Brushwood Gulch Gazette

November-December 2001

Volume 34, Number 5


NOTE: This is an old issue of the Brushwood Gulch Gazette, which has been archived for reference purposes. Although some links have been updated, the text of this archived newsletter remains unchanged. Please keep in mind that these articles have NOT been updated to reflect changes that may have occurred since they were originally printed. Return to the index of archived issues.

Contents:

"Toyland" Star to Join us in December
Eugene "Pineapple" Jackson Passes Away
Dues Are Due
Bring Canned Goods to December Meeting
Book Raffle in December
New Items for Sale at Next Meeting
Check Auction Rescheduled for December

Nashville '02 Convention Deadline
Other Tent News
New Issues of ITJ and Bowler Dessert
Kathleen Freeman
Julie Bishop
2001 Annual Banquet
Birthdays



"Toyland" Star to Join us in December

The next Way Out West Tent meeting will take place Tuesday, December 11. Cocktail and mixer time begins at 6:30 and the meeting will start promptly at 7:15. The Mayflower Club is located at 11110 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood.

Joining us will be our special guests Dick & Betty Jones. Dick appeared as the little boy holding tightly to the leg of one of the marching soldiers in Babes in Toyland. Dick was also the voice of Pinocchio in the Walt Disney classic. His long lists of credits includes films with Our Gang, John Wayne, Muriel Evans, and Buck Jones (to name only a few).

Our feature film for the evening will be Laurel and Hardy's Babes in Toyland, with our old friend Henry Brandon. Henry's picture hangs proudly near the Masquers' bar at the Mayflower Club. Keeping in the Christmas spirit, we will watch the Boys try to sell Christmas trees in their classic short Big Business. We will also see Hal Roach's Little Rascals in The Our Gang Follies of 1938, which features both Dickie Jones and Henry Brandon, along with Porky, Spanky, Darla, and Alfalfa.

You won't want to miss this fun filled night! All who attend will have a chance to become an honorary citizen of Toyland (see below).

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

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Eugene "Pineapple" Jackson Passes Away

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Eugene Jackson, on October 26, 2001. Members of the Way Out West Tent knew him as "Pineapple," the stage name given to him by Hal Roach. A true performer at heart, Eugene always delighted us with a song or two, accompanying himself with his ukulele. We honored him many times at meetings and banquets, for his work in six Our Gang films: The Mysterious Mystery, The Big Town, Circus Fever, Dog Days, The Love Bug, and Shootin' Injuns. In April 1999, an entire meeting was devoted to "Pineapple" Jackson. He shared stories from his recently published book, which included his days at the Hal Roach Studios, his work with Mary Pickford, and on the road with his band, The Jackson Trio. Eugene Jackson's career included numerous appearances in films, such as Thief of Baghdad and Little Annie Rooney, and roles on television series such as Julia and Sanford and Son. We last saw Eugene at our annual banquet, only a few weeks before his death. He will truly be missed by us, and all throughout the Sons of the Desert.

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Dues Are Due

As you know the cost of everything keeps going up, and up, and up. There has not been an increase in our dues for many years now, and the good news is that there will be NO INCREASE in our 2002 dues either!

We will have four very special meetings in 2002. Your dues will get you into each meeting free, keep your newsletter arriving via first class mail, get you a free subscription to the Intra-Tent Journal, two guest passes, plus you will save $10-15 on the cost of the annual banquet and any other extra events sponsored by the tent this year. Also, if you pay your 2002 dues by the end of the December meeting, you will receive a certificate making you an honorary citizen of Toyland! Now is that value, or is that value? These premiums are available to full paid dues members only.

Our meeting schedule for 2002 will begin with an all-day movie marathon on February 10, at the Mayflower Club (with a free lunch provided to members who have paid their dues). Following that, we will meet at the Silent Movie Theater in Hollywood on April 1. On June 4 we will be back at the Mayflower Club with special guest Buddy MacDonald (Pardon Us, On the Loose, Our Gang) interviewed by author Richard Bann. Our final meeting will be November 12 at the Mayflower Club. Plus, our annual banquet will take place September 14. Films and additional celebrity guests will be announced in upcoming newsletters. We can't do this without your help and support, so please pay your dues as soon as possible.

As you can see we have a very special 2002 planned for you. Way Out West board members have read and tallied the survey taken earlier this year and tried to address the needs of tent members. We have made adjustments in the meeting days, films shown, and items available for sale to the members. We realize it is impossible to please everyone, but we will give it a shot.

While dues rates will remain the same, the admission fee for non-paid members will be raised to $10 per meeting (and that does not include any of the benefits listed above). So pay your dues, attend all of these fun events, and save money!

