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.


Happy Birthday Babe! - Way Out West Tent Honors Oliver Hardy Jan. 16th

On the evening of Tuesday, January 16th, we will celebrate the 115th birthday of Oliver “Babe” Hardy. As most of you know, Babe was born in Harlem, Georgia, on January 18, 1892. Our film theme for the night will be the many movie wives of Oliver Norvell Hardy. A different actress will play the part of Ollie’s wife in each of the five shorts that we will screen.

Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) features the “ever popular” Mae Busch as Ollie’s jealous wife, who isn’t very happy when her husband invites freeloader Stan over for a home-cooked meal. In Come Clean (1931), the Boys tell their wives they’re going out for ice cream and make the mistake of trying to help a suicidal woman along the way. This time Ollie’s wife is played by Gertrude Astor. Ollie and Stan lie to their wives to go to a poker game in the silent short We Faw Down (1928). Ollie’s wife is played by Vivien Oakland. In Thicker Than Water (1935), trouble starts when Stan encourages Ollie to withdraw all of the family’s savings to pay off their furniture bill. Tiny Daphne Pollard plays Ollie’s wife. And finally, Thelma Todd is Ollie’s wife in Chickens Come Home (1931), where Ollie’s old flame returns to cause trouble.

Our meeting will take place at The Mayflower Club, located at 11110 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood. Doors will open at 6:30 pm and the program will start promptly at 7:15 pm. “Fisher Franks” will be available from the kitchen and drinks will be available from the bar. During the break, birthday cake will be served for Babe Hardy. As this is the first meeting of the year, everyone’s dues will be due. Hope to see you there!

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


From the Grand Sheik

The film portion of our January meeting should conclude around 9:45 pm. Last year, at the conclusion of several meetings, members stayed to talk about the films. For anyone who wishes to stay after the January meeting, I would like to moderate a discussion about the films that were screened and get feedback on some of the things that we plan to do this year. Everyone is welcome to stay. It won’t last more than a half hour.

Thanks to all our members who donated canned goods to the Maude Booth Family Center at our December meeting. Your continued generosity always makes us happy. You never let us down!


Special Meeting at the North Hollywood Library

On Tuesday, February 27th, we have been invited by Jack Zafran of the North Hollywood Regional Branch Library to present an evening of Laurel & Hardy films in their meeting room. The videos that we will show are: Liberty (1929), Them Thar Hills (1934), Dirty Work (1933), Midnight Patrol (1933), and The Music Box (1932). In addition, we will also show two West Out West produced videos, one featuring scenes from all 106 Laurel and Hardy films and the other on the history of the Music Box Steps. The meeting is open to the public and free of charge. The meeting starts at 6:30 sharp and seating is limited (although it’s a large room there are only about seventy-five chairs), so please come early. The North Hollywood Library is located at 5211 Tujunga Ave (at the intersection of Magnolia Blvd.) in North Hollywood. Their telephone number is (818) 766-7185.


Notes from the December Meeting

Our last meeting was held on a relatively cold December night. Cold for California, but the only snow was in the films that we screened. We screened There Ain’t No Santa Claus (Charley Chase), Below Zero, The Bohemian Girl, Big Business, and Laughing Gravy. In attendance were former Way Out West Tent Grand Sheiks Earl Kress (1983-1985) and John Duff (1987-2001). During the break, everyone enjoyed hot chocolate along with their cake.

One of the highlights of the evening was the piano playing of Rick Rogers, who seems to know every Leroy Shield song ever written! Thank you Rick. Rick came to his second meeting in December along with Sharon Evans (The Diva of Swing at Joe’s Great American Bar & Grill in Burbank). Sharon briefly sang “Shine on Harvest Moon” for us to answer a Laurel and Hardy Jeopardy question at our October meeting. We hope to have both Rick and Sharon back very soon.