August Meeting 2024 August 18, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Many thanks for all your well-wishing emails – I’m now fully recovered, back to full health and raring to go and show some of those Laurel & Hardy films we’ve been missing since we last met in Sandiacre, 3 months ago!! So, I can confirm that our next show will be next Wednesday, August 21st, at the usual place (ie The Bridge Inn, Sandiacre) at the usual time (ie 7.30pm). All are welcome and yes it’s still free.

In fact, I intend to show the films that I was planning to screen last month before the dreaded Covid struck… these are films where Stan & Ollie are twinned, mixed up up as others or just totally mixed up!! This will include the 1940s Fox feature “The Bullfighters” where Stan is mistaken for his Mexican bull fighting doppelgänger. We will also have a small birthday tribute to Thelma Todd, born July 29th.

Our Septober film show will be on the usual third Wednesday in the month..September 18th when we will be celebrating Jimmy Finlayson & Charlie Hall’s birthdays…..as originally planned for August, this we will make a “by request” evening where YOU get to select the Laurel & Hardy film shorts you want to see that are supported by either Charlie or Jimmy feature or both.

Before then, hopefully, we’ll see you next Wednesday. Please bring friends and family – all are very welcome. It will be good to see you all again.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

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July Meeting 2024 CANCELLED due to a shaky Sheikh July 16, 2024

Hello all,

Unfortunately I’m having to cancel tomorrows meeting as today I’ve tested positive for COVID. indeed, it’s still doing the rounds…and I don’t know where I’ve got it from as I watched all the England games at home. I’m fine just feeling a bit run down, headachy, with some symptoms of a head cold.

We’ll run our planned June meeting…in August and our future august meeting in Septober. See you all on August 21st.

Please pass the message around.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

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July Meeting 2024 July 15, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our next film show will be next Wednesday, July 17th, 7.30pm till 10.30pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW – in the outside function room as per usual.

All are welcome and entry is free.

It seems a very long time since our last meeting. First of all, I hope you all enjoyed the little film show at the Bull Inn. We had a great turnout and I thank you all for your support – it wouldn’t work without it. The weather was a bit mixed but we were able to take a few photos outside – which I’ve attached below. I had hoped to have had our Junel meeting at the Bridge Inn…but due to circumstances beyond my control I had to cancel this Stan Laurel birthday meeting. However, we hope to have a belated birthday celebration this forthcoming Wednesday.

As promised, next Wednesday, I intend to show a 1940s Laurel & Hardy feature film from the Fox film studios….entitled “The Bullfighters” which although is set in Mexico…it was filmed at the Fox studios in California. It is a film we haven’t seen for 7 years so is overdue an airing. In the film, Stan is mistaken for a professional bullfighter who is his exact doppelgänger. There are many films where Stan and Ollie are twinned, mixed up as others or just totally mixed up!! So accordingly, we’ll support this Fox feature film with two Hal Roach studio films where Stan and Ollie suffer from an identity crisis. In recomembrance of Stans birthday I will also take the opportunity to show one of his 2 reel silent solo films from 1925 that was produced for Joe Rock entitled ‘”Twins”. This was filmed before Stan was paired with Ollie at Hal Roach . The copy, I will show has recently been restored in the US and released on the “Laurel or Hardy” blu-ray boxset. It’s a pristine copy and presents gags that are highly reminiscent of the mix-ups that occur in the later Laurel &Hardy feature “Our Relations”.

As we are coming to the end of the 1930s/40s cartoon series, I will unashamedly re-show the Porky Pig “The Timid Toreador” from 1940 – as it fits our theme very well. We will have the usual raffle and toasts, all donations are gratefully accepted – particularly as we ran down our bank of raffle prizes at the Bull Inn.

We will also be paying a little tribute to the beautiful Thelma Todd, her birthday will be is on July 29th. She was a major star on the Hal Roach studio lot and only made 6 films with the Boys…but all very memorable.

Our August film show will be on the usual third Wednesday in the month..August 21st when we will be celebrating Jimmy Finn’s & Charlie Hall’s birthdays…..this we will make a “by request” evening where YOU get to select the Laurel & Hardy film shorts you want to see that are supported by either Charlie or Jimmy feature or both.

