Bulletin
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A big thank you to those Sons who responded to my idea and became members of this special club. The Statue Appeal now requires less than £4,000 to be completed! But more club members are needed. Please consider helping to achieve the final total and send your donation of £100 to Eric Woods, Laurel House, 102 Hough Green Road, Widnes, Cheshire, WA8 4PF. Cheques should be made payable to The Laurel and Hardy Statue Appeal. Pat Finney
The launch of Bill Roth's new Their First Mistake Tent went very well at the Old Colonial Theatre in PA on Saturday 27th September. After giving Bill and his wife Gretchen a hand to set up the tables in the foyer of the theatre, I switched roles and became a "greeter". 120 persons of all ages turned out to see what all the fuss was about, which we thought was a good turnout considering that none of the newspapers Bill had contacted printed news of the forthcoming show. As people wandered in, I asked several of the young children if they had ever seen or heard about Laurel and Hardy. It saddens me to say this, but not one of them had! Still, I'm delighted to say that the show was a great success. The films shown were Brats, Hog Wild and Way Out West in that order. Bill's guarantee to the audience was that they could have their money back if they didn't laugh out loud. Not chuckle or giggle - laugh out loud! It was wonderful to see and hear kids of all ages laughing out loud at the Boys. The films were shown on the large screen in 35mm and all were superb prints. Obviously Bill will have to do what other tents are doing at future shows and turn to DVD, but he hopes to be able to show more 35mm films in the future. Gretchen had slaved over a hot stove for several hours, baking cookies, which were placed on trays in the foyer for all to enjoy and, while people were busy munching, Bill was explaining to them what the Sons is all about. Several people expressed interest in assisting with the running of the new tent in the future. All in all it was a great start and I was delighted to have been there. David Oyston Laughter is the cure I was watching a few music videos on cable TV when I came across the original video of Friday I'm in Love by the 1980s band The Cure. The video is based around the band being in a stage area with different backdrops unfurling behind the drummer. After about a minute two Laurel and Hardy lookalikes appear delivering a bed. They start to fight with the bedding and Ollie gives Stan a frustrated stare. Stan then appears without his customary jacket, but wearing a turban type headpiece similar to the one the real Stan wore in A-Haunting We Will Go, making comical errors. They appear in further parts of the video in the background amongst chaos. It was a great bit of fun - and it was a nice surprise to see the Boys in a music video different to The Trail of the Lonesome Pine. John Burton Sally Morgan - Star Psychic There was a programme on ITV on 14th October called Sally Morgan - Star Psychic. Sally was given items and had to say what she could "tell" about the person associated with them. She made a good stab with a hand-mirror, saying that it was used by a man, not a woman, and that the man had thick, dark hair and a moustache. Although she could not name him, Clark Gable was the man in question. She was then given a battered bowler hat. She laughed as soon as she held it in her hands and said that the person who wore it was some sort of comedian. She said that she sensed a British connection - at which point I thought she was going to focus on Chaplin - but she said that she also got a sense of America too from holding the hat. She asked the host whether it may have been worn by Laurel and Hardy. The host confirmed that it belonged to one of them and then asked her which one. She immediately responded, saying it had belonged to Oliver Hardy. . . which it had. Gerry Dunne Persian Sea One of my friends is a keen linguist and often watches foreign TV programmes in order to learn more about languages. Early in October he was watching Iranian TV when a programme about Laurel and Hardy came on. He said that there was an interview with two elderly guys who had provided the voices of Stan and Ollie. The documentary also included dubbed (in Persian!) clips from Saps at Sea. Dean Carroll |
When the Laughing Gravy Tent of
Birmingham started fifteen years ago, we
decided that membership would include a
copy of Bowler Dessert. I always make a point of showing the
magazine to new people who come along to
our meetings. They are always impressed by
the quality and high standard of Bowler
Dessert, and it often leads to new
members. Of course we have to thank Willie
McIntyre for producing such a superb
magazine, and the latest copy (number 70)
is more impressive than ever! Once
again Willie has raised the
bar for us all to follow. I can't
wait to show the latest offering at our
next meeting. John
Ullah |
Graham Ibbeson's
statue of Les Dawson is being unveiled live on
The One Show on BBC1 this Thursday (23rd
October). Graham has told Eric Woods that they are
very interested in covering our Laurel and Hardy
statue unveiling in Ulverston next April.
Bowler
Dessert