 These films were cunningly conceived, with language coaches reciting the lines and the mono-lingual performers writing their lines down phonetically on cue cards.These cue cards were just out of camera range, and it was not uncommon to see an actor glance off to the side for their next cue in the days before dubbing and re-recording, but it proved to be too expensive and time-consuming.Laurel and Hardy were so popular that they proved to be irreplaceable.