Bulletin 31.05.09

Bowler Dessert's 9th DVD Bowler Dessert's 9th DVD is the best yet! And Still they Come is unbeatable value at £4.00. It could easily be mistaken for a professional film. I screened some of the items at the Early to Bed Tent meeting in May to great acclaim. The statue unveiling in Ulverston is a lasting souvenir of a momentous day in the history of the Sons of the Desert. The novelty item Pop Muzik is not to my taste but interesting. The next two items give a flavour of the Laurel and HarDays, including an interview with retiring organiser Chris Coffey. Outtakes of the Desert does what it says, with footage never seen before, perhaps for obvious reasons! North-East Connections features Nancy Wardell unveiling another statue, in Bishop Auckland, and a virtual tour of sites associated with Stan's stay in the North East. Very appealing. Vintage footage from the Stan Laurel Centenary in 1990 completes the set. But wait! Even after 33 superb minutes there are some very exciting "Extras" - The Telescope trailer, A Chump at Oxford trailer and some rare TV adverts featuring, and inspired by, the Boys. These extras alone are worth the price of the DVD! I can unhesitatingly recommend this DVD for your own pleasure and screening at tent meetings. Well done, Willie. Another triumph! Grahame Morris One Good Newsletter The One Good Turn Tent of Saarbrücken in Germany has published its latest colour newsletter. Log onto http://www.saartent.de. Bye-bye bowler Spanish banking giant Santander hopes that ditching bowler hats and jumping into fast cars will mark it out as a brand for the 21st century. But ditching some of the most recognised logos in the UK financial sector - such as the Bradford and Bingley bowler hat - will be far from risk-free, according to some analysts. Bradford and Bingley's assets include 100 bowler hat trademarks, such is its recognition factor as a brand. Santander's flame motif does not have the same connection yet in the UK. BBC News website (27.05.09) De Bote en Bote A restoration of Laurel and Hardy's phonetically spoken Spanish version of Pardon Us, titled De Bote en Bote, has been released for the first time on DVD. The DVD reportedly includes the dubbed version and the phonetic one. However, this is available only in Spain and the distributors will not export. Frank Randle site There is a really interesting Frank Randle fan site at http://www.itsahotun.com. The Cuthbert Club seems to have a few things in common with the Sons. . . meetings and conventions etc. Steve Bartley Mess on the pitch Charlie Lewis spotted an interesting headline in the Daily Mail (28.05.09.), reporting on Manchester United's defeat in the Champions League Final on the previous day, at the hands of Barcelona. The headline read, "That's another fine Messi". Commentators had a field day. One of the two goals was scored by Lionel Messi and one live commentator said, "Well, that's another fine Messi they've gotten into." Margaret Leonard RIP Margaret Leonard passed away suddenly on 18th April. Her sister Carol Kay says, "She was a great fan of Laurel and Hardy and got immense pleasure from that and from reading your newsletters. Thank you very much." Margaret was the Grand Sheik and guiding light of the Great Guns Tent of Barnsley a few years ago and it was always good to chat with her at the Ulverston Carnival. Sadly missed. Amazing collection on offer on eBay An amazing collection is on offer on eBay. It includes a previously unheard-of colour home movie from 1963 of Stan Laurel in his apartment. There are also letters and photographs, signed by Stan. The film was shot by Jim and Irene Heffernan. Jean (Babe) London appears in some of the film and in two of the photographs. The seller describes the film thus: I watched it and found it was about 20 minutes long total. About 6 minutes into it appears Stan Laurel (at his apartment in Santa Monica CA, I believe) as well as his wife Eda and Irene - and Jim must have handed the camera off to Irene toward the end as he too "gets in the picture". This section of the 20 minute long home movie is short - probably less than a minute - BUT it's wonderful! Everyone is happy and laughing and Stan clowns around some. . . Irene kisses him, then wipes off the lipstick. . . When Jim enters the shot, Stan's demeanor slightly shifts from embarrassing girl fuss to regular guy stuff. In the beginning of the reel is an Art Showing of some of Jean "Babe" London's paintings. . . and then the Stan Laurel footage and then is a wonderful Vaudeville-type show and the very end has some short footage of a party . . . another Babe Art Showing . . . and I have more of that party on another reel that I will be offering in another auction here shortly. . . Stan was not at the party as far as I've seen BUT there's a painting in this bit of footage that is her Laurel and Hardy painting. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380127645073 Paul's silents On 15th May we went to see Paul Merton's Silent Clowns and, yes, it was good. I'd say more than good and well worth going to see. I got the book Silent Comedy by Paul Merton and a poster at £10 for both. The first film was a Hal Roach film, It's a Gift (1923) with Snub Pollard as an inventor who comes up with a car that runs on magnet power - a kind of Wallace and Gromit - which I liked. The second film was a clip of Buster Keaton in Steamboat Bill Jr, walking in a hurricane. Then two clips from two French silent films, A Prize for Cello (1917) and Anthem Swallows His Clarinet (1912). Hundreds of short films were made as early cinemas showed new films every day and both of these films were good for their time. Next up was a clip from the earliest Japanese film made in colour. It was the Japs who had the idea to paint the frames in colour. Then it was the Boys' turn -  Laurel and Hardy in Liberty. It was great hearing Neil Brand's music playing the Ku-Ku song live and seeing the Boys on the big screen again. The Boys got the biggest round of applause. In fact everyone stood up and wanted more. It's great that Laurel and Hardy are loved so much and even Paul Merton was surprised. Part Two opened with the Chaplin short The  Pawnshop (1916), the last film he made for Mack Sennett. You could see where Stan got his ideas from and Stan was better than Chaplin. The last film was Buster Keaton's Seven Chances, which started in colour and was fun. We met Paul Merton at the end and we got his autograph and a photo. He's a nice, big bloke. I spoke to him about Laurel and Hardy. I said Putting Pants on Philip was another silent I liked and he agreed. He likes Laurel and Hardy and his book has lots of Laurel and Hardy info and photos in it. It is a book worth having for any Son. If the show comes to where you live, go and you will enjoy it. Nick Rich Silent Comedy by Paul Merton has now been published by Arrow Books as a paperback. ISBN-10: 0099510138 / ISBN-13: 9780099510130. RRP: £9.99. Amazon has it for £6.49 including p&p.