CAUSE: On April 5, 1991, Landon was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center suffering from what he believed was an ulcer. Doctors discovered that he had inoperable cancer of the liver and pancreas. On May 8, he appeared on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson. It was to be his last public appearance. Fans began to gather in a vigil outside his $7-million home, 5820 Bonsall Drive, Malibu, California 90265. On July 1, he summoned his nine children to his bedside to say goodbye. He was alone with his 34-year-old wife Cindy Clerico when he passed away on at 1.10pm from metatastic pancreatic cancer. He was 54. The following day he was cremated. On July 5, a service of thanksgiving was held for him at Hillside Memorial Park. Among the 500 mourners were Melissa Sue Anderson, Ernest Borgnine, Melissa Gilbert, Brian Keith and President and Mrs Ronald Reagan. At the service, the theme tune to Little House On The Prairie was played on loudspeakers!
Fritz Lang
Born December 5, 1890
Died August 2, 1976
Film noir genius. Born in Vienna, Austria, Lang studied art and architecture before joining the Austrian army during World War I. Once demobbed, he turned to film and had almost immediate success with Der Herr Der Liebe (1919). This was followed up with Harakiri (1919), Halbblut (1919), Die Spinnen, 1. Teil: Der Goldene See (1919), Das Wandernde Bild (1920), Die Spinnen, 2. Teil: Das Brillantenschiff (1920), Der Müde Tod (1921), Dr Mabuse, Der Spieler (1922), Die Nibelungen: Siegfried (1924), Die Nibelungen: Kriemhilds Rache (1924), his masterly Metropolis (1927) which had been inspired by the skyline of Manhattan, Spione (1928), his study of a child murderer M (1931) and Das Testament Des Dr Mabuse (1933). When Hitler came to power the Jewish Lang fled to Paris although his wife, Thea von Harbou (whom he married in 1924), and collaborator chose to stay behind in Nazi Germany and filed for divorce. He moved to London before settling in America, where he became a citizen in February 1935. Although he produced many good films Lang faced a constant battle with his masters in Hollywood. For example, his film Fury (1936) was based on the subject of lynching in America. MGM insisted on a white star and a happy ending. His rather unpleasant personality also led to repeated clashes. His American films included The Return Of Frank James (1940), Western Union (1941), Hangmen Also Die (1943), The Woman In The Window (1944), Ministry Of Fear (1944), Scarlet Street (1945), An American Guerrilla In The Philippines (1950), Clash By Night (1952), Rancho Notorious (1952), The Blue Gardenia (1953), The Big Heat (1953), Moonfleet (1955) and Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956). Eventually, Lang became tired of the constant battles and went back to Germany where he returned to his roots by making yet one more film about Dr Mabuse: Die Tausend Augen Des Dr Mabuse (1960).
CAUSE: Lang died in Beverly Hills, California, aged 85, from natural causes. He was buried in the Enduring Faith Section of Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068.
Harry Langdon
Born June 15, 1884
Died December 22, 1944
Comedic naïf. Born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the son of members of the Sally Army, Langdon worked at various jobs before joining the travelling troupe Dr Belcher’s Kickapoo Indian Medicine Show. In 1923 he met Mack Sennett, for whom he made a number of short films. He developed his own persona: face whitened by make-up, mascara, lipstick, a dented hat, wide eyes and not quite all there. His early films included: Smile Please (1924), Shanghaied Lovers (1924), Picking Peaches (1924), The Luck Of The Foolish (1924), All Night Long (1924), There He Goes (1925), The Sea Squawk (1925) and Horace Greeley, Jr (1925). In 1926 he joined Warner Bros, where he made the best films of his career: The Strong Man (1926) as Paul Bergot, Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) as Harry, which he also produced, and Long Pants (1927) as Harry Shelby. Langdon had worked successfully with Frank Capra and Harry Edwards but when these three films took off, as Tony Hancock would do almost 40 years later, Langdon decided he could do without the services of his collaborators. As with Hancock, it was a fatal mistake. Warner Bros dropped his contract. It could be argued that his success was based not on his talent (either as a comedian or ability to recognise others) but on the lack of productivity of his three main rivals: Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. Although Langdon continued to make films (over 90 in total) he seemed unable or unwilling to adapt to changing fashions and tastes. Sennett later said he thought Langdon was as stupid off screen as he appeared on. He had no head for money and filed for bankruptcy in 1931. Maritally, he fared no better. In 1903 he married actress Rose Frances Mensolf (d. 1962). They divorced in 1929. That same year he married actress Helen Walton, but they divorced after three years. On February 12, 1934, he married for the third time. The woman was Mabel Georgena Sheldon and their son, Harry, Jr, was born on December 16, 1934, followed some time later by a daughter, Virginia. It seems Langdon and Sheldon couldn’t live together but they also couldn’t live apart. They divorced, remarried, divorced and remarried for the last time in 1938.
