Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy

"Thanks to a lively, affectionate writer, we can glimpse the great clowns at work." -"The Dallas Morning News" Praise for "Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy" "[Louvish] has researched his subjects thoroughly. . . . A useful reference book and a solid overview of their careers." ---"The New York Times" "A fan's gleeful . . . double take on the beloved bumblers of silent and talking picture fame, seeing their prodigious pile of slapstick misadventures as high art . . . Louvish's wide-eyed love for his subjects' simple, forthright, and hardworking desire to please will bring down the house." ---"Kirkus Reviews" (starred) "Lovingly researched." ---"New York Daily News" From 1927 to the present day Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have remained the screen's most famous and beloved comedy double act. Until now, there has never been a definitive biography of the duo, from birth to death. Simon Louvish traces their early lives, and the minstrel and variety theatre that influenced their later work. Their inspired casting in "Duck Soup" teamed them until their last days. Both often married, they found balancing their personal and professional lives nearly impossible. Their Hal Roach and MGM films were brilliant, but their move in 1941 to Twentieth Century Fox proved disastrous. In spite of this, Laurel and Hardy survived as exemplars of lasting genius, and are significant to this day. Simon Louvish has seamlessly woven tireless and thorough research into an authoritative biography of these two important and influential Hollywood pioneers.