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Laurel and Hardy
by: Keith Hoerling
Official Laurel and Hardy Web Page
http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/
Laurel and Hardy have their own official website: http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com. This website covers-in awesomely complete detail-most everything a fan of Laurel and Hardy would wish to know about the slapstick duo: trivia, facts, cameos, videos, background, and other goodies. The most recent update (2002) was the addition of Richard W. Bann's essay, "The Music Box", describing many aspects of the film.
I highly recommend this website to anyone remotely interested in Laurel and Hardy, the duo who may very well be considered the kings of slapstick comedy during the 1920s and the greatest comedy team that ever existed. Regardless of previous knowledge on either of the two, a fairly elaborate history and background page exists to establish a foundation for your journey through the world of Laurel and Hardy. The website carries a similar look and feel through the entire browsing experience, making navigation a cinch, getting lost next to impossible and ease of use a beauty. More importantly, graphics, sound and video clips are spread out through the site, rendering traditional text book learning more obsolete, and paving the way to keeping viewers constantly interested at all times. Obviously, this site comes with a high degree of recommendation-two thumbs up!
Conversely, the site hasn't been updated in quite a while since the "Music Box" piece was added in 2002. Not too bad, but apparently the site wasn't updated for some time before that either. Hopefully the site's authors can keep up with adding new material more frequently for returning visitors.
Way Out West
http://www.wayoutwest.org/
Way out west's web site, idealizing (you guessed it) Laurel and Hardy, is a great resource for the most up-to-date in the cult following that exists around Laurel and Hardy's comedy genius. In fact, the site is complete with an active newsletter, shopping cart for online purchases, timelines, books, links, videos and even a membership program meeting annually. Can't beat that. This site is, hands-down, the most proactively updated website I've found as part of Laurel and Hardy's online presence; an excellent second choice after reading background information from their official site.
I found the site to navigate with ease, but I fear that others may feel the site has deep linkage, and will consequently find themselves lost in myriads of pages, not knowing where to click next. My advice: navigate less promiscuously.
Laurel & Hardy Tribute Page
http://www.laurelnhardy.co.uk/
This tribute page is devoted to Laurel and Hardy by a proud fan in the United Kingdom. Though the site isn't quite so large as the previously mentioned sites, it isn't one to pass up either. This page has features uniquely separating it from the rest: a discussion board, custom filmography (including rating scale), and a neat media library for sounds and images. Due to it's smaller size, the pages are easily navigable.
Clearly, the author has put much work into maintaining these pages, though I couldn't find when they were last updated. No guarantees can be made as to when the next update will happen.
The aforementioned rating scale is obviously opinionated according to the author, so as with all biases-caveat emptor.
Laurel and Hardy Central
http://laurelandhardycentral.com/
Laurel and Hardy Central is a spectacularly in-depth website, containing tons of relevant information accessible through a stay-put frame docked on the left screen side. I was unable to find a website that matched this one in terms of content-this site is loaded! On top of having tons of data to sift through, the site was last updated 4 days ago on December 1st 2002, making It the most recent update and quite possibly, due to the plethora of information, the most frequently updated. Some features unique to this website: viewer's letters, a poster shop and an online bookshelf. If you're hoping to single out one website for viewing, this one easily contains the most data to consume.
No website can be perfect, and this site is no exception. While navigating through the website, I managed to click some broken links to pages no longer residing on the server. The site uses some java for additional effects. Even though the java lends itself well to the website, some users may not have quick enough computers to enjoyably view java applets (due to their resource intensive nature).
"Oh! How We Laughed..."
http://www.snowcrest.net/marnells/laurel.htm
This website serves as a more personal page of a Laurel and Hardy fan. It's a tiny, single-page website devoted to glamorizing the comic geniuses. If you're living in the Hollywood and surrounding area, be sure to check this one out. It contains localized information on, "The Music Box" stairs. A map is provided depicting key points of interest for those who with to further pursue their journey to know all about Laurel and Hardy. I dig this site because it's totally different from all the rest and seemed very welcoming at the same time.
If you're not living in the Hollywood and surrounding area, you may be at a loss. The website doesn't contain too much information, but you may enjoy some of the linkage pointing to some of the author's favorite sites.
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