Hal Roach interviewed by David Robinson

[Lokke Heiss]

In 1986 I had the good luck to be in attendance at the London National Film Theater for 'An Evening with Hal Roach,' in which he was interviewed for more than an hour by David Robinson. I took notes of this interview, which I posted on my website a few years ago, but this April I went back to London and transcribed essentially the whole interview. Topics include how Chaplin came up with the idea for the 'eating the shoe' scene in The Gold Rush, and his opinion of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd, among others...

Here is the link-
http://lokkeheiss.com/2019/08/25/an-eve ... ndon-1986/

[wingate]

I was there too.There was another man on stage,described as his biographer,I wonder if he ever produced that book.

[maliejandra]

Thank you for transcribing this for those of us who weren't born when this interview occurred.

Funny his comments about Reagan as president. I always wondered what his Hollywood contemporaries thought about him as a president, especially because now he is either lauded or hated.

I love that Charley Chase sent out invitations for people to hear him fart! I wonder if any of those cards still exist.

[Paul Penna]

I haven't had a chance to listen to the interview yet, but wasn't Roach kind of notorious for relating, shall we say, enhanced memories? Like the one he often told about how the house Laurel & Hardy wrecked in Big Business being the wrong one?

[Lokke Heiss]

Now that I'm over 60, I'll cut Roach some slack on that one. The problem is that even someone as famous as Hal Roach is, you typically have about 10 stories or so that everyone wants to hear, and you tell those stories over and over and over... It's basically impossible not to improve those stories, just as a comedian or humorist improves their act as they do it night after night.

This was demonstrated by my mom, who when she was about 70, had about the usual 5-10 stories about her life to tell people, then by 80, those stories had gotten a bit more dramatic, and by age of 90, these stories were what most people would call 'tall tales.' If she'd lived to 100, I wouldn't be surprised if those stories didn't include her blazing trails with Daniel Boone and telling Abe Lincoln he should go into politics!

As Roach was 94 at the time, I'd say his recounting was remarkably accurate for his age.

The guy with Hal Roach was Richard Bann, we've talked via pm, and I plan to put his name and info in some endnotes at the right time.