Stan and Ollie

[movieman1957]

Another showing for "The Live Ghost" Oct 12 (Sun) 5:38am ET if anyone missed the previous airing.

[movieman1957]

If anyone has Comcast they have "Blotto" On Demand this week (or soon for some of you.)

[movieman1957]

A rarity coming on June 1 on TCM as part of Leo McCarey day is a Charlie Chase short titled "Be Your Age" from 1926 where Ollie is listed in the cast.

[movieman1957]

July 28 7:40pm. "County Hospital." TCM.

[movieman1957]

Jan 22 8pm - "Tit For Tat."

[moira finnie]

Jan 22 8pm - "Tit For Tat."

Thanks, Chris. I've never seen this one or its "prequel" Them Thar Hills.

Block-Heads (1938) is also on TCM on Tue., Jan 19, at 10:15PM

[charliechaplinfan]

I love Block Heads.

I miss when Laurel and Hardy used to be used as fillers in between TV programmes, they were far more entertaining that the slots of reality TV that fill up the daytime schedule.

Some people are going to grow up with no idea about the wealth of entertainment of times gone by because no one cares to show it on freeview TV.

OK, I'll step down off my soapbox now.

[JackFavell]

I so agree, CCFan. L&H used to be on every Saturday in my childhood. Ah, those were the good old days. No cartoons, but the discovery of something great instead.

Block- Heads was so great. I love that even though I haven't seen it for twenty years, I still know entire sections of it. I wasn't even sure if it was the one that started in WWI or not, so when it started, I was so happy that I remembered it right. It's priceless when Ollie says, "Oh, we'll come back. We'll all come back..." then it cuts to twenty years later. I remembered the little hole that Stanley wore in the trench and everything.

I found myself thinking about some things as I was watching it last night that I never thought of before - like, How DOES Stanley smoke his hand? And how DOES that match keep relighting? How big was the set they used? They had one shot of the stairs that covered two levels, but I was thinking that they used that same two stairway set for all of the floors, just adding a 5 or a seven or a nine to numbers on the doors. Amazing that they completely make you believe that they are climbing an entire apartment building. It took a smart brain to think out the logistics of filming it on a budget.

I am curious what you thought of Bob Newhart's remarks.....I thought of you as he was speaking. I think he was right in some respects, but I would have said it differently - I think L&H just make you laugh - no thought required. Whereas Chaplin, Keaton, and W.C. Fields require some life experience or thought to be involved. It's like L&H are hardwired to a different spot in the brain, bypassing any other emotions except funny.....

[moira finnie]

If you don't mind my injecting an opinion about Bob Newhart's remarks, I find some of Chaplin, and much of Keaton and Lloyd make me laugh, but Stan Laurel makes me very happy whenever I see him because he is so child-like. I don't think that my life experience has really helped me laugh at Keaton being blown down the street or Lloyd finding a kitten inside his sweater, but there is something about Stan in particular that appeals to me. I still worry, just as I did when I was a kid "Why Ollie is so mean?" though I now can understand Ollie's exasperation and struggle more, so I guess that life has helped me to comprehend his humor much more.

My favorite line from Block-Heads is when Ollie, after finding his long lost buddy after twenty years (and in a wheelchair! with one leg!), he rhapsodizes about the five inch steak covered with mushrooms that his wife will make for him, going on and on about her cooking---when Stan asks casually, "Any beans?"

That was so funny.

[JackFavell]

Hey, Moira! He just sneaks those lines in, like the beans one, before Ollie can even realize what he is saying!

Maybe it has nothing to do with life experience. You are probably right. But I can relate to Stan and Ollie both. I totally understand each of them, and when Ollie looks at the camera, then down at his tie, and then looks up again, as if to say, "do you see what I have to put up with?" it just makes me laugh at my own high and mighty moments, and I feel for him. Stan is just magical. I like that over time, he became more unreal, like the hand smoking bit, or the windowshade bit. We've all been saddled with a partner or acquaintance who ruined everything just by trying to help, and we've all been the dumb cluck messing everything up....so I really feel like I KNOW Stan and Ollie. They are me, in some weird deep way.

[movieman1957]

Some of it may be more familiar because if I remember correctly they use the plot from "Unaccustomed As We Are" from 1929 or so as the last part of "Block Heads." At other times they used gags from their short films in their feature lengths.

[jdb1]

Some of it may be more familiar because if I remember correctly they use the plot from "Unaccustomed As We Are" from 1929 or so as the last part of "Block Heads." At other times they used gags from their short films in their feature lengths.

You know, Chris, that whole thing with everyone talking at once and no one listening seems to have been an L&H invention, just as they are (well Stan, really) credited with inventing that shtick where someone has an accident offscreen, and all the audience gets is the noise (like Ollie falling down the stairs and you don't see the actual crash landing, you just hear it).

I recorded Block-Heads and finally watched it last night with my daughter, who enjoyed it more than she thought she would. I just can't seem to say it enough: it's a real pleasure to watch these restored L&H gems. My previous experience of them was always of disintegrating prints, broadcast to vacuum tube TV sets that had to be adjusted for fuzziness every 2 minutes. Now, it's like seeing a whole different movie -- there are so many lovely little bits I missed before. My daughter, who has seen my ancient VCR recordings of the Sunday morning L&H shows, asked me "What's different about them in this movie? They seem so much more modern." The answer is that the print was crystal-clear, and you could see the boys as they really looked.

I thought Newhart's comments on L&H were disappointingly inarticulate. Didn't he know he was going to be called upon to say something about why he likes them? He seemed unprepared.

I think Moira has expressed my feelings about L&H exactly: they make me happy. The fictional L&H face life bravely, don't let themselves be pushed around, and they are true and loyal friends to each other, despite the squabbling and occasional fisticuffs. They are innocent; it seems perfectly natural that they should sleep in the same bed. Yet they are men, after all, not afraid of hard work, and they love the ladies. They are two characters who are completely comfortable in their own skins. In short, Stan and Ollie were a brilliant creation who fit into any generation, and that's what defines a classic. And remember how dumb he used to be? Well, he's better now.

[JackFavell]

I can't wait for Tit for Tat now... it's one of my favorites, but probably because I have the most enormous crush on Charlie Hall....

[movieman1957]

One of my favorite things about Ollie is that keeping his dignity and being proper are almost always utmost in his mind. The fact that he is poor (most of the time) maybe ill dressed and often exasperated doesn't keep him from practicing the art of the social graces. The fact that Stan often blows that up doesn't keep Ollie from trying. When Ollie does lose it with Finlayson or Hall it is because all reasonable avenues are exhausted.

Ollie is polite, helpful and well meaning. He is loyal often to the point of picking to do something with Stan rather than his wife. (Though he does not always have the most endearing wife.) The fact that he is the unintentional recipient of disaster due to Stan's well meaning, but incompetent, help never gets in the way of his affection for Stan.

Stan's child like innocence belies an occasional sinister side. This usually comes out when Ollie has been subject to abuse by someone else. I love his "can Ollie come out and play" arrivals at the Hardy home. Whatever else goes wrong in their world they find solace in each other.

They are, in their way, a love story. Not perfect but endearing and lasting.

I have those old Sunday morning airings too. You never if you'll get the chance from any other source so they are closely guarded. Having "Men 'O War" and "A Perfect Day" and some others are nice no matter the form.

[JackFavell]

Oh my gosh, you made me cry, MM!

I love how you describe them.

I wish I could go back in a time machine and tape the films... I think the last time I saw FraDiavolo was when I was maybe 7 or 8.... I always loved it and the Bohemian Girl. There are so many I haven't seen for so long. sigh