Laurel & Hardy: Creative Chaos

Early scene from Helpmates.

Comedy comes in a variety of forms, but however you dish it out the aim is generally the same: to make us laugh. After interviewing Tony Belmont, founder and director of the National Comedy Hall of Fame, I decided to continue down this path, following up with Paul Johnson's book The Humorists. I became acquainted with Paul Johnson through his books The Intellectuals and Modern Times. He's obviously someone who enjoys researching the lives of interesting people. The focus of The Humorists is on people who make us laugh, whether through cartoons, literature or the cinema. 

His deep dive into Laurel and Hardy prompted me to borrow a 10-disc set of Laurel and Hardy DVDs from the library. I'd always enjoyed their antics, but had forgotten just how skilled they were at tickling our funny bones.

Before becoming a team they were already quite successful in their careers. Stan Laurel had been in more than 50 films and had worked as a writer and director. Hardy had more than 250 productions under his belt. 

Their first appearance together was in The Lucky Dog, though they were not yet a pair. They just had roles in the short silent film. Their first team effort came five years later in 1926 when they signed up with the Hal Roach film studio. They officially became Laurel and Hardy in a silent film called Putting Pants on Philip. Their Laurel and Hardy career included 32 silent films, 40 short talkies and 23 full-length feature films.

A scene from Helpmates

Unlike Abbott and Costello, where Bud Abbott was a foil or straight man in contrast to the antics of Lou Costello, Laurel and Hardy equally shared in the buffoonery. 

(Trivia: Costello hitchhiked to Hollywood to be in the movies, inspired by Charlie Chaplin. Before becoming a somebody, he can be spotted as an extra in Laurel and Hardy's The Battle of the Century.)

All this to say that I find the slapstick creativity of Laurel and Hardy to be sensational. Paul Johnson labels what they do as "creative chaos." 

Timing plays an important part in comedy, and these guys had it down tight. They take the simplest element in a story and stretch it to the breaking point. Foreshadowing is another ingredient they employ well. Much like winding up a watch-spring, it produces a tension that precedes the next explosive moment.

They also knew the importance of creating characters and staying in character. Laurel doesn't attempt to be Hardy and vice versa. The characters they created were middle class, with bowler hats and attire to match, but their stories were never political statements. Nor did they stoop to blue humor. 

Oliver Hardy was probably the first to directly peer into the camera and thereby the eyes of his audience.

Because Stan Laurel was frequently script writer and sometimes director, he was paid more than Hardy, but Hardy never complained. They'd both done quite well for themselves, hence their enduring success.

One are where they were less successful was in their marriages. Each had a number of wives, with Laurel having married one of his wives three different times. I guess that's one of the burdens of Hollywood. It can take a toll on the domestic side of life.

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The movie Helpmates illustrates the manner in which L&H create their magic. 

The opening shot is a placard that reads: "When the cat's away-- The mice start looking up telephone numbers."

Next, we see an interior shot of a living room and dining room, littered with debris that includes empty liquor bottles, broken lamps, broken plates, upended furniture. The camera pans the debris up close to reveal cigarette butts, more empty bottles, ash trays full of butts, one smoldering. It's apparent that there had been some hard partying going on.

Cut to: Oliver Hardy with an ice bag on his head and a look of disgust. "Now aren't you ashamed of yourself," he says. "A man with your supposed intelligence acting like an empty headed idiot." 

He goes through a litany of things he did while his wife was away. It looks like he's talking to the camera, but when the camera pulls away we see he's looking into a mirror addressing himself.

No sooner does he finish scolding himself when the doorbell rings. It's a telegram from his wife. She'll be home at noon today. He immediately dials up his friend Stan to come over right away. 

Cut to: Stan in bed, tossing and turning. He knocks the alarm clock on the floor while trying to turn it off. The ringing continues and after much dismay at trying to rest he realizes it's the phone, which he must get up to answer. 

The manner in which he stretches this scene out is classic. What follows are a series of escalating stupidities as the two men attempt to prepare the house for Hardy's wife's return. 

I highly recommend Helpmates as typical of their oeuvre. Mad Hatter meets dumb and dumber to produce slapstick genius. 

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Classic Quotes from Stan Laurel

You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead. 

• I had a dream that I was awake and I woke up to find myself asleep. ...
  
