The Comedy World of Stan Laurel

by john-mccabe

'The Comedy World of Stan Laurel' is a vivid and intimate biography of one of the all-time masters of comedy. John McCabe follows Stan Laurel's career from his early days in British variety, his arrival in the United States, the first films, to his teaming up with Oliver Hardy in 1926 and their meteoric rise to fame.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, Film, Biography Memoir

Paperback

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[Elena Letizia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! I've always loved Stan Laurel and Babe Hardy, in particular Stanley and I will love him forever and after this biography by the fantastic John McCabe, so heartfelt and loving, I love this wonderful man and amazing artist, more and more. Knowing his generosity and the pains of his life, I think he's the greatest comic of the story of the seventh art! Because ... despite all, joy, surrowes, happy or sad moments, Stan Laurel succeeded to give the best of him. He loved people, his fans, sometimes also in paternal way. Lovely!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really cute, insightful glimpse into Stan’s life and mind.

[Mark waite · Rating 4 out of 5]

A warm and moving tribute to a very funny man

[Merja Pohjola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being a huge fan of Stan Laurel, I was intrigued to find this book. I have read some biographies (all I could get my hands on!) on Stan and on Laurel/Hardy, so I didn't need the basic stuff, an outline of his life, should I say. I already gathered from the other books how he was a wonderful person, and I was delighted to find so many people with endearing, great memories of this warm human being. He was big, but it did not go to his head. The book is filled with these rare reminiscences, interviews (of the man himself and others who knew him), letters, rare pictures, and lost skits written by Stan. I must concur with Dick Van Dyke when he said Chaplin was a genius, but Stan was the best. Chaplin had a great technique, but he let it show. Stan had technique - it never showed. Had he graved recognition as much as Chaplin, he would be there, on par with him. To Stan everything was laughs. It made people feel good. The tramp was also a tragic figure. Don't get me wrong, I adore Chaplin, but out of that era, he was second to Stan Laurel. That is why I LOVE Chaplin, but am passionate about Stan. Also, great to read a bio (well, this book expects you know the basic stuff about his life...) that is warm and loving, with no mean gossip included. I love that. We already have so much nasty biographies of people floating around. Although, Stan must have been quite a nice guy, since I haven't seen anything truly bad ever written about him. I already know he kept his phone number in the book, so his fans could reach him... even when sick... and he tried to answer all of his mail cause he felt he "owed" his fans that... which makes me ache... I was simply born too darn late!!!! <3

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

The comedy of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy is some of the best in the world. This book was a little choppy and average, but it contains many funny scripts. I was hoping for better.