Authors
Andreas Baum
Andreas Baum (right in the photo) is an acknowledged Laurel & Hardy fan and expert. He lives in Germany and works as an author, TV journalist, director, film producer and manager. He published his first book in 1997 and works in television and film, mainly for major national and international broadcasters such as ZDF, ARD, Arte and Sky. Some of you may be familiar with his internationally successful and award-winning documentaries `The Lot of Fun: Where the Movies Learned to Laugh´, `Harold Lloyd: Hollywood's Timeless Comedy Genius´ and, of course, `Laurel and Hardy: Their Lives and Magic´, of which Stan Laurel's daughter said: “The best documentary on Laurel and Hardy I have ever seen!“
Michael Ehret
Michael Ehret (left in the photo) from Germany is a gifted drummer in his `normal´ life, playing mainly in Germany's most successful traditional jazz band, the famous `Barrelhouse Jazzband´. But Michael is also a real Laurel and Hardy fan and expert and is passionate about the life and work of Stan & Ollie. He wrote `Spot On!´ about Laurel and Hardy's 1952 British stage tour, which includes a CD with the only known audio recording of Laurel & Hardy performing the sketch `On the Spot´. Michael has also worked on a number of international TV documentaries about the genre of slapstick comedy. His year-long research has also uncovered numerous sound and film recordings of Laurel and Hardy.
The authors started with the idea for 'Laurel and Hardy: A True Love Story - THE Pictorial History of Stan & Ollie: Their Life and Work ' many years ago. They researched in archives, contacted many collectors and contemporary witnesses and so on, and more and more rare and very interesting material came together. That's why Andreas and Michael decided to put it all in two volumes - each with over 500 pages.