Evening star., 1951-06-13
On the Air
Stun Laurel,
Hardy Win
New Fans
By Horry Macarthur


out of obscurity to a second star
dom far greater than his earliel
one in the movies. Laurel ane
Hardy may never win the al
|legiance the young pay to Hoppy
but they are winning their at
Itention.
In Washington the young art
glued with fascination to theil
television screens at 2 o'clock or
Sundays (WNBW), when the ole
Laurel and Hardy comedies nov
are being shown, and the same
thing seems to be happening
wherever there is TV. Their elders
too. are finding that the comic.
really were funny performers, ever
if the memory of that has beer
clouded by the memory of some
shoddy. quickly produced comedie,
toward the end of their earlier
popularity.
X & y &
There is no real reason why
any one should be surprised at this
emergence of Laurel and Hardy
through their old motion pictures
as popular television entertainers
Their art, wherever they rank
among the great pantomimists o1
all times, is a visual one. It de-
pends not on the dialogue, but on
action.
Basically their appeal is no diff
ferent from that of Amos n Andy
Abbott and Costello, Gaxton and
Moore and other past and present
teams which pit the self-conf1dent
know-it-all against the bumbling
little man who triumphs over cir
cumstance for both of them in the
end. The Laurel and Hardy con-
tribution to this included an out
landiSh appearance, couple OF
wonderfully comic faces and a fail
for slapstick more closely akin to
that of the circus clown than of
the stage comic.
Their best asset in television-
in these old films at any rate
is that you could turn the sound
off on almost any one of them
and still find that it made sense.
or nonsense.
~
The new popularity is something
the comedians weren't expecting
of course, and Hardy finds it
hard to believe" he told Bob
Thomas, Associated Press Holly
wood correspondent, the other
day.
when Mrs. Hardy and I used
to go shopping" he said, Il might
run into a few friends who would
say Hi, Babel and that was all,
But now I go in the grocery store
and I notice the kids staring at
me. Then their parents come and
say, Mr.. Hardy, my children
would like to meet you.'
Right now we're getting more
fan mail than we ever got in the
old days. And it's all due to tele-
vision"
In addition to fan mail they've
been getting a variety of movie
and television offers, said Hardy
to Thomas. They're not rushing
into anything. however, for several
reasons. 1t will be two months
before they can work. since Laurel
is recovering from a recent opera
ton, and they also want to have
the right format before going into
TV on their own.
They'll have to go into TV on
their own to reap any Of the re-
wards from their new-found pop
ularity. Unlike Bill Boyd, who
bought up all the old "Hoppy''
films. Laurel and Hardy have no
rights to their old comedies, which
were sold to television by Hal
Il understand the price was
$750, ,000," said Hardy with what
might have been understandable
wistfulness, land I have heard
that the films have already
brought back three times that
amount. I wish I had known that
Roach was going to sell them. ]
could have raised the money to
buy them"
Teapot Tempest: Singer Carlos
Ramirez was being introduced on
"Calvalcade of Bands" (WTTG-
Tuesday, 8 p.m.) a week ago as q
star Of screen. stage and radio
Radio? What is that?" asked
Bandleader Xavier Cugat in jest
1t was a tired little joke, but radio
circles shouted in alarm. Cugat's
records were even banned by New
York's WNBW. It all hurt Cugie's
feelings. Should go to the elec-
trio chair" he demanded, because
some people think my jokes aren't
funny?"
X X X
Program Notes: Eddie Cantor's
next television appearance will be
on Broadway Open House" this
Friday (WNBW-11 p.m).
The next giveaway to fall by the
will be the CHS show,
Sing It Again." both radio and