Article

Jan 2009

The Great Ku-Ku Debate

aka: "The Ku-ku Song",
aka: "Coo! Coo!",
aka: "Dance of the Cuckoos",
aka: "The Laurel and Hardy Theme"

For those involved in the great debate, below is what we believe to be the most accurate elucidation regarding the Boys signature tune, unless, of course, you know more... !

Liner notes to the Beau-Hunks "Laurel and Hardy" CD reveal that the motif of this ditty was originally composed as a comic time cue for a radio program. This program aired on radio station KFVD located at the Hal Roach Studios in L.A. The show was called "The Cuckoo Hour".

According to composer Marvin Hatley, when Stan Laurel heard it, he asked the composer if he could use it for his theme song, so Hatley embellished the short motif, incorporating a background motif in another key representing "Babe" Hardy. Stan felt the song's melody represented Hardy's character, pompus and dramatic, while the harmony represented his own character somewhat out of key, and only able to register two notes: "coo-coo".

According to the book "Stan and Ollie, the roots of comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy" by Simon Louvish, the revised "Coo! Coo!" time cue - now called "Ku-Ku", or "The Ku-Ku Song" was first used as a background cue in the 1930 Laurel and Hardy film "Night Owls." But when it was re-used in "Brats" during the scene when Laurel and Hardy play themselves as babies, the audience howled. Roach was said to have paid Hatley a flat fee of $50 for the rights to use the "Ku-Ku" song from that point on, and Hatley was given more work at the Roach studios.

Marvin Hatley had worked his way up in the Hal Roach organization from a member of a "The Happy-Go-Lucky" Trio which played music live for the radio station, to a composer of music for comic short soundfilms. Eventually he became the primary composer of Hal Roach feature films. Another up-and-coming composer Roach hired later was Leroy "Roy" Shield, who followed in Hatley's footsteps, and first wrote for the Laurel Hardy soundfilm shorts, while Hatley scored the longer feature-length films. But the copyright notice in 1932 credited Leroy Shield as the "arranger" of the work.

The original theme was recorded by two clarinets in 1930.

Composer:
T. Marvin Hatley (ASCAP/BMI)
[original arrangement by Leroy Shield, credited in the copyright notice.]

[In 1932, lyrics were added for the piece, now called "Dance of the Cuckoos", which was played by the London Symphony Orchestra. The lyrics were by Harry Steinberg.]

Composition Date:
Circa 1928 for radio station KFVD.

Publishers:
Original Publisher: Southern Music Ltd. (ASCAP)
1978 Publisher: Hatley Music Co. (ASCAP), and Herman Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
1997 Publisher:  APRS (BMI), [Southern Music Pub. Co.] c/o Peermusic, of New York.

Copyright Dates:
(as the "Coo! Coo!" time signal): Feb 12, 1930;
(as "Ku-Ku"): Aug 29, 1932;
(an arrangement of "Ku-ku" by LeRoy Shield, which was an expanded version published by Robbins Music): July 30, 1936.