Stan Laurel Passes Away – Feb. 23, 1965

Sixty years ago yesterday, Stan Laurel, one half of the beloved comedy team of Laurel and Hardy, passed away. Below is the obituary that appeared in the Journal the next day on Feb. 24, 1965.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were always big in the Brady house. The compilation films (such as When Comedy Was King) featuring their early silent shorts were often shown on TV in the 1960s, usually on a Sunday afternoon. That was my first exposure to their comedy.

My father was a fan. Dad told me once that he remembered seeing their films at the Dreamland Theater, where his father was manager for a time. So I guess I became a fan as well.

I remember watching the Laurel and Hardy TV cartoons that were made by Hanna-Barbera. The cartoons weren’t great, but at least captured the flavor of their comedy enough for little kids to appreciate, and be curious about the comedy team's actual films. I even had the comic book below.

Unfortunately, when my siblings and I first did see their talkie films, they were the not-so-good ones made late in their career that were shown on Saturday afternoons on Channel 61. Most of these movies from the 1940s are a not-so-fine mess. I remember being disturbed by the nightmarish ending of The Bullfighters, where they were skinned alive by the thuggish villain. Apparently Stan Laurel liked these freakish endings.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that I got to see Laurel and Hardy's best films from the 1930s and 40s, when they were shown late-night on The Houlihan and Big Chuck Show. I still have my favorites: Block-heads, Saps at Sea (which was also a favorite of Sir Winston Churchill) and A Chump at Oxford.

I also remember attending a program with my parents at the Lorain Public Library about the Lorain Tornado, that included a silent Laurel and Hardy short at the end. I believe it was Two Tars.

Although a lot of once-popular movie comedians seem to be fading in the public consciousness, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Laurel & Hardy. Happily, the lovable comedy team consisting of a fat one and a skinny one has achieved that rare status where their best comedies will live forever. 

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Saps at Sea was mentioned on this blog before, at the bottom of this post about the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. It was the movie that inspired me to teach myself how to play the slide trombone!