Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have remained, from 1927 to the present day, the screen's most famous and popular comedy double act, celebrated by legions of fans. But despite many books about their films and individual lives, there has never been a fully researched, definitive narrative biography of the duo, from birth to death. Louvish traces the early lives of Stanley Jefferson and Norvell Hardy and the surrounding minstrel and variety theatre, which influenced all of their later work. Louvish examines the rarely seen solo films of both our heroes, prior to their serendipitous pairing in 1927, in the long-lost short "Duck Soup." The inspired casting teamed them until their last days. Both often married, they found balancing their personal and professional lives a nearly impossible feat. Between 1927 and 1938, they were able to successfully bridge the gap between silent and sound films, which tripped up most of their prominent colleagues. Their Hal Roach and MGM films were brilliant, but their move in 1941, to Twentieth Century Fox proved disastrous, with the nine films made there ranking as some of the most embarrassing moments of cinematic history. In spite of this, Laurel and Hardy survived as exemplars of lasting genius, and their influence is seen to this day. The clowns were elusive behind their masks, but now Simon Louvish can finally reveal their full and complex humanity, and their passionate devotion to their art. In Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy , Louvish has seamlessly woven tireless and thorough research into an authoritative biography of these two important and influential Hollywood pioneers. Generally considered the finest film comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy made their mark in both the silent and the sound eras. While drawing on the efforts of past biographers, Louvish (London International Film Sch.; Monkey Business: The Lives and Legends of the Marx Brothers) delves deeper into the personal and professional lives of this beloved team. He explores the impact of the British music hall tradition on Stanley Jefferson (Laurel), whose father wrote plays and skits and ran theaters, and the early cinema's influence on Oliver Norvell Hardy, who at 18 was taking tickets and projecting films in Milledgeville, GA's Electric Theater. Though both came to work at Hal Roach Studios, it wasn't until 1927 that Laurel and Hardy engaged in their first team effort: Duck Soup (not to be confused with the Marx Brothers' vehicle). After such high points as Sons of the Desert (1934), an artistic decline began owing to the team's age, bad scripts, exiting Hal Roach, and new satirical comedy styles from Billy Wilder and Preston Sturges. Louvish has digested films, reviews, and interviews with those who knew the pair to reach entirely reasonable conclusions and create fully realized human beings. This definitive treatment is recommended for public and academic libraries, as well as special film collections. Kim Holston, American Inst. for Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, PA Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. When this dual biography of the great film comedy team debuted in Britain in 2001, The Times of London reviewer said it was "as good as writing about Hollywood comedy gets." Fortunately, it is better as biography, tracing the careers of both men so scrupulously that nearly 200 pages have gone by before the narrative reaches their first collaboration. Both comedians, well into their thirties by then, had already had substantial careers, mostly playing second bananas, but Louvish's phrase-mongering inflates the page count beyond what it would have been with an economical recounting of the comics' prepartnership doings. He is as attentive to the facts of their lives thereafter, and also to the plots and the production of many of their films. He adds very little to the appreciation of Laurel and Hardy's art, however; he mostly just traces routines in the films back to their predecessors in previous films or Laurel's and his father's stage acts. This may be "as good as writing about Hollywood comedy gets," but that is meager praise. Ray Olson Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Simon Louvish is the acclaimed author of the biographies of the Marx Brothers, Monkey Business and W. C. Fields, The Man on the Flying Trapeze . He is also the author of nine novels. He teaches at the London International Film School. Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy PART ONETwice Upon a Time ...CHAPTER ONE Once Upon a Clown The clown was always disreputable, once his ties with religion were severed. Although the old song tells us 'the things that we're liable to hear in the Bible, they ain't necessarily so', merry-making, as far back as we care to go, was associated with drunkenness and wine. The biblical archetype, Jubal-Cain, was said to have been 'the father of all such as handle the harp and organ', which places him perhaps