60 Years Ago Today: The Death of Stan Laurel

February 23, 1965 was the day on which Stan Laurel(Stanley Jefferson, b. 1890), best known as one half of the comedy team of Laurel and Hardy, made his way toward the Pearly Gates.

In a way, though, as far as the public was concerned, Stan had passed away a decade earlier. A series of illnesses afflicted both him and his partner Oliver Hardy following their last public appearance tour in 1953. Hardy had a heart attack in 1954, Laurel a stroke in 1955, Hardy a worse stroke in 1956, and then Hardy finally died in 1957. Unlike Hardy, who did some solo work when Laurel began to be sidelined by diabetes in the late ’40s, Laurel chose not to work alone after Hardy’s death. I suspect it wasn’t only loyalty motivating this. I think the secret sauce is that Laurel had pinned his comedy business to Hardy’s — he thought up gags in terms of what they did to Hardy’s character. (My earlier piece describes how the team evolved, and you can see for sure that Laurel had to work much harder to invent his character, and what he came up with was material that was mostly about interacting with Ollie). I see that, but it’s frustrating to me, just as I’m sure it was frustrating to his many fans. Hard-core fans know that Laurel was in the business for years, decades really, before devising his most famous character. He could really play any old role. But he turned down opportunities, such as an invitation to do a cameo in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) that would have given his millions of fans a huge boost of happiness, because he couldn’t see doing it outside of the team. No doubt ill health played a role as well.

That said, the comedy world didn’t lose him entirely during those last years. He talked to writers like John McCabe, and mentored comedians like Jerry Lewis and Dick Van Dyke. He advised Jerry on The Bell Boy (1960), which includes a scene with comedian Bill Richmond doing a Laurel imitation, included in the film by way of thanks. Laurel had always said that he wanted Van Dyke to play him if any bio-pic ever emerged. The closest Van Dyke came was his turn in Carl Reiner’s The Comic(1969), four years after Laurel died. Laurel did live long enough to see Blake Edwards dedicate The Great Race (1965) to him; I don’t know if the two ever met.

A few months after Laurel passed, CBS broadcast a TV variety special in his honor featuring Van Dyke, Buster Keaton (who’d spoken at Laurel’s funeral), Danny Kaye (who’d accepted Laurel’s honorary Oscar on his behalf in 1961), Lucille Ball, and a hodgepodge of random, then-current celebrities including Gregory Peck, Fred Gwynne, Harvey Korman, Tina Louise, Bob Newhart, Audrey Meadows, Louie Nye, and Cesar Romero. This show was Keaton’s last performance. He passed away a few months later.

Many have played Laurel on the variety stage over the years, Chuck McCann, Rich Little, etc etc. Eventually it would be Steve Coogan, of all people, to get to do the bio-pic (Stan and Ollie), and he did an amazing job. Sadly though, audiences who appreciate such things are dwindling. I’m Generation X. Most folks younger than me seem not to know the stars of the classic Hollywood studio era. No shade on them, they just never had the opportunity. Our job — yours and mine — is to give them that opportunity.

For more on Stan Laurel check out the Laurel and Hardy section of Travalanche as well as my books:  No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous,Chain of Fools: Silent Comedy and Its Legacies from Nickelodeons to Youtube, and my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.