Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American Double act, comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–19 ...

were primarily comedy film actors. However, many of their films featured songs, and some are considered as

musicals Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...

in their own right. The composer Leroy Shield scored most of Laurel and Hardy sound shorts although they were often misattributed to Marvin Hatley.

Cuckoo theme

The duo's "cuckoo" theme, entitled "Dance of The Cuckoos", was composed by Roach musical director Marvin Hatley as the on-the-hour chime for the Roach studio radio station. Laurel heard the tune on the station, and asked Hatley to use it as the Laurel and Hardy theme song. Generally known as "The Dance of the Cuckoos" it was copyrighted with the name "Coo ! coo ! radio time signal" and was first heard on the opening credits for '' Blotto'' (1930) and the Spanish version of '' Night Owls'' (1930). In Laurel's eyes, the song's melody represented Hardy's character (pompous and dramatic), while the harmony represented Laurel's own character (somewhat out of key, and only able to register two notes: "cu-coo"). The original theme, recorded by two clarinets in 1930, was re-recorded with a full orchestra in 1935. The cu-coo motif is based on the call of the common cuckoo.

Dance routines

A number of their songs are accompanied with a

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

routine, the most famous of which is their dance to the song "At The Ball, That's All" sung by

The Avalon Boys The Avalon Boys were a quartet of singers popular in the 1930s. They appeared in a number of comedy films and had a memorable role in Laurel and Hardy's '' Way Out West''. Members *Chill Wills (bass) *Art Greene *Walter Weyland Trask (guitar), b. ...

in '' Way Out West'' (1937).

''Trail of the Lonesome Pine''

A compilation of songs from their films, called ''Trail of the Lonesome Pine'', was released in 1975. Oliver was a trained singer and sang many of the tracks solo with Stan singing in duet occasionally. A number of the songs were sung by neither Laurel nor Hardy. The 2019 biographical film '' Stan & Ollie'' includes the actors recreating Laurel and Hardy's routine of singing of ''The Trail of the Lonesome Pine'' as done on stage.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * *

External links

The official Leroy Shield website
{{Laurel and Hardy Film soundtracks Music