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| Oliver
Hardy |
From the land
of Harlem, Georgia...there came a film legend
As a team, Stan
Laurel and Oliver Hardy achieved greatness in the world of classic film
comedy, second only to Charlie Chaplin. But, many are unaware that Stan
and Ollie appeared solo in hundreds of films before their teaming.
Oliver was in about 270 films without Stan, but only around 100 of them
still exist. Little is discussed about the life and comic genius of the
team's bigger half, Oliver Norvell Hardy, a.k.a. Babe.
Since I was about 10, I've been watching their films. Laurel and Hardy,
or "The fiddle and the bow", were unlike the other comedy teams. While
The Marx Brothers and Wheeler and Woosley dealt with characters in a
crazy society, Laurel and Hardy films, in my opinion, stood out because
the boys struggled to fit into a "normal", or orderly world. But, they
could only fit in with each other. Their work remains priceless.
Norvell Hardy was born in the small farm town of Harlem, Georgia on
January 18, 1892. His father, Oliver senior, died on November 22nd of
that year. So, young Norvell was raised by his mother Emily. The family
moved to Milledgeville, Georgia where Emily became manager of the
Baldwin hotel. Norvell attended Georgia Military College, and later
Young Harris Mountain college as a teenager.
By around 1910, he used the name Oliver Norvell Hardy, and became
manager and projectionist in charge of the first movie house in
Milledgeville, called the Electric Theater. Here was his introduction
to the movies. All before his very eyes, this exciting new medium must
have inspired the young Oliver to enter the world of show business.
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Blessed with a great
voice, Oliver left the movie house and made his way as a singer in the
cities of Jacksonville and Atlanta in late 1912. The next year he
married Madelyn Saloshin. By 1914, Oliver started acting and joined the
Lubin company in Jacksonville, Florida. He called himself Babe at this
point, and appeared in dozens of short comedies under the production of
Arthur Hotaling. Records show that “Outwitting Dad” was the first film
made involving Oliver Hardy. Babe played Reggie, who helped his brother
get married. Sadly, this film is lost. “The Servant Girl’s Legacy” from
November 1914 from Lubin is the earliest Hardy film in existence. In
it, Babe played a gardener who fell in love with a servant girl, played
by Mabel Paige.
Operations at Lubin in Jacksonville went on hold. Studio members
Raymond McKee and Will Louis soon joined the Edison company in New
York. Oliver, already knowing McKee and Louis, also went there and made
a number of films for the company. Meanwhile, it was Raymond McKee and
Will Louis who ran this New York unit. Babe also did limited film
projects with other small companies in New York including
Novelty/Mutual, the Mittenthal film company, and the Wizard comedies.
Wizard was run by Louis Burstein, who was to form Vim.
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| "Hungry
Hearts" 1916 with Hardy as "Plump" |
By 1915 Oliver left
NY and joined the Vim company in Jacksonville, Florida and appeared in
over 60 comedies, sometimes even directing. He was part of the “Plump
and Runt” series of comedies with Billy Ruge. Operations at Vim didn’t
last long and by 1917 the company was taken over by King Bee.
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