Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,
Our next film show is this Wednesday, 20th March at the usual location, THE WHITE LION….24, Middle Street, BEESTON, NG9 1FX commencing at the usual time of 7.30pm. I hope we will be upstairs again!
All are welcome and entry is free.
There were many film careers sustained and many others launched by an appearance with Laurel & Hardy. None more so than that of an a young american actress born Harlean Carpenter….. later known to the world as Jean Harlow. However, we know her best as the young lady that broke Oliver Hardy’s heart …and yes so many other hearts in “Beau Hunks”. the much travelled and toasted, Jeannie Weenie (….she’s mine all mine!). This month we will be celebrating the university of her birth, by showing not 1 but 2 of the 3 short films she appeared in.…and we’ll be showing our tents namesake film “Beau Hunks”, where her image fails to be a distant memory.
“Stan & Ollie” can still be seen in many local cinemas and the good news is that the DVD is shortly to be released (March 26th in the USA, but no date yet over here in the UK). As mentioned in my previous emails, this is an absolute brilliant film with some absolutely great touches with Messrs Cougan & Reily capturing their on and off screen personas superbly. Unfortunately, the writer played a little fast and loose with the facts concerning the 1953/4 UK tour on which the film is supposedly based. In the last few months, I’ve been looking at what was good about this storyline but more importantly what was not so good and trying to correct some….or i should say, many of the errors. In January, we looked at the timing of the Cobh visit and the unreal “Elephant in the room” argument between Stan & Ollie. In February, we took a week by week “whistle-stop” view at the theatre tour, corrected any ideas that this was a rags to riches story, clarified what exactly they were performing or indeed not performing on stage, and the real circumstances of Ollies heart attack. Also as a tent, we generally expressed our disappointment that there was no representation of the 5 week visit to Nottingham for their special and unique sold-out Christmas Party show and of their trips to the Bull Inn, particularly when they served behind the bar on Christmas Day. I wouldn’t be unbiased in thinking that THIS was the highlight of their UK tour after visiting Cobh….rather than fictitious appearances at the Worthing Lido and the London Lyceum. Thanks goes out to Stan Laurel book author Danny Lawrence, who gave his personal thoughts/concerns on how Stan was depicted during the movie – particularly in his harshness to Hal Roach and in his treatment of Babe, which I thoroughly agreed with.
In our third and final part looking back over the storyline, I’m looking very briefly at the mentioned Robin Hood film that was never made and also some of the other people that were/weren’t mentioned by the film. “Stan & Ollie” is a very good film, putting Laurel & Hardy generally in a good light. It’s just a shame the storyline wasn’t quite right. Of course, without an interesting and engaging storyline, “Stan & Ollie” may never have been filmed….which would have been a bigger shame! As a close to our final ramblings on the film, I will be showing the full 30 min restored version of the “This if Your Life” US TV broadcast from December 1954. This was broadcast just 6 months after they returned from their 1953/4 UK tour.
We will also be showing “Berth Marks”, which unfortunately we couldn’t show last month that has a beginning that had been adopted and adapted for the beginning of their “Birds of a Feather” sketch used during the 1953/4 UK tour.
We will also be continuing our series of Laurel & Hardy cartoons from the 1930s and of course we will have our usual raffle, any donations are always gratefully received.
Our next film show is on usual 3rd Wednesday of the month – April 17th. Our event at the Bull Inn in Bottesford is set for Saturday June 22nd 1pm to 6 pm – we will be having a bit of an animal theme. We will also be out at Barkston in the morning visiting the Plough Inn (Stan’s sisters 1st pub) and paying our respects to Arthur Jefferson (Stan’s father) who is buried in the local cemetery.
Hopefully, we’ll see you on Wednesday. Please bring your friends and family – all are very welcome.
Fraternally Yours,
Dave T
(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)
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