Laurel and Hardy and the Sons of the Desert are at the heart of Bowler Dessert magazine and Bowler Dessert Online
Bulletin
03.08.11.
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Way Out West Tent back in business The Way Out West Tent of West Bromwich is back in business. We will be meeting on the last Wednesday of each month. We had our first meeting in July and the next will be on 31st August. The meetings and large screen film show will be held at The Wheatsheaf Public House, Carters Green, West Bromwich, B70 9QW. The pub's telephone number is 0121 553 422. My mobile number is 07759 670 901. Phil Ruston  We did like that! Fred Dibnah's catchphrase, "Did yer like that?" received a resounding reply on Saturday 23rd July. . . "Yes we did!" Seven (and a half) Sailors from Tent #262 visited Fred's former home, which has now been opened as the Fred Dibnah Heritage Centre. This must be the friendliest visitor attraction in the country. Owner Leon welcomed the party the way Fred would have done, very cheerfully! The stories and anecdotes started at the gate and continued throughout the tour. Alf, Fred's close friend and TV colleague, recalled many amusing escapades, and the love for Fred was obvious. You could sense Fred around the place with lots of items still there as he had left them. At the end of the fascinating tour, Leon's wife Jan welcomed us into their home for refreshments and a look around what they still consider to be "Fred's place". We sat at the table where Fred worked out his engineering plans and later chatted for a while with Alf, and it turns out that he is a fan of Laurel and Hardy! Leon and Jan must be praised for saving the property from falling into the hands of developers who wanted to flatten the site for apartments and preserving this unique piece of northern heritage for future generations. Stuart Green In the Gravy We boarded the SS Laughing Gravy for our annual trip to Ulverston on 2nd July. Wardrobe mistress, Jackie Mobbs, excelled herself this year with our brilliant sailor costumes. As they were handed out on the coach, we rehearsed a reworded version of In the Navy, renamed In the Gravy. Special mention to Jason Wandby who saved the day when the coach CD player wouldn't work. Once in Ulverston, the "crew" gathered for a quick photo shoot. Being dressed as a sailor may have confused some, which might account for why Pat Finney made a brief detour to the men's toilets! On the parade we gave lots of enthusiastic choruses of In the Gravy. And a number of people commented on how good we looked in our outfits. What a great day we had, and all bathed in glorious sunshine. In the evening, a coach load of tired but happy sailors returned home. We asked everyone to wear their outfits for our sailor themed July tent meeting, where we presented a "thank you" gift to Jackie. And we had another burst of In the Gravy. This could become a tent anthem! The Birmingham Bark (August 2011) A Salute to Stan Most Sons recall that, when Stan died in early 1965, later in November of that year there was a one-hour TV special, A Salute to Stan Laurel, shown in the USA. It was hosted by Dick Van Dyke and had an all-star cast, which included Bob Newhart, Danny Kaye, Phil Silvers, Buster Keaton, Louis Nye, Lucille Ball, Audrey Meadows, Tina Louise, Caesar Romero, Gregory Peck, Harvey Korman, Fred Gwynne, and others. Being interested in that tribute to Stan, I have collected various items associated with that show. One item I have is the press photo shown below.  But of all of the related items I have, the one I cherish the most is a tribute souvenir (memento) that was given to people directly associated with that telecast. It's a miniature hatbox with a miniature bowler hat inside.
I know that Al Kilgore and Jack McCabe received them for their consulting assistance. A friend of Stan and his wife, Ida, also received one of these mementos from Ida, and I acquired it from this friend many years ago. Here's a description: The box is oval, 3.5 inches high and 5 inches long. Note that around the edge it says "Salute to Stan Laurel." The top shows a great photo of Stan. Inside the box is a beautiful mini-bowler hat, black felt, 2.75 inches high. Also inside is a paper fold-out memento that shows the picture of a number of the stars who appeared on the show (and my photo only shows it partially unfolded). Gino Dercola |
2012 International Convention I am hoping to attend the 2012 International Convention in Manchester. Not Manchester, England, where Bacon Grabbers met for over twenty years, but Manchester, New England, which, at fifty miles, is further from the sea than our Manchester. There I hope to put in a bid to host the 2014 International Convention in Grange-over-Sands, which is less than fifteen miles off Ulverston. It will include two trips, one to Bishop Auckland and North Shields and the other will be to Glasgow in Bonnie Scotland, concentrating on the sites associated with Stan and the Boys and the Jefferson family. This may not necessarily be full of the traditional functions and events, but it will be as close to 100% Laurel and Hardy as we can squeeze in. "It could happen." Start rereading those biographies now. When we went to Georgia in 2009, we visited places associated with Babe, Madison, Milledgeville, and Harlem, and with the Boys, Jesup, so we do have the experience of a specialised tour! Chris Coffey Ollie does something to help During the Spring I worked in the Cancer Research Shop in Erdington. Like many other people, I have lost members of my family over the years due to this awful disease. I worked in the shop with others who had also experienced losing family members to cancer. Many of the customers who came into the shop would recite stories regarding lost loved ones. It makes you realise just how short life really is. So I asked the manageress, Caroline, if I could do something useful, and dress up as Oliver Hardy to raise some money. Caroline thought it was a great idea and it was decided that I would stand outside the shop with a collection bucket. To my delight, people were so generous, giving what they could afford. The word "cancer" touches so many people and it was noticeable that people from all walks of life were only too happy to dig deep into their pockets. A great big "thank you" to all of those people whose efforts raised £160, on three separate afternoons. Although I'm sure most people realised who I was supposed to be, one person asked me if I was Charlie Chaplin, and another asked if I was Adolf Hitler in a bowler hat. However, I will take this as a compliment, as both Hitler and Charlie Chaplin were slim. Although I'm pretty sure I spotted both of them going into the opticians a few minutes later. I'm pleased to say that the manageress has asked me to do another fundraising afternoon during the summer; hopefully with another member of our tent playing Stan. Here's another nice mess we could be getting ourselves into! On a final note, I would like to thank tent member lan Siddens for playing Stan so splendidly at the Hall Day.
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