The first and, arguably, the best of filmdom's famous two-man comedy teams, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were also, along with Charlie Chaplin, the only great silent-era clowns to survive and thrive well into the talkie era. The two thrilled audiences with their carefully crafted style of comedy. Their short films, ranging from the pie-throwing apotheosis, The Battle of the Century to the Oscar-winning The Music Box, in which the boys strain to lug a piano up a steep hill, established their endearing characterizations as loyal friends—often hen-pecked husbands—who keep going from one "swell predicament" to "another fine mess."

Stan Laurel (left) and Oliver Hardy (right)

Stan Laurel (real name: Stan Jefferson) was born in 1890 in Ulverston, England; Oliver Norvell Hardy in 1892 in Harlem, Georgia. The fates and their respective theatrical abilities brought them to Hal Roach's comedy factory in Hollywood during...