July Meeting 2022 July 17, 2022

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our next film show will be on Wednesday July 20th 7.30pm till 10.30 pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW –  in the outside function room.

Thank you all for the support at our first meeting.  It was great to see so many old and familiar faces after our long break away…I know less of the old!!   After being so careful, unfortunately we had to cancel our 2nd meeting at the Bull Inn last month due to a Covid outbreak in the Tomlinson household….thankfully we are now both well and fighting fit…ok just well!.   This  leads me on to the theme of what is now our 2nd meeting next Wednesday….”Box Clever” .  we will be showing a number of Laurel & Hardy short films where the Boys get caught up in a Boxing match or in films where a Box leads to some comic mayhem.   One of the films we will be showing is the most complete version we have of “The Battle of the Century (1927)”  which includes all the extra footage of the pie fight that was discovered in a collection of Youngson films just a few years ago.

Thelma Todd was born on July 29th 1906….116 years ago.   She only appeared in 6 films with the boys…but each and every one is memorable.  We will be paying a little tribute to her followed by the first film she appeared in, which just happened to be the Boys first talkie film, “Unaccustomed As we Are (1929)”.

There will be the usual raffle, toasts….and I’ll show a L&H cartoon or two in the intermission.   As always, the event is FREE and all are welcome to come and enjoy the show.   As Covid is again on the rise, can I please ask for everyone to take care, be mindful and supportive of those who would still prefer to wear masks and if you can take a lateral flow test, please do so, before coming out.

As mentioned in a previous email, we have been able to re-arrange our film show for Saturday afternoon of July 30th at the  Bull Inn, Bottesford 1pm til 6pm.   Thankfully, we have been able to keep the same programme of events and attractions.    It’ll be our “Twice-Two – Part Deux” film show ….all with the number 2 or 22 in mind, which celebrates our 22nd year in the year 2022….and now we can add that its our 2nd attempt at running it!  Doh!    We will be having a  marathon film show culminating in the showing of “Sons of the Desert (1933)” with an observational quiz after, and yes with prizes.   Undoubtedly, the highlight of the day will be Robin Cook’s  showing of his restored version of the Boys silent film “The Second Hundred Years(1927)” in its most complete form based on  copies of the original 35mm film elements and specialist film restoration software/techniques.  We will have a number of Laurel & Hardy book authors on hand selling their latest books.  Also, John Palmer will be exhibiting his wonderful Laurel & Hardy car, a genuine Model T Ford.  Also, we are hoping to have a number of  well known “out of town”  Laurel & Hardy guests, including Rob Lewis (Grand Shieik and founder of the Helpmates UK tent and Laurel & Hardy magazine), Russ Babidge (new editor of the L&H Magazine), Patrick Vaseley  (Laurel & Hardy Blog), Dave Wyatt (L&H film expert), Roger Robinson (The Periwinkle magazine editor), and Mark Hammond (L&H memorabilia).  I’m also hoping that Rob Lewis, who was an advisor to the recent “Stan & Ollie”  film can bring up some interesting props from that movie .

As with all our film shows, the film show at the Bull Inn is FREE and WELCOME TO ALL.  So, please do come along and support us, it will be a great day out.   As most of you now know, the Bull Inn was the pub that Olga and Bill Healey ran during the 1950s…Olga being Stan’s younger sister (who incidentally gets a mention in the Beau Hunks  film!).  During their  theatrical tours of 1952 and 1953/4,  the Boys and their wives would regularly visit this pub and on Christmas Day 1953, the Boys pulled the pints behind the bar for the locals.  The Pub lounge is adorned with photos and memorabilia and there are plaques inside and outside the pub that commemorates their visits,

On the morning of Saturday July 30th, I will also be doing a  guided walk around Barkston (a few miles north of Grantham),  with visits to the Plough Inn on West Street (Olga’s first pub visited by the Boys in 1947)  and to Arthur Jeffersons grave (Stan’s father) in the Barkston&Syston graveyard.  We’ll start this at 10 am outside the Stag Inn in Barkston.

BS  Photo is topical…and a clue to another film we’ll be showing on Wednesday.