Laurel & Hardy Deal With the Law March 25thLaurel & Hardy Deal With the Law March 25th at the Mayflower Club
On Tuesday night, March 25th, join us in seeing Stan and Babe in a little bit different way. Half of the evening, their characters will be their normal law abiding selves. The other half their characters will be in trouble with the law. Many of the films we are screening haven't been shown for a long time at a West Out West meeting.
Our film program will begin with Laurel & Hardy's silent classic, Liberty (1929). The film starts with Stan and Ollie literally running from a policeman after their escape from prison. After many frantic chases and close calls, the Boys shake the police and decide to hide on a tall building under construction.
After giving damning evidence to convict dangerous criminal Butch Long (Walter Long), in Going Bye-Bye! (1934) the Boys figure that the best thing for them to do is to leave town forever. Unfortunately, when they decide that they need another person to share car expenses to leave town, they pick Mae Busch.
In The Midnight Patrol (1933), new police officers Laurel & Hardy are assigned to night patrol in a shady part of town. They seem to be coping okay, in a "Laurel & Hardy way," with all the crazy things that happen during the night. That is, until they go to the wrong address to investigate a house break-in.
Convicted killer "The Tipton Slasher" (Noah Young) has escaped from prison in Laurel & Hardy's silent, Do Detectives Think? (1927). Judge Foozie (James Finlayson), who sentenced "The Slasher," calls a private detective agency to send detectives to guard him at his home. Who does the agency send? You guessed it, Detectives Ferdinand Finkleberry (Stan) and Sherlock Pinkham (Ollie).
After being arrested in a raid and escorted to jail, Stan and Ollie soon attempt to escape in The Hoose-Gow (1929). After they fail to break out, The Boys are sent to a labor camp, where unwittingly they almost single handedly destroy the camp. James Finlayson plays the governor, who shows up for an inspection of the camp.
Our film program ends with Scram (1932). When Judge Beaumont (Rychard Cramer) tells vagrants Stan and Ollie to leave town immediately, the Boys take him seriously. However, right after they leave the courtroom they find, in a driving rain, a very drunk man (Arthur Housman). The man has dropped his car keys down a sidewalk grating and very much needs the Boys' help to get him home, where he offers the Boys to spent the night. Vivien Oakland later appears in the film.
The Mayflower Club is located at 11110 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. Our meeting starts at 7:15 p.m. "Fisher Franks" (100% beef hot dogs) with your choice of chips will be sold at The Mayflower Club Kitchen. Refreshments will be sold at The Mayflower Club Bar. Free cake will be served. Don't miss any of the fun on March 25th, see you at The Mayflower Club.
Click here for a map to the Mayflower Club...
Don't Forget About Dues
In 2014, we will have six regular meetings at The Mayflower Club. Our regular meetings are fully covered by your dues. The remaining meetings dates for 2014 are printed in the right-hand column. If you want to pay your dues by mail, make your check out to Sons of the Desert and mail it to: Lori McCaffery, 4313 Woodland Avenue, Burbank, CA 91505. Your dues are very important to the well being of our club. We appreciate your continued support and look forward to enjoying a great 2014 with you.
No Parking In Front of Mayflower Entrance
For safety reasons during our club meetings, please don't park in front of The Mayflower Club main entrance steps. If someone becomes sick and needs medical attention during one of our meetings (and it has happened at least once before), we must have an unimpeded entrance to The Mayflower Club, so medical help can easily get in and out of the building. Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation.
Group Picture For July 2014 Convention
We have been asked by the planning team for the 2014 Hollywood Convention to send a group picture of our members. We will take that picture, right after our first break on Tuesday, March 25th. The picture will be included in the Parade of Tents Ceremony for the Convention. Those of you who plan on attending the Convention, please let us know before we take the picture, so we can get you in the front row.
July 2014 Convention Update
The itinerary and registration forms for the Hollywood 2014 International Sons of the Desert Convention are now available. The convention will take place this summer from June 30 to July 6, based at the Loews Hollywood Hotel (formerly the Renaissance Hotel). Some highlights scheduled for the convention are: tours of all known surviving Laurel & Hardy filming locations; a stop at the Petersen Automotive Museum; film screenings at the Egyptian Theater; a private banquet at the Hollywood Museum with rare Hal Roach Studios related artifacts on exhibit; plus convention activities such as the Pee-Wee Contest, Putting Contest, and Trivia Contest. In addition, there will be two days of pre-convention activities. Space will be limited, so if you are interested in attending please pick up a registration form at our meeting or visit the convention web site at: http://www.laurelandhardywood.com/
Notes From Our January Meeting
For our January Oliver Hardy Birthday Meeting, we first screened Isn't Life Terrible. Even though the silent short is a Charley Chase film, Babe plays a very significant supporting role as Charley's lazy brother-in-law, Remington. By seeing Babe play "Remington," who is almost a complete opposite character from Babe's classic "Ollie," we once again got to appreciate the great acting versatility of one Oliver Norvell Hardy! We also screened They Go Boom, Hog Wild, and Swiss Miss. On our second break, we sang "Happy Birthday" to Babe and enjoyed birthday cake. All in all, as the old saying goes, "a good time was had by all."
Thanks to Ken Runyan, J.T. Tropper, Chris Robinette, Allen Megarit, Victor D'Agostino, Bob Duncan, Jayne Barnhart for helping me with the Toasts and singing the Song.
From The Grand Sheik
There are three things that I like about Elvis Presley. Number one, I love his music. Number two, we were both born on January 8th. Number three, Elvis was a fan of Laurel & Hardy. The first two reasons are only important to me, but let me give you more information about the third reason.
On The Laurel and Hardy Forum (www.laurelandhardyforum.com), I saw that Charlie Hodge, one of Elvis' best friends who lived at Graceland for many years and even wrote a book about Elvis, told Forum member Hickory Hiram that Elvis had a great collection of Laurel & Hardy films that he would often show at Graceland for his friends (The Memphis Mafia perhaps?). Elvis' favorite L&H film was The Devil's Brother, and Elvis was particularity fond of Ollie's mannerisms. In Elvis' movie, Double Trouble (1967), Charlie said that there were a lot of subtle references to Laurel & Hardy. I just got the DVD of Double Trouble. If I find any interesting references, I'll try to find a way to show some of them at a future meeting.
