They were masters of physical comedy who unashamedly used every music hall and pantomime device available to them to draw us into their comic universe. Every Laurel and Hardy film is a testament to how sweet the human spirit can be. This was founded on the simple love they had for each other leading them to offer everyone they met goodwill and friendship. Stan and Ollie survived being surrounded by a society that thought them nothing but fools because between them they had something more precious than gold – a natural charm and dignity which survived every catastrophe unscathed. Not an innocence born of ignorance of the world but rather the innocence of guileless uncorrupted souls who glided through this vale of tears mildly baffled by the energy invested in the ambition fuelled grandiose plans and schemes that the rest of us consider so essential to our lives. Laurel and Hardy were innocents abroad in this wicked world. I’ll be very surprised if just the mention of their names or a glance at the image above hasn’t already altered your mood for the better and got all the myriad muscles involved in producing a smile toned up and ready for action.Īnd, just to confirm the mood here’s their instantly recognisable theme tune, ‘The Dance Of The Cuckoos’ written by the heroically hardworking in house composer at Hal Roach Studios, Marvin Hatley. My guides on this path are the blessed shades of the greatest comedic partnership in the history of entertainment: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Instead, today at least, despite or because of being somewhat more than in the middle of life I’m taking the other path through the thorny wood – the path illuminated by the gentle light of humour. I suppose I could accept that this world is condemned and lay back listening to the hoot owl’s despairing elegy for a fallen world. Some of Betty Cody's other RCA Victor recordings can be found on a public domain anthology from Germany's Cattle label, The Successful Hillbilly Era of Betty Cody.Sometimes it seems the world is so full of war, pestilence and strife that no amount of lamentation can ever be sufficient.ĭaily, we near drown in a deluge of news pouring out outrage after outrage – with each man made or natural disaster confirming that power and greed and corruptible seed seem to be all that there is.
The collection exhumes one previously unreleased duet, "Come Back to This Heart of Mine," that is a worthwhile discovery, but the omission of Cody's answer songs is lamentable. Their sound is their own, with a unique blend of Lone Pine's rich northeastern voice and Cody's faint French-Canadian accent, and a repertoire composed, to a large degree, by the duo's guitarist, Ray Couture. There was a great deal of variety among Canadian country artists of the '50s, so it cannot be said that the music of Cody and Lone Pine bears any particular similarity to that of Hank Snow, Wilf Carter, Stu Phillips, and others. "I Heard the Bluebirds Sing," a song by fellow Canadian Hod Pharis, is heard here in a recording that predates the Browns' definitive hit version by several years. The anthology offers a sampling of songs Cody and Lone Pine recorded together and individually between 1950-1954, some of which ("Prince Edward Island Is Heaven to Me," " In Annapolis Valley") were aimed at the Canadian audience. Cody also made a minor splash with a series of answer songs in the '50s, charting one national Top Ten hit with a follow-up to the Davis Sisters' "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know About Him." Unfortunately, On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine doesn't include any of Cody's popular answer records.
The two artists enjoyed regional success in Maine and Canada and performed for three years on the Wheeling Jamboree in West Virginia, but are mostly remembered today for having parented legendary jazz guitarist Lenny Breau. Bear Family continues its exploration of vintage Canadian country music with On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine, an anthology of RCA Victor recordings by French-Canadian singer Betty Cody and her husband, Hal Lone Pine, from Maine.
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