Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire, England on 16 June 1890. He was born into a theatrical family, his dad AJ was a theatre impresario, writer and performer who wasn’t keen on his young son entering the business. Stan had other ideas. When he was 14, Stan would sneak out against his father’s knowledge and perform, when his dad later found out rather than get angry he encouraged his son, believing an entertainment career to be inevitable for his son.

By 1910 he was touring theatres across the UK with Fred Karno’s Comedians he found himself sharing a room and understudying Charlie Chaplin. Soon the Karno troupe went on a tour of the US. As the ship sailed into New York, Chaplin proudly proclaimed that he was coming to take over, Stan was a little more reserved! The pantomime skills of the English performers ensured steady business. Despite the success Stan was refused a pay rise and returned home and toured a sketch he had written himself, “The Rum’uns From Rome”. He returned to the US again with Karno’s (and his pay rise) in 1912.

When Chaplin was signed by Mack Sennett to make pictures, Stan had an opportunity to take the lead with Karno. This wasn’t so successful and the troupe separated with Stan doing various performances, including imitating Chaplin’s tramp character. Soon he formed the Stan Jefferson Trio with Alice and Baldwin Cooke. This act came to a close when Stan teamed up with an on (and off) stage partner Mae Dahlberg. After talking about the name Stan Jefferson having 13 letters, they looked for a new name, a picture of a Roman general with a laurel leaf on his head gave Mae the idea and soon ‘Stan and Mae Laurel’ was the name of the act.

Soon after Stan ended up working in films and at Universal he made some short films under the name “Hickory Hiram”. In 1917 or 1918 (depending where you get your info!) Stan made a film for “Broncho Billy” Anderson, Lucky Dog, a short film that would have been long forgotten were it not for the appearance of Oliver Hardy in it.

For the next few years Stan toured and made films, by 1923 he was working for Hal Roach studios amongst others. His tempestuous relationship with Mae seems to have hampered his early film career. It wasn’t until Mae returned to Australia that things started to pick up again for him. By August 1926 Stan was married to his first wife Lois and in a longer contract with the Roach studios.

Stan soon found a happier lot being a writer/director than an actor, preferring a creative role. Amongst those he directed were Oliver Hardy, when an accident that sounds as though it was lifted from a later L&H movie (Hardy scalded himself with some hot gravy whilst cooking) prevented Hardy from filming, there was only Stan available to fill in. Stan would have been happy to slip back into directing/writing but other people had seen a marked improvement in Stan’s return to acting and Roach offered him a pay rise to do more.

The teaming of Laurel & Hardy has been claimed by several people, Hal Roach especially, but most give the credit to Leo McCarey and by 1927 the two had made their first proper movie together as a double act.

The Laurel & Hardy years will feature in another entry.

Oliver Hardy made a few post Laurel & Hardy films without his partner, Stan did not. He did oversee the production of some musical westerns and would offer advice to passing comics (Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Danny Kaye, were amongst regular visitors in his later years), but remained loyal to his screen partner.
Stan had four wives, five marriages and eight wedding ceremonies (presumably he liked cake!).

Stan died on February 23 1965.

A plaque above his grave reads:

Stan Laurel. A Master of Comedy. His genius in the art of humor brought gladness to the world he loved.

I’d like to say this was written by some literary giant or a comedy friend but it appears to have been written by a bloke who worked at the cemetery.

A statue of Stan is in Dockwray Square, North Shields where he spent his younger years.
A statue of Stan & Ollie is in Ulverston.
The Laurel & Hardy museum is also in that wonderful town.


Here's a clip from The South Bank Show about Stan's centenary birthday celebrations in Ulverston in 1990, I believe if you look hard enough I'm in it somewhere!

and a bit of classic Stan from the film Fra Diavolo