Bulletin
02.11.08.
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Stop press news on the Queen and statue I have had word from Ulverston. The Lord Lieutenant has contacted the statue people, saying that the Queen has visited Cumbria recently (as have Charles and Philip) and as such they cannot be involved in the unveiling ceremony. So, we're working on a list of alternatives. Watch this space for updates. Eric Woods No way! In a couple of American film and video guides I came across this. . . They Went That-a-Way and That-a-Way (1978): Two bumbling detectives pose as convicts in this madcap prison caper. Terrible rehash of Laurel and Hardy has nothing going for it. Lame prison escape comedy puts Tim Conway and Chick Martin through lacklustre routines as a road company Laurel and Hardy. Also features Richard Kiel (Jaws). One book gave it a half-star rating and the other gave it nothing. Tony Hillman Avalons A few months ago
the Avalon Boys appealed for any video
footage from their performances within the
Sons. Several people have helped them out,
including myself. I have
since been asked by David Blunt (of
the Avalons) to edit together a
compilation of their work to release as a
promotional DVD to distribute through-out
the Sons and to be shown at meetings or
other Laurel and Hardy events. I did a similar
thing a few years ago but this featured
only their performances in Wigan. The new
one will contain footage from their first
show in Derby in 2002 right through to
their last one in Hanley in
2007. A big thanks to
those who donated footage. From what have
seen of it so far, it's gonna make a swell
show! Gary
Winstanley On the web Jean Poulain spotted an unusual lobby card and poster on the Internet. 
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Jingle all the
way There is a new jingle advertising a
weekly football phone-in programme
presented by Stan Collymore. The jingle
starts with The Dance of the
Cuckoos, then two guys
impersonating Stan and Ollie,
using a play on words.
The presenters are Danny Kelly
and Stan Collymore, who
say, "It's not Stan and Ollie, it's Dan
and Collie." The guy who, in my
opinion, provides a fair impersonation of
Stan's voice sings (using different words,
appropriate to the programme being
advertised) to The
Blue Ridge Mountains of
Virginia,
and finally another fairly good
impression of Stan crying, wrongly
quoting,
"Here's another fine mess"
etc. But it is an entertaining and
amusing little jingle,
and it also proves (as if proof
were needed) that the Boys
are still to the
fore! This jingle
is aired frequently during
the advert breaks, usually a few
days before the midweek
programme. John
Bogie Reasons to be cheerful While looking through some old Bowler Desserts I noted a small piece of news on page 5 of No 44, Summer 1993. This said that the venue for the Laurel and HarDay had burned down and the extravaganza planned for 6th March had to be rescheduled to September. As we all know this became an "Annual Event" (!) on the first weekend in September and I always think of it as the "last" Sons event of the year. We'll never know if it would have been as successful if it was held in March. Anyway, Chris Coffey (and his team) deserve a tip of the bowler for providing many happy memories over the years. Another tip to Willie for the 70th edition of the one and only Bowler Dessert. We are very lucky to have such a professional standard magazine linking the Sons of the Desert. Congratulations, Willie, on Another Fine Magazine! Grahame Morris |
Here is something to add to Eric Willoughby's A Georgia Boyhood (Bowler Dessert 70, page 32). . .
While writing and then publishing my last film comedy book on So, What About Those Old Cars in Early Comedy Films? and the Ollie Also and Stanie too Old Car Museum in Harlem, Georgia, I got to know and spend time with Gary and Jean Russeth's realtor during the Laurel and Hardy Festival held each October in Harlem. He lives right across the road from the Russeths and their Old Car Museum in Harlem. He is Dr Jim Lewis, the former Mayor of Harlem, who started the Laurel and Hardy Festival twenty years ago and is a cousin of Oliver Hardy. Twenty years ago I heard of two of Ollie's aunts or cousins who worked for a friend of mine in Atlanta, GA. Jim and his wife Mim are great friends of the Russeths as well and I look forward to having dinner with them each year during the Festival, at the Russeths' Old Car Museum, to which he keeps adding car models. Sons who come from the UK should visit Gary and Jean and ask about former Mayor Lewis. Eric's article about Ollie's many aunts and cousin makes sense to me now. I also met two other cousins who dropped in at the Laurel and Hardy Museum during the Festival who also lived in Georgia.
John de Santo