Laurel and Hardy Society Sons of the Desert Way Out West Tent Los Angeles
  Home     Gazette     Archive     Volume 46-Number 3 Search   Help  

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.

Special Guest at April 23rd Way Out West Tent Meeting

Stan and Babe's last two American films were released 68 years ago. It doesn't take a lot of imagination to realize that there are not a lot of actors still alive that have appeared in a Laurel & Hardy film. I'm happy to announce that one of those rare actors, Joan Del Mar, will join us at our April 23rd meeting, along with her grandson. In honor of her appearance in the film, we will screen Laurel & Hardy's Nothing But Trouble (1945).

Our film program for the evening will begin with the screening of the trailer for Nothing But Trouble, followed by the film itself. In this feature film, Stan and Ollie play a butler and chef, newly employed by a rich couple (Mary Boland and Henry O'Neill). The Boys encounter a boy (David Leland) playing football with other kids in the park. Later, they find out that that same boy is a actually a king living in exile whose life is in danger. Joan Del Mar is the timekeeper for the football game.

After our cake break, we will complete our film program with two Laurel & Hardy classic shorts, Me and My Pal and Helpmates. In Me and My Pal (1933) Stan is Ollie's best man, and decides that the day of Ollie's wedding is a good time to put together a jigsaw puzzle. James Finlayson plays Ollie's future father-in-law, the infamous Peter Cucumber. In Helpmates (1932), Ollie asks Stan for help to clean up Ollie's house, after Ollie has had a wild party while his wife was away visiting her mother. Blanche Payson plays Ollie's "lovely" wife.

The Mayflower Club is located in North Hollywood at 11110 Victory Boulevard. Our doors are opened at 6:30 p.m. Our meeting starts at 7:15 p.m. Fisher Franks (100% beef hot dogs) and your choice of chips will be sold at The Mayflower Club Kitchen. Refreshments will be sold at The Mayflower Club Bar. Free cake will be served during our big break. Don't miss this rare opportunity to meet and hear from someone who acted in a Laurel & Hardy film. See you Tuesday April 23th at The Mayflower Club.

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


March Special Raffle Now an April Book Sale

Due to the fact that we received a lot more books from Bob Satterfield for our scheduled March raffle than we expected, we decided to cancel our March raffle and have an April book sale instead. So beginning when our doors open at 6:30 p.m. for our April meeting, you can purchase any book on sale for $3.00 or any two books for $5.00. Remember all the proceeds from the sale will go towards purchasing a grave marker for Our Gang member Mickey Daniels. Cash donations will also be accepted.


Notes From Our March Meeting

After volunteers from our audience joined me on the stage and gave their toasts to the Boys and their co-stars, everyone in The Mayflower Club sang the Sons of the Desert Song. Then my son Jimmy III and I talked about our tent's latest Laurel & Hardy location discovery, the site of Dirty Work. We screened then-and-now pictures of the site and explained how it was found. I also talked a little about the nearby Arnaz Ranch (aka Roach Ranch). Our films for the evening were Dirty Work, Towed in a Hole (filmed at the Roach Ranch), and Bonnie Scotland.

Our special guests for the evening were: Rick Greene, longtime West Out West member, past editor of the Intra-Tent Journal, and former Grand Sheik of the San Diego Saps at Sea Tent; and Gary Cohen, Intra-Tent Journal News Coordinator for the Western United States, and Grand Sheik of the San Francisco Call of the Cuckoos Tent. It was good seeing both of them again!

Thanks to Jayne Barnhart, J.T. Tropper, Amy Condit, Gary Cohen, Bob Brauer, Rick Greene, Victor D'Agostino, and Bob Duncan for helping me with the toasts and singing the Song. Thanks to all our members who turned out for the meeting. I am always pleased with your continuing support for our Tent and your great enthusiasm at our meetings.


More About the Dirty Work Location

Just to make things clear, we discovered the house next door to the roof of the home seen in Dirty Work. All we ever see in the film is Stan and Babe standing on the roof of the house, but never see the house itself. The building that Stan and Babe are standing on in the film was just built for the film and was not a real house, just like the home from Hog Wild. Property records show that the location of the prop house was a vacant lot at the time Dirty Work was filmed. We are not announcing the location of this site at this time, so that everyone can visit it together at the International Convention taking place in Hollywood in July 2014.


From the Grand Sheik

Kris and I became grandparents for the first time around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, March 9th, with the arrival of Catherine Adele Wiley. Cate weighed in at 6 pounds, 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. Yes, she arrived just four days after our March 5th meeting. You may have still seen a nervous look in my eyes at the meeting, because for a few days before the meeting, it looked like Cate was comingyes, you guessed iton the night of the meeting. Cate, mother Ellen, and father Jimmy are all doing great.

Office Depot, Inc