'SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME?' - Part 2

 by Vice-Shiek Steve O'Connor

 In earlier Digests I covered the marriages of Oliver Hardy. Time now to begin on Stan whose love life was often something of a 'catsafterme'.

"When two people reach the place in life where they can no longer share a laugh together, then it is practically impossible to share the same bed and board. Laughter is not a trivial part of married life. To the contrary, it is very important". - Stan on marriage.

Stan's married life was even more turbulent than that of Oliver, and of the two, he was a particular target for adverse publicity. Like Oliver, he was eventually to find contentment, but he had four wives in total, (one of them he married twice).

Stan's first 'marriage' could not be legalised owing to his partner's inability to obtain a divorce. Nevertheless, it was generally accepted that he was married in all but legal title. Mae Charlotte Dahlberg (1888 - 1969) shared his life from 1918 - 1925. Australian born Mae teamed with the then Stan Jefferson in 1918, after they had appeared on the same bill at a theatre in Philadelphia. It was Mae who chose the new surname of Laurel: she had seen a picture of a Roman general, Scipio Africanus, wearing a laurel wreath.

Mae had quite a temper - she later admitted that the tempestuous nature of their alliance damaged them - both professionally and romantically. Her presence in Stan's early films did not impress producers. In 1924 Joe Rock signed Stan to appear in twelve two-reelers for Standard Cinema Lewis J. Selznick on the strict condition that Mae was not to appear. She made trouble and Rock made it clear to her that she was hampering Stan's career. Mae took the hint, and all went well until the spring of 1925 when a resumption of her interference pushed Stan to a dangerous combination of alcohol and sleeplessness. He became unfit for work and Rock provided a solution: he offered Mae the chance to return to Australia. She was offered boat fare, cash and even the retrieval of her jewellery from the pawnshop.

Mae exited in 1926; (Rock was astute enough to ensure that the ship's purser withheld all of her valuables until the voyage was underway). Stan, now under the care of Rock's brother Murray, was introduced to Rock's former girlfriend Lois Neilson; they married the following year.

* Mae was to resurface a decade later to sue for property rights as a former common - law wife. The matter was settled out of court *