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Year 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events [link]

January [link]

January 14: Marilyn weds DiMaggio.

• January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from East Germany.
• January 12 – Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200.
• January 14 – Marilyn Monroe marries baseball player Joe DiMaggio.
• January 15 – Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya.
• January 17 – In Yugoslavia, Milovan Djilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties.
• January 20 - The U.S.-based National Negro Network is established with forty-six member radio stations.
• January 21 – The first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, is launched in Groton, Connecticut, by First Lady of the United States Mamie Eisenhower.
• January 25 – The foreign ministers of the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union meet at the Berlin Conference.

February [link]

• February 3 – Elizabeth II becomes the first reigning monarch to visit Australia.
• February 10 – After authorizing $385 million over the $400 million already budgeted for military aid to Vietnam, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
• February 23 – The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
• February 25 – Lt. Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser becomes premier of Egypt.

March [link]

• March 1
  • U.S. officials announce that a hydrogen bomb test (Castle Bravo) has been conducted on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.
  • U.S. Capitol shooting incident: Four Puerto Rican nationalists open fire in the United States House of Representatives chamber and wound five; they are apprehended by security guards.
• March 9 – American journalists Edward Murrow and Fred W. Friendly produce a 30-minute See It Now documentary, entitled A Report on Senator Joseph McCarthy.
• March 12 – Finland and Germany officially end their state of war.
• March 13 – French troops begin the battle against the Viet Minh in Dien Bien Phu.
• March 19 – Joey Giardello knocks out Willie Tory at Madison Square Garden, in the first televised boxing prize fight to be shown in color.
• March 23 – In Vietnam, the Viet Minh capture the main airstrip of Dien Bien Phu. The remaining French Army units there are partially isolated.
• March 25
  • The 26th Academy Awards ceremony is held.
  • RCA manufactures the first color TV set (12-inch screen; price: $1,000)
  • The Soviet Union recognizes the sovereignty of East Germany. Soviet troops remain in the country.
• March 27 – The Castle Romeo nuclear test explosion is executed.
• March 28 – Puerto Rico's first television station, WKAQ-TV, commences broadcasting.
• March 29 – A C-47 transport with the French nurse Genevieve de Galard on board is wrecked on the runway at Dien Bien Phu.
• March 30 – The first operational subway line in Canada opens in Toronto, Ontario.

April [link]

• April - Bill Haley & The Comets record "Rock Around The Clock" thus starting the Rock and Roll craze.
• April 1
  • The U.S. Congress and President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorize the founding of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado
  • South Point School (India) was founded that would grow to the largest school in the world by 1992.
• April 3 – Vladimir Petrov defects from the Soviet Union and asks for political asylum in Australia.
• April 4 – The legendary symphony conductor Arturo Toscanini experiences a lapse of memory during a concert. At this concert's end, his retirement is announced, and Toscanini never conducts in public again.
• April 7 – Dwight D. Eisenhower gives his "domino theory" speech during a news conference.
• April 8 – A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Air Lines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
• April 11 – This day was denoted as the most boring day in the 20th century by True Knowledge, an answer engine developed by William Tunstall-Pedoe.^[1]
• April 14
  • Aneurin Bevan resigns from the British Labour Party's "shadow cabinet".
  • A Soviet spy ring in Australia is unveiled.
• April 16 – Vice President Richard Nixon announces that the United States may be “putting our own boys in Indochina regardless of Allied support.”
• April 22 – Senator Joseph McCarthy begins hearings investigating the United States Army for being "soft" on Communism.
• April 26 – International conference on Korea and Indo-China opens in Geneva.
• April 28 – U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles accuses Communist China of sending combat troops to Indo-China to train the Viet Minh guerrillas.

May [link]

• May 1 – The Unification Church is founded in South Korea.
• May 4 – General Alfredo Stroessner seizes power in a coup d'état in Paraguay.
• May 6 – Roger Bannister runs the first sub-four minute mile.
• May 7 – Vietnam War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
• May 8 – Asian Football Confederation (AFC) was formed in Manila, Philippines.
• May 11 – U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles declares that Indochina is important but not essential to the security of Southeast Asia thus ending any prospect of American intervention on the side of France.
• May 14 – The Boeing 707 is released after about two years of development.
• May 15 – Latin Union (Unión Latina) created by Convention of Madrid, member countries belong to the five Romance languages: Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Romanian.
• May 17
  • Brown v. Board of Education (347 US 483 1954): The United States Supreme Court rules that segregated schools are unconstitutional.
  • The Petrov Royal Commission in Australia begins its inquiry.
  • Adnan Menderes of DP forms the new government of Turkey (21st government)
• May 20 – Chiang Kai-shek is reelected president of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
• May 22 – The common Nordic Labour Market act is signed.
• May 26 - A fire aboard the United States aircraft carrier USS Bennington off Narragansett Bay kills 103 crewmen.
• May 29
  • Robert Menzies's government is re-elected for a 4th term in Australia.
  • Creation and first meeting of the Bilderberg Group.

June [link]

• June 9 – McCarthyism: Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy, during hearings on whether Communism has infiltrated the Army, saying, 'Have you, at long last, no decency?'.
• June 14 – The words "under God" are added to the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
• June 15 – The UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is formed in Basel, Switzerland.
• June 16 – July 4 – the 1954 FIFA World Cup is held in Switzerland
• June 17 – A CIA-engineered military coup occurs in Guatemala.
• June 18 – Pierre Mendès-France becomes prime minister of France.
• June 27
  • Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán steps down in a CIA-sponsored military coup, triggering a bloody civil war that continues for more than 35 years.
  • The world's first atomic power station opens at Obninsk, near Moscow.

July [link]

• July 1
  • The Common Nordic Labor Market Act comes into effect.
  • The United States officially begins using the international unit of the nautical mile, equal to 6,076.11549 ft. or 1,852 meters.
• July 4
  • Food rationing in Great Britain ends with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II and nearly a decade after the war's end.
  • West Germany beats Hungary 3–2 to win the 1954 FIFA World Cup.
• July 10 – Peter Thomson becomes the first Australian to win the British Open Golf Championship.
• July 15
  • The maiden flight of the Boeing 367-80 (or Dash 80), prototype of the Boeing 707 series.
  • Juan Fangio, the Argentine driver for German Grand Prix team Mercedes-Benz, makes a new fastest lap of the Silverstone Circuit with an average speed of 100.35 mph, the previous record being 100.16 mph.
• July 21 – First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference sends French forces to the south, and Vietnamese forces to the north, of a ceasefire line, and calls for elections to decide the government for all of Vietnam by July 1956. Failure to abide by the terms of the agreement leads to the establishment de facto of regimes of North Vietnam and South Vietnam, and the Vietnam War.
• July 31 – Italian mountaineers Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni become the first successfully to reach the summit of the Himalayan peak K2.

August [link]

• August 1 - The First Indochina War ends with the Viet Minh emerging victorious against the French Army and the Viet Minh is reorganised into the Viet Cong.
• August 6 – Emilie Dionne, one of the Dionne Quintuplets, dies of asphyxiation following an epileptic seizure at Sainte Agathe, Quebec. She was the first of the five to perish, and three of them lived into the 21st Century.
• August 16 – The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine is published in the United States.
• August 24 – The Brazilian president, Getulio Vargas, commits suicide after being accused of involvement in a conspiracy to murder a Brazilian Air Force officer.

