Laurel and Hardy and the Sons of the Desert are at the heart of Bowler Dessert magazine and Bowler Dessert Online
Bulletin
30.07.09.
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Statue of Dodd
A statue of Ken Dodd has been erected in Lime Street Station in Liverpool. After him unveiling the statue of Laurel and Hardy in Ulverston, it was nice to see Ken get his own statue! A couple of yards away there is also a statue of popular Liverpool Labour MP Bessie Braddock. The statues were designed by Tom Murphy and were unveiled by Ken himself! Mark Russell
Knocking on the phone
"And still they come," says Charlie Lewis, who sent us this image from the latest issue of Transport Extra.
Reporting an unprecedented wave of tadpole falls in Japan in June, the Japan Times called them "polliwogs, a venerable word from the Middle English pollwyggle ('wriggling head')." Spotted by
Dean Carroll in Fortean Times last
month
Becoming Charley Chase released in USA
Released by VCI Entertainment on 28th July. RRP: $39.99. DeepDiscount.com has it for $21.76 including p&p. John Sinnott has reviewed the set of four DVDs at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/37966/becoming-charley-chase. In part of it he says: These are unrestored prints of varying gauges, though if I'd have to guess I'd say most of them are from 16mm and I know at least one short comes from 9.5mm film (the only surviving copy). The prints are scratched, have poor contrast in general, lack the fine definition of 35mm film, and generally look below average even for silent movies. Here's the thing: This is the only place you can easily see these films. They are all watchable, but people used to restored classics like the Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd films will be disappointed. The problem is that it is just not economically feasible to restore these movies, especially the ones that need more work. If someone thought they could make a good profit by pouring money into top-notch restorations, it's obvious that they would do so, as countless other film restorations have shown. Given Charley Chase's low name recognition and the fact that these films are now in the public domain, it's doubtful that we'll ever see many of these restored. Even if we do get a couple cleaned up will that be years or decades from now? So what are we left with? Two options: either don't see these at all, or watch the best available unrestored prints that can be found. Personally I'd rather have the option of viewing these, even with less than pristine prints, than not having the chance at all. I'll gladly take the scratches and spots on 16mm prints over nothing at all.
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Sounds
familiar? Flat blown up
in air bed accident A German man has
blown up his flat while trying to mend an
inflatable mattress, local fire officials
say. The man from the
western city of Düsseldorf used car
tyre solvent to repair a hole and left it
overnight. But when he tried to inflate
the mattress the next day, it was ignited
by a spark from an electric air
pump. The explosion
blasted the sitting room wall into a
stairwell and blew out windows. Both the
man, 45, and his daughter, three, suffered
burns. The fire brigade evacuated two
buildings and sealed off a street while
they checked for structural
damage. "The apartment
looked devastated," Spiegel Online quoted
a fire brigade spokesman as saying. The
paper said the cost of the damage was
estimated at 20,000 euros (£17,200),
and that the man would be put under
investigation for causing an explosion
through negligence. Howard
Parker spotted the above on the BBC
News website (16.07.09.) Beer belly man
stuck in drain A German man's
love of beer proved his undoing after he
fell into an open drain and could not get
out because of his beer belly. Gerhard Wilder,
46, from Bochum, was wedged so tightly in
the drain that he had to be freed by
firefighters. He has promised
to go on a diet after embarrassing
pictures of the incident were shown across
German media. Channel
4 News (17.07.09.) Academy Award I just happened to come across this bit on the Internet. It answers my question raised at the foot of page 12 of the latest Bowler Dessert: The Music Box won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Comedy Short Subject. It was given a certificate instead of the Oscar(r) statuette (which were not yet given to shorts), and Roach later privately presented it to Stan Laurel, insisting the actor was the one who really deserved the award. Alan Ellsworth Laughter info required Does anyone know what exactly Laurel and Hardy's connection is with the educational short Laughter is Good Medicine? I understand it is live action and animation, but don't know whether we just see a photo, film clip or newly animated Stan and Ollie. Any help is appreciated. Antony Mitchell-Waite Oh, Agnes!
Dean Carroll points out that, for the last few weeks, there has been a record in the UK Top Forty Singles Chart called Release Me. The singer is Agnes! Not to be confused with "our" Agnes. |
