LadyLeslie wrote:
My favorite Laurel and Hardy films are "The Music Box" and a silent film short they did called "Two Tars" which is on YouTube at
I also liked their film"The Devil's Brother" (aka Fra Diavolo) with Thelma Todd, which was a musical.
Have loved Laurel & Hardy since I was a small girl and our family would watch their films every Sunday night (after the Ed Sullivan Show) on a super 8mm projector. My Dad borrowed the films from his boss who was a L & H collector.
This is off topic but Harold Lloyd is another great silent era comedian who isn't talked about much anymore. When our family used to watch his films (in the 1960s & '70s) we would clutch our sides non stop in laughter, and not many comedians can make you laugh non stop. Check out his films "Hot Water" "Safety Last" and his greatest talkie "Feet First" which is on YouTube at
Should add that one reason why his films probably aren't shown much today is because he always featured an african american character actor named Stepin Fetchit (or another actor with similar image), who would be considered an unwelcome stereotype today. Harold Lloyd's comedic skills would be the only reason to view his films. He was a daredevil who didn't use stuntmen when he climbed the sides of tall story buildings, or stood on the edge of the top of a building and wobbled to pretend he was about to fall back over the edge, but somehow straightened himself up and never did.
Have always felt an affinity with silent films and silent era film stars, my mom's aunt was a maid at the home of Richard Arlen & his wife actress Jobyna Ralston (they starred in "Wings" with Charles Buddy Rogers). She (my great-aunt) would tell me all kinds of stories when I was growing up about the stars she'd seen and what life was like in Hollywood then. I wish I would have gotten to keep her photos after she passed away, that she had shown me.
Back to topic... saw "Stan and Ollie" that was released a few years ago, and thought it was a wonderful tribute to Laurel & Hardy, and have it on DVD.
LadyLeslie,
Thanks for the nice message. The Music Box is a classic, and those steps are still around today (88 years later) in the Silver Lake area of L.A. Two Tars, I remember seeing as a youngster with my family. It was one of the Pops musical nights where I'm from (San Francisco Bay Area), and they played The Two Tars film on a big screen while an orchestra played.
Thanks for the YouTube links to Two Tars and Harold Lloyd's Feet First. I'm glad you like the Stan and Ollie film, too.
Marshall
P.S. I like that avatar you have of Paul and Martha!