September [link]

• September 3 – The last new episode of The Lone Ranger is aired on radio, after 2,956 episodes over a period of 21 years.
• September 6 – The SEATO treaty is signed in Manila, Philippines.
• September 8 – The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established in Bangkok, Thailand.
• September 9 – An earthquake centered on the city of Orléansville, Algeria kills 1,500 and leaves thousands homeless.
• September 11 – The Miss America Pageant is broadcast on television for the first time.
• September 14
  • The USSR tests a nuclear weapon.
  • English composer Benjamin Britten’s chamber opera version of The Turn of the Screw receives its world premiere at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice.]
• September 15 - Black Wednesday in air travel
• September 17 – William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies is published in London.
• September 25 – The Footscray Football Club wins their first Australian Football League Grand Final.
• September 26 – The Japanese ferry Toya Maru sinks during a typhoon in the Tsugaru Strait. More than 1,100 people are killed.
• September 30 – The USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, is commissioned by the United States Navy.

October [link]

• October 2 – New York Giants defeat the Cleveland Indians to win the 1954 World Series.
• October 11
  • Pre-Vietnam War: The Viet Minh takes control of North Vietnam.
  • Hurricane Hazel crosses over Haiti, killing 1,000.
• October 15 – Hurricane Hazel makes U.S. landfall; it is the only recorded Category 4 hurricane to strike as far north as North Carolina.
• October 18 – Texas Instruments announces the development of the first transistor radio.
• October 20 – A dock workers' strike expands in England.
• October 21 – Max and Ruby make their first debut in "Max and the Big White Thing".
• October 23
  • West Germany joins NATO.
  • Paris Agreement sets up the Western European Union to implement the Treaty of Brussels (1948) providing for mutual self-defence and other collaboration between Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
• October 25 – Landslides caused by heavy rains hit Salerno, Italy, killing about 300.
• October 26 – Muslim Brotherhood member Mahmoud Abdul Latif tries to kill Gamal Abdal Nasser.
• October 31 – Algerian War of Independence: The Algerian National Liberation Front begins a revolt against French rule.

November [link]

• November 1 – The FLN attacks representative and public buildings of the French colonial power.
• November 2 – The dock workers' strike in England ends.
• November 3 – The first Godzilla movie premieres in Tokyo, Japan.
• November 5 – Japan and Burma sign a separate peace treaty in Rangoon, to end their formal state of war.
• November 10 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower dedicates the USMC War Memorial (Iwo Jima memorial) in Arlington National Cemetery.
• November 12 – The main immigration port-of-entry in New York Harbor at Ellis Island closes.
• November 14 – Egyptian president Mohammed Naguib is deposed; Gamal Abdel Nasser replaces him.
• November 22 – The United States Supreme Court decides the landmark case Berman v. Parker (348 U.S. 26), upholding the federal slum clearance and urban renewal program.
• November 23 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average rises 3.27 points, or 0.86%, closing at an all-time high of 382.74. More significantly, this is the first time the Dow has surpassed its 1929 peak level reached just before that year's crash.
• November 30 – In Sylacauga, Alabama, a four kilogram piece of the Hodges Meteorite crashes through the roof of a house and badly bruises a napping woman, in the first documented case of an object from outer space hitting a person.

December [link]

• December 1 – The first Hyatt Hotel, The Hyatt House Los Angeles, opens. It is the first hotel in the world built outside of an airport.
• December 2
  • Red Scare: The United States Senate votes 67–22 to condemn Joseph McCarthy for "conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute."
  • The Taiwan-United States Mutual Defense Treaty is signed.^[2]
• December 4 – The first Burger King opens in Miami, Florida, USA.
• December 23 – J. Hartwell Harrison, M.D. and Joseph E. Murray perform the world's first kidney transplant.
• December 24 – Laos gains full independence from France.

Date unknown [link]

• New Zealand inventor Sir William Hamilton invents the world's first water pump-jet engine, later named the "Hamilton Jet".
• The Boy Scouts of America desegregates on the basis of race.
• Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) are brought to the United States by Dr. Victor Schwentker.
• The case of Lothar Malskat, who had admitted that he had painted the supposedly antique frescoes in Marienkirche himself, goes to trial.
• The TV dinner is introduced by the American entrepreneur Gerry Thomas.
• New York City Ballet founding balletmaster George Balanchine's production of The Nutcracker is staged for the first time in New York City, and it became a tradition there, still being performed annually as of 2010^[update].
• South Korea opens the Gimpo International Airport.

Births [link]

January [link]

• January 2 – Henry Bonilla, American politician
• January 3 – Ross The Boss, American heavy metal/punk guitarist
• January 4
  • Dave "The Devilfish" Ulliott, English professional poker player
  • Tina Knowles, Fashion designer, and mother of R&B singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles
• January 5 – Alex English, American basketball player
• January 6 – Anthony Minghella, British film and theatre director (d. 2008)
• January 7 – José María Vitier, Cuban music composer and pianist.
• January 12 – Howard Stern, American radio host
• January 13 – Trevor Rabin, South African–American musician
• January 14
  • Tom Cheney, American cartoonist
  • Masanobu Fuchi, Japanese professional wrestler
• January 15 – Jose Dalisay, Jr., Filipino writer
• January 17 – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of Robert F Kennedy
• January 19
  • Katey Sagal, American actress and singer (Married...with Children)
  • Ted DiBiase, American professional wrestler
• January 22 – Peter Pilz, Austrian politician
• January 23
  • Franco De Vita, Venezuelan singer and songwriter
  • Edward Ka-Spel, British/Dutch rock vocalist (The Legendary Pink Dots)
• January 29
  • Yukinobu Hoshino, Japanese cartoonist
  • Oprah Winfrey, American actress, talk show hostess, producer, and publisher

February [link]

• February 1 – Bill Mumy, American child actor and musician
• February 2 – Christie Brinkley, American model
• February 7 – Dieter Bohlen, German singer
• February 9
  • Chris Gardner, American entrepreneur
  • Kevin Warwick, English cybernetic scientist
• February 11 – Noriyuki Asakura, Japanese composer
• February 12 – Philip Zimmermann, American cryptographer
• February 13 – Donnie Moore, American baseball player (d. 1989)
• February 15 – Matt Groening, American cartoonist (The Simpsons)
• February 17
  • Rene Russo, American actress
  • Yuji Takada, Japanese free-style wrestler
• February 18 – John Travolta, American actor (Saturday Night Fever)
• February 19 – Socrates, Brazilian footballer
• February 20
  • Anthony Head, English actor
  • Patty Hearst, American heiress and kidnapping victim
• February 23 – Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
• February 25 – Gerardo Pelusso, Uruguayan football manager

March [link]

