get mixed up in this thing.
I have my future.
My career to think of.
And for Arthur Stanley Jefferson, that started at an early age.
He was just nine when he began staging little plays at home.
At first, Stan's father is amused by his son's talents as an actor.
But he soon worries,
because AJ knows how difficult it is to earn your living as a comedian.
Nevertheless, Stan is magically attracted to the stage.
He secretly writes little comedy skits for himself
during the next few years.
Stan first appeared on stage at 16 in Glasgow.
Without his father's knowing.
He actually appeared in his dad's greatest rival's theatre.
He stole his dad's best suit, cut the pants off
and stood up and did a little turn.
Little did he know that his dad was in that night and saw him perform.
Stan got home, full of himself - he'd gone down quite well -
and got home, full of himself.
His dad calls him into the study and says,
"Come in, son. Have a whiskey." And that was it.
His dad accepted him as a performer.
And so Stan celebrates his first successful performances
as a boy comedian and pantomime in the English music halls.
At 19 Stan is discovered by Fred Karno,
the internationally renowned theatre producer.
SHIP'S HORN BLASTS
In 1910 Stanley goes on tour with one of Karno's vaudeville troupes.
All the way across the USA.
At last you're using my brain.
The state of Georgia in south-eastern America.
A region characterised by cotton plantations
and stately mansions in the opposing style of the Southern States.
Oliver Norvell Hardy is born here in the little town of Harlem
on the 18th of January 1892.
He will continue to say his full name with great
relish for the rest of his life.
He loves the dignified sound of it.
Oliver Norvell Hardy.
His father, Oliver Hardy Senior, dies shortly after Oliver is born.
Oliver's mother Emily raises him and his siblings by herself.
And she becomes a hotel manager.
Ollie likes to imitate people and therefore he studied
and observed all the people in the hotel.
He did this to entertain his family, too. They loved it.
I knew it the minute I set eyes on him. You did? Yeah.
That's one thing I pride myself on, is reading character.
Is that so? Yeah.
A young reader of character with an enormous appetite.
By the age of 15
Oliver has already eaten his way up to round about 240lbs.
Yet despite his corpulence he is athletic
and he is exceptionally talented.
MUSIC PLAYS
# Shine on
# Shine on harvest moon
# Up in the sky
# I ain't
# Had no loving since January, April, June or July
# Snow time
# Ain't no time to stay outdoors and spoon
# Shine on
# Shine on harvest moon
# For me and my girl. #
Oliver studies for a short time at the Music Conservatory.
But he drops out and discovers his passion for the movies at 18.
He gets a job at the first movie theatre in town as a gofer.
Hardy works as ticket taker and projectionist.
A short time later he becomes the assistant manager.
The movies he sees on the big screen are usually short comedies
shot in rapid succession.
JAUNTY PIANO MUSIC
He would watch the actors on the screen
and he always thought that he could do better than them.
So Oliver Hardy decides to become an actor.
He heads for Jacksonville, Florida, which is
America's first movie capital - long before Hollywood.
The city is located about 250 miles south of Hardy's birthplace.
Are you from the South? Sure am.
Well, fan my brow! I'm from the South.
You are? Mm-hmm. Well, shut my mouth, I's from the South, too.
South of what, sir? The South of London.
London!
SHIP'S HORN BLASTS
In 1913, Stan leaves the south of England, travelling across the
Atlantic for the second time with Karno's theatre troupe,
on his way to America.
On board is another up and coming British comedian,
Charlie Chaplin - the star of the vaudeville company.
Chaplin and Laurel are friends.
And he is Charlie's substitute.
Both men have been shaped by the English music halls.
Stan is a good replacement for Charlie - very good.
In fact, difficult to distinguish from the original.
In America, Chaplin is immediately discovered for the movies.
He leaves the vaudeville company and Stan jumps in.
But there are problems without Chaplin, the star.
That's what's the matter. You see, we're not illiterate enough.
I guess you're right. Sure I'm right.
Stan stays in the USA and starts his first own comedy troupe -
the Keystone Trio,
later called the Stan Jefferson Trio.
The comedians perform in various vaudeville theatres.
Stan wants to change his name because "Stan Jefferson"
doesn't sound particularly perky to him.
Besides that, the name has 13 letters - a possible jinx?
In any case, too long for most posters.
Especially movie posters.
And that is where he wants to appear as soon as possible.
Stan Laurel is born.
And soon afterwards he is actually discovered for the movies.
He makes comedies for various studios.
JAUNTY PIANO MUSIC
But it still doesn't make Stan a star.
A fate he shares with Oliver Hardy.
When Ollie started in films he wasn't the comedian.
They made him the heavy, the villain.
And he was generally moustached and was chasing the girl.
..horribly stupid. He's not quite broken in yet.
Rather thick, as it were.
In fact, Oliver Hardy is a brilliantly versatile actor.
I never thought of that.
I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings, Ollie.
I didn't mean to be so dis-polite.
That's all right, Stanley. Let bygones be bygones.
Also bygone is Oliver's first marriage to the pianist
Madelyn Saloshin, whom he wedded in 1913.
His wife divorces him.
But his career continues - Hardy, as a woman, on a poster.
He performs under his nickname, "Babe" Hardy.
In an interview from 1950, he remembers how he got the name.
There's a funny way that I got the name of Babe.
That was years and years ago. I had my first shave.
So the barber went in and he charged me a dime and he put some powder,
he says, "That's all right, baby, you're clean."
In 1921 Babe is signed for the comedy The Lucky Dog.
In the movie he's supposed to ambush the leading man...
Stan Laurel.
JAUNTY PIANO MUSIC
The first mutual appearance of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
A coincidental encounter.
