STACK Magazine April 2015 Issue 126

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016 APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi
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
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,
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
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).
Part 4
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