When was the last time you saw a Laurel & Hardy movie?

Another fine mess I've gotten them into, OP.

I would guess that the last time I saw a Laurel and Hardy movie was 40 to 50 years ago. I remember watching them as a little kid.

Reference: not that long ago.

I'm only 42 and grew up on their movies. I watched "Way Out West" just a few weeks ago. Truthfully their popularity stated to wane in the 1980s and since my brother died I haven't heard anyone else talk about them like we used.

I watch them whenever one of their movies show up on the TCM schedule. Are they unheard of or are they simply not mentioned when it comes to movie history? I would think that a vast majority of people would at least recognize their names.

Not gone at all. Constantly released on numerous DVD anthologies, in rotation on TCM and parodied by comedians, stand-ups, etc Just because their names aren't mentioned on reddit or TMZ or any of the other scourges of contemporary society doesn't mean that their hilarious comedy and humble charm aren't eternal, as long as people have souls and hearts.

Anybody who knows anything about movies or comedy knows about Laurel and Hardy. If you're an ignoramus on those subjects I guess you wouldn't know who they are. I guess anybody who didn't know who they are wouldn't know who Charlie Chaplin was either. That's pretty sad.

Several years ago I (and several hundred other people) saw a perfectly restored print of Babes in Toyland (or March of the Wooden Soldiers - or whatever it's called) at the Lafayette Theater in Suffern, NY.

The kid in me enjoyed it as much as I did when I was young.

Unfortunately here in Canada for some reason there's an issue with licensing rights so we don't get them on TV like we used to. WIVB Buffalo used to air their movies all the time in the 70s and 80s, usually on a Sunday morning and we'd get the station here in Canada.

You can see Stanley almost every day on the news now that he has been reincarnated as Pope Francis. If we get a bowler photoshopped on Chris Christie he can be the new Ollie. He is certainly mean enough --- and fat enough.

They just don't show all of these things in syndication constantly like they were doing 20-30 years ago when there were only a handful of channels. Hard to find Abbott & Costello and the Three Stooges on a regular basis, unlike when a lot of us were children.

Agreed R10. Godzilla movies, The Marx Brothers, 70s Kung-Fu movies were all over the place in the 70s and 80s. Everything is on DVD now.

R8. Just go to Youtube.

Last Thanksgiving

They still play March of the Wooden Soldiers several times during Thanksgiving week.

My sister and I loved March of the Wooden Soldiers on Thanksgiving. It was the only thing of interest we kids could watch on thanksgiving back then . We hated that stupid Thanksgiving Day parade. It went on forever and we could not care less about Broadway show tunes at age 5 or so. Sitting in front of a TV waiting to get a glimpse of a Mighty Mouse balloon was not our idea of a good time. They didn't yet air Miracle on 34th Street when we were kids. We had to stay in the house so we wouldn't get dirty until we got dressed up to go to our grandparents' house, where we would sit for hours in uncomfortable clothes, waiting to eat. We weren't crazy about Thanksgiving food. I would only eat one slice of turkey, a spoonful of potatoes and a spoonful of cranberry sauce. To us kids, it was the most pointless holiday ever. Even dessert sucked. Neither one of us liked pies, and my grandmother only served mincemeat and pumpkin pie -- both from a box -- at the end of the meal. We were not a big family. Just the six of us. My grandfather was a mean old guy who was practically mute and didn't like kids or noise. If we were too loud, he would raise his arm as if he was going to belt us (he only had to hit us -- really hard-- once for us to know he meant it when he made that threatening gesture). Special snowflakes, we weren't.

So Laurel and Hardy were it. We loved the good guys fighting against the mean landlord Barnaby. We sided with Tom Tom and were upset when Barnaby sent him into exile on trumped up charges. We thrilled to the fight between the bogeymen and the soldiers. We loved Stanny using his pee wees against the bogeymen. When we were really small, we were scared by the bogeymen. When we got older, we faithfully watched for all the clunky parts, like when the soldiers changed from statues to animation to actors dressed like soldiers and looked for seams in the bogeymen suits.

When my nephews were little, my sister had thanksgiving at her house. She flipped on the TV and said, "Oh look! March of the Wooden Soldiers is on! It's a great movie!"

My nephews said, "Are you joking? You think we would watch an old moth-eaten black and white movie like this? Nice try, ma." In a few years, VHS players and Super Mario would take the place of old movies and kids could watch whatever they liked on thanksgiving.

But I still have a soft spot in my heart for the only kid's movie that aired on boring old Thanksgiving Day all those years ago. I still watch it and it relaxes me with a good memory.