It will be years before Babe encounters Stan again.
It'll have a tendency to promote me to higher...endeavours.
PHONE RINGS I'll get it.
Off to America's new film capital - Los Angeles.
LA in the early '20s.
More and more motion picture studios are opening here.
Those who have made their mark either in front of or behind
the camera now live in the exclusive part of town -
Beverly Hills.
High society's top address.
But not Stan Laurel. Not yet, anyway.
His first address in Los Angeles a great deal more modest.
Stan has a big problem.
Her name is May Charlotte Dahlberg.
The Australian his been his partner for years, both on stage
and privately.
May Dahlberg was jealous of Stan's success in films.
And she was also jealous of the ladies he worked with,
so she wanted to be in the films - she insisted -
and this caused a lot of friction,
a lot of bickering between the two of them.
On the set May is also quite feisty,
and in regard to acting she's more like a...talent-free zone.
In real life Stan is actually under May's thumb.
So he starts drinking more frequently.
Stan tries to drown his relationship problems with alcohol.
Something which can't be concealed from the producers.
Why don't you pattern your life after mine?
I go places and do things and THEN tell my wife.
Every man should be the king in his own castle.
Oliver Hardy also has his drinking problems.
But he isn't the one who drinks.
It's his second wife, the actress Myrtle Lee Reeves.
In the meantime, Hardy also lives and works in Los Angeles.
He appears particularly often with the comedian Larry Semon,
who is already a big star. And Babe is his roguish adversary.
Semon is an avid golfer
and he introduces Hardy to the art of the game.
It catches fire with Babe who goes on to become a passionate golfer -
Hollywood's best.
For years it was almost unnecessary to hold any golf tournaments
because Babe would win everything. His name was on all those prizes.
Hardy is a member of the famous Lakeside Golf Club in Hollywood.
He plays here almost every day after leaving the studio,
and meets his friends.
Babe wants to escape from his marital problems -
on the golf course or at the horse races.
He also gambles, often, and for a lot of money.
A passion that will burn inside him for all his life.
He had lost a lot of money gambling
and so when Hal Roach offered him a job, a weekly salary,
under contract, he was very grateful.
In the early '20s Hal Roach is already a famous movie producer.
He moves his studio to Culver City, a town not far from Hollywood.
Here you can still sense the charm of the early days.
Hal Roach founded his company in 1914.
And in 1919 he was persuaded by Harry Culver to relocate to the
former barley and bean fields of Culver City.
And from 1919 until 1960 it was comedy's home.
They called it "the lot of fun."
Roach specialised in comedies.
He celebrates his first success with the comedy series
The Little Rascals.
Lucky Brown was a guest star in 1928...
at the age of five.
Come on, go home. Go home.
He played a little snob.
Do you hear me? I said go home.
They did a script where I wanted to be in the gang.
And they call got together and said they didn't like me
because I wore a hat and everything.
So they said, "OK, he wants to get in the club, we'll initiate him."
And so they threw me in the mud.
Otherwise, there was no mudslinging at the Hal Roach Studios.
The entire staff raves about the cheerful, family-like atmosphere.
The actress Phyllis Coates,
who later became famous in TV series like Superman,
often worked at the Roach Studios at the beginning of her career.
Oh, we had a lot fun. Everybody liked Hal.
That was a small studio and everybody knew everybody
and everybody was very...easy-going.
You know, there was no star complex with anybody.
Which was nice.
Stan also gets an offer from Hal Roach.
He had already made a few comedies for the producer,
only modestly successful.
But Roach has noticed Stan's talent as a gag writer,
and he gives him a contract in 1925.
Not as an actor but as a director and gag writer.
Um...
Stan's career hadn't gone so well as a single comedian on film
and so the offer from Hal Roach
allowed Stan - now that he was separated from May -
to work behind the scenes.
And he is successful.
Stan writes screenplays for comedies and works as a director.
One of the actors is Hardy, who dumps his nickname Babe
and now calls himself Oliver.
In 1926 Hardy is going to be in a movie directed by Stan
but shortly before shooting begins, Hardy suffers an accident.
Babe loved to eat so he also loved to cook
and it happened that one day he was frying a leg of lamb.
The pan slipped out of his hands and the hot fry landed on his right arm.
It got so badly burned and he was in so much pain that he
jumped around in the kitchen like in one of those slapsticks.
And then he fell, he tripped over and injured his leg.
Hardy's kitchen accident makes headlines.
He can forget about the movie. But the producer, Roach,
is unable to find a replacement quickly enough.
So he persuades Stan to get in front of the camera again and take
over Hardy's role.
When they printed it, Roach started to look very funny.
Everything went wrong and so forth,
so he decided to make another one like that
and I think it was two or three times they did that.
Stan is back in business - as an actor.
And so he appears again and again in movies,
in the meantime with Oliver Hardy,
who is now recovered from his accident.
The producer Hal Roach decided to establish Laurel and Hardy as a
comedy duo, a team which never would have come together
if it hadn't been for Babe's accident with a leg of lamb.
Thank you, Ollie. You're welcome, Stan.
And I'm never going to let you out of my sight again. Thank you, Ollie.
You're welcome, Stan.
The gentleman from the South now regularly encounters
the visitor from England.
The comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy is born.
At first, particularly the question of what to wear causes quite a stir.
But after a short period of time,
the two create their own style - with suits.
Ollie's is a tight fit and Stan's is baggy.
And with bowler hats.
The bowler hats become Laurel and Hardy's trademarks.
And they're great for gags.
In addition to the Laurel and Hardy outfits, the unmistakable
movie personalities of Stan and Ollie are soon defined.
First of all, they're nice people. They're likeable people.
