Laurel and Hardy Society Sons of the Desert Way Out West Tent Los Angeles
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The Brushwood Gulch Gazette is the newsletter of the Way Out West Tent. It is published six times a year, shortly before regular tent meetings. Members receive the complete printed edition in the mail. The online edition features most of the articles found in the printed version, minus photos.

Saturday at the Mayflower Club - Time To Do Things A Little Differently!

For starters, our next meeting will be on SATURDAY EVENING, October 1st. The doors of The Mayflower Club will open early at 5:30 P.M. Our meeting will start early at 6:30 P.M. To continue with our theme of doing things a little bit differently, all of our films for the evening will be just a little bit different from the prints that you've seen before. Do I have you a little bit curious? I hope so. Please read on.

Two of the films for the evening "will jump right out at you," as we are screening Liberty (1929) and Busy Bodies (1933), for the first time ever in 3-D. Yes 3-D! 3-D glasses will be included, free of charge. In their silent, Liberty, 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 in a tall building under construction. Is that a good idea? In Busy Bodies, the Boys are employed at a sawmill, but they never seem to have anyone really supervising their work. Stan and Ollie just go from one job to another, making messes of everything they do. As their day goes on, Stan seems to go out of his way to make Ollie's day at work as miserable as possible. How long can Ollie go on before he explodes with anger? Charlie Hall and Tiny Sandford have cameos in the film.

In the '90s, a Dutch orchestra named Beau Hunks released a DVD where they performed live music along with the Boys' silent film, Their Purple Moment (1928). The orchestra played parts of almost all of the Laurel & Hardy background music ever written. We will screen Their Purple Moment in its entirety, including some split screen shots showing the film and the orchestra playing. And we will enhance it by including song titles on screen. In Their Purple Moment, the Boys once again try to outsmart their wives by lying. Will they succeed this time? Kay Deslys and Anita Garvin are also featured in the film.

After a break for cake, our special guest for the evening will be Randy Skretvedt, who will talk about his new book Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies - Special Edition. Following his talk, he will answer questions from the audience.

We'll wind up the evening with a rare screening of Politiquerias (1931), the near feature length Spanish version of Chickens Come Home. In Politiquerias, Stan, Ollie, and Fin speak Spanish with a complete Spanish cast. The basic plot of the film is the same as Chickens Come Home, but wait until you see the dinner party! It's completely different from the dinner party in the English version and a lot longer. The hit of the dinner party is the infamous Hadji Ali, "The Regurgitator." His act is hard to describe in a few words. You have to see it to believe it!

If you have any Laurel & Hardy collectibles to donate to our annual Laurel & Hardy Raffle, please bring them to our October 1st meeting. More details below.

This event will be considered a regular meeting, so admission is free if you are a dues paying member. "Fisher Franks" (quarter pound 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 during our second break. The Mayflower Club is located at 11110 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Our meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. See you October 1st, don't miss out on a night of fun!

Click here for a map to the Mayflower Club...


Raffle For UCLA L&H Film Preservation Fund

During our October meeting we will have our annual Laurel & Hardy Raffle to raise money to donate to UCLA's Laurel & Hardy (Film) Preservation Fund. If we have enough donations of Laurel & Hardy memorabilia from our members, we'll break the Raffle into two parts. Our grand prize for the evening will be Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection (58 films on 10 discs). Single Raffle tickets will be sold for $1.00. A $5.00 donation will get you seven Raffle tickets.

The money that we collect from the Raffle goes to UCLA to help finance their ongoing work in restoring and preserving the 35mm negatives they have in their Roach sound Laurel & Hardy film collection. To date, our Tent has donated almost $2,500.


2018 International Sons Convention

Although it is still nearly two years away, it's never too early to start thinking about attending an International Sons of the Desert Convention. The next convention will be in Cincinnati, Ohio, July 12-15, 2018. Many of the people organizing the convention have been good friends to the Way Out West Tent over the years, and we hope to see some new faces from our tent at the next convention. For more information, see the brand new convention website at:

www.laurelandhardy2018.com

 


Notes From Our August Meeting

At our August meeting, we screened Sailors Beware, Two Tars, The Live Ghost, and Our Relations. It was both fun and interesting to see Sailors Beware again. Not only because we don't screen the film very often, but it gave us a chance to see Stan and Babe developing "the Stan & Ollie characters" that we've all learned to love. In Two Tars, I don't think that I've ever seen a Laurel & Hardy film with so many props (the old cars) in one film. It must have taken many, many hours to film. As for The Live Ghost and Our Relations, I have to admit that they're two of my most favorite Laurel & Hardy films.

Thanks to Sharon Evans and Rick Rogers for performing two songs from Way Out West. Their rendition of "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" was especially good and well received by our members. Thanks to J.T. Tropper, Jayne Barnhart, Bob Duncan, Laura Reuther, Victor D'Agostino, Randy Skretvedt, and Bob Brauer for helping me with the toasts and song. Thanks to our members for turning out in good numbers, on a fairly warm Summer evening. I hope that you all had a great time. You are the best.


 


L&H Film Festival At The Old Town Music Hall

On the weekend of November 25th, 26th, and 27th, the Old Town Music Hall will once again do a special all Laurel & Hardy film program. The Old Town Music Hall is located at 140 Richmond Street, El Segundo (310-322-2592). Their evening programs will begin at 8:15 on Friday and Saturday. Their matinee programs will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Admission to the theater is $10.00 per person or $8 for people 62 or older. Each program begins with a Wurlitzer Theater Pipe Organ sing-along. For information about other programs at the Old Town Music Hall, go to:

www.oldtownmusichall.org/films.html



 




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