Laurel and Hardy and the Sons of the Desert are at the heart of Bowler Dessert magazine and Bowler Dessert Online

Bulletin 05.01.10.

16mm films for sale The Laughing Gravy Tent of Birmingham is selling its 16mm films collection. For details click here. Tom McGrath's play in Scotland Tom McGrath's play Laurel and Hardy will be staged at the FTH in Falkirk on Thursday 15th April at 7.30pm. £10.00 / £9.00 groups 10+ / £7.50 concession. It will also be at the Arts Guild Theatre in Greenock on Friday 30th April at 7.30 pm. £11.00 / £9.00 concession. Brats at Christmas Forty Sons braved the elements to attend the Brats' Christmas meal on the shortest day of the year. With the opportunity to indulge in a turkey dinner (any nuts?) followed by a dessert at the New Crown Inn, bad weather wasn't going to put anyone off. Special guests for the night were Anni and Grahame Morris of the Early to Bed Tent, who travelled over from Chesterfield. The food was excellent (the sprouts had been cooking on a low heat since last June - perfect) and with the real ale Rudolph's Revenge being served, what better way to spend the evening? There were two raffles - a normal one followed by Julie Hancock's free raffle with numerous festive prizes on offer. I won a bar of chocolate and a bag of humbugs - bah, humbug! - and a Scrooge Santa hat etc. It was a great night with singing and festive merriment in abundance, rounded off with the loyal toasts being led by Brats John Burton, Oliver Johnson and Hannah Morton, which went on forever, making what should have been the shortest day become one of the longest. We also managed to see The Fixer-Uppers and Laughing Gravy. John Burton Two interesting press items Dean Carroll sent us a cutting from Record Collector (January, 2010), which listed its selection of the Top 10: Record Shop Movie Moments. Perplexingly the number 1 choice was Liberty and there was a poster from that film used as an illustration for the listing. Dean also sent us a page from Fortean Times (January 2010), which examined whether author Charles Fort was autistic. It says, "His friend Theodore Dreiser compared Fort to the fumbling, tie-fiddling, comedy persona of Oliver Hardy." Good start Grant MacLeod of the Call of the Cuckoos Tent took this photograph of his daughter Rachel on 1st January. "Start the way we mean to continue!" says Grant. Rachel regularly comes to tent meetings and loves Stan and Ollie. Scottish Conventions I have a small number of paper collectibles from the 4th, 7th and 8th Scottish Conventions. Can I ask what these conventions were? When did they start and what was the number and year of the last one held? Were they held on a "regular" basis? I would love to get some collectibles from those conventions. I'm interested in hearing from anyone who might have some collectibles from these and to contact me at stanlaurel@verizon.net. There were lots of overseas conventions that I have so little of reflected in my collection - I would like to fill it in some, if possible. Gino Dercola Ed: Scottish Conventions came into being when there was a lull in UK Sons activities in the latter part of the Sons' year. They were in addition to, and unconnected with, any other conventions (such as the annual UK Sons Conventions, which were themselves sometimes held in Scotland). The idea was to have something a bit more informal than the other conventions, at a modest cost. The Scottish Conventions were not annual events, but happened whenever a Scottish tent felt inclined to hold one. Let's hope that some of our readers are able to provide items and information for Gino. Happy New Year! How many hyphens? We invited readers, just for fun, to count how many Laurel and Hardy films had hyphens in their titles. The seven we have spotted are: A-Haunting We Will Go Block-Heads The Fixer-Uppers Forty-five Minutes from Hollywood Going Bye-Bye! The Hoose-Gow The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case