And they're helping one another. They're a team.
They're childlike in their appeal in so far as they have innocence.
You don't find innocence in other comedy teams then or now.
Well, you started it. No, I didn't.
Yes, you did. Well, I didn't.
You certainly did. Well, I didn't! You certainly did.
Whatever Stan does and whatever happens to Ollie,
he bears it with a stoic demeanour.
When you watch a film with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy,
you feel for them. They're nice people. They're good people.
Two great buddies you'd also like to have as friends.
Movie star Jerry Lewis felt exactly the same way.
I must have been five years old, I guess.
And I immediately knew that they were my friends.
Laurel and Hardy quickly find friends all over the world.
Their movies are first successful at the movie theatres and later on TV.
Entire generations of children and adolescents grow up with Stan
and Ollie.
Did you ever see a face like that anywhere except in a zoo?
Sure. Where?
In a monkey house.
HE LAUGHS
I never thought of that!
Stan Laurel is happy about their success.
The same goes for Oliver Hardy.
But while Hardy continues to suffer from his wife's alcoholism,
Stan has fallen in love again, with the actress Lois Neilson
whom he met through his friend, the movie producer Joe Rock.
He met her on the evening of the day that May was shipped off to
Australia. Um...
Joe Rock didn't want Stan to become melancholy or sad because May
was gone,
so he thought he should introduce Stan to a proper young lady.
And knowing Stan's taste in pretty girls, he introduced Stan to Lois.
And what a success.
Just a few months later, Stan and Lois get married.
In 1928 they have a daughter, Lois junior.
Everything seems to be perfect, both privately and professionally.
The Laurel and Hardy movies are box office hits,
which is why the movie producer Roach makes them into a series.
For Laurel and Hardy, the playground gets bigger.
They're constantly creating new comical devices which
today are still a standard part of many comedians' repertoire.
For example, the slow burn.
The person who has experienced a calamity has enough time to
digest what has happened. Not until then does the backlash take place.
When something happens to Hardy, he puts on a particular expression.
He looks straight into the camera when he was irritated or desperate
and it was something like this.
I think this was new.
The first time he did it, it was spontaneously,
in a movie when he got a cake in his face, and the director said,
"I like that. Keep it in."
And he did and it became the trademark for all his life.
Hardy's look into the camera. Unbeatable even today.
Another trademark of Ollie - his famous tie twiddling.
Stan also had some good ideas. For example, the double take
where he has to look at something twice in order to understand it.
I love watching Stan reacting to Babe.
Because it's the only time that you actually can catch Stan thinking.
But what he's thinking is that he has nothing to contribute.
Stan's attempts to think are unforgettable.
Another trademark - Stan's grin and his head scratching.
Stan Laurel's daughter Lois grew up with it.
She now lives near Los Angeles.
She isn't actually willing to give interviews
but she made an exception and agreed to an exclusive interview.
She talks about her childhood,
what it was like when her friends came over and saw her famous father.
Everybody that would come to the house,
before they left they would say,
"Would you please do the scratching routine?"
And he hated that. Oh, he just hated to do it.
But he did it to, you know, please them.
The price of success.
One of the great things about watching a Laurel
and Hardy film is that they're simple to follow.
If you're a kid, if you're an adult, you can follow
and you identify. And audiences did also.
What Hal Roach did by bringing these two people together,
he actually brought together liquid dynamite.
And it's an explosive mixture for audiences.
Stan and Ollie will always be inseparable.
HE SHRIEKS
HE SHOUTS
What's the matter? I just saw a ghost! Oh, nonsense!
You're acting like a three-year-old child.
Shut up! Even if there was a ghost there's nothing to be afraid of.
Oliver Hardy thinks he's superior
and smarter than Stan Laurel when, in fact,
we see by how their plans work out and their comedy plays out,
in fact he's not. He only thinks he is.
Or as Oliver Hardy once put it himself,
"Nobody is dumber than a dumb man who thinks he's smart."
You get on my nerves. I'll light it.
Any time I want something done right I'll always have to do it myself.
EXPLOSION
The comedy world of Laurel and Hardy.
It works all over the world, then as now.
I don't think there's a time limit on comedy.
If it's a laugh picture
they laugh at it 25 years later.
And if it's not a laugh picture you can't make them laugh anyway.
They have been really the first to have introduced to the masses
the art of pantomime, the art of comic and tragic situations.
It is not old-fashioned, it is still actual and the young people,
the children, love the Laurel and Hardy.
They have a great fascination of the big clowns.
And this will always go on. It will never be old-fashioned.
But no matter how funny Stan could be in a movie,
it's different in real life.
The brains behind Laurel and Hardy is not Ollie. It's him.
Off camera he was a very different personality,
completely different from the persona...
I mean, he searched for that character for years
but off screen anyone who knew him
knew that this was 180 degrees away from his true personality.
The real life Stan has nothing to do with some guy who runs into walls.
He's the creative force behind Laurel and Hardy.
He doesn't only write their gags and star as one of the two leads,
he's also the director of the directors.
Stan was not given credit as the director of their films.
He really was the director.
He worked with directors and he really supervised the films and, um,
everybody on the set really went with whatever Stan said.
Oliver Hardy, on the other hand, is satisfied just to make
suggestions for the gags when they're on the set.
Even though they say my father wrote most of the material
he always included Oliver Hardy and his suggestions.
And they may try it one way and try it another way,
and maybe they would do it Oliver Hardy's way.
Hardy liked to work on his movie character but, contrary to Stan,
he considered himself an actor.
Stan's interests were film-making and the editing and the cutting
and putting the films together and writing gags.
When Babe was through shooting a scene he was outta there.
He wanted to go play golf and he wanted to go to the racetrack.