  
• A friend once asked me what comedy was. That floored me. What is comedy? I don't know. Does anybody? Can you define it? All I know is that I learned how to get laughs, and that's all I know about it. You have to learn what people will laugh at, then proceed accordingly.

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If you need a break from all the disturbing events taking place at this moment in time, give Laurel and Hardy a try. Laughter really is good medicine.

Was Ben Franklin the First American Humorist?

This past weekend I began reading Paul Johnson's The Humorists. The book is not really humorous per se. Rather, it is a collection of profiles and bios of humorists through the ages, from Hogarth to Noel Coward. Groucho Marx, Stan Laurel, W.C. Fields, James Thurber, Dorothy Parker and others each get their day in the Johnson sun. 

I'd read his Intellectuals and was enriched by his Modern Times (another book of mini-biographies) but had not seen this volume and having recently written about the National Comedy Hall of Fame it seemed like a good follow up. That is, I thought it might put 20th century comedy into a historical context as part of a larger tradition.

The chapter I'm currently reading is about Ben Franklin, whom Johnson calls America's first humorist. He also designates Franklin as the inventor of the one-liner, which I found intriguing. One-liner quips have become a staple of many standup comics. 

Ben Franklin's wit was but one of his gifts, and he made the most of it. As publisher of Poor Richard's Almanac he fulfilled a duel need in people's lives. The Almanac provided useful information regarding weather, planting dates for farmers, tide table and other useful information for each calendar year. Franklin took it a step further by embellishing it with entertaining quips, witty phrases and wordplay.

According to Paul Johnson Franklin wasn't into the idea of just being a thinker. He wanted to be a doer. He also recognized early that in order to be free to do what you want it takes money. Money wasn't an end in itself, but a means to an end, hence his efforts to make his Almanack more popular than its peers.

Here are some witticisms to carry you through your day today.

--He that lies down with Dogs, shall rise up with fleas.

--No man e'er was glorious, who was not laborious.

--Necessity never made a good bargain.

--It is better to take many Injuries than to give one.

--There are no gains without pains.

--Lost time is never found again.

--Haste makes waste.

--Love your Enemies, for they tell you your faults.

--Three may keep a Secret, if two of them are dead.

--If you would not be forgotten 
as soon as you are dead and rotten, 
Either write things worth reading
or do things worth the writing.

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Related Links
Poor Richard's Almanack
Ben Franklin's 13 Virtues

A Visit with Tony Belmont of the National Comedy Hall of Fame

This past week Gary Firstenberg sent me photos from his visit to the National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum in Holiday, Florida just outside Tampa. The stories that have been captured there are quite remarkable. Museums provide a great service to the public, preserving history and providing inspiration to future generations. They cover all manner of human experience from archeology and anthropology to crime, politics and nature. The longer you live the more you run into fascinating niche museums, such as the Spy Museum around the corner from Ford Theater in Washington D.C. 

The National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum addresses another fascinating niche of human experience: Comedy. The president of this enterprise, Tony Belmont, seems to be a walking archive of memories, stories and history and because of his occupation as a rock and roll promoter, his life very early on intersected with the world of comedy and its many legendary performers. 

EN: What prompted you to create a Comedy Hall of Fame? 

Tony Belmont: Here's a little background. In the early days of Rock n' Roll when many acts were on the bill to perform a comedian provided an excellent segway.  (See Attached), It worked well to have a comedian out there long enough to make the transition to the next act. This worked because all the comedian needed was a microphone so you could get him on and off quickly. Also, he could work in front of the curtain which allowed the bands to change over easily behind the curtain.  Most drummers wanted their own cymbals and foot pedal, guitar players wanted their own amp, etc. This created too much dead time during the changeover. 

To avoid the dead time and to keep the energy going I found using the comedian would keep the audience amused while the change-over took place out of view. I used this system effectively for many years. This allowed for concerts to move fluently through the evening and made for a great show! This also moved Rock n' Roll concerts to the next level, production rock. 

Tony Belmont. Photo Gary Firstenberg

It was with this background and exposure that in 1969 I was contacted by the Smithsonian Institute the most prestigious museum in the U.S. They were concerned because many of the great comedians especially the vaudevillians in the 19 century, were coming to the twilight of their lives and there was very little documentation about these people. They felt someone needed to document their stories before it was too late. Once they passed on, the wonderful stories about their lives and acts would be lost except for hearsay.  That part of history for accuracy would be lost forever. So ~~ they contacted me! I thought they were making a mistake and told them I was a rock n' roller but they convinced me I was the one for the mission. ( Let me amend that statement! They doubled the money and I was suddenly very interested in preserving history. I spent the next 4 years traveling the country in-between my Rock n' Roll shows interviewing at their homes over 400 of the greatest comedians of the century!