Please note that your complementary guest passes will expire at the end of the year that they are issued and must be used by guests who have not attended a meeting in the last three years. Also note that your complementary issue of the Intra-Tent Journal must be picked up in person at the first meeting that a new issue is available. As always, membership does not include the cost of our annual banquet, although it will entitle you to the discount noted above. Please contact us if you have any questions about membership.

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Bring Canned Goods to December Meeting

The Way Out West Tent will once again collect canned goods for the Maude Booth Family Center, as we traditionally do at our last meeting of the year. Each can brought (or $1 donated) at the next meeting will get you a free raffle ticket. One lucky person will win a VHS tape of March of the Wooden Soldiers. Please help out in this very worthy cause!

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Book Raffle in December

To benefit the tent, there will be another of our ever-popular book raffles at our December 11 meeting. There will be an autographed Ray Bradbury book up for grabs at this raffle! Anyone interested in donating to the cause, please bring along a movie related book.

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New Items for Sale at Next Meeting

New sales items topped the list of requests in our recent members' survey, so just in time for the holidays, our tent has acquired some brand new Laurel and Hardy memorabilia, which will be on sale at the December meeting. A limited quantity of 2002 L&H calendars will be available (but get your's early...last year they sold out before the meeting began). We will also have 8 x 10 prints of the group shot from October's banquet, so if you attended and forgot your camera or did not get this shot, here is your chance. Also available will be the more of the Laurel & Hardy hinged boxes that were so popular at our August meeting. Other new items include L&H books, CDs, t-shirts, and mouse pads. As always, proceeds from the sale of these items go to the tent.

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Check Auction Rescheduled for December

The Stan Laurel check auction announced in the August newsletter was postponed. The auction has been rescheduled to begin December 3 and end on December 13. For more information, please click here.

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Nashville '02 Convention Deadline

The next Sons of the Desert International Convention will take place next summer in Nashville, Tennessee. Conventions are great ways to make new friends from around the world, who share your interest in Laurel and Hardy. Sign up before the end of the year to receive a $50 "early bird" discount. For more information, please visit the convention website at http://www.nashville02.com/

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Other Tent News

The Way Out West Tent is always looking to find new members. If you can suggest a good place to promote the tent (such as a local community newspaper or another group or organization that you're a member of), please let us know.

* * *

Our condolences to the family of Frank Melfo, long time member of the New York Founding Tent, who passed away on September 17.

* * *

As noted in our June 2001 newsletter, Stan Laurel's 1947 Chrysler was recently auctioned. The car will be going to Austria, where the winning bidder resides.

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New Issues of Intra-Tent Journal and Bowler Dessert

The newest issue of the Intra-Tent Journal should be available at the next meeting. The latest issue of the Bowler Desesrt is now also available. For information on ordering the new issue, please visit the Bowler Dessert website.

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Kathleen Freeman

Just a few short months ago we were congratulating long time Way Out West member Kathleen Freeman for her Tony Award nomination. On August 23, we were saddened to hear that she had passed away. Ms. Freeman frequently attended banquets in years past and was instantly a familiar face to anyone she encountered. She appeared as the vocal coach in Singing in the Rain, was the nun in The Blues Brothers (and its sequel), and appeared in many Jerry Lewis films. On television, she found roles on series such as Topper, The Beverly Hillbillies, and The Dick Van Dyke Show. Of course, this is only a few of her numerous credits. Most recently, she appeared on Broadway in The Full Monty.

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Julie Bishop

Julie Bishop, who appeared with Laurel and Hardy in The Bohemian Girl and Any Old Port, passed away from pneumonia on August 30, 2001. It was her 87th birthday. She was born in Denver with the name of Jacqueline Wells, later changing her name at the request of a film studio. In addition to appearing with the Boys, she was also see with W.C. Fields, Errol Flynn, John Wayne, and Humphrey Bogart.

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The Stars Turn Out For This Year's Celebrity Banquet!

The Way Out West Tent held its 30th Annual Banquet Saturday, October 6 at the Pickwick Banquet Center in beautiful downtown Burbank. It was also one of our very best, due in part to the lengthy list and caliber of our celebrity guests. The theme of the evening was an Award Night, complete with presenters with sealed envelopes, celebrity acceptance speeches, and an all-too-cute nickname for the prestigious award. Winners received the "Narcissus Award," named for that lovable goat in L&H's Angora Love. In an unexpected outcome that defied all of the odds in Las Vegas, every celebrity in attendance managed to end up a winner!

