Hal Roach(1892-1992)
- Producer
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Hal Roach was born in 1892 in Elmira, New York. After working as a mule
skinner, wrangler and gold prospector, among other things, he wound up
in Hollywood and began picking up jobs as an extra in comedies, where
he met comedian Harold Lloyd in
1913 in San Diego. By all accounts, including his own, he was a
terrible actor, but he saw a future in the movie business and in Harold
Lloyd. Roach came into a small inheritance and began producing,
directing and writing a series of short film comedies, under the banner
of Phun Philms (soon changed to Rolin, which lasted until 1922),
starring Lloyd in early 1915. Initially these were abysmal, but with
tremendous effort, the quality improved enough to be nominally financed
and distributed by Pathe, which purchased Roach's product by the
exposed foot of film. The Roach/Lloyd team morphed through two
characters. The first, nominally tagged as "Will E. Work", proved
hopeless; the second, "Lonesome Luke," an unabashed imitation of
Charles Chaplin, proved more successful
with each new release. Lloyd's increasing dissatisfaction with the
Chaplin clone character irritated Roach to no end, and the two men
engaged in a series of battles, walkouts and reconciliations.
Ultimately Lloyd abandoned the character completely in 1917, creating
his now-famous "Glasses" character, which met with even greater
box-office success, much to the relief of Roach and Pathe. This new
character hit a nerve with the post-war public as both the antithesis
and complement to Chaplin, capturing the can-do optimism of the age.
This enabled Roach to renegotiate the deal with Pathe and start his own
production company, putting his little studio on a firm financial
foundation. Hal Roach Productions became a unique entity in Hollywood.
It operated as a sort of paternalistic boutique studio, releasing a
surprising number of wildly popular shorts series and a handful of
features. Quality was seldom compromised and his employees were treated
as his most valuable asset.
Roach's relationship with his biggest earner was increasingly
acrimonious after 1920 (among other things, Lloyd would bristle at
Roach's demands to appear at the studio daily regardless of his
production schedule). After achieving enormous success with features
(interestingly, his only real feature flop of the 1930s was with
General Spanky (1936), a very
poorly conceived vehicle for the property), Lloyd had achieved
superstar status by the standards of "The Roaring Twenties" and wanted
his independence. The two men severed ties, with Roach retaining
re-issue rights for Lloyd's shorts for the remainder of the decade.
While both men built their careers together, it was Lloyd who first
recognized his need for creative freedom, no longer needing Roach's
financial support. This realization irked Roach, and from this point
forward he found it difficult, if not impossible, to offer
unadulterated praise for his former friend and star (while Lloyd
himself was far more generous in his later praise of Roach, he, too,
could be critical, if more accurate, in his recollections). Lloyd went
on to much greater financial success at Paramount.
Despite facing the prospect of losing his biggest earner, Roach was
already preoccupied with building his kiddie comedy series, Our Gang,
which became an immediate hit with the public. By the time he turned 25
in 1917, Roach was wealthy and increasingly spending time away from his
studio. He traveled extensively across Europe. By the early 1920s he
had eclipsed Mack Sennett as the "King of
Comedy" and created many of the most memorable comic series of all
time. These included the team of Stan Laurel
and Oliver Hardy,
Charley Chase,
Edgar Kennedy,
'Snub' Pollard and especially the
long-running Our Gang series (AKA "The Little Rascals" in TV
distribution). Pathe, which distributed his films, shut down its U.S.
operations after its domestic representative, Paul Brunet, returned to
France in 1927. But Roach was able to secure an even better deal with
MGM (his key competitor, Mack Sennett, was also distributed by Pathe,
but he was unable to land a deal, ultimately declaring bankruptcy in
1933). For the next eleven years Roach shored up MGM's bottom line,
although the deal was probably more beneficial to Roach. In the
mid-'30s Roach became inexplicably enamored of 'Benito Mussolini', and
sought to secure a business alliance with the fascist dictator's
recently completed film complex, Cinecitta. After Roach asked for (and
received) assurances from Mussolini that Italy wasn't about to seek
sanctions against the Jews, the two men formed RAM ("Roach And
Mussolini") Productions, a move that appalled the powers at MGM parent
company, Leow's Inc. These events coincided with Roach selling off "Our
Gang" to MGM and committing himself solely to feature film production.