CAUSE: He died aged 60 of a cerebral haemorrhage in Los Angeles, California, while dreaming of a comeback.
Joi Lansing
(JOYCE WASSMANDORFF)
Born April 6, 1928
Died August 7, 1972
Blonde bombshell. Born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the daughter of a devoutly Mormon family, she began working as a model when she was 16 and became very successful. The 5́ 5˝ Joi was lured into films playing a model in The Counterfeiters (1948) and reprised the role in Julia Misbehaves (1948), Easter Parade (1948) and The Girl From Jones Beach (1949). Initially, Joi’s acting left rather a lot to be desired, but after all she was picked for her looks and her 39-23-35 figure, not her talent. A year-long break (1950) was spent modelling before Joi returned to the moving cameras in Two Tickets To Broadway (1951). Although she made several films, it was on television that she proved she could act and not just look pretty, playing Shirley Swanson on Love That Bob and Gladys Flatt on The Beverly Hillbillies. Her movies included: FBI Girl (1951) as Susan Matthews, Singin’ In The Rain (1952), The French Line (1954), So You Want To Go To A Nightclub (1954), So You’re Taking In A Roomer (1954), So You Want To Be On A Jury (1955), So You Want To Be A V.P. (1955), So You Want To Be A Policeman (1955), Hot Shots (1956) as Connie Forbes, Hot Cars (1956) as Karen Winter, So You Think The Grass Is Greener (1956), Queen Of Outer Space (1958), The Atomic Submarine (1959) as Julie, Marriage On The Rocks (1965) as Lola and Bigfoot (1970) as Joi Landis. She was married three times. Her first husband was Jerry Safron. Husband number two was Lance Fuller (from 1951–1953) and the last was Stan Todd (1960–1972).
CAUSE: She died of breast cancer in Santa Monica, California. She was 44.
Ring Lardner, Jr
Born August 19, 1915
Died October 31, 2000
Oscar-winning blacklistee. Born in Chicago Ringgold Wilmer Lardner was one of four sons of humorist Ring Lardner (b. Niles, Michigan, March 3, 1885 d. East Hampton, New York, September 25, 1933 from alcoholism) – who had wanted to call him Bill but was overruled by readers of his newspaper the Chicago Tribune – and Ellis Ashton. Three of the four brothers would die prematurely. He was raised in Long Island where family friends included F. Scott Fitzgerald and Dorothy Parker. After education at Phillips Andover Academy and Princeton he moved to the Soviet Union to study at the Anglo-American Institute in Moscow. He quickly became a communist and his anti-fascist beliefs were strengthened when he stayed in Nazi Germany for a period. In 1935 while working as a journalist on the New York Daily Mirror he was approached by David O. Selznick’s fledgling company and offered a job as a writer. Selznick had never met Lardner but was persuaded by a secretary who said that she had seen Lardner in New York and thought he might have the potential to be an actor as well. However, when (6)߰Lardner arrived at Selznick’s California office the secretary was disappointed – it had been Lardner’s brother, John (b. 1912, d. March 1960 from a heart attack) who was also a journalist that she had seen. Lardner was given a screentest which he failed and put to work in the publicity department. Nonetheless in 1937 he m
arried the secretary – Silvia Schulman – who had fancied his brother. He was teamed with Budd Schulberg and they worked on A Star Is Born (1936). Lardner worked with Ben Hecht on Nothing Sacred (1937). He was not covered in glory when he sent a memo to David O. Selznick advising him against buying the rights to Gone With The Wind (1939). In Hollywood Lardner’s left-wing views were well known – he raised money for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War and one of his brothers died serving in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Lardner joined the Screen Writers’ Guild and began discussing Marxist theory. He later said that it was because the prettiest girls attended the meetings. As word got round so work began to dry up but in Hollywood everyone loves a success and in spring 1941 he wrote a script (with Michael Kanin) for Katharine Hepburn. She loved it and showed it to MGM but first she took the precaution of removing the title page bearing the authors’ names. Thinking it was by Ben Hecht the studio paid $100,000 for it. Woman Of The Year teamed Hepburn with Spencer Tracy for the first time, won Lardner an Oscar and earned him a $2,000-a-week contract. Lardner was turned down for military service on the grounds that he had been “a premature anti-fascist”. He made training films for the army during the conflict which in 1945 claimed the life of another of his brothers, David, who was working as a war correspondent for the New Yorker and stepped on a landmine. He worked on Otto Preminger’s Laura (1944), Fritz Lang’s Cloak And Dagger (1947) and Forever Amber (1947). That same year Lardner was one of ten people subpoenaed to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. There were originally 11 summoned but Bertolt Brecht left America. The group believed that they were protected by the First and Fifth