Posts Tagged ‘Stan Laurel’
Beating the rap…
Liz Fosslien “likes to turn numbers into pictures and ideas into charts”– from “Crime Patterns in Chicago” to “How to Get Hired,” she’s created infographics galore. Indeed, one of her visual essays is a quiz, “Name that Song“; two sample questions (answers, below):
Take the test here.
Answers:
# 4- “Sexy and I know” LMFAO
# 8- “No Church in the Wild” Jay-Z and Kanye West
***
As we bust our beats, we might send birthday smiles to actor, writer and film director Arthur Stanley “Stan” Jefferson… or as he was better known, Stan Laurel; he was born on this date in 1890. Laurel came to the U.S. from his native England as Charlie Chaplin’s understudy in a touring acting troupe. Laurel stayed behind, first as an actor in two-reel comedies, then as a writer-director for Hal Roach. Laurel intended to remain behind the camera, but stepped under the lights again when an accident left Oliver Hardy without a co-star. The two became friends and went on to make first a series of shorts (one of which, The Music Box, won the Academy Award for Best Short in 1932), then features– over 180 films in all. In 1961, four years after Hardy’s death, Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy.
If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I’ll never speak to him again.
Stan Laurel
Now See The Major Motion Picture!…
From Tim McCool (a Boston College art student who “has been Photoshopping people’s heads onto other people’s bodies for nearly a decade”), via Hyperallergic (a nifty art blog overseen by husband and husband team, Veken Gueyikian and Hrag Vartanian), “Artists Go Hollywood: The Movie Posters,” a series of posters for artists’ biopics that might– nay, that ought to— be made. Consider, for example:
or…
See them all here.
As we smell the popcorn, we might recall that it was on this date in 1889 that Charles Spencer Chaplin was born in London. Young Charles toured the U.S. in 1910 and 1912 with the Fred Karno troupe of vaudevillians, rooming with fellow performer Arthur Stanley Jefferson, who later became known as Stan Laurel. Jackson returned to England (later to return); Chaplin stayed… and became, of course, the most famous motion picture performer of his time, one of the most successful writer-producer-directors of the era, and one of its biggest entertainment moguls (having co-founded United Artists with Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford).
That’s Entertainment!…
As one prepares to add to one’s Netflix queue, it’s helpful to have a little guidance. There’s Rotten Tomatoes, of course; but as wonderful as it is, it requires one to ask after specific films. And then there’s Netflix’s own near-neighbor matching algorithm (“recommended for you”)… but sometimes there’s just no accounting for one’s neighbors’ taste.
Happily, the good folks at Vodkaster, the French cinephile site, have stepped into the breech– and delivered a gift that is, if not quite as momentous as the Statue of Liberty , nonetheless altogether nifty, “The 250 Best Films Map” (… as voted by IMDb users on the 19th of June, 2009; English version here). A taste:
See the full map (and download it in various sizes/resolutions) here.
As we fire up the popcorn maker, we might celebrate two artistic anniversaries: it was on this date in 1910 that the exquisite British comedy team, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, arrived in the U.S. (on tour with an English vaudeville troupe). Then, 31 years to the day later, The Maltese Falcon opened.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://i0.wp.com/img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?w=700)
You must be logged in to post a comment.