Scott MacGillivray (born June 29, 1957) is an American non-fiction author specializing in motion picture history.
His book Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward, revised and expanded in 2009, chronicles the later films of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Some of his other books are The Soundies Book: A Revised and Expanded Guide (2007, co-authored with Ted Okuda), Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven (2005, co-authored with Jan MacGillivray), and Castle Films: A Hobbyist's Guide (2004, foreword by Okuda).
Stan Laurel was an English comic actor, writer, and film director who was part of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.
Oliver Norvell Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1927 to 1955. He appeared with his comedy partner Stan Laurel in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles. He was credited with his first film Outwitting Dad in 1914. In most of his silent films before joining producer Hal Roach, he was billed on screen as "Babe Hardy."
Soundies were three-minute American musical 16mm films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood, between 1940 and 1946, each containing a song, dance and/or band or orchestral number.
MacGillivray has been the chairman of the Boston chapter of the international Laurel and Hardy society The Sons of the Desert since 1977, and is the longest-tenured chairman in the organization. His commentaries appear on 20th Century-Fox's DVD set The Laurel and Hardy Collection, Volume 2.
Laurel and Hardy were a comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. The team was composed of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). They became well known during the late 1920s to the mid-1940s for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy and childlike friend of the pompous bully Hardy. The duo's signature tune is known variously as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos". It was played over the opening credits of their films and has become as emblematic of the duo as their bowler hats.
The Sons of the Desert is an international fraternal organization devoted to the lives and films of comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The group takes its name from a fictional lodge that Laurel and Hardy belonged to in the 1933 movie Sons of the Desert.
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation is an American film studio currently owned by Fox Entertainment Group, itself owned by 21st Century Fox. One of the "Big Six" major American film studios, it was formed from the merger of the Fox Film Corporation and Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935, and is located in the Century City area of Los Angeles. The studio was owned by News Corporation from 1984 to 2013. On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company announced its intention to acquire the studio along with the majority of 21st Century Fox's other entertainment assets, which was approved by both companies on July 27, 2018.
