Click on one of the links/subject titles below
or simply browse down the page to view all the latest
Laurel and Hardy news
(click on the bowler hats between each article of
news to return to the top of the page):
A new play by James Phillips,
Stan and Babe, is to be
débuted at The Casa in Liverpool
on Wednesday 27th, Friday 29th
and Saturday 30th May 2009.
Stan Laurel and Oliver 'Babe' Hardy have brought comfort, joy
and laughter for almost a century. Their unpretentious
genius has been a source of inspirations to millions.
But
to Ken and Billy Clayton, preserving the memory of 'The Boys'
has become their only hope of solace in a world they no longer
understand. A world they have, rather foolishly, invited
around to judge them one last time...
Like W.C. Theatre Company's previous productions 'Fear and
Loathing in Liscard and Vegas' (2007) and 'Scolnus:
Founder of America' (2008), 'Stan and Babe'
explores the struggle between powerless individuals and an
unfeeling society.
Tickets cost £8.00 and £5.00 (concessions). They can be
obtained in person at The Casa (info on 0151 709 2148), 29 Hope
Street, Liverpool L1 9BQ, or from Usher Travel Service (call
0151 638 5926), 27 Wallasey Road, Liscard — all major credit
cards accepted, postage service unavailable.
The Another Fine Mess Tent has
begun online petitions to try to
get Laurel and Hardy back on TV
both in the UK and
internationally.
We
urge everyone to visit the site
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/25788.html and sign our
petition in the hope that TV executives will wake up and get the
boys back on our screens!
In
fact PLEASE get all your friends and work colleagues to sign the
petitions too.
A
STATUE of Ulverston-born comedy great Stan Laurel and his
Hollywood movie partner Oliver Hardy will be unveiled in his
home town on Sunday April 19.
The day before will be Love Stan day in the Evening Mail as a
special Memories supplement will be devoted to Stan and will
include a full programme of events leading up to the official
unveiling by Ken Dodd.
Most of you will have seen the
classic pictures of Stan returning to Ulverston as part of a
British tour with Ollie in 1947.
If
you were there on that historic day we would like to here from
you.
Perhaps you have travelled with
world with the Stan Laurel fan club – Sons of the Desert. Share
your experiences with the Memories Page.
Along with Superman and the
naughty nurse, Stan must be among the world’s most asked-for
fancy dress outfit. Why not send in a picture of your attempt to
look like Stan.
Has your family tree research thrown up likes [sic — we
assume "links"] to the Laurel family. Get in touch with
Bill Myers with your
findings.
We were surfing recently and
encountered an astounding image
on
http://bereftontheleft.blogspot.com
. It seems to show Stan
Laurel in the 21st century...!
The accompanying narrative,
however, explains
"The ghost of Stan Laurel?
No, it's the talented comedian
and voice artist ("Beanie &
Cecil"), Jim MacGeorge.
The longtime Yarmyite has
appeared in TV commercials (Aamco
Windshield Wipers) and onstage
as Laurel (partnered with Chuck
McCann's Oliver Hardy.) He
often performs for the
ultra-exclusive Bohemian Club."
We have to say...by
MacGeorge, he sure had us fooled!
Carol Rugh has forwarded an
email from Rich Finegan, which
includes a lengthy report from
the
Los Angeles Times about the
death of Coy Watson Jnr.
Rich Finegan says about the
report:
"I thought you may find
this news to be of interest. Coy Watson had a slight Laurel &
Hardy connection. You may recall that series of short films
that AMC used to run in the early 1990's called the
Johnson-Watson Hollywood Reel. One was called "Close Ups and
Long Shots" and covered Stan Laurel judging a childrens'
swimming contest. Although this obit says those films were
made in 1949 and 1950 the date on the films said 1951."
Coy Watson Jr. dies at 96; one of nine silent-era sibling actors
Los Angeles Times
By Valerie J. Nelson, March 16, 2009
Coy Watson Jr., who was the eldest in a family of nine child
actors and whose book, "The Keystone Kid," recounted a
silent-film career that began in 1913, has died. He was 96.
Watson, who became a news photographer and television cameraman,
died Saturday of complications from stomach cancer in Alpine,
Calif., where he lived, his nephew Daniel Watson said.