Amendments. When he appeared before the committee he was asked by J. Parnell Thomas, the chairman, “Are you or are you not a member of the Communist Party of the United States?” Lardner began to reply but was interrupted by Thomas. He again began to reply and again Thomas stopped him. “I could answer the way you want,” said Lardner, “but I’d hate myself in the morning.” Thomas screamed at him to leave the chair. On October 30, 1947, the ten men were cited for contempt of Congress thanks in no small measure to an ambitious young Congressman called Richard Nixon. Lardner was fired by 20th Century Fox and sent to jail for a year. He served nine months and spent his sentence in Darnbury, Connecticut, where a fellow prisoner was J. Parnell Thomas who had been jailed for fiddling his expenses. Released from prison Lardner was unable to find much work and mostly wrote for British television. His return to the cinema under his own name came with The Cincinnati Kid (1965) and M*A*S*H (1970), the anti-war film about a mobile army surgical hospital. It won Lardner his second Oscar. Lardner, the last surviving member of the Hollywood Ten, spent his final years living in Connecticut. He was married twice. His marriage to Silvia Schulman, which produced a son, Peter, and a daughter, Ann, ended in divorce in 1945. On September 28, 1946 he married his sister-in-law Frances Chaney, the actress widow of his brother David. They had a son, James, but he also raised his niece and nephew.
CAUSE: Lardner died in New York aged 85 from cancer.
Charles Laughton
Born July 1, 1899
Died December 15, 1962
Classically ugly. Born at the Victoria Hotel in Scarborough, Yorkshire, Laughton, the eldest of three sons of a hotelier, was not a well child. He had a glandular complaint that caused him to become fat, and as a result was picked on at home and at school. A Roman Catholic, he was educated at a Jesuit school and wanted to become an actor but instead was sent to train at Claridge’s. World War I intervened and he enlisted in the Royal Huntingdonshire Regiment only to be invalided home because of a gas attack in November 1918. Back in Scarborough he returned to learning the hotelier’s trade until 1925, when he decided to put his own feelings first and enrolled at RADA. There he won the gold medal in 1927 and the following year made his mark as a “neurotic, greedy, sinister villain” who was “revoltingly brilliant” in A Man With Red Hair. That year he also made his first film, Daydreams (1928) as Ram Das. On February 9, 1929, he married the actress Elsa Lanchester, but throughout his life was tormented by his homosexuality, of which she professed ignorance until he confessed. He also hated his appearance, described by Josef von Sternberg as “that face that faintly resembled a large wad of cotton wool.” Laughton appeared in Piccadilly (1929), Comets (1930), The Sign Of The Cross (1932) as Emperor Nero played as a simpering homosexual, Payment Deferred (1932) as William Marble, Devil And The Deep as Commander Charles Storm, If I Had A Million (1932) as Phineas V. Lambert and Island Of Lost Souls as Dr Moreau, before achieving acclaim and a Best Actor Academy Award for the lead in Sir Alexander Korda’s The Private Life Of Henry VIII (1933). He followed this with a series of cinematic biographical portrayals including The Barretts Of Wimpole Street as Edward Moulton-Barrett, Mutiny On The Bounty (1935) as Captain William Bligh, for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, Rembrandt (1936) as Rembrandt van Rijn, I, Claudius (1937) as Claudius, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939) as Quasimodo, Captain Kidd (1945) as Captain William Kidd, Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952) as Captain William Kidd, Young Bess (1953) as King Henry VIII, Salome (1953) as King Herod and Spartacus (1960) as Sempronius Gracchus. Laughton became an American citizen in 1950. His other films included: Jamaica Inn (1939) as Sir Humphrey Pengallan, They Knew What They Wanted (1940) as Tony Patucci, Tales Of Manhattan (1942) as Charles Smith, The Man From Down Under (1943) as Jocko Wilson, The Canterville Ghost (1944) as Sir Simon de Canterville/The Ghost, Because Of Him (1946) as John Sheridan, Arch Of Triumph (1948) as Haake, The Strange Door (1951) as Alain de Maletroit, O. Henry’s Full House (1952) as Soapy, Hobson’s Choice (1954) as Henry Horatio Hobson, Witness For The Prosecution (1957) as Sir Wilfrid Robarts, for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar, and Advise And Consent (1962) as the homophobic Senator Seabright Cooley. He also directed (for the only time in his career) and wrote the cult classic The Night Of The Hunter (1955). Laughton was cast as Mr Micawber in David Copperfield (1934) but didn’t feel himself up to the task and asked to be let out of the contract. Reluctantly director George Cukor agreed. Cukor later said: “He was the first actor I encountered who prepared to make a laughing entrance by going around doing ha-ha sounds for hours.” Laurence Olivier described Laughton as “The only actor of genius I’ve ever met.
