Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy

Written by Simon Louvish

Narrated by Shaun Grindell

In this book, Simon Louvish traces the early lives of Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy and the surrounding minstrel and variety theater, which influenced all of their later work. Louvish examines the rarely seen solo films of both our heroes, prior to their serendipitous pairing in 1927, in the long-lost short Duck Soup. The inspired casting teamed them until their last days. Both often married, they found balancing their personal and professional lives a nearly impossible feat.

Between 1927 and 1938, they were able to successfully bridge the gap between silent and sound films, which tripped up most of their prominent colleagues. Their Hal Roach and MGM films were brilliant, but their move in 1941 to Twentieth Century Fox proved disastrous, with the nine films made there ranking as some of the most embarrassing moments of cinematic history.

In spite of this, Laurel and Hardy survived as exemplars of lasting genius, and their influence is seen to this day. The clowns were elusive behind their masks, but now Simon Louvish can finally reveal their full and complex humanity, and their passionate devotion to their art. In Stan and Ollie, Louvish has seamlessly woven tireless and thorough research into an authoritative biography of these two important and influential Hollywood pioneers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Sep 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9781630153205

Reviews for Stan and Ollie

[lirmac-2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This well-researched overview of Laurel and Hardy's career suffers from the fact that neither Stan nor Ollie led remarkable or extravagant lives. Unlike Chaplin, Keaton or Arbuckle there is neither grandiosity, decline nor scandal to report – merely a lot of hard work. Laurel and Hardy's contribution twentieth century culture is enormous, so it is reassuring not to have it eroded by any off-screen failings; the 'Louella Parsons' side of their lives is addressed (and gossip is sometimes scotched) but not given undue importance. Louvish succeeds in collecting and evaluating the often unreliable accounts of events – whether inflated by studio publicity or misremembered by elderly moguls – and reducing them to what is verifiable as fact. He is less successful when he lets his own imagination fill in the gaps, such as his ex nihilo assertion that the young Hardy was a local outcast because of his weight. Apart from this small complaint (and the occasional unwelcome intrusion of 'theory'), Stan and Ollie gives a balanced account of a the career of the screen's greatest comedy team.

[knahs_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Very well researched bio of the leading film comedy team of all time - Laurel and Hardy. The book goes into quite a bit of detail about their lives and their films. I learned much from the book and found it easy to read and at times, hard to put down. My only complaint is that the photographs are not very clear but very dark and it is hard to discern what is in some of them. For anyone who wants to know about Stan and Ollie - this is the book for you!

[burnit99 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read a number of biographies and filmographies of my favorite comedy team, Laurel and Hardy, by now (even named my two cats Stan and Ollie). My memory may be faulty, but it seems to me that this writer has gone to extra lengths to add to the body of knowledge about the boys, or unearthed the truths behind some of the long-accepted stories about them. In particular, there are a number of Hal Roach's (their long-time producer and director) self-serving oral memories from late in his own life that are debunked here.Through it all, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy remain two genuinely decent gentlemen who liked and respected each other, enjoyed their work, and saw what they did as craft rather than art. But the author also reviews each of their numerous films and makes it clear that, in his opinion (and mine), some are masterworks of comic art. There are some pictures here, but it's never enough to suit me.The author includes one of my favorite stories about Stan, which may be apocryphal, but I find it believable, on his deathbed:To the nurse who was preparing an injection: "I'd much rather be skiing than doing this." The nurse: "Oh, Mr. Laurel, do you ski?" Stan: "No, but I'd much sooner be skiing than what I'm doing now."