He wasn't interested in all these other aspects of it.
We businessmen have to relax sometime. Don't we, Stan?
We certainly do.
Well, if you wanna relax you can stay home and wash these dishes.
What do you mean, wash the dishes? Yeah, what will his friends think?
You keep out of this!
Hardy enjoys his leisure time while Stan practically
worked around the clock at the studio and at home.
He always thinking, thinking and he had these yellow canary pads that...
He would get an idea and he'd write.
He was always writing things down.
Stan is a workaholic.
After they're done shooting you can usually find him
in the cutting room or the projection room.
He reviews the daily results to determine whether the gags work.
One time there was a gentleman that was walking up to a
projection booth at the Hal Roach Studios
and he heard wild laughter.
He goes into the projection booth and he actually sees Stan Laurel
holding on to a chair he's sitting on, laughing hysterically.
And the guy took a look to see what Stan was laughing at.
He was laughing at a sequence with Oliver Hardy.
And he turned around and said to the guy,
"You know, he really is a funny, funny fellow."
I'm beginning to think that you're right.
You bet your life I'm right.
You know, I'm not as dumb as you look.
You bet your life you're not.
Anybody that could think...
What do you mean you're not as dumb as I look?
Laurel knows Babe very well.
He knows what comical qualities his partner has.
Babe Hardy was one of the best intuitive actors around. Absolutely.
And funny.
His rhythms and his comedy genius, I mean, is just unparallelled
and a wonderful compliment to Stan's silliness, you know?
It just worked. It worked so well. And it was believable.
I mean, when you see Babe Hardy you believe that. Exactly. You love him.
Stan Laurel's daughter only knew Hardy under another name.
Uncle Babe.
He was like an uncle.
He had no children.
And, um...
That's what I knew him, you know, as.
But in regard to Uncle Babe, Lois changed her opinion
when she was old enough to see her first Laurel and Hardy movies.
Then there came that time when I saw him beating up on my father
and that changed my mind. I didn't like him so well.
But Stan had an idea.
He wrote a special Laurel and Hardy movie just for Lois.
He did the ending where he gets the best of Oliver Hardy,
rather than my dad getting beat up.
It was in a garage scene and he goes right after Oliver Hardy.
And, as they say, gets the best of him.
And I was fine after that.
Cos I knew my father could take care of himself.
HE SHOUTS
The title of the movie - One Good Turn.
And after that one good turn,
little Lois was reconciled with Uncle Babe again.
There were, however, never any problems between Laurel and Hardy.
They not only gelled in front of the camera but also privately.
Babe was very understanding of Stan's creative side,
and in spite of what people might tell you,
there are moments when Stan could be very temperamental,
he could be very much a perfectionist.
And that's not a bad quality. I think it's an honest quality.
It's a man who really understands what he wants.
And Babe sort of was very patient with that and dealt with that.
WHISTLING
What?
He don't want me!
He wants the other monkey!
You!
Oh.
Stan and Ollie often get together privately.
The two are more than just colleagues.
They dine together, play golf together and even go fishing.
But Laurel and Hardy aren't the best of buddies yet.
Most people think that Stan and Babe were very,
very close from the very beginning and that simply isn't true.
There were friends but they had different lives.
Professionally, Laurel and Hardy have just cleared a major hurdle -
the introduction of the talkie.
While many stars of silent movies vanish without further ado,
Stan and Ollie don't have any problems adjusting.
Well, how about a nice, cool drink?
That's great, it'll just put me in the mood. Yes.
Nevertheless, Stan and Ollie only talk about what's necessary,
staying true to their comedy tradition -
the art of talking without words.
They knew that if they had to talk they cannot talk like everyone
because they will become literal.
They talked like mimes have to talk when they talk.
Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into.
Well, I couldn't...!
Music is now added to movies and Laurel
and Hardy get their unmistakable theme melody -
the Cuckoo Song.
THEY WHISTLE THEME TUNE THROUGHOUT
That beats the hell outta The High And The Mighty.
In addition to the original English versions,
movie producer Hal Roach decides to produce foreign language versions.
But since post-production synchronising is technically
still not possible, every movie is shot in different languages -
in English, Spanish, French and German.
Nevertheless, the foreign versions are a big success
because they have their own particular charm.
VARIOUS LANGUAGES THROUGHOUT:
HE MOANS
The procedure quickly turns out to be too complicated.
But not long afterwards, it becomes technically possible to
synchronise the original version in various languages.
Here's the dubbed French version of an MGM trailer that was
believed to be lost.
Laurel and Hardy demonstrate that, as always,
they have the right perspective.
Oh!
Oh.
DUBBED IN FRENCH:
In German, Laurel and Hardy are also given suitable voices.
IN GERMAN:
The popular duo - Walter Bluhm and Michael Habeck.
The now deceased actor was the voice of Ollie.
Walter Bluhm, on the left, was Laurel's voice.
DUBBED IN GERMAN:
The famous Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Here on the Walk of Fame, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
were given their stars for their life achievements.
In 1932 Laurel and Hardy achieve a very special honour...
on these steps.
One of their most famous movies, The Music Box,
which receives an Oscar as the Best Short Film, is shot here.
That's the house up there, right on top of the stoop.
DOORBELL RINGS
HE YELLS
Buoyed by their Oscar, Stan and Ollie take a break.
They're given a written leave of absence from Roach Studios
for two months.
They want to travel to England together.
Stan hadn't been home to England to visit his father and his brother
and so forth for a long time and Oliver Hardy had never been there.
So they decided to make a trip.
New York Horbor. On the 16th of July 1932
Laurel and Hardy leave here for England on a luxury liner.
Southampton.
