Which is why, she says, they never stopped performing, even when ill health and old age started to get the better of them. So few duos of that time actually liked each other, and they did." haunt that still has that old Hollywood feel.Įvery story she ever heard about her great-grandfather also included stories about Babe (Laurel's nickname for Hardy) as if the two weren't business partners, but family. I mean, if I told you how many people asked me to scrunch up my forehead and my chin, and I'll do it, because I get a kick out of it, too!"Ĭowan met her at the Pig and Whistle, an old L.A. Yes, Cassidy is Stan Laurel's great-granddaughter.
"He replied saying if you can't play it in Sunday school, I won't do it."
"I was reading something recently that my great-grandfather had written, it was a letter from the studios and they wanted him to do something," said Cassidy Cook. Laurel, you know I've always admired you, and I'm afraid I've stolen from you.' And he said, 'Yes, I know!'"Īlthough he rarely got the credit, Laurel wrote nearly every routine for the pair – a good-natured workaholic whose gentleness shone through in his work. "When I talked to him on the phone, I said, 'Mr. He became friends with Laurel after he found him listed in the phone book and called him to ask for advice. Van Dyke's home in Malibu is covered with pictures of Laurel and Hardy. "I'd go the Saturday movies and stay 'til my mother came and got me." "I just loved 'em when I was a kid," Dick Van Dyke told "Sunday Morning" back in 2012. A little Old West soft shoe: Laurel & Hardy in "Way Out West" (1937). They made it charming, almost elegant, inspiring generations of comedians that followed. Laurel & Hardy didn't invent slapstick, but they refined it.