From the creators of The Laurel & Hardy Podcast and Magazine comes the definitive record of Stan and Ollie’s’ silent era, featuring hundreds of rare and unpublished images and contributions from the world’s leading Laurel and Hardy experts.
Welcome to
Laurel and Hardy: Silents is the ultimate and most comprehensive exploration of the legendary comedy team’s silent film years, now expanded into a two-volume set to accommodate the sheer wealth of images and stories contained within.
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Laurel and Hardy: Silents is the first instalment in a landmark six-volume series that chronicles the entire film career of the beloved comedy duo. Six books, published in three releases, this extraordinary series provides an unparalleled narrative of their lives, films, and the golden age of Hollywood.
A SIX BOOK SERIES COVERING THE ENTIRE FILM CAREER OF LAUREL & HARDY
Crafted with the utmost dedication to quality, and printed on premium paper stock, these books are bound in elegant hardback linen covers adorned with foil lettering for a timeless finish. Each release includes two books, and the price reflects the uncompromising quality of the materials and design. Readers will treasure these volumes as the ultimate celebration of Laurel and Hardy’s legacy.
LINEN BOUND COVERS ADORNED WITH FOIL LETTERING FOR A TIMELESS FINISH
DIGITAL ARCHIVE PROJECT 2006
The images in this Laurel and Hardy book series were sourced from Russ Babidge’s 2006 digitisation project. Working with this previously unseen collection, obtained directly from the Hal Roach Studios, these photographs preserve incredible detail, ensuring the highest-quality images. This meticulous project captured every single image and studio document before they were sold off, resulting in the collection being broken up and scattered worldwide to private collectors.
Tall Oaks From Little Acorns Grow
In October 2020, Russ and I embarked on a project to create a book that chronologically covers Stan and Babe’s silent films. Russ had hundreds of hi-resolution film stills and I had written essays covering each of the boys’ silent shorts. This promised to be a quick and easy project to complete. We scheduled a release date for some time in 2022, but it soon became apparent that as we worked on the project, our vision for what it could become was growing at a rate of knots.
“A little bit of kindness goes a looong way!”
As we reached out for help, more and more film historians and collectors have come on board, offering their support and promising to share unique items from their collections. Rare stills, posters, lobby cards and press articles have emerged, as well as new nuggets of information relevant to the films and contextually to the Hal Roach studios.
“It could happen!”
Our vision is for this publication to be the biggest and best source of imagery and information relating to the boys’ silent films that have ever been amassed and published. The spirit of collaboration we have experienced from the world’s film historians and collectors has truly been overwhelming, and so we are dedicated to getting this book right, to honour their contributions as well as Stan and Babe’s legacy. The book will take the reader on a fully illustrated, chronological journey through the team’s silent era, including production information, press articles and contextual details from the Hal Roach Studios and Stan and Babe’s personal lives. Packed with fascinating details and gorgeous, high-resolution images, this book will be the definitive record of Laurel and Hardy’s silent shorts
“You don’t believe me!”
Currently, we estimate that the book will be ready for publication sometime in Summer 2025, but if you’d like to keep abreast of the progress, simply join our mailing list below.
“You bet your life it’s a good idea!”
We will be launching a Kickstarter campaign in April 2025 for Laurel & Hardy: Silents. This will essentially be how you order your copy of the book. This publication will consist of two large format (to best appreciate the images) deluxe hardback books, complete with dust jackets with gold foil detailing and beautiful glossy pages and pin-sharp image reproduction. However, we will only launch the Kickstarter once the book is ready to print. The Kickstarter will only be open during April 2025, after which all orders will be fulfilled.
"So far... So good!..."
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RICHARD W. BANN
Essay
Collection
We’re immensely honoured to have the opportunity to turn Richard W. Bann's essays into two beautiful books. This project is now in production and is one that we’re incredibly proud and excited about. It has grown far more extensive than we could ever have anticipated, and we can’t wait to present these special volumes to you.
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