left|thumb|250px|Laurel and Hardy with Lupe Vélez in Hollywood Party (1934) Laurel said to the duo's biographer John McCabe: "Of all the questions we're asked, the most frequent is, how did we come together? I always explain that we came together naturally."McCabe 1987, p. 117. Laurel and Hardy were joined by accident and grew by indirection.McCabe 1987, p. 118. In 1926, both were part of the Roach Comedy All Stars, a stock company of actors who took part in a series of films. Laurel's and Hardy's parts gradually grew larger, while those of their fellow stars diminished, because Laurel and Hardy had superior pantomime skills.McCabe 1987, p. 120. Their teaming was suggested by Leo McCarey, their supervising director from 1927 and 1930. During that period, McCarey and Laurel jointly devised the team's format.Mitchell 2010, p. 188. McCarey also influenced the slowing of their comedy action from the silent era's typically frantic pace to a more natural one. The formula worked so well that Laurel and Hardy played the same characters for the next 30 years.Skretvedt 1987, p. 54.
left|thumb|250px|Laurel and Hardy with Lupe Vélez in Hollywood Party (1934) Laurel said to the duo's biographer John McCabe: "Of all the questions we're asked, the most frequent is, how did we come together? I always explain that we came together naturally."McCabe 1987, p. 117. Laurel and Hardy were joined by accident and grew by indirection.McCabe 1987, p. 118. In 1926, both were part of the Roach Comedy All Stars, a stock company of actors who took part in a series of films. Laurel's and Hardy's parts gradually grew larger, while those of their fellow stars diminished, because Laurel and Hardy had superior pantomime skills.McCabe 1987, p. 120. Their teaming was suggested by Leo McCarey, their supervising director from 1927 and 1930. During that period, McCarey and Laurel jointly devised the team's format.Mitchell 2010, p. 188. McCarey also influenced the slowing of their comedy action from the silent era's typically frantic pace to a more natural one. The formula worked so well that Laurel and Hardy played the same characters for the next 30 years.Skretvedt 1987, p. 54.