A Laurel & Hardy Cartoon

A Laurel & Hardy Cartoon, also known as Laurel & Hardy, is an animated American television series produced by Hanna-Barbera, Larry Harmon Production and David L. Wolper Productions for NBC's Saturday morning children's programming debuting. It ran from 1966 to 1967, airing 156 episodes that spanned one season.

An animated update to the duo's comedy acts, the series follows cartoon versions of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as they go out on various misadventures. The two were known famously for their slapstick routines, with Laurel acting as the no-nonsense straight man, and Hardy as the former's bumbling sidekick.

Animated versions of Laurel and Hardy also guest starred for The New Scooby-Doo Movies episode, "The Ghost of Bigfoot," however, it's unclear how much connection their appearance has to the cartoon HB produced years prior.

Development
Larry Harmon, who received the exclusive publicity rights to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's likenesses in 1961, approached Laurel and his wife Eda in that year on generating more income for the couple, by producing an animated series based on the film characters of the comedy pair. Harmon then negotiated with Hardy’s widow, Lucille, at the same time for the likenesses of the duo.

In a United Press International press release dated May 7, 1961, Laurel said about the project that "I hope they’ll be good. Our films approached 'cartoonery' and some of the things we did in the movies could be done in cartoons", referring to some of the exaggerated physical gags in the duo's short films. NBC, in an announcement in the New York Times on October 22nd, 1961, planned that the show to "be televised in color in prime time, although the weekly half-hour period has not been selected." On January 11, 1962, Laurel wrote to audio engineer Richard Sloan, "I very seldom see or hear from Mr Harmon, so know little about his affairs concerning the cartoon series - I understand they have started production (I read in the trade papers here). That's all I know about it." The same issue occurred repeatedly from 1962 and 1963, with Laurel's letters having no word from Harmon. In a typewriter letter on August 21, 1962, Laurel mentioned that he had not seen the potential series except for a small animation test, but found it unimpressive in his experience. Laurel then learned in 1963 that the NBC deal was cancelled and Harmon was looking for a syndication deal, although he never told Laurel what happened with the network.

After Laurel's death on February 25, 1965, documentary film director David L. Wolper was working with Hanna-Barbera at the time and had acquired the rights to make a cartoon version of Laurel and Hardy. After he approached the studio on making an animated series, Harmon found out and claimed that he owned the rights for a series. In a legal challenge, it was argued that while the contract may have given Harmon the rights to the characters from the films, it did not extend to the actual persons. Both parties eventually settled on a state of affairs where they agreed to disagree, with Harmon giving permission to use the characters in exchange for Wolper getting the distribution rights.

Casting
Before Laurel passed away, Harmon gave him the impression that he was only signing a contract for the animated pilot and merchandising rights to only that pilot. However, the cartoon version of Laurel was portrayed by Harmon in the series, as Laurel had already passed away a year earlier.

Due to Hardy's death prior on August 7, 1957, Laurel was originally planned to be paired up with Chuck McCann, a friend of Laurel's, as the voice of Hardy in the cartoon, which met with Laurel’s approval. McCann never got along with Harmon, however, and was instead replaced with Jim MacGeorge.

Music
The music was composed by Hoyt Curtin.

Cast

 * Larry Harmon as Stan Laurel
 * Jim MacGeorge as Oliver Hardy