Along with Mack Sennett, one of the top two producers of comedies during Hollywood's formative days. The son of Irish immigrants, Roach was born in Elmira, New York on January 14, 1892. After working in a variety of jobs in Alaska and the Western states while in his late teens, Roach found himself in Hollywood as a bit player and extra in cheaply-made Westerns and two-reelers. By 1914, he had learned enough about the picture business to start producing his own series of short films, budgeted at about $350 apiece. Ignorant of copyright laws, Roach made no money on his first films. However, the quality of the films impressed the distributor, The Pathe Exchange, who asked Roach to make more. Soon, Roach became skilled, savvy and successful enough as a producer and businessman to enable him to build his own studio facilities in 1919.

     From the beginning, The Hal Roach Studio's specialty was comedy. Lovingly dubbed "The Lot of Fun" by all who worked there, the Roach Studio boasted some of the best comic talent in the business, while Roach himself allowed his people the time, space and freedom to get things just right. Save for the occasions when Roach himself assumed the director's chair, The Boss (as he was known) rarely interferred on the set. It was a relaxed, easygoing atmosphere in which stars and stagehands were treated as equals and shared in the creative process. Former Roach employees recall their days at the studio with a fondness usually reserved for family members.

     When Mack Sennett's status began to slip with the advent of talkies, Roach reigned supreme as Hollywood's top producer of short comedies. The Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang films were Roach's most popular and enduring efforts, though the studio produced comedy shorts and features by several other stars as well. Thelma Todd, Zasu Pitts, Patsy Kelly, Billy Gilbert, Charlie Chase and many others starred in their own series of Roach-produced films. While some series certainly had more merit than others, all Roach films share the common traits of an infectious, joyous atmosphere and a loving attention to detail.

     Unfortunately, the economic conditions of the thirties meant that small studios could not continue to show a profit with 20-minute short comedies. The double feature offered audiences greater value, so small producers found more success with "B" features than with two-reelers. Roach was forced to abandon production of comedy shorts by the mid-thirties and devote his efforts to feature films. Laurel and Hardy produced their last short subject in 1935, while continuing to make features for Roach for the next five years. Roach himself, however, was interested in making more prestigious films and found some success in the late thirties and early forties with such films as TOPPER, ONE MILLION B.C., CAPTAIN FURY and OF MICE AND MEN. But these successes could not return the studio to financial solvency; by the mid-forties, Roach was producing low-budget features with no-name or has-been character actors.

     There is little doubt that, among the vast array of comic talent to be found at The Hal Roach Studios during its heyday, the supreme comic genius of the lot was Stan Laurel. Roach gave Stan carte blanche when it came to the writing, direction, editing and production design of the Laurel and Hardy films. Stan enjoyed a close professional and personal relationship with Roach for several years, though they were to have a serious falling-out during the production of 1934's BABES IN TOYLAND. Roach had purchased the rights to the music to Victor Herbert's operetta and had penned his own script to fit the music. Laurel pronounced The Boss' script a dud and angered Roach when he insisted on writing his own libretto. Roach eventually took an "I wash my hands of the whole business" approach, allowed Laurel to make his own film, and drove a permanent wedge between them. Though Laurel and Hardy were to make films for Roach for six more years, their relationship was strictly business from then on (though they seem to have mended the fences somewhat in later years).

     Though the Hal Roach lot was demolished in the 1960's, the Hal Roach Studios continued to exist, primarily as a distributorship, right up until The Boss' death in November of 1992. It was also the Roach Studio that perfected and patented one of the earliest forms of computer colorization in the 1980's, an enterprise that was greeted with mixed reactions, but one that restored the corporation to profitability. Roach himself, his mind sharp as a tack right up to the end, stayed active in his later years, was a frequent subject for interviews, and made a memorable TV appearance with David Letterman at the age of 96. Also in the 80s, Hal Roach was twice saluted at the Oscars, first in 1983 when he won the Lifetime Achievment Award and a few years later, when host Billy Crystal pointed him out in the audience. At that ceremony, the 100-year-old Roach made an endearing gaffe when he stood up from his seat and addressed the crowd with an impromptu speech, unaware that there was no microphone in the vicinity (Crystal quipped that Roach was merely offering the TV audience a taste of what silent films were like). Having outlived his contemporaries, Roach saw his work become a permanent fixture in American culture. The legacy created all those years ago at The Lot of Fun will last as long as people have a desire to laugh.
 
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