Laurel & Hardy

Stan and Ollie were hired separately at the Roach Studios and became integral parts of the studios. Stan for his performing, writing and directing talents and Babe for his roles in the Roach comedies. During that period, Hal Roach wrote most of the stories for the comedies and, after a few years, Leo McCarey joined him. Stan and his crew of gag men would adapt the scripts to the comedy situations. All went smoothly at the 'Lot of Fun', but when Stan and Babe were finally teamed for such early silents as Do Detectives Think? (1927), Sugar Daddies (1927) and The Second Hundred Years (1927), things began to change. Laurel and Hardy were immediate hits and the demand for their films became almost overwhelming. When sound came, Laurel and Hardy were as successful as they were in the silents. In fact, they were even funnier. The problem was, that they were under separate contracts which were renewed at different times. This meant that Roach had more control over them and bargained with them separately, resulting in it damaged the relationship between Stan, Ollie and Roach. In 1939 , Stan refused to renew his contract, so Roach paired Ollie with Harry Langdon in the film Zenobia, which was a failure. Finally Roach faced up to the situation and signed the Boys to do two new films: A Chump at Oxford and Saps at Sea. He then got the rights to the operetta Babes in Toyland, but Stan looked at it and rejected it. The Boys wouldn't appear in their derbies, but the real reason was he didn't like he script or the roles that he and Ollie would be playing. Negotiations between Stan and Roach went on for days until Roach backed out and said 'Do it your way'. Finally, in mid Summer 1934, the film was made and became one of their greatest hits, but despite that, Stan was told that his contract was terminated since he had refused to sign. The boys would be replaced. In April 1939, as a reconciliation, they were signed to a joint contract.in 1940. When their contract ran out, the studio was involved in such as the Topper series and films like Of Mice and Men. The Boys looked to other studios, but with no luck. Thankfully, their films are a great record of their work ,which even after all those years, are greatly appreciated by all ages and still give great enjoyment to all.