As they enter the harbour they can hardly believe their ears.
The church bells are playing their theme melody, the Cuckoo Song.
Stan and Ollie are moved to tears.
There were armies of people there. Stan, I know, at the time said,
"I turned around to see who was on..."
It was themselves. News had gotten out that they were there.
They had no idea that the movies had been such
ambassadors of joy for people, that they were so curious about them.
Wherever Stan and Ollie show up
they are enthusiastically celebrated by their fans.
Laurel and Hardy take a side trip to France.
And they are also received like guests of state.
Stan and Ollie discover Paris. They're still in a vacation mood.
But what awaits them at home?
Back in America, Stan had trouble with Hal Roach because Hal
was wanting to go into feature films
because the theatres
and the releasing companies all wanted more and more feature films.
They wanted to get out of the shorts.
Stan always felt that their kind of comedy lent itself
better to the short format.
Roach gets his way.
The crafty producer has Laurel and Hardy sign separate contracts
with different expiration dates.
That had a big advantage for him because if one of them
didn't meet his demands he could always threat to split up the team
and to make solo films with them or form another couple.
And the producer threatened to do that more than just once.
Yet despite all the disputes,
Laurel and Hardy continue to make movies for Roach.
And during this time they perfect their unmistakable style of comedy.
One of their basic principals of comedy - tit for tat.
"I'll do to you what you do to me."
HE LAUGHS Oh!
Laurel and Hardy are now stars.
And earn what you would expect.
Babe gets around $100,000 a year.
Stan gets about $140,000 because he helps write the screenplays.
The two are among the top earners, comparable with today's superstars.
But Babe continues to gamble and loses lots of money
at the horse races, and he has a lot of back taxes to pay.
Stan is seen more frequently at his favourite bar after work.
He's started drinking more than he should, again.
Stan's drinking began to accelerate because he
and Lois were going to have a second baby
and this turned out to be a son that was born,
and the baby only lived nine days.
And that caused Stan to start to drink too much.
The marriage to Lois begins heading for a crisis.
Contrary to his movie character, Stan is not frightened by females.
In fact, he's quite attracted to them.
Oh, Stan was a ladies' man! He was lovely.
Stan liked my mother and I thought this was a very good idea
until she dumped him. She said he was a womaniser
and I don't know what had gone on between them.
It had been going on for several months.
And I asked Stan...
She wouldn't tell me what a womaniser meant
and I asked Stan what womaniser meant and he said,
"Womaniser is something someone does
"until they find what they really want."
And Stan looked for quite some time.
The ladies' man has a number of affairs.
In 1935 Lois divorces him.
But Stan falls in love again soon. And he likes to get married.
He had married his first wife once, his second wife twice,
his third wife three times.
And his fourth and final wife once.
So Stan ends up getting married seven times.
To four women.
Ollie is also interested in women.
He separates from his second wife Myrtle in 1937.
A few years later Babe falls in love with a script girl, Lucille Jones.
In 1940 the two are wed and stay happily married.
What's the matter?
I don't know.
I know.
What?
You're in love.
In what? In love.
L-U-G-H. Love.
Am I? You certainly are.
How can you tell?
It's easy. Look at the silly, sloppy look on your face.
Look at it.
While Laurel and Hardy continue to make successful movies,
the disputes behind the scenes between the producer Roach
and Stan become more frequent.
Mostly about movie plots and Stan's affairs,
which invoke negative headlines.
And also about money.
In the end, the producer fires Laurel.
Stan refutes all the claims that are made
and the two adversaries later head off to court.
In the meantime, Roach goes on making movies with Hardy.
In Zenobia he stars together with the comedian Harry Langdon.
The movie flops.
Mr Roach tried to team Oliver Hardy with Harry Langdon
to create another comedy team. It didn't work.
And Mr Roach realised that.
So he had to have Stan Laurel back
and they were able to reach an agreement.
But the relationship between the producer Roach and Laurel and Hardy
is irretrievably shattered.
Only two new movies are made.
In 1940 the party is finally over.
Laurel and Hardy leave the Roach Studios forever.
Stan in particular hopes that the separation will lead to more
artistic freedom and more money.
Isn't that swell? Now we're going to be millionaires.
But there are no new film offers.
So the two decide to try their luck on stage.
Laurel and Hardy go on a 12-week tour to major US cities.
Here are the first exclusive colour clips of their stage show.
Stan and Ollie are the main attraction with their skit.
While World War II is raging in Europe,
Laurel and Hardy go on further tours with other stars,
to entertain American and British troops in the Caribbean.
After America's official entry into the war,
Laurel and Hardy commit themselves
to the US donation tour of the Hollywood Victory Caravan.
America was raising money for the war effort over in Europe,
for the tanks and everything that we were doing industrially,
and they put 22 stars together,
which included Cary Grant, Jimmy Cagney, Bob Hope,
Laurel and Hardy, of course, and they played 13 cities.
Laurel and Hardy shoot an instructional movie
on behalf of the US Department of Agriculture, in colour.
The two show what everyday products include wood.
Resources are supposed to be used sparingly during the war.
But for real movie offers, Laurel and Hardy have to wait,
after having separated from producer Roach.
But suddenly, one of Hollywood's biggest studios
gets in touch with them -
20th Century Fox.
Stan and Ollie are finally able to make comedies again.
That sounds screwy to me.
But any old port in a storm.
The quality of the screenplays they get from Fox is generally miserable,
and the people in charge of the studios meddle
with the personal appearance of Laurel and Hardy.
They wanted to tell Laurel and Hardy what to wear.
Well, Stan had already always been in control of that.
