Stan and Ollie: new biopic of the ageing comedy duo is a touching love story

David James, Manchester Metropolitan University 

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (or “the boys” as they were often known) can, arguably, be regarded as the greatest double act that comedy has produced. If their star has waned somewhat in the past couple of decades, it is surely because of a lack of exposure rather than their humour going out of style. We can hope that this new film, which has harnessed the considerable comedic talents of Steve Coogan as Laurel and John C Reilly as Hardy will do its bit to bring their timeless brilliance back to the fore.

It’s a heartwarming yet bittersweet tale. By 1953, the year of their final tour (the tour that the forthcoming film Stan and Ollie is based around), their film career was over. It had been on a downward trend ever since they left the Hal Roach Lot (or the “Lot of Fun” as it was dubbed) to work for 20th Century Fox in 1941. The move curtailed Laurel’s freedom as the writer and de facto director of the films and, as a result, the quality declined, though they were still financially successful.

Their last film, Atoll K (also known as Robinson Crusoeland and Utopia) appeared in 1951 after a seven-year gap but, owing to a number of factors (including Laurel’s ill health at the time) the film is thin gruel indeed compared to work they produced in their heyday in the 1930s.

In contrast to their on-screen personas, it was Laurel that was the brains of the operation – “Babe” (as Hardy was known to his friends) preferred to spend time on the golf course. “After all,” he said, “just doing the gags was hard enough work, especially if you have taken as many falls and been dumped in as many mudholes as I have. I think I earned my money”.

When he wasn’t in front of the camera, Laurel would spend his time writing, working out gags, and assisting the director and editor of their films. Indeed, even after Hardy died in 1957, Laurel found solace in writing sketches for the two of them that would obviously never be produced.

Old stagers

The pair had toured the UK in 1947 and again in 1952, though this latter tour had not included any London dates. The theatrical impresario Bernard Delfont who had brought Laurel and Hardy over from the US seemed more intent on promoting a new star – a fresh-faced comedian called Norman Wisdom. Indeed, Laurel and Hardy’s only visit to a London Theatre in 1952 was as featured audience members in Wisdom’s show at the Prince of Wales theatre before returning to the States on The Queen Mary in October 1952.

The 1952 tour had been a success, despite the failing health of the stars – in 1949 Laurel realised he was suffering from diabetes and Hardy’s weight had risen to well over 300 pounds (21 stones).

Delfont tempted them back for what turned out to be their final tour in 1953. They landed in the small port of Cobh, County Cork on September 9, 1953, and although there had been no advance publicity of their arrival, clearly the news had reached the town. Not only was the dock filled with people, but as a special tribute to the duo, the church bells played their “Cuckoo” theme tune. As Laurel later recalled:

All the church bells in Cobh started to ring out our theme song, and Babe looked at me, and we cried. Maybe people loved us and our pictures because we put so much love in them. I don’t know. I’ll never forget that day. Never.

It was to be the high point of what would turn into a difficult and exhausting tour. Once again, the tour would not include a major West End London theatre, though they did play at venues in Finsbury Park and Brixton. On May 17, 1954, they played the Palace, Plymouth. The Plymouth Evening Herald reported that:

Laurel and Hardy … look a little older and are not so boisterous as they used to be – perhaps because Oliver Hardy was suffering from a chill and had to have penicillin treatment before the act last night – but all their old cleverness and that delightful craziness is still there.

Still from Towed in a Hole (1932).

It was not a chill that had afflicted Hardy, but a mild heart attack. The tour was scheduled to continue for some months, but although they appeared on This is Your Life in December 1954 and filmed a small vignette for a 1955 BBC programme celebrating the Grand Order of Water Rats, (a charitable organisation consisting largely of showbusiness personalities) it was Plymouth that saw the curtain come down on their career.

Final scenes

Hardy’s health never really recovered and he died in 1957 at the age of 65. Laurel retired to an apartment building in Santa Monica with his wife Ida where he lived out a comfortable retirement. Amazingly, he was listed in the phone directory and fans regularly just rang him up. He also received visits from fans such as Dick Van Dyke, Peter Sellars and Jerry Lewis before he too died in 1965.

Their influence lives on though – comedians such as Ricky Gervais, Frank Skinner and Stuart Lee as well as Steve Martin, Billy Crystal and Bette Midler have all professed their love for “the boys”. What comes through the screen is their unshakeable love for each other. No matter how they bicker or poke, punch and pinch each other, they – and we – know that their bond is unbreakable, and what could be more loveable than that?

David James, Senior Lecturer, Manchester Metropolitan University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.