They were just in the entertainment news recently because a lost film reel of one of their first Silent movies was just discovered. What I gathered is that for film buffs it's a holy grail moment because the movie in question has the most epic pie throwing fight ever, and it was believed to be gone forever

I agree with r10 and that was a good story r14. The Dick VanDyke show used to reference Laurel and Hardy but I don't know of any show that does nowadays.

I watched Little Rascals, three Stooges, L&H as a kid but I can't anymore; there is something creepy about those early, cheap B&W films.

Abbott & Costello on the big screen in October in NYC. . .

They were just referenced yesterday. I was discussing comedy films and just kept going further back for examples. How did some of the great teams rank? L&H at the top, followed by the Marx Brothers and Abbott and Costello way down the list(never cared for them) L&H always impressed me as "real," which is what made their comedy so spot on. The "sad" parts of their schtick were enjoyable too, because of how relatable they were. They were the Everymen of comedy.

I never liked Abbott and Costello, but someone told me that the 'Sassequehana (however it's spelled) Hat Company Routine' was very good, so I watched the movie that contained it and wept with laughter for about an hour afterwards.

Look, we have to admit, nothing lasts forever. And that's just accelerating now. Nothing lasts ten minutes.

Laurel and Hardy hung on for decades after they stopped making pictures but there's just so much entertainment being churned out in the digital age, and it's so easily available, theres no incentive to go back and watch such old pictures.

This has been discussed here over and over. Talk to millennials about laurel and hardy, Abbott and Costello or Bette Davis and you'll get a blank stare. Marilyn, Elvis and to a lesser extent Judy Garland have stayed in the consciousness longer because they're constantly being referenced. Godzilla is more recent and, as it's essentially a special effect, it can be recycled/updated endlessly (as was the case just last summer).

I predict Judy and Elvis are fast reaching their expiration date. Marilyn is probably the only one that remains truly relevant today (and no, I'm no Marilyn troll).

OFTEN - "Big Business", "The Music Box" and "Way Out West" are my favorites. But NOTHING stays at the top of the general public's awareness forever.

I love the one where they deliver the piano up a steep set of LA stairs.

My 66 yr old mother makes me put on YouTube clips for her

They were very popular when I was a kid in the late 70's, but as others pointed out, they started to fade in 80's. Same thing with Marx brothers. And W.C. Fields -- when's the last time you heard HIS name?

TCM will occasionally air a L&H short to fill the time slot going into the next hour. Movies! digital channel also airs a block of L&H shorts very early in the morning each weekend.

To answer op's question: last weekend.

Abbot & Costello never appealed to me that much on film, except I do like "Buck Privates" and love "The Time of Our Lives" and "Who Done It?". But where they really shine is on their old tv show. They are Jerry Seinfeld's biggest influence and I see it clearly when watching certain episodes of Seinfeld. The show was really an excuse to see their routines without having to deal with some silly screenplay.

The Susquehanna skit *is* hysterical as is the "7 into 28" routine. The key to the show however is Sidney Fields who played the landlord and lots of other characters. He was amazing!

Another team that was funny was Martin & Lewis and it is so amazing to watch them in "Sailor Beware" . Brilliant.

I have never seen one and never intend to . I don't go for slapstick comedy or whatever it is they do.

Well smell you R27!

R26 the 7 into 28 bit is some of their funniest work. And I agree the TV show was incredible because there was no silly romance or songs to have to sit through. And the only time in his entire career that Joe Besser was funny.

I think as people age we have to seek out Laurel & Hardy because they're not given to us on TV like they used to be. If it's not on TV 24/7 people just don't know about it.

IRL, Ollie's grandfather owned a cotton plantation and his father was a Civil War veteran for the confederacy

Almost every American child sees Oliver Hardy whether they know it or not--Maurice Sendak included some Hardy lookalikes as bakers in bhis wonderful children's book, "In the Night Kitchen."

I can't remember the last time I even heard anybody mention L and H . I'd be surprised if any teenager knows who they are. I used to watch them after school along the Little Rascals and 3 Stooges. Time marches on I guess. People in the Thirties properly asked about The Perils of Pauline in the same way.

Those little mustaches sure were the rage for a while, weren't they?

R28 AND R31, out of sight, out of mind is the rule. In the 70's shows like I Love Lucy, Little Rascals, Honeymooners were always on year in and year out. It was probably in the 80's and 90s when these kinds of shows were aired less frequently thus folks who were in their pre teen to teen years had almost no exposure to them. When they got to be in their 20's they started to think of these kinds of shows as inferior and boring black and white crap.