By the late 1930s, Watson and his eight siblings had appeared in
more than 1,000 movies. Their careers were almost an accident of
geography because their family home was in Edendale, an early
movie-studio enclave north of the Echo Park lake.
Mack Sennett Studios was nearby and three other studios filled
out the movie colony. When Selig studios came calling, Watson --
who was born Nov. 16, 1912 -- was 9 months old.
The studio needed a baby for a short film, "The Price of
Silence," and promised to pay the infant $5 for a day's work.
Because the Edendale neighborhood was not yet wired for
electricity, his scene was shot on a bedroom set built to take
advantage of the sun.
James Caughey "Coy" Watson Jr. would go on to appear in so many
of Sennett's Keystone Cops comedies that he earned a nickname:
"the Keystone Kid."
By the time he was 18, Watson had made about 60 motion pictures,
including "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1923) with Lon Chaney,
"Buttons" (1927) with Jackie Coogan and "Show People" (1928)
with Marion Davies.
His father, Coy Watson Sr., broke horses for cowboy stars and
created special effects, notably the flying carpet Douglas
Fairbanks used in the 1924 film "The Thief of Bagdad."
Eventually, Watson's father gave up his career to manage those
of his six sons and three daughters.
When a director would say, "I need a child for a movie. Do you
have one?" the senior Watson was said to respond: "What size and
what sex?"
In "The Keystone Kid," the junior Watson wrote of a childhood
spent watching cowboys congregate on a street corner, hoping to
get work. He recalled actress Gloria Swanson stopping in at the
family home to iron her skirt between scenes and building a
treehouse with his best friend on the Sennett lot.
"Acting to our family was not a business," Watson told the San
Diego Union-Tribune in 2002. "It was our life. We never knew
anything but the movies."
Watson's mother, Golda, washed and ironed actors' costumes. His
brother Delmar was Shirley Temple's goat-herding friend in
"Heidi" (1937). Delmar and three other Watsons played sons of
Jimmy Stewart in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). His
brother Bobs, who had an MGM contract, was the endearing Pee Wee
in "Boys Town" (1938) with Spencer Tracy.
After talkies came into vogue, Watson had parts in several more
films. But the boy who made 13 movies in 1927 no longer enjoyed
the process.
The advent of sound in films "scared the dickens out of
everybody," Watson said in the 2002 Union-Tribune interview. "We
used to have fun making pictures. But when sound came in you
couldn't drop a pin."
He turned to another family business -- photography -- that he
first discovered in a class held by the Boy Scouts.
His grandfather, James Watson, shot pictures of Buffalo Bill
riding up Broadway in 1904. His uncle, George Watson, was hired
as The Times' first full-time news photographer in 1917 and
later founded Acme News Pictures, a forerunner of United Press
Photos and training ground for the Watson boys.
In junior high, Coy built a darkroom at home and "made a few
nickels and dimes" taking photographs of his classmates, he
later said. After graduating from high school, he joined the
Pacific and Atlantic photo news service.
In 1932, he covered the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles for Acme
and photographed future president Franklin D. Roosevelt's visit
to the city the same year.
In the ensuing years, Watson took pictures for a number of
newspapers that have long since vanished. His photographs also
appeared in The Times.
During World War II, he was one of four Watson brothers to serve
as a Coast Guard cameraman, running a Coast Guard photography
unit in San Diego.
All six brothers worked as press, newsreel or television
photographers after the war. Watson became a cameraman for KTLA
Channel 5 and for CBS on the West Coast. He also spent time at
ABC and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, according to a family biography.
With Erskine Johnson, an actor who wrote a Hollywood column for
the Daily News, Watson made “Hollywood Reel.” The television
program, filmed in 1949 and 1950, featured dozens of interviews
with celebrities.
Of a life spent on both sides of the camera, Watson once said,
"The motion picture business was something that if you liked it,
it was your life. And that's the way it was with me."
His brother Delmar, who founded the Watson Family Photographic
Archive that oversees the family's trove of photos, died in
October at 82.
