News briefing
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Dirty Work Tent There is a new tent in Wigan, the Dirty Work Tent, oasis #277. Its meeting venue has still to be announced. The Grand Sheik is Gary Winstanley, 62 Baker Street, Wigan, WN3 5HQ. E-mail: dirtywork@sky.com. Website/forum: www.stanandollie.co.uk. The Big Noise Tent A new tent called The Big Noise Tent has been founded to help to cater to the needs of house-bound and disabled Sons everywhere. The Grand Sheik is Chris Coffey, 37 Holbrook Close, St Helens, Merseyside, WA9 3XH. Phone: 01744 817130. E-mail: chrispcoffey@googlemail.com. Another Fine Mess in Ireland The Another Fine Mess Tent of Northern Ireland will be meeting next Saturday evening (20th September) at the Pavilion in Belfast. Our theme will be the International Convention and we will be showing three films as a tribute to all Sons who came to Amsterdam in July and had a swell time. We are opening with Perfect Day as our tribute to Robert, Map, Anton, Sjaak and Bram for hosting the event. We follow that with Short Kilts in honour of our near neighbours and worthy intra-tent quiz winners. During the break we are going to read out the names of all the tents that were represented, just to give everyone a good sense of the scale of the event, and after that we will finish with Our Relations as a tribute to all of the delegates. We're also putting together a special commemorative edition of our magazine Another Fine Gazette, which will be packed with photos of the convention as our way of remembering this great occasion. Visit the tent's site at http://www.anotherfinesite.com/Meetings.htm.  One Night: Stan I shall be performing my one-man show One Night: Stan at the Liverpool Actors' Studio (phone 0151 709 9036) on 6th till 9th November. On previous outings in Edinburgh, London and Harrogate I have had the pleasure of meeting many Sons who have enjoyed the show. I look forward to meeting and chatting to more of you in Liverpool. Miles Gallant
The Bacon Grabbers Tent's 19th birthday will not be celebrated at its usual Manchester venue. It will be at the Theatre Organ Heritage Centre, on the west side of Manchester. The birthday evening on Wednesday 15th October will have silent movies, including Bacon Grabbers.  Laurel and Hardy Christmas cards I am taking orders for Christmas cards again this year. There's a little more info on the Laurel and Hardy Forum. What I've decided to do is to take pre-orders and that way I'll know how many boxes to make. This year they will come as a pack of 10, all individually made, colours of red, gold and navy, A6 size cream cards and envelopes included. The cost will be £9.99 with no charge for postage and packing. Brand new drawings!
Did you see? On 25th August Channel 5 repeated Ken Dodd's Comedy Heroes. Ken said that Laurel and Hardy were his favourite comedy duo. This was illustrated by clips from The Flying Deuces and The Stolen Jools. On 1st September Channel 5 repeated Bruce Forsyth's Comedy Heroes. I missed the programme but Laurel and Hardy were mentioned in the TV schedules. Dean Carroll Kneesie-Earsie-Nosey World Championships As Joe Wilson had to pull out on the eve of the Laurel and HarDay, this left Mark Johnson, Duncan Whysall and Heppy to represent the Brats Tent. Heppy withdrew seconds before the competition was due to start due to a "nervous shakedown", leaving a spare seat in the final. Without prior training, I duly took up Heppy's place. Things were looking gloomy as, of the twelve competitors who started, by the time we were down to the last seven, both myself and Mark had been eliminated, myself finishing 9th and Mark a creditable 8th (one place higher than last year - well done!). However, the real dark horse was Duncan who had previously participated but had been eliminated early for having a beard. He employed a tactic which fooled judges by having a beard trim prior to the event!  An outstanding effort saw Duncan (above) into the final, where he was beaten "by a whisker" due to insufficient bribery of the judges. But we now have amongst our members the World Championship Runner-up! A master class will be expected from him at our forthcoming University meeting. John Burton Jo's
jottings In the Sunday
Mail (25.06.08.) crossword one
question asked, "What is the name of an
opera by Auber?" Of course the answer was
Fra Diavolo. Flog It!