Before then, hopefully, we’ll see you next Wednesday. Please bring friends and family – all are very welcome.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

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Boys At the Bull 2024 June 7, 2024

The Nottingham Beau Hunks Tent once again invite everyone everywhere to join them in an afternoon of film fun and frivolity at the Bull Inn in Bottesford (between Nottingham & Grantham, NG130BW) on Saturday 15th June, 1pm until 6pm. The Bull Inn was once run by Stan’s sister, Beatrice Olga and her husband Bill Healey. Stan & Ollie visited the pub on a number of occasions during their 1952 and 1953/4 variety theatre tours of the UK. The pub’s lounge is adorned with photographs and memorabilia all in memory of those very special visits.

This year, our Laurel & Hardy film show will be themed on celebrating all their long sufferring on-screen wives and their exasperating relationships with the Boys. Of course, this film show will culminate in the best example of this kind – a showing of one of the Boys best feature films, SONS OF THE DESERT (1933).

We also plan to screen one of the newly restored 1927 in High Definition from the recent US Blu-ray boxset. I’m also hoping that John Palmer will be able to bring his fabulous Model T Ford motorcar, presenting an ideal opportunity for photos. In attendance, we also hope to have a number of eminent Laurel & Hardy book authors selling and signing their books….and yes, we will be having a raffle, an observational quiz and the usual long round of toasts.

The event is FREE and everyone is very welcome….including your long suffering wives, husbands and partners! Oh, those Sons of the Desert!

In the morning, we will again be visiting The Plough Inn in Barkston (4 miles north of Grantham) where Stan’s father, AJ, and his sister, Beatrice Olga, once lived and ran the small pub during the 1940s – and where of course Stan & Ollie made at least one visit during their 1947 variety tour. We will also be visiting AJs grave in the village and paying our due respects to a very special father. Those interested in this pre-event …please meet at the Stag Inn at the centre of this small village (NG322NB) at 10.30 am, Saturday morning.

The Beau Hunks Tent continues to meet with a Laurel & Hardy film show every 3rd Wednesday of the month at the Bridge Inn (outside function room) in Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre, Nottingham NG105LW at 7.30pm. It’s free and all are very welcome.

For more information please contact the Grand Sheik, Dave Tomlinson at DTomlinson@tinyworld.co.uk

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May Meeting 2024 May 9, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our next film show will be next Wednesday, May 15th, 7.30pm till 10.30pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW – in the outside function room as per usual.

All are welcome and entry is free.

As now become our tradition this month is our “Nothing but Mae” film show in tribute to the eternally ever-popular Mae Busch. Though her birthday is next month (June 18th), it’s over-shadowed by Stan’s birthday just two days before – so the month of May is dedicated to our Maise. So, I intend to show nothing but a series of Laurel & Hardy short films in which the eternally ever-popular Mae Busch provides a supporting, and in fact in one film, she’s credited as taking the top starring role! This year I’m also taking the opportunity to show a 40 minute documentary on Mae Busch….entitled Hats off to Mae Busch. The documentary has been put together by the Wigan “Dirty Work” tent with the support of many eminent and knowledgable Sons of the Desert, it documents her rise as a famous silent million dollar film star “vamp” during the early and mid 1920s , her sad decline and then sudden resurgence as a supporting star at the Hal Roach studios with Laurel & Hardy. The documentary covers all of her 13 Laurel & Hardy films. It’s an absolute fascinating documentary..and you get to understand why she is deservingly toasted 4th in the list of toasties in the Sons of the Desert constitution which was ratified by Stan laurel himself in the early 1960s. The documentary was first shown at the Laurel & Harday last September to very high acclaim. I felt it was worth showing this month and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. This will be supported by 4 or 5 Laurel & hardy film shorts.

We will also continue our history of L&H cartoons with a short US World War II propaganda cartoon from 1943 entitled “Fighting Tools” . The cartoon was written by Dr Seuss targeting an audience of US troops…engaging with them to keep their military equipment in tip top order.

We will have the usual raffle and toasts, all donations are gratefully accepted.