Three of the Watson siblings survive: Louise Roberts, 89, Billy
Watson, 85, and Garry Watson, 80.
Coy Watson Jr. is also survived by his wife, Willie; a daughter,
Pattie Watson Price of Alpine; a son, James Caughey "Jim" Watson
III of Perth, Australia; three grandchildren and four
great-grandchildren.
THE new town centre
home of Ulverston’s famed Laurel and Hardy Museum has been
revealed.
NEW USE: The Roxy site in
Ulverston
The attraction is set to move to a space within the Roxy, in
Brogden Street, this month.
The move was announced at a meeting of the licensing committee
yesterday when proposals to transform the Art Deco building into
an arts and entertainment centre were given the seal of
approval.
Museum owner, Marion Grave, hopes to start a new chapter on the
museum dedicated to the lives of the silver-screen comedy duo by
opening the doors to the public on April 1. Mrs Grave, whose
father started the museum in Upper Brooke Street more than 30
years ago, described the move as fate.
She said: “Everything just seems to have fallen into place. We
had searched for new premises in the town for years but there
was nothing big enough that we could afford.
“We had just about reached the point of despair when we were
offered the chance to move into the Roxy and we seized it.”
The museum will form just one part of the new Roxy Arts and
Entertainment Centre – granted a premises license after a
mammoth four-hour meeting at the CoronationHall.
The venue will also provide a 400-capacity events hall, cafe bar
and gallery space for contemporary and local artists.
The mastermind behind the venture, Gary Robinson, owner of
Barrow Island’s Canteen Media and Arts Centre, said he now hoped
to attract international acts, well-known stand-up comedians and
live bands to Ulverston.
Ulverston town centre resident Mr Robinson, 39, said it had been
a “great day for Ulverston”.
He said: “We got what we asked for and people have taken what we
said seriously. We want to operate the Roxy in a similar way to
The Brewery in Kendal – with a mix of entertainment and arts.
“We have listened to people’s concerns and the proof will now be
in the pudding. There’s now a responsibility on the people of
Ulverston who said they wanted this. They need to enjoy the
entertainment at the centre and the area responsibly and I think
they will.”
It is planned the new centre will open at Easter.
The new licence for The Roxy means it can open until 1.30am
between Monday and Thursday, until 3.30am on Fridays and
Saturdays and until 12.30am on Sundays.
Nearby residents presented a raft of objections to the late
hours – stating they were concerned it would result in late
night anti-social behaviour and disruption in the town.
Christopher Stones, of Princes Street, said a “Buffers
situation” would be intolerable.
He told the meeting: “I respect Mr Robinson’s ambition for this
centre. But a lot of resident’s lives have been transformed
since Buffers closed. We are entitled to live in peace and
security in our own homes.”
Note: The UK Convention is
being partly run by Ulverston's Berth Marks Tent, and the new
museum is one of the many exciting places that Sons will visit.
If you haven't yet booked
click here for further information about the event.
Gino Dercola forwarded an
interesting article sent to him
by Flip Lauer from Ohio about
the making of the Walt Disney
version of Victor Herbert's
operetta, Babes In Toyland.
It is well worth the investment
of a couple of
minutes...fascinating...!
Click here.
By BOB THOMAS
The Associated Press
Friday, March 6, 2009; 3:10 PM
LOS ANGELES --
In 1940, Hollywood humanitarian Jean Hersholt purchased 48 acres
of walnut and orange groves in the far reaches of the San
Fernando Valley for a hospital to be run by the Motion Picture
Relief Fund.
Hersholt, a
popular character actor of the day, was president of the fund,
which had been founded 20 years earlier by Charlie Chaplin, Mary
Pickford and others to aid needy members of the film industry.
After a delay
caused by World War II, the Woodland Hills hospital was finally
completed in 1948. Among those attending the opening ceremonies
were Robert Young, Shirley Temple, Ronald Reagan and Hersholt,
who is probably best known today as the namesake of a special
Oscar recognizing charitable work _ most recently given to Jerry
Lewis.
For the next 60
years, the hospital provided treatment for stars and janitors,
directors and secretaries. Those who could afford to pay their
way _ such as Norma Shearer _ did so. Those who were broke _ and
there were many in the topsy-turvy film industry _ were taken
care of.