CAUSE: In 1959 he suffered a heart attack and a nervous breakdown. Laughton’s death three years later at 63 was ascribed to cancer, although the symptoms he exhibited are what we would now recognise as AIDS. He died in the schoolroom of his home in Hollywood, California.
FURTHER READING: Charles Laughton: An Intimate Biography – Charles Higham (New York: Doubleday, 1976); Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor – Simon Callow (London: Methuen, 1987).
Laurel & Hardy
(ARTHUR STANLEY JEFFERSON)
Born June 16, 1890
Died February 23, 1965
(NORVELL HARDY)
Born January 18, 1892
Died August 7, 1957
The comedy duo. The fat one and the thin one. To millions of cinemagoers Laurel & Hardy are the funniest screen comedians ever. They were born on separate sides of the Atlantic Ocean – one in northern England, the other in southern America. Stan was born in his grandparents’ house in Foundry Cottages (now 3 Argyle Street), Ulverston, Lancashire, the second of four sons and one daughter of the actors Arthur ‘A.J.’ Jefferson (b. Manchester, September 12, 1862, d. Barkston, January 1949) and Margaret ‘Madge’ Metcalfe (b. Askrigg, North Yorkshire, 1860, d. December 1, 1908). (There is now a Laurel & Hardy museum in Upper Brook Street, Ulverston.) In 1897 the family moved to North Shields near Newcastle and Stan attended King James I Grammar School in Bishop Auckland and 18 months later moved to Gainford Academy. In 1905 the Jeffersons moved to Buchanan Drive in Rutherglen, Glasgow. He worked as a box office manager, spending as much time as he could backstage talking with the performers, developing a taste for showbiz. His idols were Laddie Cliff, Boy Glen, Nipper Lane and Dan Leno. In 1906, by Stan�
��s own recollection, he persuaded impresario Albert E. Pickard to let him perform at the Britannia Theatre, a.k.a. Pickard’s Museum Music Hall in Glasgow, the oldest venue in the city. Stan wore a wig and his father’s trousers and “best frock coat and silk hat,” told a few jokes and sang a song. He performed occasionally over the next three years before joining Fred Karno in 1910 where he performed in various sketches and understudied Charlie Chaplin. On October 3 of that year he arrived with Karno in America but, unhappy with his remuneration, left in 1911. He teamed up with another ex-Karnoite, Arthur Dandoe and, calling themselves The Rum ’Uns From Rome, they developed a successful double act. They were a huge hit in London and it should be remembered that in those days, before television and the establishment of cinema, a single act could keep a performer in work for many years. Many of the jokes in the act were written by 5́ 9˝ Stan. The act eventually split and, unable to find a suitable replacement, Stan went solo working for various companies and reuniting with Fred Karno for a September 18, 1912–November 1913 tour of America. The act finished when Charlie Chaplin accepted a $125-a-week offer to star in films in America. Stan, too, decided to stay Stateside and in the summer of 1914 joined a trio, Hurley, Stan and Wren, the highlight of whose act was Stan’s impression of Chaplin. That, too, broke up and Stan formed The Stan Jefferson Trio, which metamorphosed into a double act, with Mae Charlotte Dahlberg Cuthbert (b. Australia, May 24, 1888, d. Sayville Nursing Home, Long Island, New York, 1969), known as Mae and Stan Laurel, in April 1917. She became his common-law wife on June 18, 1919, unable to marry him officially because she inconveniently already had a husband back in Australia. Their relationship lasted until 1925 (although she sued him for alimony on December 6, 1937 and the case was settled out of court) and it was Mae who christened him Stan Laurel. Stan, like many superstitious showbiz folk, was worried that his name contained thirteen letters. Mae was looking through a book when she came across a picture of Scipio Africanus Major wearing a laurel wreath on his head. She believed ‘Stan Laurel’ had a ring to it and the man himself agreed, although he did not legally adopt the name until August 1931. It was in 1917 that Stan made his first film Nuts In May (then still billed as Stan Jefferson). His other early films included Whose Zoo (1918), Phoney Photos (1918), No Place Like Jail (1918), Just Rambling Along (1918) and Huns And Hyphens (1918). In 1918 he signed with Universal to make a few films as the simple Hickory Hiram. Then he moved on to Pathé, Vitagraph and worked for Bronco Billy Anderson. Stan’s films included: Scars And Stripes (1919), Mixed Nuts (1919), Wild Bill Hiccup (1920), Under Two Jags (1920), Rupert Of Hee-Haw (1920), Oranges And Lemons (1920), The Rent Collector (1921), Mud And Sand (1922) as Rhubarb Vaselino (a parody of Valentino’s Blood And Sand) and When Knights Were Cold (1923) (a parody of Douglas Fairbanks’ Robin Hood). On November 17–29, 1919, Stan had made a short film called The Lucky Dog but it was not released until 1922. It was notable only because one of his co-stars was a fat chap called Oliver Hardy, who was playing a thug. On March 2, 1923, Stan was signed by director Hal Roach to appear in a number of one-reel films including White Wings (1923), Save The Ship (1923), The Noon Whistle (1923), A Man About Town (1923), Zeb Vs. Paprika (1924), Wide Open Spaces (1924) and Short Kilts (1924). When not appearing on film, Stan polished his art in vaudeville but because he had not developed a persona à la Chaplin or Lloyd he was not as popular. In 1926 Roach employed Stan as a director and joke writer because he felt his blue eyes photographed as “dead”. However, Stan stood in for an injured actor in Get ’Em Young (1926) and was such a hit the studio insisted he remain in front of the cameras. Incidentally, the injured actor was Oliver Hardy. He burned his hand and arm while trying to cook a leg of lamb. Stan and Ollie, known to all and sundry by his nickname ‘Babe’, first began appearing together in Duck Soup (filmed September 1926 and released on March 13, 1927). The pair went on to appear in a whole series of hilarious two-reelers: Slipping Wives (filmed October 1926, released April 3, 1927), Love ’Em And Weep (filmed January 1927, released June 12, 1927), Why Girls Love Sailors (filmed February 1927, released July 17, 1927), With Love And Hisses (filmed March 1927, released August 28, 1927), Sailors, Beware! (filmed April 1927, released September 25, 1927), Do Detectives Think? (filmed May 1927, released November 20, 1927), Flying Elephants (filmed May 1927, released February 12, 1928), Sugar Daddies (filmed June 1927, released September 10, 1927), The 2nd Hundred Years (filmed June 1927, released October 8, 1927), Call Of The Cuckoos (filmed June 1927, released October 15, 1927) and Hats Off (filmed July–August 1927 and released November 5, 1927). For many years purists have argued what should be the generally accepted “first” Laurel & Hardy film. Many plump for Putting Pants On Philip, which was written and filmed in August 1927, directed by Hal Roach and released on December 3, 1927. Others argue that not only had the pair made more than a dozen films prior to Putting Pants On Philip but even this is not a typical “Laurel & Hardy” comedy. They didn’t use their real names, were not friends, did not wear bowler hats and the film did not feature Stan’s odd haircut or Ollie’s double take to camera. Whatever the consensus is, all we should be grateful for is that Laurel & Hardy did make comedies and superbly entertaining ones at that. The duo worked with Hal Roach until 1940 when they decided they wanted greater artistic freedom over their work. They formed their own production company but produced no films, instead touring with a stage show. They returned to the cinema, signing a non-exclusive contract with 20th Century Fox on April 23, 1941. However, they were denied any creative input and the films were poor. Stan recalled, “I can’t tell you how much it hurt me to do those pictures and how ashamed I am of them.” For that studio and for MGM they produced Great Guns (1941), A-Haunting We Will Go (1942), Air Raid Wardens (1943), Jitterbugs (1943), The Tree In A Test Tube (1943), The Dancing Masters (1943), The Big Noise (1944), Nothing But Trouble (1944), The Bullfighters (1945) and Atoll K /Robinson Crusoeland (1950). 6́ 2˝ Babe Hardy was born at 125 South Hicks Street (now the site of a laundromat) in Harlem, Georgia, the son of Oliver Hardy (b. Harlem, Georgia, December 5, 1844, d. Harlem, Georgia, November 22, 1892), a lawyer and tax collector, and apparently a descendant of the sailor Nelson wanted to kiss at the Battle of Trafalgar, and Emily Norvell Tant. On the first Saturday in October the town holds its annual Oliver Hardy Festival. After his father’s death the family moved to Milledgeville, Georgia, where his mother ran the Baldwin Hotel. Babe, who took the name Oliver in memory of his father, was a boy soprano and occasionally joined tours. He considered following his father into law but when his mother moved to Milledgeville, Georgia, he ran a cinema there. Three years passed before he decided to give acting a try. He played the heavy for Lubin Motion Pictures at $5 a day but when World War I arrived he was rejected as being too fat (he weighed around 20 stone). He moved to Ithaca, New York, where he worked for Pathé Films before going to