• March 1
  • Catherine Bach, American actress
  • Ron Howard, American actor, director, producer (The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days)
• March 2 – Eddie Johnstone, Canadian ice hockey player
• March 4
  • François Fillon, Prime Minister of France
  • Catherine O'Hara, Canadian actress (SCTV)
  • Irina Ratushinskaya, Russian writer
  • Willie Thorne, English snooker player
• March 6 – Harald Schumacher, German football goalkeeper
• March 8
  • David Wilkie, Scottish swimmer
  • Marie-Theres Nadig, Swiss alpine skier
• March 9 – Bobby Sands, Irish Republican, Long Kesh hunger striker (d. 1981)
• March 13 – The Baroness Amos, British politician
• March 15
  • Massimo Bubola, Italian singer-songwriter
  • Craig Wasson, American actor
• March 16
  • SA Griffin, American actor and poet
  • Nancy Wilson, American singer, musician, and actress
• March 17 – Lesley-Anne Down, British actress
• March 18 – James F. Reilly, American astronaut
• March 19 – Indu Shahani, Indian educator and Sheriff of Mumbai
• March 20 – Louis Sachar, American author
• March 23 – Geno Auriemma, American basketball coach
• March 24
  • Robert Carradine, American actor
  • Donna Pescow, American actress and director
• March 26 – Kazuhiko Inoue, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)
• March 29 – Karen Ann Quinlan, American right-to-die cause célèbre (d. 1985)

April [link]

• April 1 – Dieter Muller, German soccer player
• April 2 – Susumu Hirasawa, Japanese musician
• April 5 – Guy Bertrand (broadcaster), Canadian linguist and radio personality
• April 6 – Michael Simms (publisher), American poet and founder of Autumn House Press
• April 7
  • Jackie Chan, Hong Kong-born actor
  • Tony Dorsett, American football player
• April 8
  • Gary Carter, American baseball player (d. 2012)
  • John Schneider, American actor (Dukes of Hazzard)
• April 9
  • Dennis Quaid, American actor
  • Steve Holt, Canadian musician
• April 10 – Anacani, Mexican-born American singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
• April 14 – Bruce Sterling, American science fiction writer
• April 16 – Ellen Barkin, American actress
• April 17
  • Riccardo Patrese, Italian race car driver
  • Michael Sembello, American musician
• April 27 – Ray Shaw, Australian rules footballer
• April 29
  • Jerry Seinfeld, American comedian
  • Jake Burton Carpenter, American founder of Burton Snowboards

May [link]

• May 1
  • Archie Norman, British politician and businessman
  • Ray Parker, Jr. African-American musician, singer-songwriter, composer (Raydio)
• May 7
  • Philippe Geluck, Belgian cartoonist
  • Amy Heckerling, American film director
• May 8
  • Gary Wilmot, British entertainer
  • John Michael Talbot, American Christian musician
• May 19 – Phil Rudd, Australian rock drummer (AC/DC)
• May 22 – Shuji Nakamura, Japanese electronics engineer
• May 26 – Danny Rolling, American murderer (d. 2006)
• May 27 – Pauline Hanson, Australian politician

June [link]

• June 5 – Nancy Stafford, American actress and Christian author
• June 6 – Judi Bowker, English television and cinema actress
• June 9
  • John Hagelin, American physicist and U.S. Presidential candidate
  • Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada
• June 14 – Will Patton, American actor
• June 15 – James Belushi, American actor (Saturday Night Live)
• June 16 – Sergey Kuryokhin, Russian pianist, composer, improvisor, performance artist and actor (d. 1996)
• June 19
  • Ted Coombs, American artist
  • Kathleen Turner, American actress
• June 20
  • Michael Anthony, American rock bassist (Van Halen)
  • Ilan Ramon, Israeli Air Force, Israel's first astronaut (d. 2003)
• June 22 – Freddie Prinze, American actor and comedian (d. 1977)
• June 25 – Sonia Sotomayor, American Associate Justice of the Supreme Court
• June 26 – Steve Barton, American actor (d. 2001)
• June 27 – Ron Kirk, Mayor of Dallas, Texas
• June 28 – Ava Barber, American country singer (The Lawrence Welk Show)
• June 29 – Rick Honeycutt, American baseball player and coach
• June 30 – Pierre Charles, Prime Minister of Dominica (d. 2004)

July [link]

• July 2 – Peter Randall-Page, British artist
• July 5 – John Wright, New Zealand cricket captain
• July 6 – Willie Randolph, American baseball player, coach, manager
• July 10 – Neil Tennant, British musician
• July 13 – Sezen Aksu, Turkish singer
• July 15
  • Tarak Dhiab, Tunisian footballer
  • Mario Kempes, Argentine footballer
• July 16 – Jeanette Mott Oxford, American politician
• July 17
  • Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
  • J. Michael Straczynski, American author
  • Eduardo Romero, Argentine golfer
• July 20 – Wilson Casey, American syndicated columnist and entertainer
• July 22 – Pierre Lebeau, Canadian actor
• July 24 – Jorge Jesus, Portuguese football player and coach
• July 25 – Walter Payton, African-American football player (d. 1999)
• July 26 – Vitas Gerulaitis, American tennis player (d. 1994)
• July 27
  • Lynne Frederick, British actress (d. 1994)
  • Philippe Alliot, French race car driver
• July 28 – Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias, President of Venezuela
• July 29 – Mark Gersmehl, American Christian musician

August [link]

• August 1 – Michael J. Badnarik, American software engineer and presidential candidate
• August 2 – Sammy McIlroy, Northern Irish footballer and football manager
• August 4
  • Uwe Wittwer, Swiss artist
  • François Valéry, French singer-songwriter and composer
• August 9 – Pete Thomas, American longtime drummer for Elvis Costello
• August 11 – Joe Jackson, British rock singer (Steppin' Out)
• August 12
  • Sam J. Jones, American actor
  • Pat Metheny, American jazz guitarist
  • Francois Hollande, French politician
• August 13 – Nico Assumpção, Brazilian bass player
• August 14
  • Mark Fidrych, American baseball player (d.2009)
  • Stanley McChrystal, American general
• August 16 – James Cameron, Canadian-born film director
• August 17 – Anatoly Kudryavitsky, Russian-Irish writer
• August 20
  • Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey, music video producer (d. 2007)
  • Al Roker, African-American television broadcaster (Today)
• August 21
  • Ivan Stang, American author and publisher
  • Steve Smith, American drummer
• August 23 – Charles Busch, American director, writer, and actor
• August 24 – Philippe Cataldo, French singer
• August 25 – Elvis Costello, British singer-songwriter
• August 29 – István Cserháti, Hungarian keyboardist (d. 2005)
• August 30 – Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus
• August 31
  • Julie Brown, American actress, singer-songwriter and screenwriter
  • Caroline Cossey, English model

September [link]

• September 1 – Dave Lumley, Canadian ice hockey player
• September 7 – Michael Emerson, American actor
• September 10 – Mark W. Everson, incoming President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross
• September 13 – Steve Kilbey, Australian musician
• September 17 – Joël-François Durand, French composer
• September 18 – Dennis Johnson, American basketball player (d. 2007)
• September 21 – Shinzo Abe, Japanese politician
• September 26 – Kevin Kennedy, American baseball manager and television host
• September 28 – Steve Largent, American football player and congressman
• September 30 – Barry Williams, American actor

October [link]

• October 1 – Martin Strel, Slovenian swimmer
• October 3
  • Dennis Eckersley, American baseball player
  • Stevie Ray Vaughan, American musician (d. 1990)
  • Al Sharpton, African-American politician and minister
  • Eddie DeGarmo, American Christian keyboardist and producer (DeGarmo and Key)
• October 5 – Wayne Watson, American Christian musician
• October 7 – Robert A. Schuller, American televangelist and son of Robert H. Schuller
• October 9
  • Scott Bakula, American actor
  • John O'Hurley, American actor and game show host
• October 10
  • David Lee Roth, American rock singer
  • Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian singer and actor
• October 12 – Les Dennis, English television presenter and actor
• October 13 – Mordechai Vanunu, former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed secrets of its nuclear weapons programme
• October 15 – Peter Bakowski, Australian poet
• October 23 – Ang Lee, Taiwanese film director
• October 24
  • Mike Rounds, Governor of South Dakota
  • Doug Davidson, American actor