Now, Hollywood
has been shocked with news that the hospital itself is passing
away, a victim of red ink and an ailing economy.
"We studied the
problem for three years," says Ken Scherer, president of what is
now the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation. "We found
that we had an operating deficit of $10 million a year.
"We reached the
conclusion that the best thing to do was to take some of those
dollars and invest them in programs that would reach more
people. The aging population wants to live in their own homes
and not come to the Motion Picture and Television Fund."
Jeffrey
Katzenberg, DreamWorks Animation chief and chairman of the
MPTF's foundation board, said the deficit would have bankrupted
the fund in "a very few years."
Reports of the
closure, which will displace more than 100 long-term patients
and eliminate some 300 jobs by the time it's complete at the end
of the year, sparked a recent picket line of 200 people at the
MPTF's nearby headquarters. Among the protesters was John
Schneider of "Smallville" and "Dukes of Hazzard" fame.
"Many people
look forward to coming here and I am one of them," Schneider
said. "This decision was indeed a fiscal decision. We didn't
lose the debate. We weren't even invited to the debate."
Along with
anger, the impending closure has also inspired nostalgia among
the film crowd. Walter Seltzer, movie producer and longtime
member of the MPTF's board of directors, tells the saga of
Johnny Weissmuller, greatest of the Tarzans:
"When
Weissmuller was in the hospital, other patients complained
because he was yelling (the Tarzan yell) in the hallways. It got
so bad that we had to remove him. We found a place for him and
his wife in Mexico near Acapulco, which was where Johnny wanted
to be. We sent people down there several times a year to make
sure he was all right." Weissmuller died in 1984.
Seltzer recalled
that actress Mary Astor rode a bicycle around the premises and
was aloof. Her only companion was actor House Peters and she
insisted on having their own table in the dining room.
Seltzer also
remembered the story of Chester Conklin, a pioneer comedian who
worked with Charlie Chaplin and W.C. Fields:
"When he lived
at the home, Chester had a hobby of making beautiful jewelry
which he advertised. One rich lady in the Midwest bought a lot
of them, and she came to California to meet him. They fell in
love and married, and he lived with her until he died in 1971."
The Charlie Hall Picture Archive is a unique
book for all fans of Charlie Hall and Laurel and Hardy. The
book features over two hundred and ten images, many of which
have never been published and has sections covering Charlie
Hall, his family and the places they visited, his cars, the
studio set up in Hollywood (with a section dedicated to Hal
Roach) and the stars of the time (including Mary Pickford and
Mabel Normand). There are numerous mini biographies of
Charlie's co-stars and the book closes with a sixty five page
chapter relating to Charlie Hall's film stills with in depth
synopsis of some of his films. Where possible Charlie's own
words have been used.
The book is slightly smaller than A4, has 178
pages in total and close to 17,000 words. The book was written
by the Nutty Nut News Network's very own Dean McKeown and edited
by Maria Cairney, the foreword was written by Willie McIntyre.
Contents
Foreword xi
1. Introduction page 1
2. Charlie Hall page 4
3. Meet The Family page 15
4. A Man And His Cars page 37
5. Out On Location page 44
6. Studios And Stars page 71
7. Charlie’s Film Stills page 95
8. Filmography page 161
9. Appendix page 165
And don't miss out on a splendid collection
of Charlie Hall postcards.
Here is what Willie McIntyre has to say about
the book:
'I don't think I am overstating the case when I say that this is
one of the most exciting books ever to have been written by a
Son of the Desert. There has never been anything quite like this
before! Very skilfully compiled by Dean McKeown, it takes you
right into Charlie's personal life and work in a way which
leaves you feeling you have finally got to know that little chap
from Birmingham.'
Our next meeting, the first of a
new decade, is going to be a
truly great meeting with a truly
great line-up of Laurel
and Hardy films.
The
meeting will take place on
Saturday
6 March 2010
at the
Pavilion.
It promises to be another fine
meeting and we'll have what has
become a regular feature, some
fun and games during our
interval!
Membership is now FREE, and
members get discount on entry
to tent meetings with
additional discount for children
and even further discount for
families of 4 or more!