Jacksonville, Florida (where he got the nickname from an Italian barber who used to pinch his cheeks and cry “Nicea-babee” which was shortened to Babe) and then West to California. He worked for Vitagraph before signing for Hal Roach on February 6, 1926. Throughout his career Babe suffered from an inferiority complex. He thought of himself as Stan’s straight man and nothing more. He never watched the rushes at the end of a day’s filming because he couldn’t bear to see himself on screen. He rarely talked about the films he had made because he felt he didn’t know enough to discuss them. The films were mostly masterpieces, namely The Battle Of The Century (filmed in October 1927 and released on New Year’s Eve, 1927) which was based on the boxing match between Gene Tunney and Jack Dempsey on September 22, 1927 at Soldiers’ Field, Chicago; Leave ’Em Laughing (filmed October 1927, released January 28, 1928) in which the boys’ regular car, the Model T Ford, makes its first appearance; The Finishing Touch (filmed between November and December 1927, released February 25, 1928); From Soup To Nuts (originally called Let George Do It – filmed December 1927–January 5, 1928, released March 24, 1928); You’re Darn Tooting (filmed January 17–27, 1928,
released April 21, 1928); Their Purple Moment (filmed February 11–24, 1928 with a new ending shot on March 7, 1928 and released on May 19, 1928) during which their pay was $500 a week for Stan and $400 a week for Babe; Should Married Men Go Home? (filmed March 13–21, 1928, released September 8, 1928); Early To Bed (filmed May 21–29, 1928, released October 6, 1928); Two Tars (filmed June 22–23 and June 26–July 3, 1928, released November 3, 1928); Habeas Corpus (filmed July 16–23 & 29–31 and released December 1, 1928) which was described by the studio as Laurel & Hardy’s “first sound picture” but unfortunately the music and effects track (no speech) has been lost; We Faw Down (filmed August 23–September 1, 1928, released December 29, 1928); Liberty (filmed October 1–17, 1928, released January 26, 1929) which co-starred Jean Harlow; Wrong Again (filmed November 21–December 1, 1928, released February 23, 1929); That’s My Wife (filmed December 11–16, 1928, released March 23, 1929); Big Business (filmed December 19–26, 1928, released April 20, 1929); Double Whoopee (filmed February 1929, released May 18, 1929) which also co-starred Jean Harlow, who featured on the publicity pictures; Bacon Grabbers (filmed February 16–March 2, 1929, released October 19, 1929), a silent film although released with synchronised music and sound effects; Angora Love (filmed March 1929, released December 14, 1929) in which the boys “adopt” a goat – it was their last silent film although released with synchronised music and sound effects; Unaccustomed As We Are (filmed March 25–April 1929, released May 4, 1929), their first sound picture co-starred Thelma Todd and was shot mostly at night because the Roach Studios had only the one set of sound equipment and the Our Gang team used it during the day; Berth Marks (filmed April 20–27, 1929 and released June 1, 1929) in which all the dialogue was improvised. The version most often shown today is the 1936 reissue which has ‘Coo-Coo’ as the familiar theme tune over the titles – it wasn’t recorded until August 1932 which is why it does not appear in original prints; Men O’War (filmed May 11–18, 1929, released June 29, 1929); The Hollywood Revue Of 1929 (released November 23, 1929); Perfect Day (filmed June 8–15, released August 10, 1929); They Go Boom (filmed July 7–13, 1929, released September 21, 1929); The Hoose-Gow (filmed August 30–September 14, 1929, released November 16, 1929); The Rogue Song (filmed July–September 1929, released January 17, 1930) which was produced by Irving Thalberg, directed by Lionel Barrymore and made in two colour Technicolor; Night Owls (filmed October–November 1929, released January 4, 1930); Blotto (filmed December 1929, released February 8, 1930); Brats (filmed January 1930, released March 22, 1930) in which the boys play themselves and their own sons; Below Zero (filmed February–March 1930, released April 26, 1930); Hog Wild (filmed April released May 31, 1930); The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (filmed May 1930, released September 6, 1930); Pardon Us (filmed June 24–December 1, 1930, released August 15, 1931); Another Fine Mess (filmed September–October 1930, released November 29, 1930); Be Big! (filmed November–December 1930, released February 7, 1931); Chickens Come Home (filmed January 1931, released February 21, 1931); The Stolen Jools (released April 1931); Laughing Gravy (filmed February 1931, released