Our June film show will be on the usual third Wednesday in the month..June 19th when we will be celebrating Stan’s 134th birthday when I will take the opportunity to show one of the Boys feature films we haven’t seen in a while …possibly another Fox studio feature films from the 1940s. I’ve not decided yet….but suggestions welcome.

BUT before that….

Our afternoon Laurel & hardy film show at the Bull Inn, Bottesford has been booked for Saturday 15th June. This film show will cover Laurel & Hardy films that feature and celebrate their “on screen” wives. So of course we will be showing one of their best feature films “Sons of the Desert” from 1933 with Mae Busch as Mrs Hardy. We will have a raffle, quiz and the usual (long winded) round of toasts…including the eternally ever-popular Mae Busch. 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 to prove 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 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.

I’ll write again to remind/finalise everything nearer the time.

Before then, hopefully, we’ll see you next Wednesday. Please bring friends and family – all are very welcome.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

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April Meeting 2024 April 13, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our next film show will be next Wednesday, April 17th, 7.30pm till 10.30pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW – in the outside function room as per usual.

All are welcome and entry is free.

As a few of you know , after 39 years of continuous service, working for Rolls-Royce, I’ve at last completed my sentence and found the appropriate escape route out….Retirement. In fact, I retired just before Easter. I still can’t as yet get my head around it and that I’m now classed an OAP…though I hasten to add that I’m not quite yet old enough for a free bus pass and a state pension. Though, I do now feel my Liberty, I’m very acutely aware that I’ve swapped one boss by another. Our Wife , Denise, indeed has a very loooooong list of neglected jobs for me to do in the home and garden. Doh!!

This month in an indulgent celebration of my escape from work …(paid work I hasten to add!) , I thought I would show 4 Laurel & Hardy films where the theme is escape …but in this case an escape from prison. Therefore…our main feature film will be the Boys first ever feature film “Pardon Us” from 1931…which as we learnt last month was the prequel to the 1935 film “Bonnie Scotland”. This will be supported by the silent short “The Second Hundred Years” from 1927, where we will be showing the newly restored version from the US blu-ray set. This will also be supported by the talkie shorts “The Hoose Gow” from 1929 and “Going Bye Bye” from 1934.

This month we’ll also be paying a short birthday tribute to one of our favourite policemen “Edgar Kennedy” – his birthday is on April 26th (1890). We’ll also show another cartoon, “A Hollywood Detour” from 1942 and an animated advert from 1987 for Duracell batteries – these all with a L&H connection thanks to Ant & Jo Mitchell-Waite. There’ll be the usual raffle – all donations gratefully accepted….and of course the loyal toasts.

As previously mentioned – our afternoon film show at the Bull Inn, Bottesford has been booked for Saturday 15th June. This film show will be based on the Boys view on matrimony and it will celebrate their “on screen” wives. So of course we will be showing one of their best features “Sons of the Desert” from 1933. In the morning, we will also visit Barkston where Stan Laurel’s father has been laid to rest in the village’s small cemetery and the Plough Inn where he lived with Olga and was visited by the boys in 1947. So, it should be another perfect day out. Best of all – it’s a FREE event.

In the mean time, our next film show will be on the 3rd Wednesday…May 15th….when we will be celebrating Mae Busch.

So, hopefully, we’ll see you next Wednesday. Please bring friends and family – all are very welcome.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

BS. Denise commissioned well-known Laurel & Hardy artist Mark Reynolds (Marko) to produce this wonderful image for a card to celebrate my retirement. I thought it was brilliant and I hope you don’t mind me sharing this with you.

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March Meeting 2024 March 15, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our next film show will be next Wednesday, March 20th, 7.30pm till 10.30pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW – in the outside function room as per usual.

All are welcome and entry is free.

Following a request, this month our film show will be pay a little homage to our friends north of the border…with a showing of the Laurel & Hardy feature film “Bonnie Scotland” from 1935. in this, the Boys travel to Scotland so that Stanley McLaurel can claim his inheritance following the passing of his grandfather…the late Angus Ian McLaurel….things don’t go well and they find themselves being recruited in the army under a certain Sergeant Major “Leatherpuss”….native Scott, James Finlayson. This will be supported by the Scottish related silent “Putting Pants on Phillip” from 1927 and another James finlayson talkie short film “Our Wife” from 1932 with the lovely Bonnie Babe London – which I failed to show last month. Doh!!

