I’m currently in Naples and am seeing a lot of public artwork featuring Stan Laurel. For example, the underground train station Napoli Piazza Garibaldi has an enormous posterized mural depicting Laurel. (Unfortunately it was severely damaged by vandals in the last few hours.) Nearby in the city there’s a restaurant whose logo is a caricature of Laurel. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen his face elsewhere in the city. These images are made even more conspicuous by the complete absence of Oliver Hardy.
Does Stan Laurel have some special connection to Naples? Did he work or study or live here? Why are there all these monuments to him alone and not to the Laurel and Hardy duo?
I’ve asked my brother-in-law (a long-time Son Of The Desert) for any insights he may have. In the meantime, I found this which might lead to an answer.
Yes, it’s SFW and etc. I’m TreacherousCretin and I approved this link.
I can’t find a connection, but Stan Laurel was such a beloved and well known comedy actor it wouldn’t surprise me to see his image posted just about anywhere.
How so? That article explains why the Laurel and Hardy duo are popular and memorable in Italy. It doesn’t explain why I’m seeing lots of monuments to Stan Laurel but none (so far, anyway) to Oliver Hardy. It also doesn’t explain the Neapolitan connection—neither of the two actors who did the Italian dubs were from Naples.
At the Circumvesuviana station in Piazza Garibaldi there was a beautiful mural dedicated to Totò by very bright blues. Street art works also begin at Naples stations that are not part of Metro 1’s art stations . The beautiful murals were made by two artists named Orticanoodles, nicknamed the two Italians Alita and Wally, and is an opera called " I Need to See You ", and it is back to the title of a poem written by Totò himself. Like all travelers who, waiting for the train, look at it closely. The project was promoted by Eav who now manages the Circumvesuviana railway together with the Inward association and is part of aa larger street art project that will be made on ten stations and the next will be the one of San Giovanni in Teduccio.
My cursory (and mistaken) glance at the website left me thinking it was Stan Laurel who was remembered as having delivered the memorable (in Italian) line “stuPIdo”. :smack:
It may not explain, but suggests a possible connection. Also, your original premise may not be accurate, mentioning “all these monuments to Laurel alone” (you list exactly two, plus “pretty sure” there were more), and “the complete absence of Oliver Hardy” which is disproved by the only relevant photo on the website I linked- an Oliver Hardy statue (no Stan Laurel visible) in Naples.
Still waiting to hear from my brother-in-law.
ETA: I think the issue has been settled. Just saw the other link.
Well, I spent yesterday walking all over Naples. I counted about 20 instances of the “Laurel” figure (statues, figurines, photos, posters, murals, souvenir magnets, etc.) but only two of Hardy. Eventually I came to the same conclusion that was already posted upthread: most of the faces I saw were not Laurel but rather someone who looks remarkably like him. It turns out that the Neapolitan actor Totò has the same long, thin face, and often took to wearing a bowler. I had never heard of Totò before yesterday but noticed the name on some of the posters.
Yes, it’s this image, and similar ones with him in the bowler and the silly expression, which are plastered all over Naples. I hope others here can now forgive me for mistakenly thinking that this was Stan Laurel.
