Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,
This is a reminder that we have two film shows next week.
Our first film show is on Wednesday, 19th June at the usual location, THE WHITE LION….24, Middle Street, BEESTON, NG9 1FX commencing at the usual time of 7.30pm in the upstairs function room – the “Beeston cinema”.
In our Wednesday show we will be screening the “Elephant in the (court) room” film, “Zenobia” from 1939. This was the film that caused the rather controversial and 100% fictitious argument in the recent “Stan & Ollie” film. Zenobia is not very well favoured amongst Laurel & Hardy fans due to the obvious absence of Stan…but it certainly isn’t ,as some may think, a Langdon & Hardy comedy pairing where Harry Langdon directly replaces Stan. It is a much different film, a very gentle comedy where Oliver gets a chance to show off his prowess as a comedy actor and because it echoes back to his roots in the deep South…..South of what Sir….the south of l…Atlanta, Georgia. It also has a strong cast of familiar actors/actresses. I have to admit, I like this film a lot and over the years I’ve collected a lot of memorabilia associated with it including the original Hal Roach studios signed contract with Harry Langdon. So please take it for what it is….an interesting one-off – its a film we’ve only shown once before in the tents 20 year history and certainly worth seeing again. Of course, we will also be showing a number of Laurel & Hardy short films and a few interesting rarities/oddities….all with an animal theme as a prequel to our main event next Saturday.
Tomorrow as you will be aware (June 16th) will be the university of Stan’s birthday – 129 years ago….so indeed we will also be celebrating this on Wednesday with a piece of birthday cake and a bit of an unexpected birthday surprise….to be revealed on the night. There will be the usual raffle (all donations gratefully accepted) and we’ll be continuing our series of cartoon animations, all in line with the evening’s theme.
All are welcome and entry is free.
Our second film show is on Saturday, June 22nd, 1pm-6pm, at the Bull Inn, Bottesford (NG13 0BW) entitled “Laurel & Hardy’s ANIMAL CRACKERS“…and not the Marx brothers!. This is a tribute to all the brilliant animals that appear in many wonderful Laurel & Hardy films and to those that we toast….including Ethel the Chimp, MGM the lion and of course….. poor old Laughing Gravy! Indeed, we will be showing many animal-related short Laurel & Hardy films during the day. The highlight of the day will be a premiere screening of a fully complete and restored version of the silent short DUCK SOUP (1927). This is Laurel & Hardy’s version of the film and not to be confused with another film of the same title by the Marx brothers. This will be shown by film historian, archivist and ex-projectionist tent member, Robin Cook. For those that do like The Marx Bros – they will make a briefly appearance during the day!
We will also have a number of special guests with us from all around the UK…..Antony and Jo Mitchell-Waite (from the Stoke Midnight Patrol Tent ) will be briefly talking about their recent and forthcoming series of books, first of which was entitled “Two Peas in a Pod”…duh. Our own Danny Lawrence will be selling/signing his superb book on Arthur Jefferson (Stan Laurel’s father). Mark Hammond (from Brighton) is a well-known Laurel & Hardy autograph, memorabilia and playbill poster collector. For a second year running, Rob Lewis (Grand Shiek of the UK Helpmates Tent and editor of the Laurel & Hardy Magazine) and his family will be joining us. As many of you know, Rob has been a major ambassador for Laurel & Hardy not just in the UK but internationally through the UK Helpmates tent, Helpmates conventions and the L&H magazine which he has been doing for over 40 years. He doesn’t usually travel to other tent events, so it is an honour for us for him to be with us again . He has also been selling L&H merchandise for many many years….and will again be providing us with L&H calendars at Christmas. Rob was an on-set consultant on the Stan & Ollie film…..but unfortunately not on the storyline! We also hope to have Howard Parker with us (ex-Hats Off Derby tent Grand Shiek and co-editor of the L&H Magazine). I’ve also been informed that we will have representatives from a few other tents…including the Brats from Sheffield.
We will have the usual raffle and observational quiz. The event is FREE and all are very welcome.
For those that are new to the tent, the Bull Inn was regularly visited by Stan & Ollie during the early 1950s as Stan’s sister Beatrice Olga and her husband Bill Healey ran the pub as landlords. In the lounge there are numerous photos of their visits….including photos of the boys pulling the pints behind the Bull Inn bar on Christmas Day 1953 which was during their 4 week “Laurel & Hardy Christmas Party” variety show at the Nottingham Empire theatre. There are two plaques – one inside and one outside the pub that mentions their visits….though the years stated are not quite right!
On the morning of June 22nd, we will again be visiting The Plough Inn in Barkston (4 miles north of Grantham) where Stan’s father, AJ, and his sister, Beatrice Olga, once lived and ran the small pub during the 1940s – and where of course Stan & Ollie made at least one visit during their 1947 theatre tour. We will also be visiting AJs grave in the village and paying our due respects to a very special father. Those interested in this pre-event …please meet at the Stag Inn at the centre of this small village (NG32 2NB) at 10.30 am. I expect to be at the Barkston & Syston cemetery at 10.45am and the the Plough Inn (22 West Street) at 11.15 am.
All are welcome to Bottesford & Barkston, and it always makes a fun day out.
All this information is on our website, thanks to Mark Elvin… http://www.laurelandhardynottingham.uk
Our July film show will be on the usual third Wednesday July 17th.
So, hopefully,we’ll see you TWICE TWO next week. All are welcome.
Fraternally Yours,
Dave T
(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.