November [link]

• November 2 – Angela Webber, Australian author, television writer, producer and comedienne (d. 2007)
• November 3
  • Brigitte Lin, Taiwanese actress
  • Adam Ant, English singer
  • Kathy Kinney, American actress and comedienne
• November 7 – Kamal Haasan, Indian actor
• November 8
  • Michael D. Brown, U.S. Undersecretary of Emergency Preparedness and Response
  • Kazuo Ishiguro, Japanese-born British author
• November 12 - Rhonda Shear, American television personality, actress and comedienne
• November 13 – Chris Noth, American actor
• November 14
  • Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State
  • Yanni, Greek musician
  • Willie Hernández, Puerto Rican Major League Baseball player
  • Bernard Hinault, French road bicycle racer
• November 15 – Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland
• November 16 – Bruce Edwards, American golf caddy (d. 2004)
• November 23 – Bruce Hornsby, American rock singer (That's Just The Way It Is)
• November 26
  • Dan Kwong, American performance artist, playwright
  • Roz Chast, American "New Yorker" cartoonist
• November 27 – Patricia McPherson, American actress
• November 29 – Joel Coen, American film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor

December [link]

• December 1 – Bob Goen, American television personality and game show host
• December 2 – Stone Phillips, American television journalist (NBC Dateline)
• December 3 – Grace Andreacchi, American author
• December 7 – Mark Hofmann, American forger and murderer
• December 10 – Jack Hues, English musician
• December 11
  • Sylvester Clarke, West Indian cricketer (d. 1999)
  • Jermaine Jackson, American singer
  • Prachanda, Nepalese Communist leader
• December 13 – John Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter
• December 14
  • Ib Andersen, Danish dancer
  • Alan Kulwicki, American race car driver (d. 1993)
• December 18
  • Ray Liotta, American actor
  • Ulrich Roth, German rock guitarist (Scorpions)
• December 20 – Sandra Cisneros, American writer
• December 21 – Chris Evert, American tennis player
• December 24 – José María Figueres, Costa Rican politician, President 1994–1998
• December 25 – Annie Lennox, British rock singer (Eurythmics)
• December 26 – Susan Butcher, American dog-sled racer (d. 2006)
• December 28
  • Denzel Washington, African-American actor
  • Lanny Poffo, American professional wrestler
• December 29 – Albrecht Böttcher, German mathematician
• December 31 – Alex Salmond, Scottish politician

Deaths [link]

January– March [link]

• January 5 – Lillian Rich, English actress (b. 1900)
• January 8 – Eduard Wiiralt, Estonian artist (b. 1898)
• January 11 – Oscar Straus, Austrian composer (b. 1870)
• January 18 – Sydney Greenstreet, English actor (b. 1879)
• January 20 – Fred Root, English cricketer (b. 1890)
• January 30 – John Murray Anderson, Canadian theater director and producer (b. 1886)
• January 31
  • Edwin Armstrong, American electrical engineer (b. 1890)
  • Florence Bates, American actress (b. 1888)
• February 6 – Maxwell Bodenheim, American poet and novelist (murdered) (b. 1892)
• February 8 – Laurence Trimble, American actor (b. 1885)
• February 9 – Mabel Paige, American actress (b. 1880)
• February 12 – Dziga Vertov, Russian filmmaker (b. 1896)
• February 21 – William K. Howard, American film director (b. 1899)
• March 7
  • Otto Diels, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
  • Will H. Hays, Namesake for the Hays Code (b. 1879)
• March 9 – Vagn Walfrid Ekman, Swedish oceanographer (b. 1874)
• March 26 – Louis Silvers, American film composer (b. 1889)

April–June [link]

• April 8 – Fritzi Scheff, actress & singer (b. 1879)
• April 10 – Auguste Lumière, French film pioneer (b. 1862)
• April 12 – Luis Cabrera Lobato, Mexican lawyer, politician and writer (b. 1876)
• April 13 – Angus L. Macdonald, Nova Scotia Premier (b. 1890)
• April 15 – Ülo Altermann, Estonian soldier and forest brother (b. 1923)
• April 17 – Lucreţiu Pătrăşcanu, Romanian communist activist and sociologist (b. 1900)
• April 28 – Léon Jouhaux, French labor leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1879)
• April 29 – Joe May, Austrian-born director (b. 1880)
• May 1 – Tom Tyler, American actor (b. 1903)
• May 3 – Józef Garbień, Polish footballer and physician (b. 1896)
• May 6 – B.C. Forbes, Scottish-born publisher (b. 1880)
• May 14 – Heinz Guderian, German World War II general (b. 1888)
• May 15 – William March, American writer and soldier (b. 1893)
• May 19 – Charles Ives, American composer (b. 1874)
• May 25 – Robert Capa, Hungarian-born photojournalist (b. 1913)
• June 7 – Alan Turing, British mathematician (b. 1912)
• June 22 – Don Hollenbeck, American newscaster (b. 1905)

July–September [link]

• July 1 – Thea von Harbou, German actress (b. 1888)
• July 3 – Reginald Marsh, American artist (b. 1898)
• July 6 – Gabriel Pascal, Hungarian producer and director (b. 1894)
• July 11 – Henry Valentine Knaggs, English physician and author (b. 1859)
• July 13
  • Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter (b. 1907)
  • Irving Pichel, American actor and director (b. 1891)
  • Grantland Rice, American sportswriter (b. 1880)
• July 14
  • Jacinto Benavente, Spanish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1866)
  • Jackie Saunders, American silent screen actress (b. 1892)
• July 17 – Machine Gun Kelly, American gangster (b. 1895)
• July 28 – Kamiyama Sojin or "Sojin", Japanese film star during the American silent film era, (b. 1884)
• July 29 – Coen de Koning, Dutch speed skater (b. 1879)
• August 3
  • Bess Streeter Aldrich, American writer (b. 1881)
  • Colette, French novelist (b. 1873)
• August 24 – Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)
• August 31 – Elsa Barker, American writer (b. 1869)
• September 1 – Bert Acosta, American aviator (b. 1895)
• September 3 – Eugene Pallette, American actor (b. 1889)
• September 5 – Eugen Schiffer, German politician (b. 1860)
• September 6 – Edward C. Kalbfus, American admiral (b. 1877)
• September 7
  • Bud Fisher, American cartoonist (b. 1885)
  • Glenn Scobey Warner, American college football coach (b. 1871)
• September 21 – Kokichi Mikimoto, Japanese pearl farm pioneer (b. 1858)
• September 24 – Edward Pilgrim, British homeowner (suicide) (b. 1904)
• September 28 – Bert Lytell, American actor (b. 1885)

October–December [link]

