Laurel&Hardy-Museum

Description

Presented as a private collection of film comedy, the Laurel & Hardy Museum in Solingen displays artifacts of the comedy duo Laurel & Hardy.

The exhibition originally grew out of a private collector's passion for the American slapstick tradition of the silent and early sound-film era. In the 1990s it was first shown in an additional apartment at the former residence on Bismarckstraße. After the premises were vacated in 2001, the exhibits had to be packed away because the replacement rooms initially offered by the city were unsuitable or economically unfeasible. In 2003 the city finally provided space in the listed Walder Kotten; on roughly 60 m² the museum was reopened in its present form by an actress from the early sound-film era.

The presentation includes film posters, photographs, books, figurines, newspaper clippings and copies of scripts, as well as several rarities. These include checks from Stan Laurel dating to the 1920s, several metres of original 35 mm film, a copy of the only record that Stan and Olli recorded, autograph cards and a limited U.S. music box with the theme tune from their films. Of particular significance are the duo’s original theatrical films, which are screened in the museum; according to the museum, it is the only place where these original theatrical films are shown.

Internationally comparable collections relating to the deceased actors still exist in Stan Laurel’s birthplace Ulverston (England) and in Hardy’s birthplace Harlem (Georgia).