Today it would have been Stan Laurel's birthday. Im sure that you have all seen some of his great work through the years.
Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born 16th June 1890, in Ulverston, Lancashire, England. His parents were both active members of the theatre, with his father, Arthur, a theatre manager while his mother Margaret was an actress, and was one of 5 children. A lot of his early years were spent with his Grandmother due to his parents being so busy until the family moved to Glasgow. This was where Stanley would get his first taste of the performing life, he would perform at the Panopticon theatre in Glasgow at the tender age of 16. His act included pantomime and music hall sketches and this is where the inspiration for the iconic Bowler hat came from.
We know Stanley mainly through the world famous double act, but this was not the first time that he was paired with somebody. In 1912, he would work with Ted Desmond on a tour in Europe. The two would be known as Barto Bros. Stanley was spotted and quickly offered the chance to go to America, and be part of a touring troupe.
The Troupe that Stanley would join was Fred Karno's, under the stage name of Stan Jefferson, the troupe also had another budding young talent on its books, Charlie Chaplin. Stan would be Chaplin's understudy for some time. With Karno being a pioneer of slapstick comedy, and Stan Laurel would go on in his biography to state "Fred Karno didn't teach Charlie and me all we know about comedy. He taught us most of it". When the troupe would split up, Stan along with 2 others from the same troupe, formed a group known as The Keystone Trio. This would be where Stan's act would imitate his friend Charlie Chaplin, and would be a major success.
As World War I had broken out, Stan registered for military service in America in 1917 as was required by law. Never getting called into action, exceptions on his registration card were resident alien and deafness.
In 1921 Stan would have the opportunity to work on a movie short, The Lucky Dog. A silent movie that would be the first time of meeting and working briefly with, none other than Oliver Hardy. This is around the time he met Mae Dahlberg, they would become working partners, then would end up living together. It was Dahlberg who would suggest the stage name Stan Laurel, as Stan Jefferson was deemed unlucky, as it contained 13 letters. Stan was offered $75 to star in a 2 reel comedies. After the success of his first movie Nuts In May, Universal would offer him a contract, this was soon after terminated due to the studio's reorganisation.
1924 would lead to Stan giving up the theatre for the exciting times of moving pictures, he would be given a contract with Joe Rock to perform in 12 two-reel comedies. The contract had a stipulation that Dahlberg was not allowed to appear in any of the movies! Joe Rock thought that she had a bad influence on Stan's career progression, so in 1925, Rock offered her money and a one way ticket to her native Australia, which she accepted.
Next Laurel would sign for Hal Roach, where the comic, would start to direct movies, one of which called Yes, Yes, Nanette, in which "Babe" Hardy would appear, Yes Oliver Hardy to you and I. Due to an accident Hardy would become hospialised, and because of him being unable to work, Stan took his place. So after Hardy returned to work, the pair would start to work together on several short films. The comic chemistry was there for all to see and the studio soon realised that they had hit the jackpot as the crowds loved Laurel And Hardy. This then led to the groundbreaking "talking movies, and the two men took to it with ease, with their first short movie being Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. Then the next step was a feature, again in 1929. Then onto "colour" movies, where the duo appeared in the musical The Rogue Song. It wasn't until 1931 that they got starring roles in a movie, that movie was Pardon Us. From this point on the duo were continuously making short and feature movies. This included The Music Box, Which would win an Academy Award for Best Short. The duo were broken up due to contract disagreements with studio producer Hal Roach. He would terminate Stan's contract, but would hold onto Oliver, who's contract had some time to run. Stan would go onto a separate project the 1939 movie Zenobia. Stan then began proceedings to sue Roach over the contract termination, eventually the case was dropped and the dispute was over, allowing Laurel and Hardy to be re-united. The pair then would always work as a duo, leading to contracts with 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) where they would be more than just actors and would be allowed to make more of their own material.
In 1947 the duo arrived back to Stan's home country of England, where they would embark on a six week tour performing all over the UK. The duo were so popular that wherever they went, they would be mobbed by adoring fans. And yes returning to England would not have been complete, without a show at the Coronation Hall in Ulveston. A local paper got an interview with Hardy, being quoted as saying "Stan has talked about Ulverston for the past 22 years and i thought i had to see it". This six week tour would carry on for seven years and be extended to Europe too.
This is where the health issues started to kick in for the duo, Stan found out that he had diabetes and Hardy suffering a heart attack, then Stan would have a stroke, and then a year later Hardy would suffer the same fate. Oliver's being that severe that he would be unable to return to acting. A year later and Oliver Hardy died, Stan himself was too poorly to attend the funeral as its said that Stan never recovered from the lost of his dear friend, and would never perform on stage or in a movie without his partner.
Stan was married a total of 5 times. The first was Lois Neilson, they were married in 1926 and they had a daughter who they also named Lois, then they had a son, Stanley who was born 2 month premature and died after 9 days. They would divorce in 1934. In 1935 he married Virginia Ruth Rogers, but 2 years later filled for divorce confessing that he was not over Lois. Vera did not want to reconcile the relationship though. On New Years Day 1938, Stan would marry Vera Ivanova Shuvalova, Virginia (or Ruth as she was known) accused him of bigamy, but the wedding was legitimate as the divorce had been fianalised just a few days before. The new marriage was a very feisty affair, with Vera claiming that Stan was trying to bury her alive in the garden. They separated and were divorced in 1940. Stan would then rekindle a relationship with Ruth and were remarried in 1941, they then were divorced for the second time in 1946. Later that year he would marry Ida Kitaeva Raphael, they would be married all through to Stan's death in 1965.
Moments before he died, Stan's comedy side was still there, he told a nurse that he wouldn't mind going skiing, after the nurse replied that she didn't know he was a skier, he would reply "I'm not, I'd rather be doing that than this". A few minutes later he died quietly. At his funeral, Buster Keaton said "Chaplin wasn't the funniest. I wasn't the funniest; this man was the funniest".
There is a statue of the comedy duo in Ulverston, one in North Shields and various plaques all over the world with Stan Laurel's name on. They even appeared on the cover of the 1967 The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heats Club Band.
I am sure you will agree that Stan Laurel is a proper legend and pioneer of his generation, that has inspired so much of the comedy that we know and love to this day.
Fun Facts
1) Stan Laurel's phone number was listed in the telephone directory and he would take calls from fans
2) He removed heels from his shoes while filming as it helped his funny walk
3) He cross breed a potato with an onion
4) He was a heavy smoker, but gave up suddenly at the age of 70
Comments