• October 9 – Robert H. Jackson, United States Supreme Court associate justice and chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials (b. 1892)
• October 12 - George Welch, American aviator (b. 1918)
• October 30 – Wilbur Shaw, American racing driver (b. 1902)
• November 3 – Henri Matisse, French painter (b. 1869)
• November 3 – Maria Leal formerly Velazquez aka Meems, (b. 1954)
• November 13 – Paul Ludwig Ewald von Kleist, German field marshal (b. 1881)
• November 15 – Lionel Barrymore, American actor (b. 1878)
• November 16 – Albert Francis Blakeslee, American botanist (b. 1874)
• November 17 – Yitzhak Lamdan, Russian-born Israeli poet and columnist (b. 1899)
• November 22
  • Roderick McMahon, American professional boxing and wrestling promoter; founder of Capitol Wrestling Corporation (b.1882)
  • Moroni Olsen, American actor (b. 1889)
  • Andrey Vyshinsky, Russian jurist and diplomat (b. 1883)
• November 28 – Enrico Fermi, Italian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
• November 29 – Dink Johnson, American musician (b. 1892)
• November 30 – Wilhelm Furtwängler, German conductor (b. 1886)
• December 1 – Fred Rose, American songwriter (b. 1898)
• December 8
  • Claude Cahun, French photographer and writer (b. 1894)
  • Gladys George, American actress (b. 1900)
• December 20 – James Hilton, English novelist (b. 1900)
• December 23 – René Iché, French sculptor (b. 1897)
• December 30 – Archduke Eugen of Austria, Austrian field marshal (b. 1863)

Nobel Prizes [link]

• Physics – Max Born, Walther Bothe
• Chemistry – Linus Carl Pauling
• Medicine – John Franklin Enders, Thomas Huckle Weller, Frederick Chapman Robbins
• Literature – Ernest Hemingway
• Peace – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

References [link]

• 1954 Coin Pictures

Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. Composed of thin Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and fat American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), they became well known during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy and childlike friend of the pompous Hardy.^[1] They made over 100 films together, initially two-reelers (short films) before expanding into feature length films in the 1930s. Their films include Sons of the Desert (1933), the Academy Award winning short film The Music Box (1932), Babes in Toyland (1934), and Way Out West (1937). Hardy's catchphrase "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" is still widely recognized.^{[N 1]}

Prior to the double act both were established actors with Laurel appearing in over 50 films and Hardy in over 250 films. Although the two comedians first worked together on the film The Lucky Dog (1921), this was a chance pairing and it was not until 1926, when both separately signed contracts with the Hal Roach film studio, that they began appearing in movie shorts together.^[2] Laurel and Hardy officially became a team the following year in the silent short film Putting Pants on Philip (1927). The pair remained with the Roach studio until 1940, then appeared in eight "B" comedies for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1945.^[3] After finishing their movie commitments at the end of 1944, they concentrated on stage shows, embarking on a music hall tour of England, Ireland, and Scotland.^[3] In 1950 they made their last film, a French/Italian co-production called Atoll K, before retiring from the screen. In total they appeared together in 107 films. They starred in 40 short sound films, 32 short silent films and 23 full-length feature films, and made 12 guest or cameo appearances, including the recently discovered Galaxy of Stars promotional film (1936).

A common comedy routine was a tit-for-tat fight. Their silent film Big Business (1929), which includes one of these routines, was added to the Library of Congress as a national treasure in 1992. Notable Laurel traits included crying like a baby while being berated and scratching his hair when in shock. On December 1, 1954, the team made their only American television appearance, surprised by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program, This Is Your Life.

The works of Laurel and Hardy have been re-released in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals, 16mm and 8mm home movies, feature-film compilations, and home videos since the 1930s. They were voted the seventh greatest comedy act in a 2005 UK poll by fellow comedians. The duo's signature tune, known variously as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos", played on the opening credits of their films. The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is known as The Sons of the Desert, after a fraternal society in their film of the same name.

Before the teaming[link]

Stan Laurel[link]

Stan Laurel (June 16, 1890 – February 23, 1965) was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire, England.^[4] His father, Arthur Joseph Jefferson, was a theatrical entrepreneur and theatre owner in northern England and Scotland, who with his wife was a major force in the industry.^[5] Laurel was born into a family with theatre in its blood.^[6] In 1905 the Jefferson family moved to Glasgow to be closer to their business mainstay, The Metropole Theatre,^[7] with Laurel making his stage debut in a Glasgow hall called the Panoptikon, a month short of his 16th birthday.^[8] Arthur Jefferson secured Laurel his first acting job with a theatrical juvenile company, Levy and Cardwell, specialising in Christmas Pantomimes.^[9] In 1909 he was employed by Britain's leading comedy impresario, Fred Karno,^[10] working as a supporting actor and as an understudy of Charlie Chaplin.^[11] Laurel said of Karno "There was no one like him. He had no equal. His name was box-office."^[12]

In 1912, Laurel left England with a Fred Karno Troupe, to tour the United States of America. Laurel expected the tour to be merely a pleasant interval in his life before returning to London; however, he had, in actuality, emigrated.^[13] In 1917 Laurel was teamed with Mae Dahlberg: they worked as a double act for stage and film and were common law husband and wife.^[14] Laurel made his film debut with Dahlberg in Nuts in May (1917).^[15] It was while working with her that he started using the stage name Stan Laurel, changing his name legally in 1931.^[16] Dahlberg held Laurel's career back because she demanded parts in Laurel's films and her tempestuous nature made her difficult to work with; dressing room arguments between the two were common, so film producer Joe Rock paid her to leave Laurel and return to her native Australia.^[17] In 1925 Laurel joined the Hal Roach film studio as a director and writer and between May 1925 and September 1926 he was credited in at least 22 films.^[18] Laurel starred in over 50 films for various producers before teaming up with Hardy,^[19] but without Hardy he experienced only modest success because it was difficult for producers, writers and directors to figure out what character he might be playing, and American audiences knew him either as a "nutty burglar" or as a Charlie Chaplin imitator.^[20]

Oliver Hardy[link]

Oliver Hardy (January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was born Norvell Hardy in Harlem, Georgia.^[21] He took his father's first name, calling himself "Oliver Norvell Hardy."^[22] His offscreen nicknames were "Ollie" and "Babe." Hardy's nickname "Babe" originated from an Italian barber near the Lubin Studios in Jacksonville, Florida, who would rub Hardy's face with talcum powder and say, "That's nice a baby!" which the other Lubin actors mimicked.^[23] Hardy was billed as "Babe Hardy" in his early films.^[24] By his late teens, Hardy was a popular stage singer, and he operated his own movie house in Milledgeville, Georgia, the Palace Theater, partly financed by his mother.^[25]

Seeing film comedies inspired him with an urge to take up comedy himself and in 1913 he began working with Lubin Motion Pictures in Jacksonville, Florida. He started out by helping around the studio with lights, props and other duties, gradually learning the craft as a script-clerk.^[25] Around the same time, he married his first wife, Madelyn Salosihn.^[26] In 1914, Hardy acted as Babe in his first film called Outwitting Dad.^[24] Between 1914 and 1916, Hardy made 177 shorts as Babe with the Vim Comedy Company, which were released up to the end of 1917.^[27] Exhibiting a versatility in playing heroes, villains and even female characters, Hardy became much in demand as a supporting actor, comic villain or second banana. For the next 10 years he memorably assisted star comics Billy West, a Charlie Chaplin imitator, Jimmy Aubrey, Larry Semon and Charley Chase.^[28] In total, Hardy starred or co-starred in more than 250 silent shorts, about 150 of which have been lost. While in New York, his abortive effort to enlist in 1917 led him and his wife, Madelyn, to seek new opportunities in California.^[29]