In September 1937, Il Duce's son,
Vittorio Mussolini, visited Hollywood
and Roach's studio threw a lavish party celebrating his 21st birthday.
Soon afterward the Italian government took on an increasingly
anti-Semitic stance and, in retribution, Leow's chairman
Nicholas Schenck canceled his
distribution deal. Roach signed an adequate deal with United Artists in
May 1938 and redeemed his previous record of feature misfires with a
string of big hits: Topper (1937) (and its
lesser sequels), the prestigious
Of Mice and Men (1939) and, most
significantly,
One Million B.C. (1940), which
became the most profitable movie of the year. Despite the nearly
unanimous condemnation by his industry peers, Roach stubbornly refused
to re-examine his attitudes over his dealings with Mussolini, even in
the aftermath of World War II (he proudly displayed an autographed
portrait of the dictator in his home up until his death). His
tried-and-true formula for success was tested by audience demands for
longer feature-length productions, and by the early 1940s he was forced
to try his hand at making low-budget, full-length screwball comedies,
musicals and dramas, although he still kept turning out extended
two-reel-plus comedies, which he tagged as "streamliners"; they failed
to catch on with post-war audiences. By the 1950s he was producing
mainly for television
(My Little Margie (1952),
Blondie (1957) and
The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna (1956),
for example). His willingness to delve into TV production flew in the
face of most of the major Hollywood studios of the day. He made a stab
at retirement but his son, Hal Roach Jr.,
proved an inept businessman and drove the studio to the brink of
bankruptcy by 1959. Roach returned and focused on facilities leasing
and managing the TV rights of his film catalog.
In 1983 his company developed the first successful digital colorization
process. Roach then became a producer for many TV series on the Disney
Channel, and his company still produces most of their films and videos.
He died peacefully just shy of his 101st birthday, telling stories
right up until the end.
skinner, wrangler and gold prospector, among other things, he wound up
in Hollywood and began picking up jobs as an extra in comedies, where
he met comedian Harold Lloyd in
1913 in San Diego. By all accounts, including his own, he was a
terrible actor, but he saw a future in the movie business and in Harold
Lloyd. Roach came into a small inheritance and began producing,
directing and writing a series of short film comedies, under the banner
of Phun Philms (soon changed to Rolin, which lasted until 1922),
starring Lloyd in early 1915. Initially these were abysmal, but with
tremendous effort, the quality improved enough to be nominally financed
and distributed by Pathe, which purchased Roach's product by the
exposed foot of film. The Roach/Lloyd team morphed through two
characters. The first, nominally tagged as "Will E. Work", proved
hopeless; the second, "Lonesome Luke," an unabashed imitation of
Charles Chaplin, proved more successful
with each new release. Lloyd's increasing dissatisfaction with the
Chaplin clone character irritated Roach to no end, and the two men
engaged in a series of battles, walkouts and reconciliations.
Ultimately Lloyd abandoned the character completely in 1917, creating
his now-famous "Glasses" character, which met with even greater
box-office success, much to the relief of Roach and Pathe. This new
character hit a nerve with the post-war public as both the antithesis
and complement to Chaplin, capturing the can-do optimism of the age.
This enabled Roach to renegotiate the deal with Pathe and start his own
production company, putting his little studio on a firm financial
foundation. Hal Roach Productions became a unique entity in Hollywood.
It operated as a sort of paternalistic boutique studio, releasing a
surprising number of wildly popular shorts series and a handful of
features. Quality was seldom compromised and his employees were treated
as his most valuable asset.
Roach's relationship with his biggest earner was increasingly
acrimonious after 1920 (among other things, Lloyd would bristle at
Roach's demands to appear at the studio daily regardless of his
production schedule). After achieving enormous success with features
(interestingly, his only real feature flop of the 1930s was with
General Spanky (1936), a very
poorly conceived vehicle for the property), Lloyd had achieved
superstar status by the standards of "The Roaring Twenties" and wanted
his independence. The two men severed ties, with Roach retaining
re-issue rights for Lloyd's shorts for the remainder of the decade.
