Laurel and Hardy
and the
Sons of the Desert
are at the heart of
Bowler Dessert magazine
and
Bowler Dessert Online

Bulletin

01.09.11.
 

Laurel and HarDay 2011

Wigan

Saturday 3rd September - 1pm until 6pm

Good blog

Below is a blog site which has a well-known recording of an interview of Stan Laurel by Arthur B Friedman in 1957, shortly after Ollie's death. It's nearly 75 minutes long, but if you've never heard it, it's interesting to hear so much of the Laurel and Hardy history from Stan, directly. Thanks to fellow Son, Barry Stoltze of Atlanta, for bringing this site to my attention.

When you get to the site and find the screen to listen to the interview, click on the forward arrow to get it started.

Gino Dercola

James's art

Young James Ross, of the Call of the Cuckoos Tent in Glasgow, thanks us for mentioning his birthday and drew this sketch of his heroes for us in appreciation.

Killing

In a publicity brochure for the film The Killing of Sister George, in which Susannah York and Beryl Reid dress up as Laurel and Hardy, there's this piece. . .

Shades of Stan and Ollie!

The genius of Laurel and Hardy was unknown to Susannah York before she signed to star in The Killing of Sister George. Susannah and Beryl Reid dress up as Laurel and Hardy to go to a fancy dress party at a "women only" club. Susannah had never seen these two great comedians and because she wanted to study the mannerisms of her fancy dress character, Stan Laurel, she hunted for their old films in London cinemas. Today Susannah is a dedicated Laurel and Hardy fan. She says, "I think they were brilliant."

Tony Hillman

 

Letter from Stan

Part of a letter written by Stan Laurel to Sam Rubin on 5th October 1963 (and newly posted on the Letters from Stan website) reads. . .

Personally I think the Silent films were more effective for L&H, but the sound was of great value in enhancing the effects - dialog eliminated a lot of action & sight gags - I always feel that "action" speaks louder than words. Sight gags had to be planned, they required timing & mechanics. Occasionally spontaneity would arise in the shooting of the scenes.

The pies were generally whipped cream, but in Battle of the Century film, we used 4,000 pies & they were actually real pies (filling et al.) & were supplied by the Los Angeles Pie Company. A fresh wagon load was delivered to the studio set each day of shooting that sequence.

My Favourite Joke

I was flicking through TV channels and came across this:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b013ngg1/My_Favourite_Joke_Episode_5/

It features reviews of Jack Dee, Woody Allen and Richard Pryor amongst others, as well as Stan and Babe. The talking heads piece is based around comedians describing a clip of film, in the Boys' case snippets from County Hospital, and their views upon what makes the comedian(s) that they describe as funny.

Although not my preferred type of programme, it was nice to see the Boys in any guise back on the Beeb, albeit for a five-minute slot.

John Burton

  • My Favourite Joke was on BBC1 on 19th August.

Black book

I recently purchased The Little Black Book of Movies. It has good reviews on The Battle of the Century, Sons of the Desert and Tit For Tat, with a couple of photos of the Boys.

I also found the following excerpt, taken from a Czechoslovakian film entitled Daisies:

Key Scene - The Food Orgy: Eventually, the heroines' plotless wanderings bring them via a dumbwaiter to a huge banquet hall filled with delicacies.

After tentatively sampling a few dishes, they start sinking their hands into the sauces, devouring chickens, swilling  diverse kinds of liquor, mixing together different dishes, gorging on pastries, and finally engaging in a food fight worthy of Laurel and Hardy. Then they start dancing on the table, swinging from an ornate chandelier, and smashing plates and glasses.

Another excerpt is from a review of a film named Chimes at Midnight, starring Orson Welles as Falstaff in a scene from The Battle of Shrewsbury. "It begins with massed armies and chivalric pageantry, but soon it becomes unclear who's fighting who. Falstaff (Welles) scurries back and forth, trying to avoid combat, screen direction gets confused, the Shropshire mud covers knights and infantrymen alike as they hack at each other, and Welles slips into slow-motion to emphasise how elephantine is the whole pointless, tragic mess. The scene is wordless, touched by the anarchic schoolboy retribution of Laurel and Hardy."

John Bogie

Bonnie blog

The Bonnie Scotland Tent announces its blog, which can be found at http://www.bonniescotlandpaisley.blogspot.com. It contains news of upcoming meetings and past tent news.

Did you see?

On BBC4 on 11th August Paul Merton's Weird and Wonderful World of Early Cinema was about the early days of comedy in the silent cinema.

John Bogie