- Laurel and Hardy’s last show was in Devon.
If you journey to the site of the Old Palace Theatre in Union Street in Plymouth, you will find a little piece of theatrical history. There, set in the pavement, is a brass plaque of the advertising poster from the last ever show for Laurel and Hardy , which was staged here in Devon.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were the Ant and Dec of their day. They captured the attention of American cinema goers in the Hollywood era and brought their humour to Theatre tours in Britain.
The pair’s unique slapstick banter came to a sad demise in Plymouth in May 1954.
It was an unlikely pairing – in 1927 – when the clumsy, Oliver Hardy joined up with Stan Laurel on stage. That initial silent movie, “Putting Pants on Phillip” was the first step towards Hollywood stardom.
Born in 1890, Stan Laurel was a British boy – the son of a playwright, AJ Jefferson, who worked in Northern England and Scotland. Laurel spent his childhood in Ulverston, before moving up to Tyneside. As a young boy, he dabbled in theatre and puppet shows, playing straight acting roles with his father.
However, he secretly longed to be the clown.
He went his separate ways, to get into music halls and comedy and in 1912 he left for America, changing his name from Stan Jefferson to Stan Laurel.
In contrast, Hardy, was born in 1892 in Harlem, Georgia to Oliver Hardy and his wife Emily Norvell. He was always a larger gent – even rejected from conscription in WW1 due to his 6 ft 1 height and 20 stone size.
They met up and for Laurel and Hardy, many years of fame followed with Box Office sell out performances. But towards the latter end of their careers, Laurel and Hardy were no long commanding packed houses.
And when they started their British Tour in 1953, they were playing in small , often half empty venues.
Oliver’s failing health had become a concern and a limit to the intensity of work for the pair and whilst their scripts were good, they had been better and stronger previously. But they continued.
In October 1953, the last UK tour began. The British tour proved hard work -the comedians struggling to crack the theatrical public. Laurel blamed the rise of television, unemployment and poor levels of income. But audiences did start to rise. Stan thought maybe TV was so bad, it drove the British public to the theatre!
Laurel and Hardy continued their tour, a kind of a variety show, where they were one act of many, and next stop was the Palace Theatre in Plymouth.
It was here they were stopped in their tracks.
At the performance in Plymouth, on 17 May 1954, Hardy had a mild heart attack. He was in poor health and at his heaviest. The pair were forced to cancel future dates and , indeed, the rest of the tour.
Oliver Hardy was forced to recover in the local Grand Hotel on Plymouth Hoe. Whist Stan Laurel did call into the Palace theatre every night afterwards to show support for the other evening’s acts.
After the abrupt cancellation, Mr Laurel wrote to the Palace Theatre to apologise the events didn’t go ahead. His letter can be seen today, informing them that the pair were sailing back from Hull to America on the 2nd June, that year. Laurel felt the rest on the journey home would help Hardy recover.
As it happened, Laurel and Hardy only ever made one further appearance – in December 1954 , on the US “ This is Your Life”.
Hardy sadly died 3 years later in 1957, aged 65. Mr Laurel felt he couldn’t continue and perform alone, without his friend. He died in Los Angeles in 1965 , aged 74.
“Stan and Ollie – the movie” – documents their final 1953/54 tour