What I’m watching; the wonderful return of Laurel and Hardy

On Blu-ray: Laurel & Hardy: The Definitive Restorations

A benefit of being a Baby Boomer, is that television in the 1950s through late 60s was awash with movies from the 1930 and ‘40s, giving people of my generation an opportunity to discover for ourselves a galaxy of talent.

Among my favorites were the great comedians, many of whom were teams. It was pretty easy to become introduced to The Marx Brothers and Abbott and Costello as well as the subject of this new Blu-ray collection, Laurel and Hardy.

In a career as a team – both men had worked years previous to their introduction – that spanned from 1927 to 1955, the comedy duo made 107 films, starring in 32 short silent films, 40 short sound films, and 23 full-length feature films.

That served well for creating a new generation of fans with television emerging in the 1950s. Their two-reelers, running about 20 minutes was ideal for a half-hour slot on TV. Kids like me frequently saw these shorts on local shows designed for children.

With the decision of many local television programmers in the 1970s to eliminate black and white programming, the Laurel and Hardy films, like many others, became progressively more difficult to see until the advent of VHS.

Even then, it was a crapshoot if the print of the film you were watching was complete or in good shape.

Although there has been DVD releases in the past of their films, this new Blu-ray is simply the one collection of Laurel and Hardy that will actually give you the sense of sitting in a theater in the 1930s and watching the boys in the way their films were intended to be seen.

This set features two features – “Sons of the Desert” and “Way Out West” – as well as 17 of their shorts. It also has their only color film made for the US. Government and a blooper reel made for Laurel on his birthday in 1937.

There are numerous commentary tracks, video and audio interviews with people associated with the films and many galleries of photos.

I was in heaven watching them all.

It’s an exercise in futility to attempt to explain comedy, but with Laurel and Hardy, I’ll try. The two men always portrayed a pair of partners and or friends. Hardy viewed himself as smarter than Laurel – not true – and was prone to trying to maintain dignified appearance. Laurel was an alien from another world. He seemed remarkably dense but there was some sort of alternative intelligence at work at times.

Their comedy was often physical, but could also be quite subtle.

In real life, Laurel was the comic genius and Hardy was the willing actor. Laurel had a long career in comedy on the stage and in films prior to his coming to the Hal Roach Studios in 1925, where he served as a writer and director.

Hardy had been a busy character actor often playing heavies. They appeared in a short together at the Roach Studio and worked so well together they were given their own series.

The work that is presented on the Blu-ray is some of the team’s best work. The two features are funny and endearing and the collection includes the Oscar-winning short “The Music Box.” I loved “Brats” in which the boys appear as both adults and as their own children and “Twice Two,” in which they also play their own sisters.

This Blu-ray should be part of any collection of film comedy.

I can’t write something about Laurel and Hardy without mentioning the local man who did so very much in Western Massachusetts to promote the team. Agawam resident Hal Stanton worked at Bay State Productions and was an avid film fan and collector. He served as a movie host on TV-22 for many years and founded a local “tent” of the international Laurel and Hardy fan organization The Sons of the Desert.

I became friends with Stanton and joined the Sons of the Desert – “The Night Owls” – which would have monthly dinners that always included a screening one of the boys’ films and frequently featured guests such as actress Rosina Lawrence, who costarred in “Way Out West.”          

I’m happy to say The Night Owls is still active and can be reached through its website https://sites.google.com/site/nightowlstent/home. Perhaps it’s time for me to join again.