June 16 Stan Laurel

Happy Birthday Jack Albertson and Stan Laurel.

To celebrate Stan Laurel’s birthday I watched some of the silent shorts he did early in his career pre Oliver Hardy. The ones I watched, part of the Kino collection, had shorts that he stared in but also ones that he directed. His partner or villain is Jimmy Finlayson for most of the films. One thing I noticed is how animated Mr. Laurel is in the films. In the sound films Mr. Laurel seems to be very controlled, little movement and slight expressions. It could be the difference between silent and the sound films in general. Silent shorts seem to move so fast and everyone has a lot of body movement and facial expressions. Where sound shorts move slower and most movement is closer to the body.

There are several shorts where Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are in the same film, but they had not yet truly paired. Once they were paired they did silent shorts. I am a big fan of them both, together or separate. Until about 10 years ago I did not know they were in silent films. When I first saw a silent short, Liberty, when they were having a silent conversation and title cards would come up I could hear their voices clearly.