By Elliott West
“Humour is the truth; Wit is the exaggeration of the truth”.
Stan Laurel
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Photograph courtesy of The Telegraph.
Introduction
My favourite comedy double act of all time has to be the slapstick British/American partnership of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. A comedy act that began in silent movies and moved into talking pictures, a comedy bond that would go on to make 106 films between 1921 and 1951. They were the duo who managed to get into every scrape possible and still came out the other side smiling and laughing, performing their stunts, speaking their scripts in multiple languages and enduring the wrath of many wives on screen. A comedy gem that many future acts would idolise and be inspired by and still gain a legion of new fans in their films that still burn strong long after their passing.
For this piece, I would like to look at their final hurrah, a tour of British theatres in 1953. This was aimed to be a farewell to their adoring public, a chocolate box that had all your favourite comedy elements in it. Scheduled for eight months and one that would be performed in England, Scotland and Ireland, the Birds Of A Feather show, organised by Bernard Delfont and consisting of several comedy and variety support acts including the comedian Harry Worth was designed to wow but as Laurel and Hardy would go onto learn, didn’t have all the comedy promise that they expected.
Poster from the Empire Sunderland show in 1954. Photograph courtesy of Beau Chumps Tent.
A Slow Burner
By the time they embarked on this final comedy tour in 1953, Laurel and Hardy were not the men they used to be. The glint of inspiration was now a glimmer of its former self and Oliver Hardy in ill health with a concern that the strain of the many performances may be too much for him. Playing often to half empty theatres and to a script that certainly to the platinum standard of their film scripts. Yet even in their advancing years, Stan and Ollie were not blind to the number of empty seats that stared back at them as they performed their tried and tested routines. Starting in Northampton in October, 1953 and moving on to cities such as Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, Stan Laurel who was infamous for his letter writing, wrote a letter after their four-week run at Northampton Empire in 1954, attacking showbuisness in Britain, describing it “as not being good in general”, believing that unemployment, strikes and the malaise of British television, drove the general public into the theatres even if it was a bad show.
Tragedy Strikes!
The irony of this tour was that as it progressed, the audience numbers gradually increased. Yet as the tide changed, there would be a sting in the tale. After a performance at the Plymouth Playhouse in May 1954, Oliver Hardy would suffer a mild heart attack, causing their appearance to be cancelled. After a visit to a west country hospital and Hardy retiring to a local hotel to recover, Stan Laurel returned to the theatre to support the other acts. This final performance was probably their best, performing in front of a packed audience with many who were in the audience in their youth concurring to that, where the laughter echoed around the auditorium and many a tear streamed down the cheeks of the audience.
Many of those who attended Laurel and Hardy’s final swan song had little money but made the comedy pilgrimage to the show just to catch a glimpse of their comedy heroes in real life. One child, David Bullock, sneaked through the stage door without a ticket. A sneaky treat that got him to see the trademark act in their suits and wearing bowler hats. Shortly after Hardy had recovered, both bought a ticket and boarded a ship back to America. They would never return to the UK again.
Afterthoughts
Stan and Ollie would only make one appearance together on television for the US version of This Is Your Life in December 1954. Their last film, several years earlier in 1950, Atoll K was a flop. A French-Italian production, the film had to be halted at one stage due to the poor health of both men with both men especially Stan looking emaciated. A film that plagued language barriers and production issues. Oliver Hardy died at the early age of 65 in 1957 and his comedy partner refused to perform again after the loss of his comedy partner.
Peter Sellers and Stan Laurel. Photograph courtesy of Michael Warburton.
Living in Los Angeles, Stan spent his time replying to fan mail, replying to every fan on a typewriter, accompanied by a personally signed photograph. He even let some dedicated fans into his house for a conversation and an early selfie. Many celebrities used to visit his LA home including Peter Sellers in 1964. Stan Laurel died in 1965, aged 74. A British-born actor who with his American comedy partner defined a brand of slapstick comedy whose films never fail to make me laugh no matter how many times I have seen them. They were trailblazers in their own right, producing films in an era where there wasn’t much to laugh about. They were the cinema viewers’ escape, films where you could just get lost and laugh continuously.
