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Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy
The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy.
Faber & Faber, London 2001; paperback 2002
St Martins Press, New York, 2002
This double life of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy does what every terrific biography
should -send the reader running to check out the original works. That takes some
doing -for me, anyhow: Louvish is funnier and wittier and more intelligent on
the page about Stan and Ollie than I ever found them to be on film. But he cherishes
the two clowns so dearly, is so moved by the hard times of their beginnings,
Is so thrilled by the success that came to them not by luck, but by hard work
and devotion to their comedy craft, that you votta love them as Louvish does.
This is as close as it comes to a definitive biography and filmography of Laurel
and Hardy, and as good as writing about Hollywood comedy gets. Louvish cuts through
the theatrical scrim to get to the real lives that informed the comedy, and tears
at the heart as he did in his previous biographies of W.C. Fields and the Marx
Brothers.
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