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22 CINEMONTAGE / Q4 2018 THIS QUARTER IN FILM HISTORY Audiences of the time responded by making Sons one of the top-10-grossing movies of 1934 (according to both Film Daily and the Motion Picture Herald). The laughter has continued: In 2012, the comedy was added to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, joining their previously selected short films Big Business (1929) and The Music Box (1932). The English Laurel and the US-born Hardy arrived separately in Los Angeles in 1917. By 1925, they were both on the Hal Roach Studios payroll — Hardy as an actor and Laurel as an actor, writer and director. In 1927, they appeared together in no less than 10 two-reelers, but as unrelated characters, not as a team. It soon became apparent to producer Roach and others at the studio that the physical contrast between the tall, stout Hardy and the short, thin Laurel was inherently funny. At the end of 1927, they starred together in their first official Laurel and Hardy two-reel comedy, Putting Pants on Philip. Their popularity was infectious, and the now-iconic duo immediately became an established team making silent two-reelers. Laurel never received credit as writer or director on any of their movies, and only two of the pair's later features were credited as Stan Laurel Productions. Nevertheless, there was never any doubt at the studio that it was Laurel who guided the writers, directors, actors and crew, while Hardy spent much of his time between shoots playing golf. "Stan was Laurel and Hardy," declared Roy Seawright in Randy Skretvedt's 1986 book Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies. The chief of optical effects for Roach Studios from 1927 to 1940, Seawright recalled, "I loved Babe [Hardy], but Stan was a writer, a director, a cutter — he did everything. I don't care what the credits say; Stan was the power behind their whole enterprise." During the 14 years that the duo worked as a team with Roach, 20 different directors were credited on the roughly 75 shorts and features they made. Viewing their movies to pick out varying directorial approaches or flourishes only confirms Seawright's statement that one major creative figure was in control of all aspects of production, starting with the script itself. In a 1959 interview with Boyd Verb in Films in Review, Laurel explained, "We did have a script, but it didn't consist of the routines and gags. It outlined the basic story idea and was just a plan for us to follow. Oh, a few gags were mentioned here and there in the script, but they were always worked out on the set." Laurel insisted on shooting the scripts in sequence to allow for improvisations that could affect later scenes. "We shot our comedies right from beginning to end," he maintained in the interview. "The only place I could do it was at Roach's. Anywhere else, they wouldn't go for that. And many times, not shooting in sequence just ruined the picture, or the prospects for the picture." Shooting this way also helped them develop the deliberate comic pacing that emphasized the pair's emotional and mental processes on screen. This style easily adapted to sound and, in 1931, Roach scheduled them to make one feature for every six two-reelers they turned out. Though their first three features did well at the box office, Laurel was not happy with them. Then, early in July 1933, the studio hired actor/playwright Frank Craven to write a story treatment for the team from an idea entitled Fraternally Yours. Over the following two months, while Laurel and Hardy were shooting two shorts back-to-back, Craven's treatment expanded into a script with help from writer Byron Morgan on continuity. At the end of August, William A. Seiter was signed to direct. An CONTINUED ON PAGE 25 Big Business (1929) and The Music Box (1932). The English Laurel and the US-born Hardy I don't care what the credits say; Stan was the power behind their whole enterprise." worked as a team with Roach, 20 different directors were credited on the roughly 75 shorts and features they made. Viewing their movies to pick out varying directorial approaches or flourishes only confirms Seawright's statement that one major creative figure was in control of all aspects of production, starting with the script itself. Verb in explained, "We did have a script, but it didn't consist of the routines and gags. It outlined the basic story idea and was just a plan for us to follow. Oh, a few gags were mentioned here and there in the script, but they were always the scripts in sequence to allow for improvisations that could affect later scenes. "We shot our comedies right from beginning to end," he maintained in Sons of the Desert. MGM/Photofest