(BBC2, 27.06.08.) featured an autograph
for sale. On Big
Brother (C4, 08.07.08.) two of the
contestants were talking to each other and
Mario said to Mikey, "That's another nice
mess you got me into, Stanley!" I was
channel-hopping and I stumbled upon Frank
Skinner's Tough Gig (ITV1,
29.07.08.). He was chatting and talking
about his life and what he remembers back
in his childhood. He said, "Mum and Dad
bought me some Laurel and Hardy items each
week. They cost about £1.50 each and
I am still a big fan." Josh was watching
Channel 5's Milkshake on 5th
August. A character called Flash said to
Rory, "It's another fine mess I got myself
into!" Josh came running into the room to
tell me! Reading more of
my Norman Wisdom book, on page 180 I found
another reference to the Boys. .
. Whilst playing at
the Prince of Wales with my show Paris to
Piccadilly one stage hand ran to me in a
flurry of excitement and said to me,
"You'll never guess who's out front,
Norman - Laurel and Hardy!" And there they
were, four rows back in the stalls. I did
something extremely rare that night: I
asked permission to go out front during
the interval and chat with them - and the
whole audience cheered us to the echo!
Stan and Ollie stood up and took a bow,
and then Stan said to me: "Bit different
from Brussels, eh?" "Not 'arf," I agreed.
"How did you get on there?" "We survived,"
said Ollie. "By the seat of our
pants." Jo
Mitchell-Waite Look-A-Likes The Oliver Hardy Festival in downtown Harlem, Georgia will be on Saturday 4th October, 2008, with the Sons of the Desert reception on Friday evening of 3rd October. This will be the 15th year in a row for the Look-A-Likes from Ohio to be a part of this annual community event and to preside as Parade Grand Marshals, including a week of being in costume at various locations. The Look-A-Likes have been featured in four travel brochures since July 2002, promoting Harlem, the Laurel and Hardy Museum of Harlem, Georgia (the only Laurel and Hardy museum in America and the third such museum in the world) and the Oliver Hardy Festival. The travelling public who visit the Georgia 1-20 Travel and Information Center at Augusta will see an almost life-size colour photo of the Look-A-Likes. This photo is the second edition. The Look-A-Likes have a Georgia connection, as the grandfather of Dennis (Stan) Moriarty, Dennis J Moriarty, lived and worked in Atlanta and is buried in the Westview cemetery. Our hero Oliver Norvell Hardy's mother is interred at the Westview cemetery also and Dennis's late father, George E Moriarty, lived his teen years in Smyrna, Georgia. Dennis and Dale as Stan and Ollie held the red ribbon for the cutting and official dedication of the Laurel and Hardy Museum of Harlem on 15th July 2002. The Grand Opening was seen worldwide on CNN. Dennis Moriarty |
Faker
arrested A con woman is
facing prison for selling photographs of
celebrities such as Princess Diana, Sean
Connery and Laurel and Hardy signed with
forged autographs. Louise Marney made more
than £13,000 from the fraud, which
she carried out over the
internet. The 32-year-old,
of Walter's Road, Neath, was arrested
after an investigation by Neath Port
Talbot Council consumer watchdogs. It was
the first time they had dealt with such a
case and they brought in experts to
confirm the signatures were
fake. Website
thisissouthwales.co.uk
(08.09.08.)
Bookmarks Stan Laurel is mentioned in the Al Murray Pub Landlord book (2007) on a world map. In a book called The Reavers by George MacDonald Fraser (2007), George wrote: "Fire! Thieves! Popery! The Dagoes have landed!" wenches scream, grooms rush to the kitchen with clubs and find Archie helpless with his foot stuck in a bucket. "'Tis Edgar Kennedy! Down with him! Seize him!" is the immediate diagnosis. George also wrote a piece about his interview with Oliver Hardy in The Oldie magazine in the late 1990s. A book called Rude Kids - the Unfeasible story of Viz (2004) is by Chris Donald, the Viz founding editor. Below are a few passages: My dad Jimmy was always a joker. He constantly used humour to cope with Mum's illness. He introduced us to Laurel and Hardy and the Goons, and before we had our own telly he'd take us to a friend's house once a week to watch The Morecambe and Wise Show. |