CLASSIC LAUREL AND HARDY SHORTS

CLASSIC LAUREL AND HARDY SHORTS.

TCM recently held a Laurel and Hardy all-day festival in which they showed Pardon Us, Swiss Miss (still with several minutes cut) and quite a few classic shorts. Some of the more memorable ones include: Tit for Tat, in which the boys have a hilarious war with the owner of the grocery that's next to their electrical appliance store; Hog Wild, in which they try to put up a radio antennae and nearly wreck the house to Mrs. Hardy's furor; Our Wife, in which Ollie elopes with a large, economy-sized bride whose wealthy father disapproves of the union; and Be Big!, in which the boys try to sneak off to a party when their wives want them to accompany them to Atlantic City (one sequence has Stan hysterically trying to get Ollie's boot off of his fat foot). In Night Owls, a cop blackmails the boys into robbing his sergeant's house, so he can capture them and impress the boss, and in Their First Mistake they adopt a child to save Ollie's marriage, only to learn that his wife is not only suing him for divorce, but suing Laurel for alienation of affection! "Now that you've gone and gotten me into this trouble, you want to walk out and leave me flat!" Oliver whines to Stan.

Verdict: Some very, very funny stuff. ***.

STAN AND OLLIE

STAN AND OLLIE: The Roots of Comedy -- The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy. Simon Louvish. Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press. 2002.

Excellent dual biography of the great comedy team of Laurel and Hardy explains their importance and influence in the world of comedy, analyses their working methods, acting approaches, and various films, and delves into their often tumultuous private lives as well, all in literate prose that keeps you happily turning the pages. Louvish investigates the boys' backgrounds and family histories and separates facts from rumors and legend. Both Stan and Ollie had more than one unhappy marriage, and their trials and tribulations with their assorted wives, divorces, infidelities, alimonies, lawyers, and jealous females often read like a script for one of their zanier movies, and indeed these real-life episodes often informed their comic on-screen antics. Along the way Louvish also educates the reader with facts and anecdotes about the early days of filmmaking, movie comedy, and the famous players who intersected Stan and Ollie's inexorable but not always smooth journey towards fame. Many wonderful black and white photographs are included in the thick, scrupulously-researched volume, which is informative, entertaining, and a great read. You'll want to get your hands on every L & H movie you can find, even the lesser ones!

Verdict: Excellent! ****.