So, since there is no reason not
to mosey on down to the
Pavilion, we look forward to seeing you
there. Oh yes...and
don't forget to tell your
friends and colleagues!
We are delighted to announce
that membership of the Another
Fine Mess Tent of Northern
Ireland is now FREE...!
How can we do this? Well,
it's simple, our tent magazine
is moving to a new format...from
now on it will be an electronic
magazine available to all
members by email. Those
who don't have access to the
internet may opt to have the
magazine sent to them by post
for a small charge.
Even though
membership is FREE,
members will still be granted
reduced entrance fees to
meetings, and so there has never
been a better time to join...!
So if you are interested click
here -- become a 'messer'
today, we know you'll never
regret it!
One
of our regular contributors,
Carol Rugh, Grand Vizier, One
Good Turn Tent, Connecticut,
Oasis #156, has asked for help
in identifying a movie still
featuring Oliver Hardy and a
radio. She says
"An acquaintance recently passed along a lovely
copy of this movie still saying he wasn’t sure what movie it was
from. My guess is Hog Wild. But I haven’t seen this one
before. Anyone?"
Our guess is Hog Wild too -- you know, the
one where Stan and Babe try to erect an aerial for the radio on
the roof of Babe's home with disastrous consequences -- but
perhaps someone out there has specific information on this
still. Help, please?
[Ed: If anyone has any information please pass it along to us
at the following address and we will forward it to Carol --
grandsheik@anotherfinesite.com]
Answer:Carol has replied as follows:
Thanks to all the eagle
eyes who replied to my query. The Finishing Touch is the
answer. Lou Sabini notes that there is a companion photo of
Stan and Ollie together with the radio. Anyone have that?
Member Irv Hyatt has added:
...the photo of Babe with
the radio was used as a chapter frontpage in the American
version of the book that went with Kevin Brownlow's book that
came out on his 9 part Hollywood series. If you look at Babe's
best, and the background images, you can compare it with how he
looked in "The Finishing Touch". It might have been a publicity
photo for the film, or an actual advert for the radio.
Whichever it was, it was taken at the location of that film.
Our roving US reporter, Gino
Dercola, has asked for some help
in locating an early Oliver
Hardy film. He says:
Sons: I received the following question/request from Professor
Bob Wilson, the Oliver Hardy historian from Milledgeville,
Georgia, where Ollie grew up during his formative years. If
anyone can provide any information, please let me know and I
will forward it to Bob and share it with other Sons. Please
pass this request along to other Sons. Thanks.
[Ed: If anyone has any information please pass it along to us
at the following address and we will forward it to Gino --
grandsheik@anotherfinesite.com]
Sons: There is a TV special
that begins airing tonight in the USA called "Make 'em Laugh:
The Funny Business of America". It will appear at 8:00 EST on
public broadcasting stations (PBS). It airs in two-hour
increments on Wednesdays over three weeks (six hours total).
There are numerous comedians it will feature, with Laurel and
Hardy being one pair (I do not know anything more than that
about their appearance).
AND, I would like to point
this out to fellow Sons: There is a PBS website that mentions
this program, AND on the right side of that page it lists
comedians where you can vote for your favorite, including
L&H. May I suggest that Sons everywhere go to that site and
place your vote for the Boys. There is a running tally that
shows how many votes are being cast for each comedian. The
site is:
[Ed: Come on Sons, as at 20 January 2009, Laurel and Hardy are
in fifth place behind: 1. George Carlin; 2. Bill Cosby; 3. Marx
Brothers; and 4. Rodney Dangerfield...so get voting!]
[Update: As at 22 March 2009, Laurel and Hardy have now
fallen to seventh place, so get those votes in now! — 1.
George Carlin (1521); 2. Marx Brothers (969); 3. Bill Cosby
(831); 4. Charlie Chaplin (406); 5. Three Stooges (400); 6.
Rodney Dangerfield (386); 7. Laurel and Hardy (368)]
On 7 November 2008 Keith and Gerry travelled to Liverpool,
England, in order to see a play that received rave reviews after
its appearance at the Edinburgh Festival last year.
