publication_date hats off 
Stan Laurel ( born Arthur Stanley Jefferson ; ___MASK68___ June 1890  23 ___MASK43___ ) was an English comic actor , writer , and film director , most famous for his role in the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy . He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films , feature films , and cameo roles . A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film . Although no consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn , the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as " an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less , including all credits ". The term featurette originally applied to a film longer than a short subject , but shorter than a standard feature film . The bowler hat , also known as a bob hat , bombín or derby ( USA ), is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown , created originally during ___MASK52___ . The bowler , a protective and durable hat style , was popular with the British and American working classes during the remaining 19th century , and later with the middle and upper classes in the United Kingdom and the eastern United States . Laurel and Hardy were a comedy double act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema . The team was composed of thin Englishman Stan Laurel ( ___MASK27___  1965 ) and heavyset American Oliver Hardy ( ___MASK18___  ___MASK75___ ). They became well known during the late 1920s through the mid - 1940s for their slapstick comedy , with Laurel playing the clumsy and childlike friend of the pompous 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 . Hats Off is a silent short film starring American comedy double act Laurel and Hardy . The team appeared in a total of 107 films between 1921 and ___MASK37___ . Oliver Norvell " Babe " Hardy ( born Norvell Hardy ; January ___MASK85___ , ___MASK18___  August 7 , ___MASK75___ ) was an American comic actor famous as one - half of Laurel and Hardy , the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted ___MASK83___ years , from ___MASK86___ to 1951 . 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 some of his early works , he was billed as " Babe Hardy ", using his nickname . Featurette is a term used in the American film industry to designate a film usually of three reels in length , or about ___MASK32___  40 minutes in running time , thus longer than a two - reel short subject but shorter than a feature film . Hence , it is a " small feature " ( the ending "- ette " is a common diminutive suffix derived from French ). The term was commonly used from before the start of the sound era into the 1960s , when films of such length as the Hal Roach ' s Streamliners  and several French films of that length  ceased being made , or were made as experimental or art films and subsumed under the more general rubric of short . Its use outside the USA is unknown , although it was as commonly applied to foreign imports as to domestic productions within that country .