Stan always was the person who decided these things,
and all of a sudden he's not only dealing with these studios
who don't understand the characters, and aren't interested in Stan
and Babe's input into the scripts, but that they're being
moved and pushed around and being told what to do.
Stan never forgave them for that.
Stan Laurel's Motion Picture Employee ID from that period.
He doesn't look very happy,
because the movies he and Babe made for MGM aren't any better,
neither in an artistic sense, nor in regard to conditions of production.
Essentially, nothing but trouble for Laurel and Hardy.
They make eight movies until 1944 for Fox and MGM,
then their contracts expire.
The Bullfighters is the last Laurel
and Hardy movie for both major studios,
the end of a rapid downhill slide set off
by the comedy stars themselves,
following their separation from the movie producer Hal Roach.
Well, that's that.
No use crying over split milk.
Well, I guess we'd better be going, eh? Come on.
You go ahead. What's the matter? Aren't you going out with me?
I want to be...
..alone.
In 1946, Stan marries Ida,
his last and happiest marriage.
And Babe is happy with his Lucille.
Hardy has time to pursue his hobbies - in particular, cooking.
He was really a gourmet. He loved food,
but he was very selective in his food.
A nice porterhouse steak smothered with onions... Yes, sir.
..a baked potato, lima beans, buttered beets, a combination salad.
Now, for dessert, I think I'll have a double portion of apple pie
with a large piece of American cream cheese.
Although Ollie loves to eat, he is quite unhappy about his weight.
He hated being fat, and it's something that...
Too many people didn't know that.
He'd walk up behind me...
For instance, I'd be at my dressing table, or be in front
of a mirror, and he'd walk up behind me, and he'd say, "Look at me.
"Look at me. How could you love a great big fat man like me?"
I mean, that's...
That's something I've never told anyone before in my life,
but it was...
I mean, it's one of those little personal things
that do happen between a man and a wife.
On the other hand, Babe knows, of course, that his corpulence
also helped to contribute to the success of Laurel and Hardy,
and he and Stan want to get back into the thick of showbiz,
but new film offers fail to show up. Stan and Ollie are unemployed.
Well, here we are at last,
right down in the gutter.
I wonder what's the matter with us.
We're just as good as other people,
yet we don't seem to advance ourselves.
We never get anyplace.
BOAT HORN BLARES
Theatre instead of movies.
Better than staying unemployed.
Laurel and Hardy need the money, anyway,
so they leave New York for England in 1947.
Laurel and Hardy are greeted by thousands in Southampton.
Stan and Ollie are still superstars in Europe.
Their fans are unaware of their career slump in America.
Previously unreleased scenes from the newsreel.
What do you intend to do now that you're here?
Well, it...
I haven't quite made up my mind yet.
What about you, Mr Laurel?
Well, if he hasn't made up his mind, I can't do anything about it.
Bye.
Stan and Ollie's tour starts here, in London.
The fans want to see their idols.
Laurel and Hardy now perform onstage what they used to do in the movies -
a turbulent comedy full of slapstick scenes.
Stan and Ollie live, the way their fans know and love them
from the movies.
It was a huge success, almost like a royal visit, in effect.
There were so many people there that were interested in just
seeing them in the flesh, and they played twice a week,
sometimes three times a week, all over the country,
right from London to Scotland.
Boy, is this the life?
Mm-hm. These English colleges certainly give you the works.
Don't they, though?
In addition to their stage performances,
Laurel and Hardy are invited to official events as guests of honour,
such as here, at the ceremony in 1947 for the British Film Award.
Ulverston, Stan's birthplace.
Laurel and Hardy take advantage of their stay in England
for a side trip here.
There were such a lot of people around, and I said,
"What's going on?" "Oh, Laurel and Hardy's coming."
So we went up and stood
and watched them come along in their open car with their wives,
and they went up onto the balcony of the Coronation Hall.
Laurel and Hardy, together on the trail of Stan's past.
The two of them visit the house where Stan was born.
The trip to Ulverston.
For Stan, as he later recalls, it is one of the nicest days of his life.
These statues now commemorate the town's most famous son,
and his comedy partner.
For us? Certainly! Right.
The music hall tour is extended due to its tremendous success.
Sweden, Denmark, Belgium and France.
Previously unreleased clips from Paris.
The two are also frenetically celebrated here.
Laurel and Hardy are a well-rehearsed team
who easily slip into their comic roles.
HARDY SPEAKS FRENCH
CROWD LAUGHS
And you, Laurel.
Well, say something nice.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry I can't speak French,
but we're very happy and delighted
to be invited to this wonderful occasion this evening.
PRESENTER SPEAKS FRENCH
The tour is so successful, it is extended several times.
Instead of the originally scheduled six weeks,
it's a whole 11 months before Laurel and Hardy return to the USA.
Well, Stanley, a very profitable evening.
What about a little refreshment? That's a good idea.
Come, Stanley.
Their great stage success leads to a new movie offer in the early '50s,
after being abstinent from the big screen for five years.
But Laurel and Hardy won't be filming in the USA.
They'll be working on a film in Europe for the first time,
a French-Italian co-production entitled Atoll K.
Stan travels to Paris before Ollie does.
He wants to go over the screenplay and add some gags,
if necessary, and that proves to be very necessary.
Stan completely rewrites the screenplay,
with the help of gag writers he has flown in from America.
In June of 1950, Babe arrives in Paris.
It's the first time
Stan and Ollie have seen each other in quite a while.
During the course of so many years,
Stan and Ollie have become especially close friends,
particularly because of their music hall tours.
They got to spend more time together, actually.
They were as close as brothers.
Really close. I would say they're closer than brothers,
and they had so much respect for each other.
They loved each other. There was never, ever arguments.
It's amazing.