Several celebrities were in attendance for the first time, giving us the opportunity to make them honorary members of our tent. Joining us from Florida was Karl Slover, who is recognized by Laurel and Hardy fans as the little fellow that exits the elevator in Block-Heads smoking a cigar and saying, "Out, please!" (via Billy Bletcher's voice). Shirley Jean Rickert flew in from New York. She was a member of Our Gang, who appeared in The Stolen Jools with the boys. Bud MacDonald, who worked with Stan and Ollie in On the Loose and in a deleted scene from Pardon Us, also made his first of what he hopes will be many more visits to our tent. Also new to our members was Patsy Barry, who also appeared with the Our Gang. And finally, legendary author Ray Bradbury was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for helping to keep the memory of the Boys alive in several short stories he has written over the years. It was a thrill to hear him tell of seeing Laurel and Hardy live on stage in Dublin.

Other returning celebrity guests included: Trudy Marshall (The Dancing Masters); Dorothy deBorba (The Stolen Jools); Margaret Kerry (Our Gang); Peggy and Lassie Lou Ahern (Our Gang); J.R. Smith (45 Minutes from Hollywood); Joy Lane (Babes in Toyland); Pineapple Jackson (Our Gang); Delmar Watson (Our Gang); Darwood K. Smith (Our Gang); Len Landy (Our Gang); Joan Del Mar (Nothing But Trouble); Edith Fellows (The Devil's Brother); Jay Dare (costume department at MGM/20th Century Fox); and, of course, the talented duo of Jim MacGeorge and Chuck McCann. Also on hand were relatives of our celebrities: Cassidy and Patrick Cook (Stan Laurel's great-grandchildren); Burr Middleton (grandson of Charles Middleton); and long time member Lois Roberts (wife of late Thomas Benton Roberts), who traveled down from Salinas to be with us. All in all the evening once again proved why the Way Out West Tent has long been known through the Sons of the Desert as "The Tent of the Stars."

The evening's video program highlighted each of the winners and was an original presentation created for that evening only. Some of Laurel and Hardy's funniest moments were highlighted in numerous video compilations. The boys even provided entertainment with several of their more popular musical numbers, shown throughout the evening.

John Duff was presented with a special award for his 14 years as our Grand Sheik. Presenters of the awards included board members Lori McCaffery, Jimmy Wiley Jr., Bob Duncan, Stan Taffel, Alan Barasorda, Earl Kress, and Rick Greene. Burr Middleton, Peggy & Lassie Lou Ahern, Margaret Kerry, and Trudy Marshall announced winners as well. Special thanks to Colin McCaffery for photographing the event and to Jimmy Wiley III for preparing the video program.

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Birthdays

The Way Out West Tent would like to send best wishes to Our Ganger Joe Cobb on his 85th birthday. Joe was in attendance at the Our Gang reunion at the Hollywood '80 convention and has attended several of our meetings and banquets. He appeared in 86 Our Gang Comedies, starting at age five. Among his films were Barnum and Ringling, Inc. and Thundering Fleas, which featured Oliver Hardy. Joe was also in Laurel and Hardy's 45 Minutes from Hollywood.

We would also like to extend birthday wishes to Lois Laurel Hawes. She's one of our favorite members, not simply because she is the daughter of Stan Laurel, but also due to her continued help and support of the Way Out West Tent. Lois appeared as an extra in the film Swiss Miss.

November

1

Jerry Tucker (Jerry Schatz)

Stolen Jools, Our Gang

1

Felix Knight

Babes in Toyland

2

Dennis King

Fra Diavolo

2

Walter Woolf King

Swiss Miss

4

Darla Hood

Our Gang

6

June Marlowe

Pardon Us

7

Joe Cobb

Our Gang

9

Gertrude Astor

Come Clean

14

John McCabe

Sons of the Desert founder & author

16

Lawrence Tibbett

The Rogue Song

17

Eddie Baker

Come Clean

19

Roy Seawright

Roach Studios Special Effects

21

Vivian Blaine

The Jitterbugs

21

Dorothy Granger

Hog Wild, Laurel-Hardy Murder Case

23

Boris Karloff

French version of Pardon Us

December

3

Ferdinand Munier

Babes in Toyland

5

Walt Disney

Hollywood Party

5

Gordon Douglas

Zenobia

8

Frank Faylen

A Haunting We Will Go

8

Norma Drew

Chickens Come Home

10

Lois Laurel Hawes

Stan's Daughter

11

Marie Windsor

The Fighting Kentuckian

14

James W. Horne

Director

16

Harry Spear

Our Gang

18

George Stevens

Cameraman and Director

18

Leonard Maltin

Author

19

Al Kilgore

Sons of the Desert founding member

20

Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison

Our Gang

25

Joe Rock

Producer

25

Eugene "Pineapple" Jackson

Our Gang

26

Elisha Cook Jr.

A Haunting We Will Go

29

George Marshall

Pack Up Your Troubles

30

Monty Banks

Director (Fox)

30

Rosina Lawrence

Way Out West

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Updated November 29, 2001

Copyright ©2001 Way Out West. All rights reserved.


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