April 4, 1931) in which their friendship is tested by Stan’s inheritance and their landlord takes a dislike to their dog, Laughing Gravy; Our Wife (filmed March 1931, released May 16, 1931), the last Laurel & Hardy film that was also filmed in foreign languages; Come Clean (filmed May 1931, released September 19, 1931) in which the opening reads, “Mr Hardy holds that a man should always tell his wife the whole truth. Mr Laurel is crazy too;” One Good Turn (filmed June 1931, released on Hallowe’en 1931) during which the Hal Roach Studio reported a loss of $25,005.64 on the 1930–1931 season of Laurel & Hardy films; Beau Hunks (filmed September 1931, released December 12, 1931) in which Babe and Stan join the Foreign Legion; On The Loose (filmed September 1931, released Boxing Day, 1931); Helpmates (filming began October 19, 1931, released January 23, 1932); Any Old Port (filmed November 1931, released March 5, 1932); The Music Box (filmed December 1931, released April 16, 1932) in which they had to deliver a piano (you can still see the steps at 923-927 Vendome Street, Los Angeles); The Chimp (filmed January–February 7, 1932, released May 21, 1932); County Hospital (filming began February 20, 1932, released June 25, 1932); Pack Up Your Troubles (filmed May–June 1, 1932, released September 23, 1932); Scram! (filmed June 18–July 1, 1932, released September 10, 1932); Their First Mistake (filmed September 24–October 1, 1932, released November 5, 1932) during which the studio reported a loss of $166,447.88 on the 1931–1932 season of Laurel & Hardy films; Towed In A Hole (filmed November 1–10, released New Year’s Eve, 1932); Twice Two (filmed November 1932, released February 25, 1933); The Devil’s Brother (filmed February 4–March 4, 1933, released May 5, 1933); Me And My Pal (filmed March released April 22, 1933); The Midnight Patrol (filmed June 24–July 6, 1933, released on August 3, 1933); Busy Bodies (filmed July 15–25, 1933, released October 7, 1933); Wild Poses (filmed August 1933, released October 28, 1933); Dirty Work (filmed August 7–19, 1933, released November 25, 1933); Sons Of The Desert (shot between October 2–23, 1933, released December 29, 1933); Hollywood Party (filmed March 1933–March 1934, released June 1, 1934); Oliver The Eighth (filmed December 15–20, 1933 & January 8–15, 1934, released February 13, 1934); Going Bye-Bye! (filmed May 21–26, 1934, released June 23, 1934); Them Thar Hills (filmed June 11–20, 1934, released July 21, 1934); Babes In Toyland (released November 30, 1934); The Live Ghost (filmed November 8–14, 1934, released December 8, 1934); Tit For Tat (filmed December 10–20, 1934, released January 5, 1935); The Fixer-Uppers (filmed January 11–19, 1935, released February 9, 1935); Bonnie Scotland (filmed May 1–June 15, 1935, released August 23, 1935); Thicker Than Water (filmed July 1–8, released August 6, 1935); The Bohemian Girl (filmed October 9–November 30, 1935, released February 14, 1936) previewed on December 11, 1935 and five days later, co-star Thelma Todd was discovered dead in a garage. To avoid any bad publicity and ghoul seekers Stan and Hal Roach made the decision to cut most of Todd’s scenes from the final print; Our Relations (filmed March 16–May 4, 1936, released October 30, 1936); On The Wrong Trek (filmed April 1936, released June 1936); Way Out West (filmed August 27–November released April 16, 1937) in which they perform their number one hit, ‘The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine’ and Pick A Star (filmed November 16, 1936–January 1937, released May 21, 1937). In 1937 Hal Roach issued a press release stating that Babe would be making a solo film because Stan had not signed a new contract. In March of that year the Hollywood Reporter stated that Stan had formed his own company, Stan Laurel Productions. Stan then dropped his old agents, Claude and Gordon Bostock, and hired Charles Feldman. Way Out West did very well at the box office and Roach became desperate to team up Stan and Babe once more. On October 8, 1937, Hal Roach signed a four-picture deal with Stan Laurel Productions. Stan was to be paid $2,500 per week plus $25,000 per film. The first film he made under the new deal was Swiss Miss (filmed December 28, 1937–February 26, 1938, released May 20, 1938). The next movie Block-Heads (filmed June 1–July 1, 1938, released August 19, 1938) was generally regarded as one of the best Laurel & Hardy feature films. This was followed by A Chump At Oxford (filmed June 1939, released February 16, 1940), The Flying Deuces (filmed July 22–August 1939, released October 20, 1939), Saps At Sea (filmed November–December 1939, released May 3, 