This book presents a combined biographical, critical, and
bibliographical estimate of Laurel & Hardy's significance in
film comedy, the arts in general, and as popular culture icons. Of
the two, Laurel decidedly evolves as the central player in this duo
biography. The reasons for this are several, but mainly stem from
Laurel's role as team spokesman; his late life accessibility; media
coverage given to his private life; and the fact that he outlived
Hardy by eight years--from 1957 to 1965--a period in which the ever
burgeoning public fascination with the team reached new
proportions. Hardy's artistic input, however, is currently being
given a revisionist upgrading, which Gehring addresses.
The book is divided into five chapters. Chapter 1 is a biography
of Laurel & Hardy, exploring the public and private sides of
their lives. Chapter 2 is a critique of four broad influences of
Laurel & Hardy--as special icons of comic frustrations; as
developers of a change in film comedy pacing (which also eased
their transition from silent to sound film); as movie pioneers in
the innovative early use of comic sound; and, most importantly, as
key participants in the evolution of the comic antihero into
American mainstream humor. Chapter 3 is composed of two very early
reprinted Laurel & Hardy articles and a special Encore
collection. Chapter 4 is a very ambitious Laurel & Hardy
bibliographical essay, assessing key reference materials and
locating research collections open to the student and/or scholar.
This involves many obscure, often early and/or untranslated
articles drawn from research in Ulverston England--Laurel's
birthplace--London and Paris. Chapter 5 is a bibliographical
checklist of all sources recommended in Chapter 4. This volume
should be of special interest to all Laurel & Hardy
aficionados, and students/scholars of comedy.
General
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