June 16 marks the st anniversary of the birth of Arthur Stanley Jefferson, better known as Stan Laurel. We remember him primarily for the relatively brief time—fourteen years—in which Laurel and Hardy made their best films for the Hal Roach Studios, from to , but he toiled hard to create laughter for most of his life.
By any names, the Jeffersons were a talented family. Arthur Stanley was the next offspring, born June 16, at 3 Foundry Cottages in Ulverston, England, then part of the county of Lancashire. Stan was often quite sickly as a child, so he remained at the Metcalfe home, largely being raised by his maternal grandmother, while A.
Being raised in a theatrical family, it should have surprised nobody that young Stan was obsessed with anything that had to do with putting on a show. When Stan was nine, A. Although the blaze was put out before too much damage was done, A. None of this dissuaded Stan from wanting to perform.
In , the family moved to Glasgow, A. The act went over quite well, until Stan was taking his bows and spotted his father in the audience—which prompted him to run offstage in a panic Thus, in , at the age of sixteen, Stan paid a half crown to a tunesmith for an original song, and cobbled together enough jokes for a suitable monologue. Without A. By sheer coincidence A. The act went over quite well, until Stan was taking his bows and spotted his father in the audience—which prompted him to run offstage in a panic, catching the precious frock coat on a steel hook and tearing it.
A howl for the audience, but not so funny to A. When Stan finally got up the nerve to face his father in his office, A. Have a whisky and soda? Levy and J. The production began its tour on August 19, and ran through April 19, The Gentleman Jockey took him through the summer of , at which point Stan toured in a sketch called Home from the Honeymoon , written by A. Gee whiz! Stanley Jefferson is a first-rate comedian and dancer, and his eccentricities create roars of laughter.
