To celebrate the season, here are some holiday images from movies made by Laurel & Hardy, who remain among the very top comedy teams in the history of the movies.
In "Big Business" (silent, 1929), Stan and Ollie are door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen who run into a very difficult customer in the form of their recurring nemesis, James Finlayson.
While it seems a little strange that Laurel & Hardy are dressed in winter attire in a sunny Southern California landscape filled with palm trees, in the end, what matters is the comedy of perfectly-timed and ever-escalating destruction.
As a kid, my family owned a super-8 mm copy of this movie -- bought for
$8.99 from Blackhawk Films out of Davenport, Iowa. It's the only movie we owned. When our projector
was functioning, which wasn't often, we'd thread this baby up, turn out the lights, and
project it onto a sheet. Movie night!
In another classic, "Below Zero" (talkie, 1930), Laurel & Hardy are pan-handling street musicians playing the one song that they know, "In the Good Old Summertime," in the middle of a blizzard.
This isn't a Christmas movie, per se, but it has a very wintry feel, and brilliant comic timing throughout.
My Uncle Richie -- Richard McLaughlin, writer and author of the novel "Into the Dangerous World" -- was a film buff who saw almost every film that came out in his many years living in New York City. He was a big fan of Laurel & Hardy, and once made a comment that I've never forgotten.
Uncle Richie said: "It's too bad they never made a short about trimming a Christmas tree. I always thought that Laurel and Hardy would be able to turn the trimming of a Christmas tree into something hilarious."
Uncle Richie said: "It's too bad they never made a short about trimming a Christmas tree. I always thought that Laurel and Hardy would be able to turn the trimming of a Christmas tree into something hilarious."
I think Uncle Richie was right.
Happy Holidays!
