Marvin Hatley
Birth : 1905-04-03, Reed, Oklahoma, USA
Death : 1986-08-23
History
Thomas Marvin Hatley professionally known simply as Marvin Hatley, was an American film composer and musical director, best known for his work for the Hal Roach studio from 1929 until 1940.
Hatley wrote many of the musical cues appearing in the Our Gang, Laurel and Hardy, and Charley Chase films. His most memorable composition is "Dance of the Cuckoos"(also known as "Ku-Ku", or "The Cookoo Song"), which serves as Laurel and Hardy's theme song. He was also the "player piano" (performing off-screen) in The Music Box (1932). His work in Laurel and Hardy's films Way Out West and Block-Heads earned him nominations for the Academy Award for Best Original Score.
In 1939, Hatley was fired from the Roach studio. At the insistence of Stan Laurel, however, he did return to score one final Laurel & Hardy film, Saps at Sea. Hatley went on to become a lounge pianist, and often remarked that he earned more money in that career than during his days at the Roach studio.
Marvin Hatley was a native of Reed, Oklahoma. He died on August 23, 1986 in Hollywood, California.
Himself
Narrated by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, this documentary about "Laurel and Hardy", one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. It features interviews with Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Babe London, Marcel Marceau, Lucille Hardy (Ollie's wife), Bob Monkhouse, Hal Roach, Marvin T Hatley, Jack McCabe and many more.
Original Music Composer
A young girl arrives in Hollywood determined to become a star in the movies but finds that attaining stardom is a lot more difficult than she counted on. However, she does become a star of sorts — as the owner of a dog who DOES become a movie star.
Bandleader
A pretty Chicago teenager (Gale Storm), who's being courted by an older man, is sent by her worried parents to live with her uncle on his Iowa farm.
Original Music Composer
An Irish convict sentenced to hard labor in Australia escapes into the outback, and organizes a band of fellow escapees to fight a corrupt landlord.
Music Supervisor
Mrs Topper's friend Mrs Parkhurst has convinced Mrs topper, to file for a divorce from Cosmo, due to the strange circumstances of his trip with ghost Marion Kirby. Marion comes back from heaven's door to help Cosmo again, this time only with dog Mr. Atlas. Due to a strange behavior of Cosmo, the judge refuses to divorce them, so Mrs Parkhurst takes Mrs Topper on a trip to France, where she tries to arrange the final reasons for the divorce, with help of a gold-digging French baron, Marion takes Cosmo to the same hotel, to bring them back together and to get her own final ticket to heaven, but the whole thing turns out to be not too easy.
Original Music Composer
It's 1938, but Stan doesn't know the war is over; he's still patrolling the trenches in France, and shoots down a French aviator. Oliver sees his old chum's picture in the paper and goes to visit Stan who has now been returned to the States and invites him back to his home.
Music Director
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.
Original Music Composer
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.
Original Music Composer
Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.
Music
Kitty Reily (Patsy Kelly) and Lena Marchetti (Lyda Roberti) meet each other at an amateur Radio Show. Kitty quickly learns to greatly dislike incompetent Lena. They keep running into each other until Kitty resigns to being friends with Lena when they become hospital nurses and share a dorm room.
Original Music Composer
Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife.
Original Music Composer
Orphaned shoeshine boy Spanky is working on a Mississippi riverboat during the Civil War. There he befriends young runaway slave Buckwheat. After wronging a vicious gambler, Spanky and Buckwheat are forced to jump ship. Finding solace at a nearby house, the two are picked by Marshall Valiant for an important mission. This inspires Spanky to organize the local kids to form a small army of their own.
Music
A feisty Irish woman turns a truck driver into a championship boxer.
Music
Truant officers mistake 2 midgets for members of the gang.
Music
Ollie and Stan deceive their wives into thinking they are taking a medically necessary cruise when they are really going to a lodge convention.
Music
In this short film, Laurel and Hardy wage battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at a sawmill.
Soldier
Although the war is over, Charley still can't seem to find his way out of France.
Member of Camping Trio
Charley falls in love with Betty on a camping trip.
Music
Novice policemen Stan and Ollie bungle a burglary investigation.
Musician - The Ranch Boys (uncredited)
Charley and his buddies are captured and imprisoned by an Arabian sultan.
Music
On the morning of his wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter, Ollie receives a jigsaw puzzle from Stan as a wedding gift. The boys soon become absorbed in the puzzle. A taxi driver, butler, policeman and messenger boy join in as well.
