Laurel and Hardy

Comedy duo Laurel and Hardy captured in a newly restored tri-chrome sitting from 1938. Stan Laurel was born on this day, 16th June1890 in Ulverston, Lancashire, England. He came from a theatrical family, his father an actor and theatre manager, and he made his stage debut at the age of 16 at Pickard's Museum, Glasgow. He traveled with Fred Karno's vaudeville company to the United States in 1910 and again in 1913. While with that company he was Charles Chaplin's understudy, and he performed imitations of Chaplin. On a later trip he remained in the United States, having been cast in a two-reel comedy, "Nuts in May" (1917). There followed a number of shorts for Metro, Hal Roach Studios, then Universal, then back to Roach in 1926. His first two-reeler with Oliver Hardy was "45 Minutes from Hollywood" (1926). Starting early in 1927, Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in several short films, including "Duck Soup," "Slipping Wives," and "With Love and Hisses." The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the Laurel and Hardy series later that year. Together, the two men began producing a huge body of short films, including "The Battle of the Century," "Should Married Men Go Home?, " "Two Tars, Be Big!, " "Big Business," and many others. Their first release through MGM was "Sugar Daddies" (1927) and the first with star billing was "From Soup to Nuts" (1928). Their first feature-length starring roles were in "Pardon Us" (1931). The rest is screen history.

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