Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,
Our next film show is next week on Wednesday May 20th in our NEW time slot of 7.00pm till 10.00pm at the usual venue, THE BARGE INN, at 177 Tamworth Rd, Long Eaton, Nottingham NG10 1DH. We are up on the upper deck.
All are welcome – entry is free.
This month in accordance with the tent tradition our film show is presented in tribute to the “eternally ever-popular” Mae Busch. Though her birthday is next month (June 18th), it’s always over-shadowed by Stan’s birthday just a couple of days before. So, our May show is dedicated to our Maisie. Mae appeared in 13 films with the Boys…and I will be showing no less than 4 of them, all talkie shorts in the period from 1931-1935 using the best available prints, mostly recently restored and in HD.
Laurel & Hardy had many great supporting actors and actresses, all very well casted, making the films as wonderful as they are…and sadly many don’t get the full credit they deserve. One of these actresses is the beautiful Vivien Oakland, born May 20th 1895. She only appeared in 3 films with the Boys…all very memorable. In celebration of her birth exactly 131 years ago, we will take a little time-out from our Maisie show to show 2 of her 3 films; the silent short “We Faw Down (1928)” where she is Mrs Hardy and the talkie short “Scram (1932)”where she’s the judge’s wife. Again, we will show the recently restored versions of these films in HD. She also appeared in “Way Out West (1937)” as the pestered lady in the stagecoach enrolee to Brushwood Gulch. I intend to show this film at the Bull Inn, Bottesford next month.
We’ll also show another Larry Harmon L&H cartoon “Baul Maul (1966)”. This is being shown in recognition of the Football World Cup finals that begin next month on June 11th. Coincidentally, the cartoon was released just after that 1966 England World Cup win, 60 years ago. In the cartoon, the Boys do actually play football in America …but sadly it’s football of the US kind. Thankfully, none of our June meets clash with any of the big games.
We’ll also have another quick look at what was happening at the Hal Roach studios exactly 100 years ago…this time during May 1926, with a screening of the final 6 mins of Say it With Babies (1926) which was released on May18th 1926. This was a Glen Tryon comedy supported by Babe Hardy, Martha Sleeper and Vivien Oakland. Babe plays a co-starring role in the film and amazingly appears and acts like the Ollie we know and love in future L&H films.
There’ll be the usual raffle – all donations gratefully accepted….and of course we will have the loyal toasts. Again, we shall target to finish at 10pm.
Our June film show will be on the usual third Wednesday in the month..June 17th when we will be celebrating Stan’s 136th birthday, including the screening of Laurel & Hardy’s very first film in the Chronology “The Lucky Dog (1921)”.
BUT before that….
Our afternoon Laurel & Hardy film show at the Bull Inn, Bottesford has been booked for Saturday 13th June. We have an “Animal Magic” theme to our show, celebrating the animals that supported Laurel & Hardy.
Yes, we will be having a raffle, quiz and the usual (long winded) round of toasts…including the eternally ever-popular Mae Busch. The quiz will be an observational quiz on the “Way Out West (1937)” film with a few multiple choice curve ball questions thrown in…just to give everyone a chance of winning our quiz trophy.
For those that have not visited the Bull Inn before…this was the pub that Stan’s sister Beatrice Olga Healey ran in the 1950s with her husband Bill Healey. Stan & Ollie visited the pub on a number of occasions whilst on a variety tour of the UK…most notably Christmas 1953 whilst performing at the Nottingham Empire. They even served behind the bar on Christmas Day 1953….and there are photos in the pub that proves it along with other momentos in the pub lounge. The film show will start at 1pm and finish at 6pm. Come and go as you please. The event is free to all and it will be great to see you.
For the more adventurous (early birds…how early?)…in the morning, we will also be visiting the village of Barkston (4 miles north of Grantham). This is where Stan Laurel’s father (Arthur Jefferson) has been laid to rest in the village’s very small cemetery and there is the Plough Inn where he lived with Beatrice Olga and Bill on West Street during the 1940s. The Plough Inn was visited by the Boys in March 1947 during their first variety tour of the UK…infact they were playing at the London Palladium. I will be conducting the usual walking tour of these sites starting from the Stag Inn in the centre of this very small village at 10.30am. Again all are very welcome to join me.
There will be visitors from other tents including The Brats, Thicker Than water and the Helpmates. Mark & Theresa Hammond from Brighton will be joining us from the Helpmates tent. Mark was a regular writer for the Laurel & Hardy magazine and has an absolutely superb collection of L&H memorabilia including autographs, original photographs, posters and programmes . Also, we will be joined by members of the Sunderland “Beau Chumps” tent including GS Mike Jones. Mike has recently written a couple of brilliant books, one covers his take on the L&H films entitled “‘Twas Ever Thus” , the other covers a miscellany of L&H facts entitled “You don’t believe me”. These are good value at £10, fully recommended with proceeds going to charity. He will be with us selling these books. We will also be joined by members of the Saps At Sea tent from Southend, including Roger Robinson. Roger also has items to sell including some of his wonderful books that he has authored over the years (including Pom! Pom!), also all fully recommended.
Finally, John Palmer is also hoping to bring his wonderful Model T. Its should be a great day out…all I’ve got to do now is order some good weather!
Check out the Sons of the Desert website https://www.
Click on “Coming events” and you’ll find “Boys at the Bull Inn 2026”. This advertises the event.
It can also be seen on the Home page under “added recently”.
I’ll write again to remind/finalise everything nearer the time.
Finally, Graham Wale from the Tit for Tat tent and a few others have helped in supporting the BBC in putting a new 15mins audio documentary (BBC sounds) based on the Laurel & Hardy visits to Lincolnshire and the surrounding areas including the Bull Inn and Barkston. It is good and worth a listen
Graham will also be joining us on June 13th..
So, hopefully, we’ll see you next Wednesday….at 7pm!. Please bring your friends and family – all are very welcome.
Fraternally Yours,
Dave T
(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)
Beau hunks tent website: http://www.
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