When Nick at Night came around they aired lots of old shows but I think they were more contemporary (in color).

Hell, you can't even find the old Warner Bros cartoons like Bugs Bunny or even the old Hanna Barbera 'toons. Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy? Snagglepuss? No one under 45 knows about them.

I tried a few names out on my nephew, (Laural & Hardy, Marx Bros, etc.) who is about 20. He knows nothing before Seinfeld, which makes me sad.

Is "March of the Wodden Soldiers" a Thanksgiving related movie? I might buy it for this year's festivities.

As a child in the 70s Laurel & Hardy were well known. My dad borrowed a movie projector and Laurel & Hardy movies from the public library to show at my birthday party as a 10 year old kid in 1976. He was and is an old movie buff so maybe that was weird, but I can't imagine kids sitting through that today.

I was in my late 30s when Laurel and Hardy were at the height of their careers. They don't make entertainers like that anymore.

"March of the Wooden Soldiers " is a classic!

R37, are you a Vampire? How old are you, 105?

I live in Silver Lake, which was where a lot of early studios were set up before they moved west to Hollywood. The "Music Box Stairs" are still a thing here, and people still include them in tours of the area.

And there's a new 3-D CD of March of the Wooden Soldiers that's worth a look if you have a Sony 3-D TV set.

Not recently but my husband and I were shopping for a house a few years ago and were interested in one 1920's era cottage style house that was Oliver Hardy's house. We really liked the area and were considering making an offer on it but the yard was too small. The deal breaker was when the broker told us that he died there.

Oh, why the deal breaker? I live in a place built about 1880. I imagine a lot of people died here.

In my parent's last house, both they, and my grandmother all died within 10 feet of each other, within 11 years. The previous owner's grandpa probably died where my Grandmother did, 20 years earlier. Big whoop, people die. It happens.

I saw one on telly with my nephews around ten years ago, when they where around ten. They thought it was hilarious. I had to explain a few things for them now and then, and they thought I was a god with all that knowledge. Then again, they already did, since I was the one who explained to them, that flies taste with their feet (and told them to remember that, when they saw a fly on a turd).

The house I live in was build in 1915, not that we where watching it here.

Laurel and Who? Are they like Lucy and Desi?

(R42) I remember it was more that the back of the house was not large enough to expand. I dunno. I think it was that we actually new the name and persona of the one who died there that we didn't like. The house we ended up buying had an owner that also died in the house but we didnt know who he was or what he looked like . Oliver Hardy's house was a nice house though with a lot of original woodwork, Batchelder tiled fireplace and high ceilings. Just wasnt for us.

Where was this house, R45?

My straight brother once complained about a girlfriend who had one tit bigger than the other. I said I hadn't noticed. He said "I've named them Laurel and Hardy"

This was Oliver Hardy's final abode.

"Oliver Hardy was the first to go. On September 12, 1956 – he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed (they were planning a come-back at the time). He never regained the ability to speak, and required 24-hour care. He lived out the rest of his days at his mother-in-law’s house in Burbank. The house is located on Auckland Avenue."

(R45) Toluca Lake, CA

(R48) That wasnt the house we looked at. Maybe the broker told us that but didnt know for sure. All I know was that he liived at a 20's era cotage style house during his heyday with L&H. That Burbank house is not nice at all imo.

Oliver Hardy's nickname was "Babe." He was a very dear man. He and Stan Laurel were comedy legends. Their legacy will live on.

As honorary chairman of the Data Lounge Welcoming Committee, it is my pleasure to extend to you a laurel, and hardy handshake.

I think most of their output is out of copyright and freely available. Can't be much incentive for TV stations to show what everyone can access anytime.

Because much of their humour was visual, it crossed borders. They were even very well known behind the Iron Curtain. Recently, there has only been Mr Bean that has tapped the same kind of slapstick.

Utopia

The Flying Deuces

Far superior to Abbot and Costello.

Even as a little kid I wondered why they often slept in the same bed, like an old married couple

"Even as a little kid I wondered why they often slept in the same bed, like an old married couple."

They slept in the same bed because it was FUNNY. It's a standard comedy device. Two men sleeping in the same bed...hee hee! Remember John Candy and Steve Martin sharing a room (and a bed) in "Plane, Trains and Automobiles?" It's still a funny bit.

Who wants to see that old-fashioned gunk!?

Three is even more of a laff riot!

Never.

I was just thinking of how they have passed out of pop culture consciousness.

Harold Lloyd seems to have taken their place.