History[link]

Films[link]

Laurel and Hardy appeared for the first time together in The Lucky Dog (1921). In this lobby card scene, Stan Laurel (left), is attacked by Oliver Hardy (above) as Jack Lloyd spots that Stan's faithful dog has retrieved Oliver's lit stick of dynamite. Laurel and Hardy in their 1939 feature film The Flying Deuces. File:L&H-west-wide.jpg Laurel and Hardy in Way Out West (1937)

The first film pairing of the two comedians, although as separate performers, took place in The Lucky Dog (1921). The exact date the film was produced isn't recorded, but film historian Bo Bergulund dated it between late 1920 and January 1921.^[30] The association was so casual that based upon interviews given in the 1930s both had forgotten it entirely.^[31] The plot sees Laurel befriended by a stray dog who after a number of lucky escapes saves him from being blown up by a stick of dynamite, while Hardy is a mugger attempting to rob him.^[32] Several years later, both comedians had separately signed for the Hal Roach film studio and next appeared in 45 Minutes From Hollywood (1926).^[33]

Hal Roach was the most important person in their film careers; he brought them together officially as a team and paid their wages for over 20 years.^[34] Charley Rogers worked closely with the three men for many years and said "It could not have happened if Laurel, Hardy and Roach had not met at the right place and at the right time.^[35] Their first "official" film together was Putting Pants on Philip (1927).^[36] The plot sees Laurel as Philip, a young Scottish man newly arrived in the United States in full kilted splendor: after various mishaps surrounding the kilt, his uncle, played by Hardy, tries to put him in trousers.^[37]

Laurel said to John McCabe: "Of all the questions we're asked, the most frequent is how did we come together? I always explain that we just came together naturally."^[38] Laurel and Hardy were joined by accident and grew by indirection.^[39] In 1926 both were part of the Roach Comedy All Stars - a group of actors of similar standing who took part in a series of films; quite unwittingly Laurel and Hardy's parts became larger and the parts of their fellow stars became less, because Laurel and Hardy were the best actors.^[40] The teaming was suggested by Leo McCarey, who was their supervising director between 1927 and 1930; during this period McCarey and Laurel jointly devised the team's format.^[41] After the teaming they played the same characters for 30 years.^[42]

Although Hal Roach employed writers and directors such as H. M. Walker, Leo McCarey, James Parrott and James W. Horne on Laurel and Hardy films, Laurel would rewrite entire sequences or scripts, have the cast and crew improvise on the sound stage, and meticulously review the footage for editing.^[43] By 1929 Laurel was the head writer. The writing sessions were gleeful chaos; Stan had three or four writers who joined him in a perpetual game of 'Can You Top This?'^[44] As Laurel so obviously relished writing gags, Hardy was more than happy to leave the job to his partner.^[45] From this point Laurel was also the uncredited film director. He ran the Laurel and Hardy set no matter who was in the director's chair, but never felt compelled to assert his authority. Roach remarked "Laurel bossed the production. With any director if Laurel said 'I don't like this idea,' the director didn't say 'Well, you're going to do it anyway.' That was understood."^[46] As Laurel made so many suggestions there wasn't much left for the credited director to do.^[47]

In 1929 the silent era of film was coming to an end and most silent-film actors saw their careers decline with the advent of sound.^[48] Silent film actors failed to make the transition because they decided their prime duty was to tell stories in words, and they misused sound through over-emphasis, or there was poor recording. Laurel and Hardy avoided this pitfall because they decided to continue making primarily visual films.^[49] They did not ignore sound but they were not ruled by it.^[49] They proved skillful in their melding of visual and verbal humor,^[50] and made a seamless transition to the talking era in their first sound film Unaccustomed As We Are (1929). The title took its name from the familiar phrase "Unaccustomed as we are to public speaking".^[51] In the opening dialogue Laurel and Hardy began by spoofing the very slow and self conscious speech of the early talking actors, a routine they would use regularly.^[52]

Laurel and Hardy's first starring feature film was Pardon Us (1931).^[53] The most memorable Laurel and Hardy film is The Music Box (1932), the image of the duo forever pushing a piano up a tremendous flight of steps has stuck in the public consciousness.^[54] The film won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Subject in 1932.^[55] While many enthusiasts claim the superiority of The Music Box, their silent film Big Business (1929) is by far the most consistently acclaimed.^[56] The plot sees Laurel and Hardy as Christmas tree salesman involved in a classic tit-for-tat battle with James Finlayson, eventually destroying his house and their car.^[57] Big Business was added to the Library of Congress in the United States as a national treasure in 1992.^[58] Sons of the Desert (1933) is considered Laurel and Hardy's best feature film.^[59]

Babes in Toyland (1934) retains a timeless appeal and remains a perennial on American T.V. at Christmas.^[60] Hal Roach spoke scathingly about the film and Laurel's behavior during its making. Laurel was unhappy with Roach's plot and after an argument was allowed to make the film his own way. The rift permanently damaged Roach-Laurel relations to the point that Roach said that after Toyland he no longer wished to produce Laurel and Hardy films, although their association continued for another six years.^[43]

Hoping for greater artistic freedom, Laurel and Hardy split with Roach and signed with major studios 20th Century-Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. However, the working conditions were now completely different, as they were hired only as actors, relegated to the B-film divisions, and initially not allowed to improvise or contribute to the scripts. When the films proved popular, the studios allowed the team more input with Laurel and Hardy starring in eight features through 1944. These films, while not considered the team's best, were extremely successful. Budgeted at $250,000 to $300,000 each, the films earned millions at the box office. The films were so profitable that Fox kept making Laurel and Hardy comedies after discontinuing its other "B" series.^[61]

Laurel and Hardy made one final film together, Atoll K (1951), a French-Italian co-production directed by Leo Joannon, which was plagued by language barriers, production problems, and both Laurel and Hardy's grave health issues. During shooting, Hardy began to lose weight precipitously and developed an irregular heartbeat while Laurel experienced painful prostate complications.^[62] Critics were disappointed with its storyline, English dubbing, and Laurel's sickly physical appearance.^[63] The film was not a success, and brought an end to Laurel and Hardy's film careers.^[62]

A number of their films were re-shot with Laurel and Hardy talking in Spanish, Italian, French or German.^[64] The plots for these films were similar to the English language version although the supporting cast were often native language actors. Laurel and Hardy could not speak a foreign language and they received voice coaching to reproduce their lines. Pardon Us (1931) was re-shot in all four foreign languages. Blotto (1930), Chickens Come Home (1931) and Below Zero (1930) had French and Spanish versions.

Most of the Laurel and Hardy films survive, and have never gone out of circulation permanently. Three of their 107 films are considered lost, as they have not been seen in full since the 1930s.^[65] The silent Hats Off (1927) has vanished completely. The first half of Now I'll Tell One (1927) is lost and the second half has yet to be released on video. In the operatic Technicolor musical The Rogue Song (1930) Laurel and Hardy appear in 10 sequences, only one of which is known to exist along with the complete soundtrack.^[66]

Style of comedy and characterizations[link]

The humor of Laurel and Hardy was generally visual with slapstick used for emphasis. They often had physical arguments with each other, which were quite complex and involved cartoon violence, and their characters preclude them from making any real progress in even the simplest endeavors. Much of their comedy involves milking a joke, where a simple idea provides a basis from which to build several gags without following a defined narrative.

