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JANUARY 2015 JB Hi-Fi
visit
A black and white picture of two bowler
hats hanging on the pegs of a hat stand
is projected onscreen. It is
accompanied by the quirky, off key opening
bars of the “Cuckoo” musical theme that is
immediately recognised by the audience, and
even before the main title appears, they
begin to smile. When they read the title: Hal
Roach presents Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy,
the audience are now quietly chuckling in
anticipation of watching two reels of
innocent-yet-hilarious slapstick delivered by the
most famous and popular comedy duo in the
history of movies.
It is now over 90 years since a slim English
vaudevillian and a rotund Southern American
gentleman first appeared together in a silent two-
reel short. But through the mediums of cinema,
television, video cassettes and DVD releases,
their comedy antics have been enjoyed by
generations of viewers and celebrated by legions
of fans. So who were Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy,
the duo who hid behind their screen personas of
“Stan & Ollie”? And how, with the Atlantic ocean
separating them, did their successful partnership
come about?
Stan Laurel’s birth certificate stated his name
as Arthur Stanley Jefferson. He was born on 16th
June 1890 in his grandmother’s house in the
small town of Ulverston in Lancashire, England.
His father, Arthur Snr., ran a number of theatres
in the North of England and from an early age
young Stanley (as he was known to his family)
was smitten with the smell of greasepaint and
the various music hall acts that he would watch
offstage from the wings. His fascination with all
things theatrical caused him to frequently play
truant from school, preferring to hang around
theatres observing the cast rehearse and talking
to the stagehands. Consequently, his education
began to suffer, prompting his father to send him
off to boarding school where he hoped the boy
would be taught strict discipline. However, what
his son learned there was definitely not part of
016
the school curriculum.
The young lad knew how to make people
laugh by imitating any number of the comedians
he had watched on stage, which in turn made
him very popular with his classmates – but not
with his tutors. When he finally left
school with no qualifications, young
Stanley’s personal ambition was to be a
music hall comedian. He styled his act
on his idol, the music hall star Dan Leno,
and Stanley’s natural comedic talents
and broad Lancashire accent soon won
him various roles in local music hall
reviews and Christmas pantomimes.
In 1909 he secured a position with
the Fred Karno Company. Karno was
the outstanding comedy impresario of the British
music hall, and to be selected for his travelling
troupe was a great achievement for young
Stanley Jefferson. The new recruit began a
tour of England with the company, where he
met a young man who would become a great
influence on him. That man was Karno’s top
music hall star, Charles Spencer Chaplin.
The two youths became friends and
appeared together in a number of Karno
sketches. One such act, titled “The Wow
Wows”, was particularly devised to play in the
United States when Karno and his Company
crossed the Atlantic in RMS Cairnrona in 1910 to
tour the American Vaudeville circuit.
The troupe undertook a second tour of the US
in 1912, where Chaplin was again the lead comic
and Stan his understudy in the review titled A
Night in an English Music Hall. Chaplin received
rave reviews and was offered a $150.00 a week
film contract with Mack Sennett’s Keystone
Studios, based in Hollywood. Chaplin accepted
and began what would become his meteoric
EXTRAS
The young Stan Jefferson
based his act and looks on his
idol, Music Hall star Dan Leno
Dan Leno
The Fred Karno Company sail to the US in 1910 (Stan Jefferson, far
left sitting on the deckchair. Charlie Chaplin posing with a lifebuoy.)
Part 1