When Covid descended and we all retreated in to lockdown, like most film makers we realised our documentary projects were going to have to be put on hold. One of those films was ‘On The Trail of Stan and Ollie’, a Laurel and Hardy themed co-production with Ross Owen. Despite the forced hiatus, many like us felt the need to entertain others and take their minds off things. We had a lot of material in the can we knew wasn’t going to make it into the final documentary and now seemed like a perfect time to put it to good use.
“Why don’t you do something to help me?”
That was the phrase often uttered by Oliver Hardy after his partner, Stan Laurel has made a problem a little bit harder than it was a few moments before. I grew up with Laurel and Hardy, not literally, but back in the late 1970’s BBC2 played their films to entertain kids while BBC 1 switched from children’s TV to boring adult programs like the six o’clock news. Today you wouldn’t think these black and white films made in 1920’s Hollywood, in the era of The Great Depression, would connect with a 4 year old boy in England. They were very funny, but also very influential - something I’ve only really come to realise in the last few years.
It all started on the red carpet . . .
Producer, Wayne Kelly at the red carpet premiere of Stan and Ollie in Leicester Square
A couple of years back we made a short promotional video covering the red carpet launch of the recent biopic movie “Stan & Ollie” with the film’s consultant Ross Owen. We went on to start work on the ‘Trail of Stan and Ollie’ documentary with Ross about the influence of Laurel and Hardy on the entertainers of today. Just as they inspired me to get into film making, they have inspired many well-known actors, musicians and entertainers too. More importantly they made people laugh and forget their troubles for a while. Two pals struggling to build a house, repair a boat or get through a day at a saw mill as the world conspires against them. Never giving up, and they never gave up on each other. What better time to revisit these plucky heroes? A sing-a-long always lifts the spirits, so the first thing we put out was a music video with our documentary interviewees singing Laurel & Hardy’s hit “Trail of the Lonesome Pine”. Watch the film here or click on the image below.
WATCH: Fran Healey, lead singer of Travis, and many other famous faces singing along to ‘Trail Of The Lonesome Pine’
Ross Owen, Bob Satterfield and Matt Holt on the trail of famous Laurel and Hardy filming locations.
Location, location, location . . .
While I was in Hollywood with Ross we spent two days or our trip with Bob Satterfield visiting as many surviving Laurel and Hardy film locations as we could. Bob had discovered many of these himself the hard way back in the 1970’s with photographs and a lot of good old leg work. With the travel restrictions of 2020 we knew a lot of film fans wouldn’t be able to visit these Hollywood locations in person so we thought they’d make a great mini-series of short 2 minute films. We put out one a week to get through the cabin fever of life stuck at home. Here’s the first episode, Big Business.
WATCH: ‘Big Business’ - the first episode in our Laurel & Hardy Locations Tour films
It was a joy editing this series and I felt I was back on the road in sunny California. It was a whistle stop few days of filming with Bob and Ross. I had forgotten a lot of the great interactions we had with some great characters like this shop owner we met while covering “Angora Love”.
WATCH: A shop owner in California giving us some great anecdotes in episode 7
When I went back to the original films and cut them in with this new location footage it doesn’t feel like their movies were made almost 100 years ago. They really were ahead of their time, pioneers of comedy often doing things on film for the first time ever. For a lifelong fan like me taking my camera to these locations where legendary cameraman Art Lloyd of Hal Roach studios would have set up and filmed was just magical. And when I look at some of the many comments viewers have left each week I think we achieved what we set out to do. Thank you to Ross Owen and his brilliant Laurel and Hardy Forum, also to Bob Satterfield for his time and invaluable film knowledge. We hope you enjoy the series.
Tell us your favourite Laurel and Hardy films or moments in the comments below and if you haven’t seen a Laurel and Hardy film yet, now is as good a time as any to track one down - isn’t it Stanley??