HAUREL & LARDY
STAN LAUREL 
OLIVER HARDY
"I HEARD ABOUT IT ON THE RADIO, A CONTEST YA KNOW? TO WIN LOTS OF MONEY ON A TELEVISION GAME SHOW." taken from the musical parody Hollywood, written by Cory G. in 1992
It was 20 years ago, this month, that I was getting ready for another Freshman day at Bishop Guilfoyle High School and I overheard Tom Riley, on the radio, saying something that totally stopped me dead in my tracks. "Hollywood Lip Sync Game Show, Puttin' on the Hits coming to Altoona's Logan Valley Mall for a Star Search". Auditions were being held on a Saturday morning towards the end of the month, so if I wanted to particpate, I'd have to act fast. What's my first move? I'm only 14 years old. I thought I'd talk to someone much older and wiser than me. My best friend Erin Cooley, he's 15. He'll know what to do.
I told Erin the news, and like always back then and even sometimes still today, he was overwhelmed with my enthusiasm. "What should we do for a musical act?" Erin asked. I replied, " We gotta do what we do best; comedy" Erin smiled as I told him we had to do something with the silver screen comedians that we loved so much and admired so deeply. Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Marx Brothers and Erin was a big Stooge supporter. So when we both decided we resembled Laurel and Hardy the most, the plan started to come together quite naturally. By the way, I played Stan Laurel, the quiet one and Erin portrayed Ollie, the more outspoken of the duo. In real life, it was totally the other way around.
We decided, in order to catch a producer's eye, we should be old fashioned comedians singing a modern day song. So, the act was Haurel and Lardy DO THE CONGA. We wore our best 1980's Hawaiian jams, donned on the black derbies and ties, and lip synched to Miami Sound Machine's CONGA. Come on, shake your body, baby, do the Conga. I know you can't control yourself any longa. Feel the rhythm of the music getting stronga. We choreographed a neat little vaudevillian number and even had my little brother playing the bongos. Before we knew it, the time had arrived to go to the Mall to give this ridiculousness a shot. We had rehearsed a handful of times and just were thrilled we were going to try something different on a Saturday morning besides watching cartoons.
NEXT INSTALLMENT: I SHOULD HAVE STAYED HOME AND WATCHED CARTOONS
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Comments
Laurel and Hardy, Not Haurel Lardy
We wanted to stand out from the rest of the performers. We thought Laurel and Hardy dressed in wild hawaiian print shorts, suited up in a suit jacket, tie, derbies, and finally sock suspenders with black socks would get someone's attention. We rehearsed quickly, Cory made a sign that said Laurel and Hardy do the Conga and we made our way to the Logan Valley mall for our performance.
Cory, you are incorrect. For the mall performance it was never Haurel and Lardy it was only Laurel and Hardy. Haurel and Lardy make an appearance later on in the story.
Clay hardens by immobility – men's minds by standing pat. Both lose the power to take new impressions. (Pinchot 1910: 138)
TGIE thank goodness for erin
You are absolutely correct, Ollie. We eventually had to change the name of the act because producers said we couldn't use Stan and Ollie's names. So, we came up with Likely and Hardly, just because we looked liked them, but we were hardly Stan and Ollie. Somehow or another, Erin tells me, I just played with the names and said, "what about Haurel and Lardy?" Cooley wasn't real fond of his new name and I had to say Haurel very carefully too without sounding too much like another dirty word. But people thought Haurel and Lardy was funnier than Likely and Hardly. And, it stuck with us. Keep me on track with these stories about our Hollywood adventure, it's been too long. But, boy, did we have a blast.
You nailed it
You nailed the story.
Clay hardens by immobility – men's minds by standing pat. Both lose the power to take new impressions. (Pinchot 1910: 138)