The play is called One Night Stan and it was written and
performed by actor/writer Miles Gallant. It sees Stan
Laurel in his dressing room just before a show in which he will
appear without Babe who has taken ill, and he reminisces about
his career and debates whether he should go on stage without his
partner.
This is an excellent production and Keith & Gerry would urge all
Sons to make an effort to attend it at some future showing.
It has been announced that a former member of
Our Gang has passed away at the age of 82.
David Delmar Watson was born in Los Angeles,
California, on 1 July 1926. His first on-screen appearance
was in as a 'Mactavish Child' in Taxi 13, which was made in
1928. He appeared in 65 films between 1928 and 1947, but
his appearances were largely uncredited.
It is for his work at Hal Roach studios, and
especially as a member of the Our Gang crew, for which Delmar
will be best remembered by Laurel and Hardy fans. His Our
Gang appearances included: Shrimps For A Day, The
Pinch Singer and Our Gang Follies Of 1936.
Delmar's death was announced to the Laurel
and Hardy world by Stan Taffel, Grand Sheik of the Hollywood
Party Tent of San Fernando Valley. He said:
"Delmar...died last Sunday.
A memorial service will take place in Hollywood after the
funeral this Sunday [2 November 2008].
Delmar was one of the members of the Watson Family, a talented
bunch that began in silent films and went right on through the
talkies. They worked at almost every studio including [the]
Hal Roach [Studios].
In knowing him over the years, I can tell you that he was a joy
to be with. In recent months he battled with cancer.
At your next Sons meetings, how about a toast to one of the
"Gang"."
Our next meeting date is on
Wednesday 5 November 2008
at the Tudor cinema
— see
below.
We shall have, for your
delectation, a programme
of seasonally-appropriate films
guaranteed to tickle your
fancy (told you it would be
fun...it's not every day you get
your fancy tickled!).
The programme is:
Grand Sheik’s
Welcome
The Live Ghost
(7.40pm)
Habeus Corpus
(8.05pm)
[80th Anniversary on 1 December 2008]
Intermission
(8.30pm)
Members’ FREE draw
(8.50pm);
Raffle, Toasts, Song etc.
(9.00pm)
Surprise, surprise…!
(9.15pm)
The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case
(9.55pm)
Goodbyyeee
(10.30pm)
[Note: Timings shown are approximations only]
Please note:
The Tudor cinema's house rules
(for insurance reasons) dictate
that this event is for those
over the age of 14 only.
Please respect this requirement.
For
directions to the Tudor cinema please click
here.
Our usual meeting place is the
Maynard Sinclair Pavilion, which
is a child-friendly venue —
click
here for further details.
If you'd like to join our merry
band then
there's no better time than the
present. Membership
is only £10 for the year and
£8.00 for children under 18.
There are mid-year pro-rata
rates which you can find by
clicking here, then click on
the link 'Fees'. For your
subs you receive many
discounts as well as a 16 page
quarterly magazine, which is
professionally printed, and
which has been lauded by many
eminent Laurel and Hardy fans from far and wide.
Interested? If so here's a
link to our web application form...
So, as Stan would have said, "Recomember,
recomember the 5th of
November!".
We look forward to seeing you at
the Tudor. Oh yes...and
don't forget to tell your
friends and colleagues!
We are delighted to announce an
exciting new website dedicated,
like the Laurel and Hardy Forum,
to keeping Sons in touch with
all that's interesting in the
world of Laurel and Hardy.
This
website builds upon the forum and differs in that it offers
visitors the opportunity to listen to interviews conducted with
all sorts of people from around the world. Many of the
interviews are old but there are also recent interviews —
including one with our own Jean Darling — and lots of other
interesting information.
The
network was conceived in the 1980s by the late Guido Cipriani,
Grand Sheik of the From Soup to Nuts Tent in Norwich,
Connecticut, USA. He invited the submission of
audiocassettes from Sons around the world, edited them together,
adding music and features, and distributed the finished article
three or four times per year, for no other reason than to help
keep Sons in touch.
With the advent of the internet, the website seeks to resurrect
the idea in an interactive format, and Sons around the world are
invited to send information and news stories to the sites
webmasters at
newsstory@nuttynutnewsnetwork.com
This is a site that you simply must visit, but make sure that
you've plenty of free time!
