STACK #123 Jan 2015

EXTRAS

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Part 1

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

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

Dan Leno

The young Stan Jefferson based his act and looks on his idol, Music Hall star Dan Leno

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 Fred Karno Company sail to the US in 1910 (Stan Jefferson, far left sitting on the deckchair. Charlie Chaplin posing with a lifebuoy.)

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

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