Laurel and Hardy had an inherent physical contrariety. Stan Laurel was of average height and weight, but appeared small and slight next to Oliver Hardy, who was 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) tall^[63] and weighed about 280 lb (127 kg) in his prime. Laurel kept his hair short on the sides and back, but let it grow long on top to create a natural "fright wig". At times of shock he would simultaneously cry while pulling up his hair. In contrast, Hardy's thinning hair was pasted on his forehead in spit curls and he wore a toothbrush moustache. To achieve a flat-footed walk, Laurel removed the heels from his shoes. Both wore bowler hats, with Laurel's being narrower than Hardy's, and with a flattened brim. The characters' normal attire also called for wing collar shirts, with Hardy wearing a standard neck tie which he would twiddle and Laurel a bow tie. Hardy's sports jacket was too small for him and done up with one straining button, whereas Laurel's double breasted jacket was loose fitting.

A common routine the team performed was a "tit-for-tat" fight with an adversary. This could be with their wives—often played by Mae Busch, Anita Garvin or Daphne Pollard—or with a neighbour, often played by Charlie Hall or James Finlayson. Laurel and Hardy would accidentally damage someone else's property, with the injured party retaliating by ruining something belonging to Laurel or Hardy. After calmly surveying the damage they would find something else to vandalize and conflict would escalate until both sides were simultaneously destroying property in front of each other. An early example of the routine occurs in their classic short, Big Business (1929), which was added to the Library of Congress as a national treasure in 1992, and one of their short films, which revolves entirely around such an altercation, was titled Tit for Tat (1935).

One of their best-remembered dialogue routines was the "Tell me that again" routine. Laurel would tell Hardy a genuinely smart idea he had come up with, and Hardy would reply, "Tell me that again." Laurel would attempt to repeat the idea, but jumble it into utter nonsense. Hardy, who had difficulty understanding Laurel's idea when expressed clearly, would understand perfectly when hearing the jumbled version.

While much of their comedy remained visual, various lines of humorous dialogue appeared in Laurel and Hardy's talking films. Some examples include:

• "You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be led." (Laurel, Brats)
• "I was dreaming I was awake, but I woke up and found meself asleep." (Laurel, Oliver the Eighth)
• "A lot of weather we've been having lately." (Hardy, Way Out West)

In some cases, their comedy bordered on the surreal, a style Stan Laurel called "white magic".^[67] For example, in Way Out West (1937), Laurel clenches his fist and pours tobacco into it, as if it were a pipe. Then, he flicks his thumb upward as if he held a lighter. His thumb ignites, and he matter-of-factly lights his "pipe." The amazed Hardy, seeing this, would unsuccessfully attempt to duplicate it throughout the rest of the film. Much later in the film, Hardy finally succeeds – only to be terrified when his thumb catches fire.

Rather than showing Hardy suffering the pain of misfortunes such as falling down stairs or being beaten by a thug, banging and crashing sound effects were often used so the audience could visualize the scene for themselves.

Why Girls Love Sailors (1927) was a significant film for Hardy because it gave him two of his most enduring trademarks. The first was his "tie-twiddle" to demonstrate embarrassment. Hardy, while acting, had been met with a pail of water in the face. He said "I had been expecting it, but I didn't expect it at that particular moment. It threw me mentally and I couldn't think what to do next, so I waved the tie in a kind of tiddly-widdly fashion to show embarrassment while trying to look friendly." ^[68] His second trademark was the "camera look" in which he breaks the fourth wall. Hardy said "I had to become exasperated, so I just stared right into the camera and registered my disgust"^[69]

Offscreen, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were quite the opposite of their movie characters: Laurel was the industrious "idea man," while Hardy was more easygoing.^[70]

Final years[link]

After Atoll K, Laurel and Hardy took several months off, so that Laurel could recuperate. Upon their return to the European stage in 1952, they undertook a well-received series of public appearances in a short sketch Laurel had written called "A Spot of Trouble". Hoping to repeat the success the following year, Laurel wrote a routine titled "Birds of a Feather" (in 1953).^[71] On September 9, 1953, their boat arrived in Cobh, Ireland. Laurel recounted their reception:

The love and affection we found that day at Cobh was simply unbelievable. There were hundreds of boats blowing whistles and mobs and mobs of people screaming on the docks. We just couldn't understand what it was all about. And then something happened that I can never forget. All the church bells in Cobh started to ring out our theme song ["Dance of the Cuckoos"] and Babe [Oliver Hardy] looked at me and we cried. I'll never forget that day. Never.^[72]

The pair on This Is Your Life

On December 1, 1954, the team made their only American television appearance, surprised by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program, This Is Your Life. Lured to the Knickerbocker Hotel as a subterfuge for a business meeting with producer Bernard Delfont, the doors opened to their suite #205, flooding the room with light and the voice of Edwards. The telecast was preserved on a kinescope and later released on home video. Partly due to the positive response from the television broadcast, the pair was renegotiating with Hal Roach Jr. for a series of color NBC Television specials to be called Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables. However, plans for the specials were shelved, as the aging comedians suffered from declining health.^[71]

In 1955, Laurel and Hardy made their final public appearance together, taking part in This Is Music Hall, a BBC Television program about the Grand Order of Water Rats, a British variety organization. Laurel and Hardy provide a filmed insert during which they reminisce about their friends in British variety. They made their final appearance on camera in 1956 in a home movie titled "One Moment Please". The film was shot by a family friend at Laurel's home; it is without audio and lasts three minutes.

Under doctor's orders to improve a heart condition, Hardy lost over 100 pounds (45 kg; 7.1 st) in 1956. Several strokes resulted in loss of mobility and speech. He died of a stroke on August 7, 1957. Longtime friend Bob Chatterton said Hardy weighed just 138 pounds (63 kg; 9.9 st) at the time of his death. Hardy was laid to rest at Pierce Brothers Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood.^[73]

Just after Hardy's death, Laurel and Hardy's films returned to movie theaters, as clips of their work were featured in Robert Youngson's silent-film compilation The Golden Age of Comedy. For the remaining eight years of his life, Stan Laurel refused to perform, even turning down Stanley Kramer's offer to make a cameo in his landmark 1963 movie, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In 1960, Laurel was given a special Academy Award for his contributions to film comedy. Despite not appearing onscreen after Hardy's death, Laurel did contribute gags to several comedy filmmakers. Most of his writing was in the form of correspondence; he insisted on answering every fan letter personally. Late in life, he hosted many visitors of the new generation of comedians and celebrities, including Dick Cavett, Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers, Marcel Marceau and Dick Van Dyke. Laurel lived until 1965, surviving to see the duo's work rediscovered through television and classic film revivals. He died on February 23 in Santa Monica, and is buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.^[74]

Supporting cast[link]

Laurel and Hardy's films included a memorable supporting cast, some of whom appeared regularly.^[75]

• Harry Bernard, played bit parts as waiter, bartender and cop.
• Mae Busch played a formidable Mrs. Hardy, and some other characters.
• Charley Chase, the Hal Roach film star and brother of James Parrott, Laurel and Hardy writer/director, made 4 appearances.
• Baldwin Cooke played bit parts as waiter, bartender and cop.
• James Finlayson, a small, balding, moustachioed Scotsman known for displays of indignation and squinting "double takes", made 33 appearances.
• Anita Garvin was a memorable Mrs. Laurel.
• Billy Gilbert, made many appearances, most notably in the classic The Music Box (1932).
• Charlie Hall, who usually played angry "little men", appeared nearly 50 times.
• Jean Harlow, the "Blonde Bombshell" had a small role in their short Double Whoopee (1929) and two other films, before her breakout stardom.
• Arthur Housman made memorable appearances as a comic drunk.
• Edgar Kennedy master of the "slow burn", often appeared as a cop, hostile neighbor or relative.
• Walter Long played grizzled, physically threatening villains.
• Sam Lufkin appeared several times.
• Daphne Pollard was featured, mostly as Oliver's shrewish wife.
• Charley Rogers, the English actor, appeared several times.
• Tiny Sandford was a very tall and burly man who played authority figures, notably cops.
• Thelma Todd appeared several times.
• Ben Turpin the cross-eyed actor made two memorable appearances.
• Peter Cushing, well before becoming a star in many memorable Hammer Horror Films made an appearance in A Chump at Oxford.

