Hal Roach (left) with screen comic Harold Lloyd.

Hal Roach

Hollywood Pioneer

SIMPP Member (1946-1948)

Hal Roach, famous for his association with Harold Lloyd and Laurel & Hardy, was also famous for the Our Gang (a.k.a. Roach's Rascals or The Little Rascals).

He had operated as an independent since 1918 with a Pathé distribution deal. In the 1930s, as his short subjects kingdom was threatened by double features and block booking, he sold his backlog of independently-produced shorts to his distributor MGM in order to convert to feature filmmaking with films like the Topper trilogy. In 1938 Roach moved his production company to United Artists, and produced Of Mice and Men (1939) and One Million B.C. (1940).

The Hal Roach Studio where many influential filmmakers got their start got their start, including Harold Lloyd, George Stevens, Tay Garnett, Leo McCarey, and Frank Capra..

SOURCES:

Maltin and Bann, Our Gang; Dardis, Harold Lloyd, pp. 54-55

See Bibliography.