James Stewart turns 84 this year. In the spring, Bob Hope will be 89. George Burns reaches 96 later this month.
But they're all youngsters compared to Hal Roach. An innovative movie pioneer and longtime producer, Roach turns 100 Tuesday.The name Hal Roach was as synonymous with movie comedy as Mack Sennett's during the pie-throwing silent era. He started out with Harold Lloyd in 1915, formed the "Our Gang" kids in 1921 and then, in 1926, paired Stan Laurel with Oliver Hardy.
What distinguished his work from Sennett's was Roach's emphasis on story and structure rather than just churning out gag-a-minute material. In later years, Roach turned briefly to drama, creating one of his most memorable films, the 1939 adaptation of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," still considered a classic today.
Roach also produced the trilogy of "Topper" films in the late '30s and early '40s and in 1948 moved into television, introducing Laurel & Hardy and "Our Gang" - renamed "The Little Rascals" - to new generations.
More than merely a producer, Roach was also a gagman, screenwriter and director, very much involved in the day-to-day shorts and features that carried his name.
In 1985, Roach came through Salt Lake City, and I had the opportunity of interviewing him. At 93 he was remarkably spry, spurning the wheelchair that was brought to the ramp. He had traveled alone from Los Angeles and was full of stories about the heyday of moviemaking.
Here are a few quotes from that interview:
- On theaters: "When I started you had the Nickelodeon. For 5 cents you saw three or four short pictures. Then the Griffiths and DeMilles came in and started feature pictures. Then came the motion picture palace, very beautiful theaters that seated a thousand people. Now you made pictures for a big audience instead of a small audience."
- On Harold Lloyd: "Harold Lloyd started with me at $5 a day. The last year he was with me he got $1.5 million. Harold Lloyd was not a comedian. He was a very fine, dedicated actor. Next to Chaplin, (he was) the biggest comedian in the business. He made a lot of money for himself and for me."
- On Laurel & Hardy: "Hardy was working for us as a heavy (villain) comedian, he was under contract. I saw Laurel at a vaudeville show and he was very funny and I made a contract with him that night at the vaudeville theater, a seven-year contract.
"And when he got to the studio we made a test of him, and his eyes were so light (they wouldn't photograph). That was the old film. So I made him a writer. Then panchromatic stock came in and we made another test of him and his eyes photographed all right."
Roach teamed them in "Putting Pants on Philip," which "was an immediate success. And they were a team."
- On excesses in modern movies: "Those things are not necessary, they don't have to do those things. Personally, I think the deplorable thing about movies made today is profanity, the nudity and things that shouldn't be on television for the general public."
- Modern comedy: "I think the worst thing about comedy today is the lack of it."
- Colorization: (The first Colorized films were Hal Roach's "Topper" and the Laurel & Hardy comedy "Way Out West.") "That has nothing to do with me. I sold the company, I sold my library, to get enough money to live happily ever after."