Gathering Up Pies Since 1927

The Battle Of The Century Still Not Won

The struggle to see all of The Battle Of The Century went a step further this weekend when a fellow pilgrim shared his grab off German TV, broadcast of which was but moments over before the Laurel-Hardy faithful had it spread like butter over continents less blessed. Now at last we can see The Battle Of The Century as it was re-constructed four or so years ago after a West Coast collector found a complete Reel Two once the property of Robert Youngson, who in 1957 was the first to use footage from the 1927 short comedy since … well, 1927. From its cut-down incorporation into The Golden Age Of Comedy, Youngson’s ’57 celebration of silent clowns, we of L&H bent have spent lives in quest of an entire Battle Of The Century, which has come by drips and drabs, but still is not fully complete. If you don’t care for Laurel and Hardy, or more specifically this treasure of an (almost) two-reel short, then go thy way elsewhere until these effusions blow by, for I’m among ones whose pulse verily stopped when at last I saw what time and passing miles of nitrate had so long denied.

The Hal Roach negatives were distressed already by 1957 when Youngson brought what was extant of them to editing tables he and fellow historian William K. Everson hovered over to look at what was, in most instance, fresh footage to both. Youngson (b. 1917) likely saw silent Laurel and Hardys when new, but fewer of them since, while for Everson (b. 1929), most silent L&H would have been a new experience, at least in prints that were intact  and presentable to a modern audience. It was for Youngson and Everson to evaluate The Battle Of The Century and decide how much of it was worthy of inclusion in The Golden Age Of Comedy. Everson later recalled watching the short in negative form on a tabletop moviola. Neither he nor Youngson were impressed until the pie fight began in the second reel. Even this could be improved by tighter editing, thought Youngson, his preferred melee just over three minutes, down from twice that length as prepared by Roach artists and staff in 1927. Youngson obviously took a lot upon his own judgment here, the idea being to incorporate a highlight from The Battle Of The Century, not the whole thing. What pained fans to come was Youngson failing to preserve footage he didn’t use for The Golden Age Of Comedy in addition to that which he did. To do so would have impacted Golden Age cost, or come out of Youngson’s pocket. Whatever accommodation was reached, it seems Youngson did rescue at least Reel Two of Battle Of The Century, for it was this reel in 16mm that surfaced after his passing, and quite inadvertently.

Those tight-wound three minutes of pie toss in The Golden Age Of Comedy were an undoubted peak to Youngson’s reckoning, for he’d use them again in Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s, which came eight years later. Does the battle royale play better in tightened form? We can now judge, with both versions finally available. The original has inter-titles, always first to go whenever Youngson applied himself to silent artifacts. That for me affects the rhythm of all his compilations, narration no substitute for wit inherent in H.M. Walker asides. We have to assume, of course, that a 1957 audience for The Golden Age Of Comedy would not have sat for a movie they’d have to read, but if we can do so now, why not then? This was clearly a decision Youngson made from a beginning, and stuck to, throughout his career.

Eager narration prepped us for “The pie-throwing triumphant --- this is it,” a gauntlet thrown to anyone who’d suggest a better pie-fight elsewhere. Everson pointed out in his Films Of Laurel and Hardy book that there were far fewer of these than most assumed, pies thrown, he said, as punctuation to gags where they otherwise did not figure. My own impression, formed long before seeing The Battle Of The Century or its excerpt in The Golden Age Of Comedy, was of pies hurled in earnest by members of Our Gang in 1929’s Shivering Shakespeare, run on a virtual loop by Charlotte’s Channel 3 from the late 50’s onward. That pie-sling lasted two and a half minutes, and involved a crowded room full of combatants. I’d assume it was at the least a conscious reprise of a finish that had played so well in The Battle Of The Century (L&H engaged enough encore "Battles" to make the title an almost generic one for their silent comedies). Everson didn’t mention Shivering Shakespeare though, which surprised me a little when his book came out in 1967.

Most of a first reel of The Battle Of The Century was a comic prizefight, a good enough routine that Youngson and Everson didn’t much care for when they screened it in 1957. Youngson evidently did not preserve that reel and would not consult it for later Laurel-Hardy excavations. The boxing open did survive, however, subsequent rights-holder Richard Feiner using it for his mid-sixties “Laurel and Hardy Laughtoons” series, made up of silent L&H clips trimmed to approximate length of cartoons. It was a reasonable means of marketing shorts that might otherwise be problematic for TV, due to lack of dialogue. A 35mm print of the prizefight, being Reel One of The Battle Of The Century minus three and a half minutes, was discovered by Leonard Maltin in 1975 as he was preparing a comedy season for the Museum Of Modern Art. Shock wave from that put Blackhawk Films to work on an enhanced Battle that would incorporate the new-found footage plus what there was of the pie fight as edited by Robert Youngson back in 1957. 8/16mm collectors were closer to their goal, but according to Hal Roach historian Richard W. Bann, this was still only half, if that, of a complete Battle Of The Century.

Does it all matter so much? Well, no more than ongoing search for Hats Off or The Rogue Song, and those are just missing pieces of the Laurel and Hardy puzzle. There are lost manuscripts by great writers, compositions long unaccounted for by giants of classical music. Do we put these down among trivial pursuits? It becomes a matter of cultural hierarchy. Since most will tell us that a missing Mozart easily trumps any unearthed Laurel and Hardy, it boils down, as with all things, to one's own opinion. Too many still regard a dedicated interest in film as trifling waste. Most of you reading this know well what I mean. To celebrate The Battle Of The Century is to enter a margin, niche, such place as the mainstream won’t go, but who would have dreamed that 2018-19 would see a brand-new Stan and Ollie in theatres, and done on what appears to be a quite lavish scale. They’re even playing it in Winston-Salem, starting January 25, at a theatre right up the street from where I saw March Of The Wooden Soldiers in 1972. I’ll get there on foot if necessary, to observe how many others turn up to see this first-ever screen bio of Laurel and Hardy.