Our good friend, John Ullah, has been
instrumental in raising funds for the Sons of the Desert
sponsored bronze statue of the boys, which will, when finished,
be erected outside the Town Hall in Ulverston, the place of Stan
Laurel's birth.
John's latest venture is the raffle of a
beautiful oil painting by a local artist (see Mandy Finney
(right) with the painting). He says...
"This is your chance to win a one-off
painting (below). This original oil-on-canvas painting of the
Boys, by Birmingham artist Caroline Scotcher, is to be raffled
in aid of the Statue Appeal. Tickets are just £1 each and can be
obtained from the Laughing Gravy Tent of Birmingham. The draw
will be made on Thursday 6th December at our tent meeting.
Please let me know if you would like any tickets.
Also, if you have a tent meeting before then,
could you please ask your members if they would like to take
part? I will enter their names on your behalf. Please note, to
keep costs down, no tickets will be sent out. You can send your
cheques, made payable to "Laughing Gravy", to John Ullah, 42
York Road, Erdington, Birmingham B23 6TG.
It really is a superb painting and I would
like to thank Caroline for her kind donation. Good luck!"
If any Another Fine Mess tent members are
interested please send the money to Keith and we shall ensure
that you receive your raffle ticket numbers before the draw.
(You could pay for them at our meeting on 1 December if that is
convenient.)
We hope that John manages to raise a
substantial sum.
US Tent
member, Gino Dercola, reported
that comedian, Joey Bishop — a
former member of The Rat Pack
(along with Frank Sinatra, Dean
Martin, Sammy Davis Jnr., and
Peter Lawford) — died on 17
October.
The lengthy obituary in the Washington Post
on 19 October stated "His low-key style resembled that of
Jack Benny, and he won early praise from no less an authority
than Stan Laurel of Laurel and Hardy". High
praise indeed.
Sadly the
brilliant French mime artist,
Marcel Marceau, who was born on
22 March 1923, died on 22
September 2007, at the age of
exactly 84½ years.
Marcel was not just a mime artist; he was the
very best in his field. It was a skill similar to the
skills employed by good silent stars who had to tell a story
without sound.
He was a great fan of, and inspired by, the
best silent clowns in the early days of movie making, including
Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Stan Laurel.
Issue six of the Another Fine Mess Tent of
Northern Ireland's magazine "Another Fine Gazette" has
been issued to members and is available to non-Members for the bargain
price of £1.50 (plus p&p — the magazine
is available worldwide so please contact us about postage charges). The magazine boasts 16
cram-packed pages of
articles about 'the boys' and their foils. Our competitions have
become popular with readers, and they give us the opportunity to give
out some very nice prizes! Recomember, if you're not in you
can't win!
Issue 7 has now gone to press and
we are gathering material for Issue 8. If you have any material
for us we would be delighted to hear from you. Any articles for inclusion should be with Keith or Gerry
as soon as possible but no later than Wednesday 28 February 2007
(although if they're late they can always be squeezed-in or held for the
next issue!).
If any of you can be persuaded
to have your 15 minutes of fame via subjecting yourselves to
questions from your Grand and Vice Sheiks (we might even let you see the
list of questions in advance), with the article being
published in 'Another Fine Gazette' please let Keith or Gerry know.
Who knows, you could be in edition 8 ! Wouldn't it be
nice to appear in such a highly rejected...sorry I mean 'respected'
magazine? Something to keep for the grandkids perhaps?
We have secured our
meeting dates for 2010. As usual the meetings will take
place at the Maynard Sinclair Pavilion (known colloquially as
'The Pavilion'). Set within Stormont's magnificent grounds
the building overlooks the international cricket pitch.
For further information about the venue click
here, and/or for
information about how to get there click
here.
home town on Sunday April 19.
If
you were there on that historic day we would like to here from
you.
One
of our regular contributors,
Carol Rugh, Grand Vizier, One
Good Turn Tent, Connecticut,
Oasis #156, has asked for help
in identifying a movie still
featuring Oliver Hardy and a
radio. She says
