Leonard Maltin — for my money, the best film critic/historian in the biz — and I have been friends since about 1982…or in movie terms, since the year Rocky III was released. We have a lot in common but I didn't realize how much until the other day when I read this article he posted about the Laurel and Hardy appreciation society, The Sons of the Desert. Obviously, we share a love for Stan and Ollie but I knew that. What startled me was then I read this paragraph he wrote…
One of the turning points of my young life was the publication of John McCabe's loving biography Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy in 1961. Having grown up watching Laurel and Hardy on TV every day, I was eager to learn about my favorite comedy team and I devoured the book. In fact, every time I returned it to my local library I waited a day and checked it out again.
In 1997, I wrote this article about my love of Laurel and Hardy. Here's an excerpt…
In 1961, John McCabe wrote Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy — at the time, the definitive book on Stan and Ollie. It must have been definitive because it was the only one. Today, there have been around two dozen — I have them all — but McCabe's is still the best. (For the nuts 'n' bolts of their filmmaking, I highly recommend Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt.)
In 1964, when I was a dozen years of age, I heard about the McCabe book and began a desperate search for a copy. This was no easy feat, for it was then out of print and near-impossible to find. I hit every second-hand bookstore in town and even put the L.A. Public Library System to work, hunting for a loaner. They had none but their primitive computer system claimed that the big branch of the Beverly Hills Public Library definitely had one (1) copy on its shelves.
We lived just outside Beverly Hills but my Aunt Dot resided well within the city limits. So I could get my mitts on this book, she helped me lie that her address was my address, and the Beverly Hills Public Library issued me a card. The day I went in to use it, I felt like someone sneaking into Fort Knox with forged credentials to pull off the crime of the century. I actually put on good clothes, the better to pass for someone who lived in Beverly Hills. Though nervous and scared, I somehow managed to check out their one copy without having some librarians haul me off to a back room and work me over.
The book was well worth all that I had gone through, affording me a new insight into the lives and work of my two favorite comedians. I read it over and over and over. Then, when the two weeks were up, I took it back to the Beverly Hills Library and renewed it for two more weeks and I continued to read it over and over and over. I was heartbroken when the second two weeks ran out. They wouldn't let you renew a book a second time — and, believe me, I asked.
I briefly contemplated reporting it as lost and paying the fine but I was too honest. Fibbing about my residence was as far into the world of crime as I was willing to descend. Besides, I knew that if they started grilling me, I would crack under the pressure and spill my guts. I had to take the book back.
Fortunately, I discovered a loophole in their system. Once you'd returned a book, no rule said you couldn't check it out again.
I turned the copy back in, waited around until they returned it to the shelf, then picked it out and marched it up to the checkout counter. Two weeks later, I took it back and renewed it again. Then when that term expired, I took it back and waited for someone to replace it on the shelves…and so on. I actually managed to keep that book checked out for around six months, or until I finally located my own copy in a used book shop in Santa Monica.
It's pretty much the same thing except Leonard didn't have to get his aunt to suborn perjury to get his mitts on a copy of that life-changing book. Actually, I guess it was lives-changing (plural) and I'll bet Leonard's and mine weren't the only lives it changed.
By the way: I mentioned Randy Skretvedt's fine book on Laurel and Hardy. Randy is soon to release a new, more-comprehensive version of his it, improving upon what was already the best book possible on its topic. Many years ago, a publisher asked me to write a history of Laurel and Hardy and I said yes but was too busy to ever get around to it. I'm now glad I never did it because it would have been about one eight-thousandth as complete and accurate as the books Randy has written.
I'll let you know when his new one comes out. McCabe's book is outta-print but you can pick up a used copy cheap on Amazon. It's more personal than the Skretvedt book but not as deep into the details of their filmmaking. A true L&H fan should have them both.