September
22, 2010 (I
was 65)
Ollie
and Stanley at the Studio
Ollie: in disgust, Look
at us; Stanley does so. I can
not get us a contract with the studio.
Stanley: I
think you can, emphasizing the I.
Ollie: I could not even get in the door;
Stanley stares blankly at Ollie’s girth.
I was speaking figuratively,
emphasizing the figuratively. I
could not get an appointment.
Stanley: I think
you could, emphasizing the you.
Ollie: I could not.
They see only agents. We have no
money for an agent.
Stanley: You
could be our agent.
Ollie: I am
not an agent. I do not have the
experience.
Stanley: What are you?
Ollie: pauses, I am
an actor, emphasizing the actor.
Stanley: Act
like an agent.
Ollie: How
does an agent act?
Stanley: Exactly
the question an actor should ask.
Ollie smiles intrigued, drumming his finger
tips on his chest.
Cut to a cleaned and polished Ollie as he is ushered into
the office of a studio executive.
Stanley follows exhibiting quiet curiosity.
Executive: reads Ollie’s business card, Oliver Olivier, Talent Agent.
Never heard of you, who do you
represent?
Ollie: Abroad,
I represent a guild of noted thespians; to Hollywood, I bring the team of Laurel and Hardy.
Executive: Never heard of them; he indicates
Stanley, And who is this?
Ollie: The
pair perform in all genres. This is
Stanley Laurel of said duo, also my
partner. I am Hardy.
Executive: I can
see that.
Ollie: I mean,
I am Oliver Hardy.
Executive: I
thought your name was Oliver Olivier.
Ollie: That’s
my agensorial name, so to speak.
Executive: What
sort of act do you do?
Ollie: Though
we’ve played every endeavor of the theatre arts, I am often typecast as a sophisticated gentleman of means, with Stanley as my gentleman’s gentleman.
Stanley brushes off the shoulders
of Ollie’s jacket. Mr. Laurel has played Watson to
my Holmes –though that seemed to
create some audience confusion. In Chatacqua revue we did Socratic dialogues,
highly esoteric and highly regarded.
Throughout,
Stanley performs subtle expressions, bits of mime, all conveying support for Ollie.
Executive: Why
should I contract you. Your story is the
same as every potential waiter in town.
Ollie: We
work cheap.
Stanley: He
works cheap; I work for nothing.
Ollie smacks Stanley with his hat.
Ollie: I
thought we agreed that you’d shut up and leave the agenting to me. Stanley is forlorn.
Stanley: But
Ollie, you are not telling Mr. Executive the most important thing. to the Executive: Ollie is seriously funny. In any role he plays, emphasizing
the any. Ollie turns crimson. He is irate and attempts to shove Stanley behind him.
Ollie: I
have never played a clown, never the buffoon, naught the joker. I
do not say funny things.
Stanley: calmly, No,
you say things funny.
Ollie: Stanley,
you irritate me in places I cannot discuss.
Executive: I get
the idea. You’re hired. I want twelve of those bits, fifteen minutes each, in the next three
months. Standard contract will be in the mail.
Miss Pool will show you out. Next please.
Outside the studio gate:
Stanley: And
you said you didn’t know how to be an agent.
Ollie: I
don’t know how to be an agent. That, was
acting.
-I began a series of
pieces using Laurel and Hardy as
representations
of right brain and left brain perception.
Not
an original idea, I got it from Colin Wilson’s study,
Frankenstein’s
Castle. More appear in other posts.