This month we’ll also be paying a birthday tribute to our favourite villain….Walter “Mugsy-Tiger” Long whose birthday it was on March 6th (1879) – I’m hoping to celebrate his 145th birthday with a showing of one of his best talkie shorts with the Boys….the boxing brilliant film “Any Old Port” from 1933.

We’ll also show another cartoon, “Hop, Skip and a Chump” from 1942 with a L&H connection all thanks to Ant & Jo Mitchell-Waite and clips from the Scottish leg of the UK theatre tours. There’ll be the usual raffle – all donations gratefully accepted….and of course the loyal toasts.

As I mentioned last month -our afternoon film show at the Bull Inn, Bottesford has been booked for Saturday 15th June….so please mark this date in your diary. Our show will be based on the Boys take on matrimony and it will celebrate their “on screen” wives. So of course we will be showing one of their best features “Sons of the Desert” from 1933. From the recently issued “Laurel and Hardy Year One – the Newly restored 1927 silents” US-based Blu-ray box set, I’m also hoping to show the best available copy of “Love em and Weep” – which will be a treat. In the morning, we will also visit Barkston where Stan Laurel’s father has been laid to rest in the village’s small cemetery and the Plough Inn where he lived with Olga and was visited by the boys in 1947. So, it should be another fine day. Best of all – it’s a FREE event.

Our next show will be on the 3rd Wednesday…April 17th.

So, hopefully, we’ll see you next Wednesday. Please bring friends and family – all are very welcome.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

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February Meeting 2024 February 16, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our next film show will be next Wednesday, February 21st, 7.30pm till 10.30pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW – in the outside function room as per usual.

All are welcome – entry is free.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you all – I hope you have been able to spend some quality time with your loved ones today. “L.U.G.H…love..” is in the air and in our film show next week we hope to continue with the theme that we started last month, where Ollie is in love, wooing and serenading his ladies fair, just as the “gay caviars used to do in the olden days” all with a view to marriage. on the evening, we will be showing 4 films starting with a silent film that was entitled “Stone Age Romance” when it was first released on 8mm film for the home market. This will be followed by our main full-length feature of the evening – “Swiss Miss” from 1938. This will then be followed by two talkie film shorts where Ollie fails to marry his intended fiancee.

At the break I’ll be taking the opportunity to pay a visual musical tribute to two key supporting players at the Hal Roach film studios for L&H whose universities of their births fall in this month. These are the delightful Anita Galvin (born Anna Frances Garvin on Feb 11th 1906) and the hugely immense Tiny Sandford (born Stanley J. Sandford on Feb 26th 1894). I’ll also be showing another L&H based cartoon entitled “The Timid Toreador”, a Columbia cartoon from December 1940. This is the last L&H based cartoon featuring the famous Porky Pig.

Yes, there will be the usual raffle, with some exceptional prizes this month…which amazingly aptly reflect the films we hope to show. Any donated raffle prizes would also be gratefully accepted. Thankfully, we don’t have a massive outlay at our meetings – but the raffle is run to cover those costs (eg hire of the room and to cover our special events such as Christmas buffet and the bull Inn shows). So I wish to thank you for your continued support of this.

On the news front.. “The Lucky Dog” theatre company are again performing their Laurel & Hardy play “Hats Off to Laurel & Hardy” at the Leicester Guildhall on Saturday 24th February 6pm as part of the Leicester comedy festival. As mentioned last month, this is undoubtedly the best L&H biographical play. It’s a 2hr play with an interval and at just £10 a ticket it’s certainly value for money. You can book this online on the Leicester comedy film festival website. indeed, yes, I’ll be going…so hopefully that won’t put you off!!

