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Which Scottish curmudgeon began with Stan and Ollie as one of Hal Roach's All Stars, and over time became probably their best known supporting player and opponent? His highly energetic and over-the-top 'double take and fade away' never fails to get a laugh.

James Finlayson. Like Stan, the great Jimmy Finlayson arrived as a Hollywood hopeful, after abandoning a touring British music hall skit in 1916. Although he started as one of the original Keystone Kops, he is now remembered fondly for the 33 appearances he made with L&H, perhaps the pinnacle coming in "Big Business", as he and the boys take turns to deliberately destroy a house and a car. As evidenced from photos of the period, he suprisingly only appeared with a mustache in the movies, not in real life.

Which great comedienne and former beauty queen appeared with the Marx Brothers as well as L&H?

Thelma Todd. Thelma Todd appeared in L&H's simple two-reelers like "Another Fine Mess" as well as their more complex operetta-style movies, including "The Bohemian Girl". It was while making the latter that she supposedly committed suicide at the age of only 30. She was found in her parked car poisoned by carbon monoxide. The death was suspiciously connected to the mob but was never satisfactorily solved.

Another long-term L&H foil, and another to have jousted with the Marx Brothers (in their classic "Duck Soup"), this large, bald and florid opponent was famous for his well-paced 'slow burn'. Who was he?

Edgar Kennedy. Although Kennedy, like Jimmy Finlayson, began his career as an early frantic Keystone Kop, his signature 'slow burn' featured a steady build-up in response to irritation, finally exploding into a spluttering, hair-tugging volcano. He appeared with L&H as a figure of authority (e.g. a policeman, in "Leave 'Em Laughing"), as a harrassed neighbor, and even as a family member ("The Perfect Day"), but always as the recipient of some disaster.

Tall, somewhat cadaverous and with a prominent Roman nose, this old English buddy of Stan Laurel's served many years with the team as writer, gagman, actor and director, including the role of Simple Simon in "Babes in Toyland". What was his name?

Charley Rogers. Charley Rogers worked with the boys from 1928 to 1943, pretty much the entire length of the L&H team's film career, and directed the classic film pair "Them Thar Hills" and "Tit For Tat".

Which actress went on to fame and fortune as Hollywood's Original Blond Bombshell, but began her career in a couple of L&H silents, including one in which her dress is ripped off?

Jean Harlow. Another actress who died tragically young (in her case aged only 26), Harlean Carpenter (Jean Harlow's real name) went into movies in 1926 only to please her mother. Her L&H career spanned only three movies, her last ("Bacon Grabbers") being as the wife (if you can believe it) of Edgar Kennedy.

One of L&H's favorite heavies, this pugnacious character appeared as a prison inmate in "Pardon Us", and had a hilarious boxing match with Stan in "Any Old Port". What was his name?

Walter Long. Walter Long was, by all accounts, a much nicer man than his violent L&H characters suggest - as gangster Butch in "Going Bye-Bye", he ends up tying the boys' legs around their necks !

Another L&H staple, which fiery Australian actress usually portrayed the shrewish wife of one of the boys, or some unhinged crazy woman, as in "Oliver the Eighth"?

Mae Busch. Mae Busch was carving out a successful career as a serious actress in early Hollywood when she suffered a nervous breakdown in the 20s and was eagerly snapped up by the Hal Roach studio. Like several of L&H's leading ladies, however, she died young, being only in her forties.

Which diminutive character (another of Stan's old stage buddies from England), usually belied his size by making the boys' lives trouble, as in the delicious tit-for-tat short called, well, "Tit For Tat"?

Charlie Hall. Charlie Hall, like Stan, began in the classic British music hall comedy troop run by Fred Karno (which also, incidentally, begat Chaplin). Frequently playing a feisty rival to the boys ("The Live Ghost", "Busy Bodies", Them Thar Hills"), his nickname was 'The Little Nemesis'.

What was the name of the brunette actress who appeared with L&H from early silent days (even before Stan and Ollie developed their characters), also often playing a nagging wife? She was a talented comedienne in her own right, as evidenced in movies like "From Soup To Nuts".

Anita Garvin. Anita Garvin was a regular in L&H shorts, but sadly only appeared very briefly in two of their features, "Swiss Miss" and "A Chump At Oxford". She lived until the mid-1990s and has therefore been a major source of recent knowledge about their movies.

This silent movie leading-light didn't actually appear in an offical Laurel and Hardy movie. However, after the coming of sound effectively finished his career, he did work as a gagman on several L&H films such as "A Chump at Oxford", and even became Stan's short-lived 'replacement' as Babe Hardy's partner (during contract problems) in "Zenobia". Who was he?

Harry Langdon. While Langdon was one of the silent movies' biggest stars after Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, his career took a nosedive when his inflated ego caused him to break with his long-time director (and arguably the power behind his fame) the young Frank Capra. When Hal Roach was having continuing trouble agreeing to a contract with Stan, he made the decision that a new Langdon-Hardy team was needed. Audience response did not agree with him.