Pianist (uncredited)
Instead of delivering some fancy dresses to a customer, the girls wear them to a party.
Music
A year prior to the first scene, Stan married Ollie's sister, and Ollie married Stan's sister in a double wedding. They all live together and Stan and Ollie work in the same office.
Music
Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy isn't an easy task.
Music
Mrs Hardy is annoyed that her husband Oliver seems to spend more time with his friend Stanley than with her. After a furious argument, Mrs Hardy says that she is through if Ollie goes out with Stan again. Stan suggests that Ollie adopts a baby, which he does. Unfortunately, his wife has left their apartment on returning, and a process server delivers a paper informing Ollie that she is suing him for divorce, naming Stan as correspondent. The boys are now left to look after the infant on their own.
Music
The story begins in 1917 with Stan and Ollie being drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in World War I. While in the Army, the pair befriend a man named Eddie Smith, who is killed by the enemy during a battle. After the war is over, Stan and Ollie venture to New York City, where they begin a quest to reunite Eddie's little daughter with her rightful family. The task proves both monumental and problematic as the boys discover just how many people in New York have the last name Smith.
Music
Ordered out of town by angry Judge Beaumont, vagrants Stanley and Oliver meet a congenial drunk who invites them to stay at his luxurious mansion. The drunk can't find his key, but the boys find a way in, sending the surprised woman inside into a faint.
Music
Ollie is in the hospital with a broken leg. When Stan comes to visit him, total chaos ensues.
Music
Stan and Ollie play bumbling circus performers who inadvertently drive the circus into bankruptcy. The circus can't pay them their wages so they are given a gorilla and a flea circus as payment. Bedlam ensues.
Original Music Composer
The Laurel & Hardy Moving Co. have a challenging job on their hands (and backs): hauling a player piano up a monumental flight of stairs to Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen's house. Their task is complicated by a sassy nursemaid and, unbeknownst to them, the impatient Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen himself. But the biggest problem is the force of gravity, which repeatedly pulls the piano back down to the bottom of the stairs.
Cowboy
A timid accountant for a California cattle ranch and a lookalike dashing bandit become rivals for the beautiful daughter of a wealthy rancher.
Original Music Composer
Ollie's house is a mess after a wild party from the previous night. Ollie receives a telegram from his wife (who is on vacation in Chicago), which tells him that she is returning home in the afternoon. Fearing his wife's wrath he calls Stan over to help him clean up. Things go downhill and they make more mess not less.
Original Music Composer
Down and out Stan and Ollie beg for food from a friendly old lady who provides them with sandwiches. While eating, they overhear the lady's landlord tell her he's going to throw her out because she can't pay her mortgage. They don't realize that the old lady is really rehearsing for a play. Stan and Ollie decide to help the old lady by selling their car. During the auction a drunk puts a wallet in Stan's pocket. Ollie accuses Stan of robbing the old lady, but when the truth is revealed Stan takes revenge on Ollie.
Original Music Composer
The Hardys wish to have a quiet evening in their apartment, but are interrupted when the Laurels pay a visit. Stan and Ollie go out for ice cream, and manage to prevent a shrewish woman from committing suicide on the way back home. The woman is ungrateful and makes threats against the them unless they look after her. They spend a chaotic evening trying to keep her hidden from their wives.
Music
It's Prohibition, and the boys wind up behind bars after Stan sells some of their home-brew beer to a policeman.
Music
Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to a Justice of the Peace. After typical Laurel and Hardy blundering, they manage to sneak the girl away from her father's house.
Pvt. Marvin Hatley
On his way home following World War I, Charley smuggles his French sweetheart aboard ship and gets into all kinds of trouble.
Original Music Composer
Two homeless vagabonds hide out in a vacant mansion and pose as the residents when prospective lessees arrive and try to rent it.
Music
Ollie can't find his hat, much to the amusement of his wife and maid. Then Ollie and Stan attempt to install a rooftop radio antenna.
Original Music Composer
Stanley and Oliver are trying to spend a relaxing night at home playing checkers, but the antics of their mischievous sons keep interrupting their recreation.
Musician
The gang is participating in a program sponsored by the Golden Age Dramatic League. They present their own fractured version of Quo Vadis. Things go from bad to worse when the neighborhood tough kids disrupt the show. The pie fight is given a new twist by use of some slow motion sequences.
