••• Charley Brady •••
In 2017, when a letter written by Stan Laurel and dated 1957 was auctioned in London, I was a little taken aback that most of the reporting seemed to show an equal surprise that there was no love lost between those two great comedy icons of the Silent Era, Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin. Certainly, most people that I know and who share my enthusiasm for the trivia of that bygone age would have been aware of it for at least decades.
Perhaps it was the wording used by the normally pleasant, easy-going Stan Laurel. Writing to his friend Ed Patterson in Hove, East Sussex, he said in part:
“I have to agree with you re Chaplin being mean and cheap, he never to my knowledge ever had any consideration [for] anybody – financially or otherwise, he never had any time for any of his close friends who worked with him in the early days.
“I was closely associated with Charlie for two or three years. I was his understudy and shared rooms with him on many occasions, so I’m fully aware of his idiosyncrasies.”
Reading over Stan’s words some six years later I’m still curious as to just why it was such a surprise. There’s no written rule that says that anyone has to be a nice person. It would be great if everyone was, but this is the real world – and the fact that Chaplin was without a doubt a genius doesn’t mean that he had to be as loveable as his fictional Little Tramp. (Although as I’ve noted elsewhere on this website my distaste for him goes a lot deeper than just having a few human faults; but that’s another story.)
Laurel went on to say:
“He was a very eccentric character, composed of many moods, at time signs of insanity, which I think developed further when he gained fame and fortune.”
To be strictly fair, as much as I dislike Chaplin, I have to raise my hand and say that I cannot be objective about Stan. I love the guy’s work. I think that he was a fool to himself, caused hurt to himself, but was a brilliant artist and a decent human being who moved through a world that was less than so. And it’s not untypical of the man that he still can’t resist being generous to Chaplin in the end:
“To my mind, [Chaplin] is still the greatest artist in his field.”
I beg to differ, Stan; that would be you. But there ye go.
The relationship between Laurel and Chaplin was previously highlighted in a mime show for the stage in 2020 with The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, in which director Paul Hunter used the famous ocean crossing that Chaplin, Laurel and music hall impresario Fred Karno took from the UK to New York in 1910 as a starting point from which to look at scenes from their lives.
Moving forward to June of 2023 and Jon Conway is digging deeper with a new stage show, Laurel and Chaplin – The Feud.
The son of the writer and producer, Jordan Conway, will be playing Charlie Chaplin and Matt Knight will be stepping forward as Stan Laurel.
Jon Conway says:
“Stan and Charlie were massive stars of the silver screen a hundred years ago and two of the most famous stars from Tinseltown’s early days.
“They were movie pioneers who were the first to cross over from stage to screen, setting the standard for what Hollywood would become.
“They started their quest for fame and fortune together, but somehow along the way they lost their friendship.
“This is the story of their tragic and hilarious early days that seeks to uncover what caused their 25-year feud.”
Laurel and Chaplin – The Feud will be opening in London’s West End before taking up a residency at Blackpool Winter Gardens.