Stan and Ollie: The Roots Of Comedy

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy both passed away in the 1950s, yet their films still have the power to reduce audiences old and new to helpless laughter.

Laurel inspired Hardy to forge their famous double act, in which Laurel played the eternal comic fool, Hardy his temperamental master.

Reviews

'This is as close as it comes to a definitive biography and filmography of Laurel and Hardy, and as good as writing about Hollywood comedy gets.' Iain Finlayson, The Times; 'An enormous amount to enjoy... contains some of the best and most incisive analysis of their movie magic I've ever read. [Louvish's] joyful descriptions of their finest films are models of clarity, and his sorrow over their decline is movingly expressed'. Bob Monkhouse, Guardian