There is no better love story of the Hollywood comedy than
the love and respect for Stan and Babe.
Nothing. Nothing has ever come close, and nothing ever will.
The strange love story between Laurel and Hardy,
who don't only highly respect and appreciate each other.
They also love each other.
A true friendship between men, which developed over decades,
and was never more than that, as rumours have sometimes claimed.
All right. Let's get a room with twin beds.
Why twin beds?
One for me.
Well, I can't sleep with the monkey!
Oh, she won't mind.
I think that those rumours come out of the fact that these men
were so close and spent so much time together, but I don't think
that those rumours are all that evident,
and the reason for that
is because both Stan and Babe were always getting married.
They were always involved with women.
They were always having these relationships,
and I think they were... I think, if anything,
Stan and Babe were very secure in their masculinity.
I think they were very secure about themselves.
Well, what's the matter with her, anyway? Oh, I don't know.
She says that I think more of you than I do of her.
Well, you do, don't you?
We won't go into that.
In France, Laurel and Hardy have worse problems to deal with
than just warding off baseless rumours,
because once shooting finally begins in Marseilles,
the next problem materialises -
the various languages of the actors, French and Italian.
Wiggle your ears. What? Wiggle your ears.
Fortunately, Sylvette Baudrot from France was on the set.
It was her first job as a script girl.
We were only five script girl in France speaking English.
I was lucky to understand and speak a little bit of Italian.
So Sylvette Baudrot becomes the unofficial interpreter,
especially for Laurel and Hardy.
The set of the movie's atoll
is the peninsula Cap Roux on the Cote d'Azur.
The summer of 1950 is one of the century's hottest.
Extreme conditions for the film crew. Babe has heart problems,
and Stan isn't any better off.
He gets sick and loses weight,
but he continues to film.
While Hardy improves, Stan is hardly able to stay on his feet.
Shooting has to be interrupted.
He's admitted to the American Hospital of Paris,
and operated on his prostate gland.
While Stan has to lie in hospital,
Ollie and his wife Lucille wait patiently.
The two of them explore Paris.
Once, I went to see Hardy and his wife.
He brought me on his balcony,
and his balcony was full of boxes full of wine.
Bottles of wine. And he said, "Do you want some white wine?"
I said, "No, I prefer red wine."
Stan lost 60lb when he was ill.
Shooting can't be continued until December of 1950,
in a Parisian studio.
Stan begins to recover, slowly.
After shooting is done for the day, he enjoys the "varietes" of Paris.
He particularly likes to get together
with a young unknown pantomime, Marcel Marceau.
Valerie Bochenek, who is later one of Marceau's dearest colleagues,
knows how Marceau used a trick to meet Laurel.
In order to lure Stan to his show,
Marceau organised a short circuit in Stan's hotel room.
He then sent the stage electrician to repair it.
Why do I have to always do everything?
Always me, me, me.
In fact, Stan is wowed by Marceau.
He recognises his potential.
I remember he came at that time to our show,
and we had prepared champagne.
We were so happy, you know?
We had, for us, a case of champagne, and he arrived.
He said he could not drink champagne.
He only drank mineral water, you see.
It was an expensive affair for Marcel Marceau,
but Stan didn't want to drink any alcohol
such a short time after his operation.
The Viennese photographer Erich Lessing
was living in Paris in 1950.
He took pictures in the dressing room for his friend Marcel Marceau.
The pantomime didn't need an interpreter.
Stan becomes Marceau's biggest promoter,
first helping him to achieve nationwide success in France,
and then international success.
The shooting of Atoll K - it is still a battle, not only for Stan.
Both comedians want to go back to America as soon as possible
after the stormy film-making process.
In April of 1951, they're finally finished.
HE BLOWS WHISTLE
The movie is in the can for Laurel and Hardy.
The 12 weeks which were originally scheduled have become 12 months.
Oh, he was very upset about that.
It was very, very, very hard.
He never saw... You know, shown...the final cut.
He never did... He didn't want to see it.
Atoll K is Laurel and Hardy's final movie.
Internationally, it's a commercial success,
and definitely not their worst comedy.
In 1952 and 1953,
Laurel and Hardy go on further music hall tours in Great Britain.
That is where these previously unreleased clips
of Stan and Ollie were made,
filmed by a fan.
In early 1954, Ollie suffers a heart attack.
All of their shows have to be cancelled.
Laurel and Hardy close their theatrical wardrobe trunks forever.
After Ollie has gradually recovered,
they travel back to the USA onboard the MS Manchuria.
Hey, Ollie? What?
Where are you going?
Back to American for me!
DOOR SLAMS
Hey, Ollie!
Ollie!
SOBBING: Aren't you going to take me with you?
TV is the latest rage in the USA.
Stan and Ollie make a few appearances,
like here in 1954, on the cult show This Is Your Life.
They're given an offer to make TV comedies in colour...
INADUDIBLE CHATTER ON TV
..but on the 25th of April, Stan suffers a stroke.
Ten days before shooting was to begin,
the project has to be cancelled.
Stan shows signs of paralysis in one of his legs. He can hardly walk.
It takes over a year for him to basically recover.
Babe also depends on his doctors.
They put him on a diet,
and he loses a lot of weight,
up to 150lb, as much as Stan weighs.
The two friends meet as often as possible.
Here are the last film clips of Stan and Babe together.
The last official photograph of the two.
Shortly afterwards, Oliver Hardy suffers a severe stroke.
Babe is almost completely paralysed.
He can hardly eat, and is unable to speak.
Stan came to see him several times.
Sometimes, Babe would recognise him, sometimes he wouldn't,
because at times he would be lucid. Other times, he wouldn't.
Oliver Hardy suffers two further strokes.
On the seventh of August 1957, his heart stops beating.
Obituaries are published all over the world.
Stan is shocked.
Although he knew that his friend and partner was incurably ill,
his death hits him hard.
Stan's doctor advises him not to attend Babe's funeral.
Oliver Norvell Hardy is buried at Valhalla Memorial Cemetery
in Los Angeles.
The inscription on his gravestone reads...
Stan Laurel retires from show business, forever.
He never wants to perform again without his friend
and comedy partner.
LOUD WHISTLE
Hey, Stan!
Look! I'm over here!
Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into.
Ollie, is that really you?
Of course it's me. Gee, I'm glad to see you.
Stan lives in the Oceania Apartment Hotel
in Santa Monica, with his wife Ida.
He liked the hotel living.
The maid service everyday, you know, it just... It was convenient.
You didn't have to put out the garbage.
You didn't have to do this.
Stan doesn't get a cent for the Laurel and Hardy movies,
which were a great success on TV.
There's not much left of the money he's earned.
A large part of it has gone to pay for this three ex-wives,
but, despite rumours that claim the opposite,
he's financially well-settled.
I can't say "wealthy", but he certainly wasn't in need.
He had some money invested.
He said he had an income,
but it was modest compared to what some people today would have.
I mean, it wouldn't compare at all.
That was a lucky break. What are you going to do with your $1,000?
I'm going to buy $1,000 worth of chocolate ice cream.
Stan primarily spends his days personally answering fan mail
from all over the world.
Laurel and Hardy have gained many new fans
through the TV broadcasts...
..and Stan takes time for them.
He welcomes fans, allowing them to take pictures and make films.
Previously unreleased clips from his 74th birthday.
Stan is also visited by film students.
The Englishman Jordan Reynolds
studied in California in the early '60s,
and met Laurel.
I think he was very happy.
He enjoyed the company of young people very much,
and he regularly had tea with students,
and he took an interest in me because I was from London.
Lots of celebrities also go to see Stan.
They ask him for advice, or they simply want to meet him.
Among them were Dick Van Dyke, Jerry Lewis, Danny Kaye,
Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness...
He was absolutely shocked that Alec Guinness,
one of Britain's greatest stars, wanted to meet him.
He was always fasci...
He didn't see himself on that same level,
and so when these people would come to his home -
Peter Ustinov, Jerry Lewis, people like that -
he was just absolutely amazed that they wanted to see him.
In 1961, Stan is given a late honour.
He receives a Lifetime Achievement Oscar.
To him, it's a recognition of the work of Laurel and Hardy,
an award he would gladly have shared with Babe.
Stan calls the Oscar Mr Clean.
He thinks the statue looks like the logo for the cleaning fluid
known as Mr Clean.
In 1964, fans and friends of Stan found The Sons Of The Desert,
a club named after the Laurel and Hardy movie of the same title.
# We are the sons of the desert
# Having the time of our lives
# Marching along
# Two thousand strong
# Far from our sweethearts and wives
# God bless them
# Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching
# And dancing to this melody
# La la la la la,
# La la la-la la-la la
# Sons of the desert are we. #
Worldwide, there are now more than 200 Sons Of The Desert chapters,
called tents, with several tens of thousands of members.
Like here, in Holland, they hold national
and international conventions.
The Sons Of The Desert go on outings together, they watch Laurel
and Hardy movies, and they celebrate the two comedians.
Because they are so very funny.
You always see that when they have trouble,
and they always get out of the trouble.
That's so nice of it.
It's a good thing.
Live the life of Laurel and Hardy, and you have a good life.
At the convention in Holland,
we meet Stan's great-granddaughter Cassidy Cook.
It's amazing that still today, people come and appreciate
and laugh, and the can watch these movies,
and they're timeless and classic.
It's just...
It's beautiful to know that that's part of my family history.
At conventions like this one, everybody is a real Laurel
and Hardy fan,
including, of course, the lookalikes.
INAUDIBLE SPEECH
It just grabs you. It just pulls you in, and it really...
It's amazing how it makes you feel good,
and the comedy is just magical.
It's just absolutely magical.
Isn't that swell? Can you imagine that?
Our very own twin brothers.
The last film clips of Stan, made by a couple he knew well.
The film was quite recently discovered.
Stan's daughter Lois sees the footage for the first time.
It has never been shown before.
For the last time,
Stan slips into his film character in front of a camera.
It's so familiar, that pose.
That's really what he looked like, you know, off-screen, you know?
INAUDIBLE SPEECH
Shortly after this footage was taken, Stan's health worsens.
In February, he caught a cold, or...
We thought he had the flu, and it was very, very quick.
In his final days, Stan is confined to his bed,
and cared for by Ida and a nurse.
While preparing an injection, Stan said to the nurse,
"I wish I was skiing now,"
and the nurse said, "Oh, Mr Laurel, I didn't know that you skied."
He said, "I don't ski,
"but I'd rather be skiing than having an injection."
A few days later, Stan Laurel dies of a heart attack,
on the 23rd of February 1965.
He lived for comedy, and believed so much in laughter.
I would say, an introspective man...
..who could see humour in almost anything.
I really miss him, and I miss what I've learned,
and very selfishly I feel deprived.
I would have liked for him to be here...
..a longer time.
He was one that I think they should have arranged
to have live forever.
They should have worked that out somehow.
Stan Laurel is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Hollywood.
Previously unreleased film footage.
In addition to his family, there are many celebrities,
friends and companions.
Stan once said, "If anyone at my funeral has a long face,
"I'll never speak to him again."
Stan' grave at the Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery.
The inscription reads...
And that's how it always will be,
because Laurel and Hardy
will live on in the hearts of their fans forever.