EN: Impressive!

Tony Belmont: Fast Forward to 1989. By that time I had become friends with many of the great comedians, and I was at the LA Friars Club in a conversation with a few of the members: Jan Murray, Morey Amsterdam, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, and a few others when the topic came up about my past comedy interviews. Morey said, except for those interviews you did no one will remember any of us at this table. There needs to be a place that people can go and read about us in the future. A-----a building---like maybe a museum! That's it!  A national museum about comedy.

I said that's great as I burped on my ginger ale. Are you guys going to do it? At that moment they all looked at me together and like a fifty's singing group in Acapella harmony said, "No-n0-NO, you are!" (The official start date was July 25, 1991.)

So the answer to your question is: I didn't create the National Comedy Hall of Fame Museum, I was sucked in and drafted.

EN: There are so many great eras of comedy. What are some of the different kinds of comedy?

Tony Belmont: There are six major areas of comedy: although in the museum we break that down even further. Musical Comedian (e.g. Victor Borge), Dialect Comedian (e.g. Yakov Smirnoff), Impressionist (e.g. Rich Little), Dialogue (eg. Comedian Norm Crosby/Professor Irwin Corey/.Etc. etc.)

EN: How has comedy changed under the influence of changes in media?

Tony Belmont: Vaudeville, Radio, Television, Stand-up, Theater, Film.  

Example: I interviewed Art Carney at his home years ago. I told him I thought he was a great comedian. He politely corrected me and said, "I'm sorry young man but I'm not a comedian. I'm a comedic Actor. I don't stand in front of a mic and tell jokes. I need a script and then I will make it funny."

Different kinds of comedy are related to the act that the individual puts together. 

Examples:

(a) Prop Comedy:  Carrot Top a relatively new comedian in the past 15 years uses a box full of props next to him and pulls them out one by one. Gallager does a similar act but ends by smashing a watermelon all over the audience.

(b) Professor Backwards murdered words; this was later done by Norm Crosby and others.

(c) Ventriloquists: Jeff Dunham who is very popular now,. But I managed the man who started it all the "Great Senor Wences," the father of ventriloquists. 
(d)  Magician Comedians: Elliott Smith. His magic is first class but it's used as a prop for his comedy. Or Penn & Teller

Comedy has evolved along with media. In radio, there were many sound effects to help create the humor: Jack Benny-Fibber McGee & Molly etc. With television, it was now more visual and required film-type acting skills. Sadly today we are too politically correct and that is difficult in comedy, as comedians like to talk about anything and everything. But now they are handicapped. Don Rickles told me a few years back he could not do the humor he started with years ago, he would get into a lot of trouble if he did. He wasn't talking about Blue Comedy, he was talking about the restrictions that prevent comedians from making fun of people or even themselves?

EN: Over the course of your career you’ve personally gotten to know many of the comedians we’ve become familiar with through television and film. Who were some of these and what were they like when not in the spotlight?

Tony Belmont. Photo Gary Firstenberg.

Tony Belmont: I met everyone that was at the top and still alive in 1970 and on. So I had many favorites. With me as opposed to being on the Johnny Carson Show or Larry King where they need to be entertaining they could relax and be themselves. George Carlin was laid back and a nice guy. Not the crazy guy you saw on stage. Red Skelton was exactly what you expected. He was just like the comedian he portrayed on TV. Henny Youngman Told one-liners every couple of minutes. George Burns was a wealth of knowledge. I said to George. "You've been around a long time George! You must know everything there is to know about show business." He smiled --took a puff on his cigar and said, "Yes -I do. The problem is at my age I can't remember any of it anymore." 

I asked Milton Berle a question and expected a different answer. I told him that I had interviewed his good friend Henny Youngman a year back and Henny told me that you (Milt) stole all of his jokes. I thought he would object to that, but instead, to my amazement he said, "Yes--I did!  But I told them better."

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National Comedy Hall of Fame

Address: 2435 US-19 Holiday, FL 34691

Email: comedyhall@aol.com

Related Links

National Comedy Hall of Fame Inductees

Another Side of Jonathan Winters

My Original August 4 Standup Routine: Eggplant Humor & More