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1937 - The Year in (Laurel-&-Hardy-Related) Movies


Ever heard of "Six Degrees of Separation"? We can do Laurel & Hardy and the year 1937 in two degrees. Besides Way Out West, other 1937 movie releases with connections to L&H include:

* Topper (starring Cary Grant), co-written by Way Out West writer Jack Jevne, and produced by Hal Roach (and Oscar-nominated for Best Sound by L&H sound-man Elmer Raguse);

* 1937's top money-maker and the first feature-length cartoon, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, featuring the voice of frequent L&H co-star Billy Gilbert as the dwarf Sneezy;

* James C. Morton (WOW's bartender) also appeared in the Three Stooges short Dizzy Doctors;

* Another Cary Grant screwball comedy, The Awful Truth, directed by L&H "team-maker" Leo McCarey;

* The Marx Brothers' A Day at the Races, co-starring future L&H co-stars Margaret Dumont (The Dancing Masters) and Jack Norton (The Big Noise);

* A Star is Born, with Edgar Kennedy;

* Billy Gilbert (again) in the MGM productions Broadway Melody of 1938 and the Spencer Tracy drama Captains Courageous;

* A Family Affair, the first film in the "Andy Hardy" series, with Arthur Housman in an uncredited role as (naturally) a drunk driver;

* Buster Keaton's Columbia short subject Jail Bait, with frequent L&H co-star Bobby Burns;

* Souls at Sea (a title later parodied by L&H as Saps at Sea), with Stanley Fields (WOW's sheriff) and Lucien Littlefield (Dirty Work, Sons of the Desert).

* Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers' Shall We Dance, with supporting players Eric Blore (Swiss Miss), Rolfe Sedan (the street drunk in You're Darn Tootin'), and Charlie Hall;

* Barbara Stanwyck's drama Stella Dallas, photographed by Rudolph Mate and co-starring Alan Hale Sr. (both of Our Relations).


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