Pencil Sketch of the Day... 08FEB26 Long before they were known as the world’s most iconic slapstick duo, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were seasoned individual performers who crossed paths by complete accident at Hal Roach Studios. Though they first appeared in the same film, The Lucky Dog, as early as 1921, they played independent roles—Laurel as the hero and Hardy as a robber—and did not work together again for several years. Their official partnership only began in 1927 due to a literal kitchen mishap: Hardy severely burned his arm while cooking a leg of lamb, forcing the studio to bring in Laurel to fill his role in the comedy Get 'Em Young. Director Leo McCarey soon noticed the undeniable natural chemistry between the "thin one" and the "fat one," and by the release of Putting Pants on Philip later that year, the bumbling, optimistic "The Boys" were officially born.