I’ve booked the Bull Inn, Bottesford for our afternoon film show for Saturday 15th June….so please mark this date in your diary. After last years ‘lite” event I’m hoping to put on a full film show this year. I’ve not thought of a theme as yet…but any thoughts or ideas of what you would like to see or what you might even be able to contribute to would be gratefully accepted. This is a show for us, all in celebration of the Boys…and of course Stan Laurel’s birthday is just the day after. For those who are new to the tent…the Bull Inn at Bottesford is the pub run by Stan Laurel’s sister, Beatrice Olga, in the 1950s with her husband Bill Healey. Stan & Ollie visited the pub numerous times during their 1952 and 1953/4 UK theatrical tours…particularly during their theatrical stays in Nottingham. The pub celebrates this special time with many photos/memorablila adorning the walls in the lounge…and every year we put on a film show for all to enjoy. In the morning, we will also visit Barkston where Stan Laurel’s father has been laid to rest in the village’s small cemetery. So, it should be another fine day. Best of all – its a FREE event.

On a sad note…Paul our Grand Vizier has just informed me that his father-in-law, Stan, has passed away. Stan was a delightful and charming character, full of life, and as many of you know he wonderfully made it to his 100th birthday just before Christmas. Stan was a regular member of the tent and of the Derby Hats Off tent…he loved Laurel & Hardy. Our hearts and warm thoughts go out to Paul and Amanda and their family at this very difficult time. We will certainly toast young Stan and all our absent friends at our meeting next week.

After Wednesday, our next film show will be on the usual 3rd Wednesday….March 20th when we will be showing more L&H films we haven’t seen in a while.

So, hope to see you next Wednesday. As its a belated Valentine’s show…please do bring your wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, partners or even other peoples’ partners…..and of course friends and family – all are welcome.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

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January Meeting 2024 January 14, 2024

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

A belated Happy New Year to you all. Our next film show will be next Wednesday, January 17th, 7.30pm till 10.30pm at the THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW – in the outside function room as per usual.

All are welcome – entry is free.

This Wednesday just happens to be the eve beforeo Babe Hardy’s birthday….he was born 18th Jan 1892. So, we’ll be celebrating the 132nd university of his birth…yes that’s 132 years ago! We have a strong programme of Hal Roach Studio short film subjects planned which are all Ollie-centric, including a showing of our very own namesake film, “Beau Hunks” from 1931 ( with the ever-illusive….Jeannie Weennie, aka Jean Harlow).

I’m also taking the opportunity to show the Boys first credited L&H film at the Hal Roach studio “45 minutes from Hollywood” from 1926. This is more a Babe Hardy solo venture in support Glen Tryon. This is because Stan only plays a very fleeting role in disguise so as to avoid being seen or even credited!!! More about this on Wednesday. As we haven’t seen this film for 4 years…it’s overdue an airing.

I’ll also be showing yet Another Fine L&H based cartoon in the intermission, with thanks going to Ant and jo Mitchell Waite. This one is entitled “Hollywood Steps Out” from May 1941…it’s a very good cartoon depicting many many film stars of the day including Bing Crosby and his horses, the Marx brothers, the 3 stooges, Tarzan. There’s no Stan…but Ollie is seen dancing on the dance floor. Yes, I did screen it last summer but I’ve had a few requests to re-show it – so your wish is my command. Indeed, I’ll also screen, Babe’s “Dough Boy” cameo appearance at the horse races from Bing Crosby “Riding High” film from 1950.

Yes, there will be birthday cake…..and of course the in-famous raffle, any unwanted Christmas presents would be gratefully accepted as we had a pretty good clear-out at the Christmas show.

I have also secured two 2024 L&H calendars from the calendar store…one I can sell for £7.20 (ie 40% off the £12 rrp) and the other I will put in the raffle. First come first served on the evening – so get there early!!

On the news front…there are two L&H related theatre productions coming soon to a theatre near you! Firstly, “The Lucky Dog” theatre company are again performing their Laurel & Hardy play “Hats Off to Laurel & Hardy” at the Leicester Guildhall on Saturday 24th February 6pm as part of the Leicester comedy festival. Undoubtedly this is the best L&H biographical play ever. The main actors are members of the Sons of the Desert and they perform regularly at UK and European L&H conventions. The 2 hr play was written with the full support of the Sons…particularly Dean McKeown from the Fra Diavolo tent in Bonnie Scotland. I know that many of you have seen this play before. At just £10 a ticket it’s certainly value for money and worth another look. You will need to book this online on the Leicester comedy film festival website. Indeed, I’ll be going.

