Welcome to a Pandemic of Collective Grief Mickey Z.

Photo credit: Mickey Z.

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust

June 7, 2020

“I could not count the times during the average day when something would come up that I needed to tell him. This impulse did not end with his death. What ended was the possibility of response.” (Joan Didion)

From their initial pairing in 1927, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made up one of the 20th century’s most beloved comedy duos. Upon Hardy’s death in 1957, Laurel wrote: “What’s there to say? He was like a brother. That’s the end of the history of Laurel and Hardy.”

And he meant it. Stan Laurel never again appeared on stage or in a film. He lived out a solitary life in a tiny apartment in Santa Monica, California -- answering fan mail and his telephone. His number was listed, so he’d often end up chatting with any curious fan who dialed.

Laurel was notoriously the workaholic of the two comics -- perpetually conjuring up gags for the team. After Oliver passed, Stan never stopped writing bits for him and his partner. Until his own death in 1965, Laurel privately and lovingly penned sketches he knew would never be performed.

This is an incredible expression of mourning from within a culture of grief-denial.

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