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

The Trail of the Lonesome Pine record

Stan and Ollie's version of The Trail of the Lonesome Pine became a hit in the UK in 1975. On the label of the British 45 the billing was "Laurel and Hardy with The Avalon Boys featuring Chill Wills". It was on United Artists record number UP 36026. The B-side was Honolulu Baby (from Sons of the Desert) with billing on the label as "Laurel and Hardy Featuring Ty Parvis (vocalist) and Charlie Chase (not spelled 'Charley')". Because that 45 was such a hit, naturally the record company decided to try for another hit with a follow-up 45. This time they released the recording of At the Ball, That's All from Way Out West as the A-side. Exact billing on the label was "The Laurel and Hardy Two Step - At the Ball, That's All, by The Avalon Boys." It was released on United Artists UP 36164. Maybe because Stan and Ollie were not actually heard on the A-side, the record gave us two songs on the B-side: You Are the Ideal of My Dreams (from Beau Hunks) and Let Me Call You Sweetheart (from Swiss Miss). The billing was "Oliver Hardy with Stan Laurel". The record's release date is printed on the label as 1-10-76, almost a whole year after the release of the The Trail of the Lonesome Pine 45. In the USA the label Mark 56, that had been putting out several LPs of Laurel and Hardy soundtracks (as well as one of Our Gang film soundtrack clips and other movie and radio material) must have hoped The Trail of the Lonesome Pine could duplicate its success as a single on the American charts, so they released the song (on Mark 56 45#303) in 1976. But it did not chart and was not at all the hit that it had been in Britain. The billing on the label of this 45 read, "Laurel and Hardy Sing The Trail of the Lonesome Pine". On the B-side was Honolulu Baby with the billing given misleadingly as "Laurel and Hardy Sing Honolulu Baby". This version was only two minutes long, about half the length of the British 45 version, with much of the film dialogue that had been included on the British 45 edited out. Richard Finegan