Secondly, celebrity pianist and playwright Neil Brand, has put a 2 hr Laurel & Hardy show together entitled “An evening of Laurel & Hardy” and it’s currently on-tour around the UK. Unfortunately, the nearest venues to us are Lichfield Garrick theatre (Tues 23rd Jan) and Newark Palace theatre (Weds 24th Jan) both at 7.30pm. Tickets are also a little pricey at £22.50. Neil Brand certainly knows his stuff…he was a regular at the silent film festival, and he wrote the radio and then later film play, Stan. So undoubtedly it should be very good and I’ve read good reviews of it. I’ll be going to the Garrick theatre.

After Wednesday, our next film show will be the usual 3rd Wednesday….February 21st when we will be having a belated Valentines film show with a screening of Swiss Miss…with Babe in Lough yet again but to another girl – a Swiss missl!!

So, hope to see you this Wednesday to celebrate Babe’s 132nd birthday. Please bring friends and family – all are welcome.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)

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December Meeting 2023 December 7, 2023

Hello Laurel & Hardy friends,

Our Christmas film show will be next Wednesday, December 13th, 7.30pm till 10.30 pm at the usual place…THE BRIDGE INN on Longmoor Lane, Sandiacre NG10 5LW – in the outside function room.

All are welcome and entry is free.

It’s our Christmas film show……and as expected we will be screening the Boys in some of their best talkie shorts that cover the Christmas festive season – and of course, our annual screening of the Boys selling Christmas trees in Big Business! We also be showing another fine animated cartoon featuring Stan and/or Ollie – this time, a Popeye & Olive Oyl cartoon entitled “Putting on the Act” from 1940 where the cartoon duo contemplate making a vaudeville comeback on the theatrical stage.

There was another fine duo that made a comeback to the theatrical stage in 1953. That was Laurel & Hardy. They began their third and final variety tour of the UK at the New Theatre in Northampton on October 19th 1953. This was a 7-month tour that took on 26 venues around the UK. Of particular interest to us…was that after engagements in Northampton, Liverpool, Manchester, London, Newcastle, Birmingham and Hull, the Boys (and their wives) arrived in Nottingham …..on Sunday, December 13th 1953 – indeed YES, that’s EXACTLY 70 years ago to the day of our film show!!! They stayed at the County Hotel (next to the Nottingham Theatre Royal). They took a week off for rehearsals of their “Christmas Party” show at the Nottingham empire, where they would perform their “Birds of a feather” sketch supported by other variety acts. The show opened on December 21st and concluded on January 16th 1954…they performed approximately 60 shows over a 4 week period. That was two or three shows a day with Sundays off! Indeed, they had quite a tough time! Whenever they could, Stan & Ollie would commute the A52 to Bottesford and spend time with Stan’s sister, Beatrice Olga and her husband Billy at the Bull Inn. They spent Christmas Day at the Bull Inn…with Stan & Ollie serving the beers to the locals. Unfortunately, I don’t have a Tardis …but I hope to take a few moments out next Wednesday just to recomember this amazing time exactly 70 years ago. Below I’ve attached the original flyer for the 1953 Christmas Party at the Nottingham Empire.

Our pub owner has agreed that we can put on a small christmas fuddle….I’d say it will be more of a supper snack than a buffet…with a few sandwiches, nibbles and of course mince pies – its all free.

We also intend to run the usual raffle with some great prizes just for Christmas – but, as usual all donations are gratefully accepted.

All are welcome…so please feel free to invite your other halves, family and friends.

So, hopefully,we’ll see you on next Wednesday. If not, I wish you a Laurel Christmas and Hardy New Year. Our next meetings will be back to the usual 3rd Wednesday in the month…..starting with January 17th 2024 when we’ll be celebrating Oliver Hardy’s birthday, 132 years ago.

Fraternally Yours,

Dave T

(Grand Sheikh – Nottingham Beau Hunks tent)