STACK #126 Apr 2016

EXTRAS

visit www.stack.net.au

Part 4

O n the 4th May 1929, the Hal Roach Studios released the first talking Laurel and Hardy picture, Unaccustomed As We Are . The title was Stan's idea as a pun on the cliché "Unaccustomed as we are to public speaking", which was a wry reflection on every actor's concern for their first appearance in a motion picture featuring the new sound technology. Stan in particular had been very apprehensive about delivering his dialogue, believing his lisp would be amplified when he spoke on film. But fortunately, unlike most of their silent comedy contemporaries, both his and Hardy's voice were a perfect fit for the characters of Stan and Ollie. Sound and dialogue would play a huge part in both actors being able to further develop their silent slapstick characters. What they said as well as what they did now became integral to their style of film comedy, and to their continued success as the most popular comedy team in Hollywood. Audiences could now hear Stan's whimpering in between his dim-witted comments, and also laugh as the exasperated Hardy cries out to his hapless partner, "Why don't you do something to help me?" Stan adapted their standard sketches to accommodate the new phenomenon of sound, even though the equipment was still in its infancy. He quickly learned on this film that sound effects of some mishap or disaster befalling either himself or Hardy off-screen could generate as much laughter from an audience as it would have done if the action had been filmed. Such material would have been impossible to convey in a silent picture.  Judging the length of laughter was also critical if the dialogue was furthering the gag, for if the audience laughed over it and missed the line, the gag/joke would be completely wasted. They also had to be careful not to record the guffaws of laughter that regularly emanated from their film crew. On a silent film set, the studio's technical and backroom staff had always laughed as they watched Stan and Ollie perform their comical antics, or just generally talked amongst themselves during filming. The background noise on a sound set was highlighted when Roach ran the dailies of Unaccustomed As We Are  in a packed-out screening room. During the first scene a voice

which so annoys Ollie's wife (Mae Busch) that she leaves them to fend for themselves. Neighbour Mrs Kennedy (played by the beautiful Thelma Todd, whose mysterious death six years later still remains unsolved) offers to cook for them, only to have her dress set on fire by the boys. Now clad in just her underwear, she's hidden in a trunk when both her policeman husband and Ollie's wife return home. The usual L&H mayhem ensues and ends with Stan falling down a flight of stairs off-screen. Shortly after the film's release, Roach received a memo from his distributor, MGM. It stated that their theatre managers were having

to show the short six or seven times a day as it was proving to be more popular than the main feature. Audiences across the US were clamouring for more of the boys' sound films. Their next film, Berth Marks (1929), was an adaptation of a silent sketch where most of the dialogue was improvised on set. The boys play two musicians travelling by train to their next concert, and half of the running time is spent with them attempting to board after dropping their sheet music.  In Brats (1930) they are both trying to relax at home, but their extremely naughty offspring (miniature versions of Stan and Ollie achieved by using oversized furniture and clever editing) create havoc, including leaving the bath water running. Brats also saw the introduction of the trademark L&H musical theme, "the cuckoo song". Stan had heard the catchy offbeat tune on a radio station that was located on the Roach lot. Written by a young musician named T. Marvin Hatley, Stan got Roach to buy the rights and then got a recording of it and put it at the opening of the film. Today it is difficult to think of another musical phrase that is as immediately recognisable as the Laurel and Hardy theme.  Between the years 1929 and 1932, Laurel and Hardy would deliver 29 two- and three-reel (30 minutes) classic sound shorts. Although they now reigned supreme in the comedy film world, it was a punishing work schedule as each film had to be shot five times to accommodate Spanish, Italian, French and German versions

off-screen was heard saying, "That's good"; following the second and third scene, again an off-screen voice shouted, "That's good". A now furious Roach jumped up from his chair shouting, "Stop the projector. Now who the hell in this organisation continually shouted 'That's Good' whilst these scenes were filmed?". A long silence followed from all of Roach's employees, until finally a young script girl quietly spoke up: "Mr Roach, that was you". A red-faced Roach quietly ordered the scenes to be reshot. Unaccustomed As We Are had the simple storyline of Ollie bringing Stan home for dinner, A scene from the first L&H talkie, Unaccustomed As We Are, with Mae Busch as Mrs Hardy. Miniature versions of Stan and Ollie as their sons in Brats (the framed photograph is the blonde bombshell Jean Harlow).

APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi www.jbhifi.com.au

016