Talk:Stan & Ollie

Awards

Is it really notable to fail to win an award? I don't get why so many nominations are being added and most of these groups giving the awards don't seem all that notable either. -- 109.79.176.189 (talk) 17:38, 28 December 2018 (UTC)

Historical discrepancies

Hardy stayed at the Grand Hotel in Plymouth after his heart attack.

A brass plate on the pavement outside the Palace Theatre, Plymouth commemorates their final live show on 17 May 1954.

The film has considerable historical discrepancies. In real life, Oliver Hardy suffered a mild heart attack after the show at the Palace Theatre, Plymouth on 17 May 1954 and that was the end of the 1953 - 1954 tour; they never performed on stage again as Hardy retired on his doctor's advice.[1] Possibly this should be mentioned in the article.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 21:18, 11 April 2020 (UTC)

Also there was never a Nobby Cook or anyone else with whom Stan would have continued the tour. Some of the facts in these types of films are always changed. I think it is good to mentioned this in the article.

They did three tours of the UK and this film combined them into one, and indeed Ollie had a heart attack after a performance. Lobo151 (talk) 09:19, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

Yes, I was also worried about the Nobby Cook character. There was never any question of Stan Laurel recreating the double act routines with another partner after Hardy's illness in May 1954; he simply would not have done it, even if Bernard Delfont had asked. This article should point out that the sequence of events shown in the film (Hardy recovering after falling ill in Worthing, going on the ferry to Ireland to perform again etc) did not happen and is entirely fictional, although they did perform in Ireland during the 1953 - 4 tour. I'm not sure why the screenwriter Jeff Pope decided to alter so much of the real life angle.-♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 10:55, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

Re this edit: it was reverted because it uses an answer to a question in a forum, and this is usually not acceptable sourcing per WP:SPS. The "Nobby Cook" character (almost certainly fictional) is the worst inaccuracy in the film, because Stan would under no circumstances have performed the double act routines with someone else as his partner. However, this needs a stronger source.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 10:10, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

I changed it with another source. Hope this is better. Lobo151 (talk) 10:16, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

The only time that the film mentions Plymouth, Devon is on a map during the railway train sequence (screenshot). Hardy stayed at the Grand Hotel in Plymouth for around two weeks while recuperating,[2] but the film's makers decided that the Savoy Hotel would be more photogenic.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 16:04, 13 April 2020 (UTC)

Jeff Pope's main source for the film was the 1993 book Laurel and Hardy: The British Tours by A.J. Marriot.[3][4] Laurel and Hardy did three tours of the UK, in 1947, 1952 and 1953-4. The 1947 and 1952 tours were a success, but the 1953-4 tour ran into problems with low audiences, and letters written during the tour show that they were not happy with how it was going. This is the background to the film. They arrived at Cobh in the Republic of Ireland on 9 September 1953, because Hardy was an American citizen and they did not want to use up work permit time in the UK. They spent a month rehearsing for the tour in Ireland.[5] The film reverses the sequence of events and shows them in Ireland in the final scene of the film. The bells at St Colman's Cathedral, Cobh really did play their theme tune, the "Dance of The Cuckoos" on their arrival. There is a modern YouTube video of it here. In real life, the tour was planned to end in Swansea in May 1954, but this was cancelled after Hardy's heart attack in Plymouth. According to a letter written by Laurel, "We have decided to finish our tour in Swansea, week of May 24th. We were to have finished two weeks later but didn't like the dates they offered, so called the whole thing off."[6][7]--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 10:52, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

I noticed a couple of goofs myself. When travelling from Newcastle to Glasgow, the train appears to have the chocolate and cream colours of the Great Western Railway, which you would not have had in this part of Britain, and the nationalised British Rail had been formed a few years earlier. More seriously, when they come into "London terminus" (not stated which) we see Tower Bridge in the medium distance, but I don't think there is a terminus as close as this to Tower Bridge, and those which are anywhere near serve the south-east commuter network, not those serving longer-distance trains from the north or west. PatGallacher (talk) 00:25, 11 December 2022 (UTC)