While both men built their careers together, it was Lloyd who first
recognized his need for creative freedom, no longer needing Roach's
financial support. This realization irked Roach, and from this point
forward he found it difficult, if not impossible, to offer
unadulterated praise for his former friend and star (while Lloyd
himself was far more generous in his later praise of Roach, he, too,
could be critical, if more accurate, in his recollections). Lloyd went
on to much greater financial success at Paramount.
Despite facing the prospect of losing his biggest earner, Roach was
already preoccupied with building his kiddie comedy series, Our Gang,
which became an immediate hit with the public. By the time he turned 25
in 1917, Roach was wealthy and increasingly spending time away from his
studio. He traveled extensively across Europe. By the early 1920s he
had eclipsed Mack Sennett as the "King of
Comedy" and created many of the most memorable comic series of all
time. These included the team of Stan Laurel
and Oliver Hardy,
Charley Chase,
Edgar Kennedy,
'Snub' Pollard and especially the
long-running Our Gang series (AKA "The Little Rascals" in TV
distribution). Pathe, which distributed his films, shut down its U.S.
operations after its domestic representative, Paul Brunet, returned to
France in 1927. But Roach was able to secure an even better deal with
MGM (his key competitor, Mack Sennett, was also distributed by Pathe,
but he was unable to land a deal, ultimately declaring bankruptcy in
1933). For the next eleven years Roach shored up MGM's bottom line,
although the deal was probably more beneficial to Roach. In the
mid-'30s Roach became inexplicably enamored of 'Benito Mussolini', and
sought to secure a business alliance with the fascist dictator's
recently completed film complex, Cinecitta. After Roach asked for (and
received) assurances from Mussolini that Italy wasn't about to seek
sanctions against the Jews, the two men formed RAM ("Roach And
Mussolini") Productions, a move that appalled the powers at MGM parent
company, Leow's Inc. These events coincided with Roach selling off "Our
Gang" to MGM and committing himself solely to feature film production.
In September 1937, Il Duce's son,
Vittorio Mussolini, visited Hollywood
and Roach's studio threw a lavish party celebrating his 21st birthday.
Soon afterward the Italian government took on an increasingly
anti-Semitic stance and, in retribution, Leow's chairman
Nicholas Schenck canceled his
distribution deal. Roach signed an adequate deal with United Artists in
May 1938 and redeemed his previous record of feature misfires with a
string of big hits: Topper (1937) (and its
lesser sequels), the prestigious
Of Mice and Men (1939) and, most
significantly,
One Million B.C. (1940), which
became the most profitable movie of the year. Despite the nearly
unanimous condemnation by his industry peers, Roach stubbornly refused
to re-examine his attitudes over his dealings with Mussolini, even in
the aftermath of World War II (he proudly displayed an autographed
portrait of the dictator in his home up until his death). His
tried-and-true formula for success was tested by audience demands for
longer feature-length productions, and by the early 1940s he was forced
to try his hand at making low-budget, full-length screwball comedies,
musicals and dramas, although he still kept turning out extended
two-reel-plus comedies, which he tagged as "streamliners"; they failed
to catch on with post-war audiences. By the 1950s he was producing
mainly for television
(My Little Margie (1952),
Blondie (1957) and
The Gale Storm Show: Oh! Susanna (1956),
for example). His willingness to delve into TV production flew in the
face of most of the major Hollywood studios of the day. He made a stab
at retirement but his son, Hal Roach Jr.,
proved an inept businessman and drove the studio to the brink of
bankruptcy by 1959. Roach returned and focused on facilities leasing
and managing the TV rights of his film catalog.
In 1983 his company developed the first successful digital colorization
process. Roach then became a producer for many TV series on the Disney
Channel, and his company still produces most of their films and videos.
He died peacefully just shy of his 101st birthday, telling stories
right up until the end.