Music[link]

The duo's famous signature tune, known variously as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos", was composed by Roach musical director Marvin Hatley as the on-the-hour chime for the Roach studio radio station.^[76] Laurel heard the tune on the station, and asked Hatley to use it as the Laurel and Hardy theme song. In Laurel's eyes, the song's melody represented Hardy's character (pompous and dramatic), while the harmony represented Laurel's own character (somewhat out of key, and only able to register two notes: "coo-coo").^{[citation needed]} The original theme, recorded by two clarinets in 1930, was re-recorded with a full orchestra in 1935. Leroy Shield composed the great majority of the music used in the Laurel and Hardy short sound films.^[77] A compilation of songs from their films titled Trail of the Lonesome Pine was released in 1975. The title track was released as a single in the UK and reached #2 in the charts.

Influence and legacy[link]

Silhouette portrait of the duo in Redcar, England

Statue of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy outside the Coronation Hall Theatre, Ulverston, Cumbria, England

.

Catchphrases[link]

The catchphrase most used by Laurel and Hardy on film is:

The phrase, which was earlier used by W. S. Gilbert in The Mikado (1885) and again in The Grand Duke (1896), was first used by Hardy in The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930). In popular culture, the catchphrase is often misquoted as "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into." The misquoted version of the phrase was never used by Hardy on film; the misunderstanding stems from the title of their film Another Fine Mess (1930).^[78] Numerous variations of the quote appeared on film. In Chickens Come Home (1931), Ollie says impatiently to Stan, "Well...." with Stan replying, "Here's another nice mess I've gotten you into." In Thicker than Water (1935) and The Fixer-Uppers (1935), the phrase becomes "Well, here's another nice kettle of fish you pickled me in!" In Saps at Sea (1940) it becomes "Well, here's another nice bucket of suds you've gotten me into!"

Another regular catchphrase, cried out by Ollie, when in moments of distress, as Stan stands helplessly by, is "Why don't you do something to help me?"

"D'oh!" is a catchphrase used by James Finlayson, the mustachioed Scottish actor who appeared in 33 Laurel and Hardy films. The phrase, expressing surprise, impatience, or incredulity, was the inspiration for "D'oh!" as spoken by the fictional character Homer Simpson in the long running animated comedy The Simpsons. Homer's first intentional use of "d'oh!" occurred in the Ullman short "Punching Bag" (1988).^[79]

The Sons of the Desert[link]

The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is known as The Sons of the Desert, after a fraternal society in their film of the same name (1933).^[80] It was founded in New York City in 1965 by Laurel and Hardy biographers John McCabe, Orson Bean, Al Kilgore, Chuck McCann and John Municino, with the sanction of Stan Laurel. Since the group's inception, well over 150 chapters of the organization have formed across North America, Europe and Australia. An Emmy-winning film documentary about the group, Revenge of the Sons of the Desert, has been released on DVD as part of The Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1.

Posthumous revivals[link]

Since the 1930s, the works of Laurel and Hardy have been re-released in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals (broadcast, especially public television, and cable), 16mm and 8mm home movies, feature-film compilations, and home video. After Stan Laurel's death in 1965, there were two major motion-picture tributes: Laurel and Hardy's Laughing '20s, Robert Youngson's compilation of the team's silent-film highlights; and The Great Race, a large-scale salute to slapstick which director Blake Edwards dedicated to "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy." For many years the duo were impersonated by Jim MacGeorge (as Laurel) and Chuck McCann (as Hardy) in children's TV shows and television commercials for various products.^[81]

There are two Laurel and Hardy museums, one in Laurel's birthplace, Ulverston, United Kingdom,^[82] and the other in Hardy's birthplace, Harlem, Georgia, United States.^[83]

Maurice Sendak showed three identical Oliver Hardy figures as bakers preparing cakes for the morning in his award-winning children's book In the Night Kitchen (1970).^[84] This is treated as a clear example^{[by whom?]} of "interpretative illustration" wherein the comedians' inclusion harked back to the author's own childhood.^{[N 2]}

The Beatles used cut-outs of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as two of the cutout celebrity crowd for the cover of their 1967 album, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

A 2005 poll by fellow comedians and comedy insiders of the top 50 comedians for The Comedian's Comedian, a TV documentary broadcast on UK's Channel 4, voted the duo the seventh greatest comedy act ever, making them the most popular double act on the list.^{[citation needed]}

Numerous colorized versions of copyright-free Laurel and Hardy features and shorts have been reproduced by a multitude of production studios. Although the results of adding color were often in dispute, many of the popular titles are currently only available in the colorized version. The color process often renders the print into an "unwatchable" state, while some scenes were altered or deleted, dependent on the source material used.^[87] Helpmates (1932) was the first film to undergo the process; it was experimented upon by Colorization Inc., a subsidiary of Hal Roach Studios in 1983. Colorization became a success for the studio and Helpmates was released on home video with the colorized version of The Music Box (1932) in 1986. The technology for this process was inferior compared to today's digital colorization technology. There were numerous continuity errors and garish color design choices. However the most significant criticism that these versions received revolved around their editing: whole scenes were altered or deleted altogether, changing the character of the film.

Merchandiser Larry Harmon claimed ownership of Laurel's and Hardy's likenesses, and issued Laurel and Hardy toys and coloring books. He co-produced a series of Laurel and Hardy cartoons in 1966 with Hanna-Barbera Productions.^[88] His animated versions of Laurel and Hardy guest-starred in a 1972 episode of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In 1999, Harmon produced a direct-to-video feature, the live-action comedy The All-New Adventures of Laurel and Hardy: For Love or Mummy, with actors Bronson Pinchot and Gailard Sartain playing the lookalike nephews of the original Laurel and Hardy, Stanley Thinneus Laurel and Oliver Fatteus Hardy.^[89]

Filmographies[link]

Biography portal

• Laurel and Hardy filmography
• Oliver Hardy filmography
• Stan Laurel filmography

References[link]

Notes[link]

Citations[link]

Bibliography[link]

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Laurel and Hardy (category)

• Stan Laurel at the Internet Movie Database
• Oliver Hardy at the Internet Movie Database
• The Official Sons of the Desert Website
• The Official Laurel and Hardy Website
• Laurel and Hardy Films Official Website
• Laurel and Hardy Central.com
• Laurel and Hardy Forum.com
• The Laurel and Hardy Discussion Group on Yahoo!Groups