"You can trust me insipidly." - Oliver Hardy, "Our Relations"
The culmination of the fifth intenational Sons of the Desert convention in Valley Forge (actually King of Prussia), Pennsylvania came on the evening of Tuesday, July 29, 1986. This final banquet was quite a memorable one as it involved not only a recreation of Toyland from the 1934 Laurel and Hardy film Babes in Toyland, but featured celebrities from the original film itself! Read the rest of this entry »
The fun of the fifth International Sons of the Desert convention in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, continued on Monday, July 28. Time had virtually stood still for me and the days really had no meaning at this point. True to the anthemic song of the Sons, I in fact was ‘having the time of my life’ amidst all the friends, both new and old, camaraderie, memorabilia, films, purchases, events, autograph gathering, scholarly overtones, and of course heavily social undertones. Read the rest of this entry »
After I had utterly stuffed myself with a wide array of delicious sushi in San Pedro, Jimmy and I headed out to our next destination of Tuesday, October 7, 2008: the CBS Studios in Hollywood. Bob had secured us V.I.P. tickets to see the afternoon taping of Dancing With the Stars. I must admit that I had never been a follower of the show and was only going because I knew that it was something that many others might consider to be a cool thing. While I do enjoy TV tapings such as these, they do not thrill me as much as other celebrity events because I know that there is little or no chance of any personal interaction with the celebrities. Read the rest of this entry »
As far as Laurel and Hardy look-alikes go, I can take them or leave them. In fact, I’d generally rather leave them. For the most part I’d rather watch the real Laurel and Hardy in black and white up on the silver screen, than to see live and in living color imitators perform on a stage. But having said that, I will also confess that my favorite L or H look-alike has always been Jim MacGeorge. Not only does he look and sound the most like the real Stan Laurel, but he is also one of the nicest guys you’d ever hope to meet. Read the rest of this entry »