Today is the natal anniversary of Oliver "Babe" Hardy, half of our all-time favorite comedy team.
Oliver Hardy was a singularly brilliant comic actor who stands atop our list of all-time favorite movie comedians.
By far the most profiled funmaker of any on this blog, Oliver Norvell Hardy was born on this day in 1892.
Where does a lifelong L&H fan even start?
With this footage from the set of Should Married Men Go Home shot by George Mann of the comedic dance act Barto and Mann. Thanks, George and thanks, Bob Smith for posting!
For more than a decade before he was teamed with Stan Laurel, Babe Hardy was an extremely prolific supporting player.
Appearing in a slew of films from 1913-1917, Hardy was a stock company stalwart at Lubin and other production companies in Jacksonville, FLA.
This includes a stretch at Vim Comedies, where Hardy co-starred in the Plump & Runt series with Billy Ruge and also was a supporting player in the Pokes & Jabbs series starring Bobby Burns and Walter Stull.
After the Vim company disbanded, Babe Hardy worked with Charlie Chaplin imitator Billy West at King Bee Comedies.
This brought Hardy together with future Hal Roach Studios headliner and director/writer Charley Chase.
As an all-purpose heavy, to some degree the Eric Campbell equivalent at Vitagraph Pictures, Hardy co-starred in numerous 2-reelers and a few feature films.
Most starred the ultra-wacky Larry Semon (1889-1928) and even more over-the-top former Fred Karno comic Jimmy Aubrey.
Hardy appears as a key cast member in numerous films headlined by Larry Semon, who specialized in larger than life comedies featuring epic, spectacular sight gags. Larry's comedy in some respects was a predecessor of the super-cartoony slapstick of The Three Stooges and the kind of humor that turned up 40 years later in such attempts to rekindle the extravagant visual comedy approach as Blake Edwards' The Great Race and the films of Jerry Lewis (some of which were directed by Norman Taurog, who worked with Larry Semon).
Once at the Hal Roach Studios, Oliver Hardy had memorable turns as a supporting player in such Charley Chase comedies as Isn't Life Terrible and Fluttering Hearts.
The vintage comedy fans at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog enthusiastically extol a new addition to the restorers and celebrators of classic movies and silent comedy rarities, Split Reel.
The ace film historians at Split Reel have been doing a superlative job excavating the silent comedy universe's numerous nooks and crannies. These include Rob Stone, author of Laurel Or Hardy and stalwart preservationist from the Library Of Congress. There are both Blu-rays and books available on the Split Reel website, including tomes by silent film experts Rob Farr, Thomas Reeder and Steve Massa.
Between watching L&H classics, read John McCabe's superb biography Babe: the life of Oliver Hardy on Internet Archive.
Then peruse Randy Skredtvedt's terrific book, Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind The Movies.
Equally indispensable: the Laurel & Hardy Onstage combo of CDs and a book (also by Mr. Skredtvedt) about the team's 1940's tours.
And now, here are a few examples of Laurel & Hardy comedy brilliance.
These are available on Blu-ray on several compilations, including Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection.
As well as the following compilations of L&H silents.
We tip our battered brown derbies to Babe and note that nearly 100 years after their first teaming at Hal Roach Studios, Laurel & Hardy emphatically and spectacularly deliver the laughs!