1940), Great Guns (filmed July 11–August 1941, released October 10, 1941), A-Haunting We Will Go (filmed March 15–April 1942, released August 7, 1942), Air Raid Wardens (filmed December 1, 1942–January 1943, released April 4, 1943), Jitterbugs (filmed February 15–March 1943, released June 11, 1943), The Tree In A Test Tube (filmed February–March released 1943), The Dancing Masters (filmed June 1–25, 1943, released November 19, 1943), The Big Noise (filmed April 1944, released September 1944) generally regarded as one of the worst films of all time, Nothing But Trouble (filmed October released March 1945), The Bullfighters (filmed November– December 16, 1944, released May 18, 1945) and Atoll K (filmed August 1950–March 1951, released in 1952). On Decemb
er 1, 1954, the pair were Guests of Honour on This Is Your Life. Both Stan and Babe were exceptionally generous to family and friends (both had to make hefty alimony payments) and often arranged for down on their luck friends to get jobs on their films. Stan was also a practical joker. If Stan was recognised towards the end of his life, the fan would approach and say, “Aren’t you …?” and Stan would rejoinder, “Oliver Hardy.” “What happened to Laurel?” “He went barmy,” said Stan with a straight face. Stan spent hours writing to fans, something that Babe didn’t feel any obligation to do. He had a rubber stamp made of his signature and would use that to send pictures to fans until he received numerous complaints from admirers wanting a real autograph. Stan’s marital track record was, to say the least, convoluted and confusing. As far as can be ascertained, he married the actor Lois Nelson (b. 1896, d. 1990) in Los Angeles on August 23, 1926. He had a daughter by her, also Lois (b. December 10, 1927; m. actor Randy Brooks in 1948 and then Tony Hawes, the man who used to announce the conveyor belt prizes on The Generation Game) and a son, Stan, Jr (b. May 7, 1930, d. May 16, 1930). The couple separated in May 1933 and divorced on September 10, 1935. Meanwhile, on April 2, 1934, Stan had married the widower (Virginia) Ruth Rogers (d. 1976) in Agua Caliente, Mexico. When his divorce was finalised they remarried on September 28, 1935 in Los Angeles. They divorced on Christmas Eve, 1936. Ruth Laurel was awarded the family home, two cars, $17,000 and 5 per cent of Stan’s gross future earnings until her remarriage or death. On New Year’s Day, 1938 Stan married Russian singer-dancer Vera Ivanova Shuvalova, known as Ileana (b. November 6, 1897, d. San Francisco, California, February 7, 1994), in Yuma, Arizona. The second Mrs Laurel picketed their honeymoon claiming the wedding was bigamous. To satisfy himself he was legally wed, Stan remarried Ileana on February 28, 1938. To please his bride they went through yet another ceremony in a Russian Orthodox Church on April 26, She was a fiery woman who saw nothing wrong in bashing her husband over the head with a frying pan and telling the press all about it afterwards. No matter how many times they said, “I do,” it soon became clear that they didn’t and they divorced on May 17, On January 11, 1941, he remarried Virginia Rogers but re-divorced her in Nevada on April 30, 1946. The following month in Yuma, Arizona, he married Russian singer Ida Kitaeva Raphael (b. 1898, d. 1980). Babe’s nuptials were slightly simpler. In 1913 he married pianist Madelyn Saloshin (b. 1887) whom he divorced in November 1920 (becoming final on November 17, 1921). On November 24, 1921, he married the alcoholic, mentally disturbed Myrtle Lee Reeves (1897–1983) at the Church of Christ in Hollywood. They separated and reconciled on numerous occasions (for example, she filed for divorce on July 24, 1929 alleging seven years of cruel treatment such as Babe “refusing to explain the evidence of his close proximity to persons using powder and cosmetics”), usually when she was committed to various sanatoriums, before Babe finally filed for divorce in 1933. Unsurprisingly, he withdrew the suit. On May 18, 1937, Babe finally received his interlocutory divorce. The judge commended Babe for “trying to keep [your] marital difficulties to [your]self”. The decree absolute was not issued until February 25, 1940. On March 7, 1940, he married (Virginia) Lucille Jones (b. 1914, d. 1986). The last words should go to the two men themselves. Babe: “Those two fellows we created, they were nice, very nice people. They never get anywhere because they are both so dumb, but they don’t know they are dumb.” Stan: “We were doing a very simple thing, giving some people some laughs, and that’s all we were trying to do.”
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 108