This programme presents a selection of silent shorts made during Leo McCarey’s formative years at Hal Roach Studios, where he began working in 1923. The films trace McCarey’s rapid ascent from gag writer to one of the studio’s key creative minds. Starting with scenario work and gag construction, he soon moved behind the camera to direct Charley Chase shorts, developing his instinct for performance, rhythm and narrative structure. By the late 1920s, he was supervising productions and shaping the work of others, most notably by bringing together Laurel & Hardy as a permanent duo and defining their comic dynamic. Seen together, these shorts reveal McCarey’s rapid development as a filmmaker — cultivating his own voice, mastering precise timing, and refining character-driven comedy within the collaborative environment of Hal Roach Studios.

Programme : 

The Poor Fish USA 1924 | Cast : Charley Chase, Beth Darlington, Sammy Brooks

Mighty Like a Moose USA 1924 | Cast : Charley Chase, Vivien Oakland, Ann Howe

Pass the Gravy USA 1928 | Fred Guiol, supervision Leo McCarey | Cast : Max Davidson, Martha Sleeper, Bert Sprotte

Wrong Again USA 1929 | Cast : Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy

Liberty USA 1929 | Cast : Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy