Childhood /Early Years

   Stan Laurel came into this world on June 16th 1890. He was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in a small town in the north of England called Ulverston. He lived with his grandmother at Foundry Cottages, which later changed to Argyle Street. He had one elder brother, Gordon, younger sister, Beatrice and a younger brother called Teddy. Stan's Father, Arthur Jefferson, also known as 'A J', was a well known theatre manager in the north of England, often acting and writing in his own plays, his wife, Stan's mother, acted in her husbands plays. When Stan was 6 his family moved to Bishop Auckland, he attended boarding school, because his mother travelled with his father while he was managing touring companies and running his theatres.

Learning The Ropes / Early career

Stans father gave him a job in the box office of his theatre, hoping he would become a manager. All Stan wanted to do was act in comedy sketches, he made his stage debut at the age of 16 in Glasgow playing a 'golliwog ', billed as " Stan Jefferson - He of The Funny Ways ". He joined the british legend 'Fred Karno ' and his troupe of comedians and toured America, a young Charlie Chaplin was also in the group, Stan was his understudy in a number of sketches. When Chaplin left Karno  to go to the Keystone Film Company, the troupe folded. Stan toured America with a number of partners, an Australian dancer, Mae Charlotte Dahlberg Cuthbert, gave Stan his new name of 'Laurel' after seeing an image of a Roman general wearing a wreath of laurel on his head. It is also claimed that Stan thought if he was to become famous, the name of 'Stan Jefferson ' would be too cramped up on the posters and outside the picture houses, so 'Stan Laurel ' would be much bigger and would stand out better. He made a few films for an independant studio and was spotted by Universal, where he went to make his fortune, his year contract was cancelled, not put off by this, he signed to Metro, making short films written by himself, after mixed reviews and a fall out with the boss of Metro he signed up to join the Hal Roach Studio's.