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.

L&H Sequels & Repeated Endings at the Mayflower Club on August 19th

Most Laurel & Hardy fans know that Tit For Tat is a sequel to Them That Hills, but what other two L&H films each have the same final scene? Join us at The Mayflower Club on Tuesday, August 19th to see for yourself.

Our opening film will be Them That Hills (1934). When Ollie is advised by his doctor to vacation and relax in the mountains to help cure his gout, Ollie makes the big mistake of letting Stan make all the arrangements for their vacation. Everything seems to be going fine, until the Boys stop by a "deserted" mountain cabin. Billy Gilbert plays Ollie's doctor. Charlie Hall and Mae Busch play a married couple that have run out of gas on the same mountain where Stan and Ollie stop.

In Tit For Tat (1935), the Boys open an appliance store in the city and soon find out that their new neighbors are the same couple that they met in the mountains (Charlie Hall and Mae Busch). Charlie's is still steamed from his first encounter with the Boys and his relationship with Stan and Ollie quickly gets even worst. Tit For Tat was nominated for Best Short Subject (Comedy) in 1935, but lost to How to Sleep.

We Faw Down (1928) is a silent short that begins with a very familiar Laurel & Hardy situation. Stan and Ollie want to do something that they know their wives wouldn't want them to do, so they lie. In We Faw Down, Stan and Ollie want to go to a poker game, but they tell their wives that they have to go to an important business engagement. On the way to the game, the Boys stop to help a lady that has just lost her hat under a car. Somehow, Stan and Ollie never get to the poker game. Vivien Oakland and Kay Deslys are the two flirtatious ladies that Stan & Ollie meet. Besides having the same ending scene as Block-Heads, the film's plot has a lot of story elements that were later used in Sons of the Desert.

Our film program for the evening will close with one of Laurel & Hardy's most popular features, Block-Heads (1938). In the film, buddies Stan and Ollie become separated in World War I. Years later, Ollie reads about a man who stayed at his post for twenty years, not knowing that the war had long been over. Ollie realizes that that man has to be his long lost friend Stan. Ollie finds Stan and ends up taking him home for a steak dinner. Listen closely to the music in Block-Heads. T. Marvin Hatley was nominated for an Oscar for his musical score. Sadly he didn't win.

The Mayflower Club is located at 11110 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood. We open the doors at 6:30 p.m. Our meeting starts at 7:15 p.m. "Fisher Franks" (100% beef hot dogs) with 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 at our second break. Don't miss out on a great evening of Laurel & Hardy films (including two nominated for Oscars). See you Tuesday, August 19th!

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


June Raffle Results

I'm happy to announce that our June raffle for UCLA's Laurel & Hardy Preservation Fund raised $227.00. That puts our total at almost to $2,000 for the four years that we have donated money to the Fund. You can easily do the math, that's almost $500.00 per year. Thank you very much for your continued generosity. You guys always amaze me when it comes to supporting our Tent.


From the Grand Sheik

The seven days (including pre-convention) of Laurel & Hardywood have come and gone, but the memories of the 19th International Sons of the Desert Convention will be with us always. Congratulations to Bob Satterfield for putting on a great Convention! Kudos also to Lori McCaffery for keeping the Convention paperwork in order. Speaking for our Way Out West members who helped Bob and/or attended the Convention thank you Bob. For a day by day report of all the happenings along with a lot of pictures, click here.


Notes From Our June Meeting

Our June meeting opened with two clips from Elvis Presley's feature, Double Trouble (1967). Yes, that Elvis Presley with the swinging hips. As most of you know by now, Elvis was a big fan of Laurel & Hardy. He had prints of a lot of their films and screened the films often for his friends. Elvis especially enjoyed Ollie's comic stare into the camera, whenever Ollie was frustrated by something that Stan said or did. In Double Trouble, Elvis tried to put a little Laurel & Hardy humor into the film. The first clip, besides showing that Elvis was a much better singer than a comic, showed Elvis staring into the camera frustrated when his girl friend wouldn't stop talking nonsense. The second clip was from the very end of the film when a ship sinks and a parrot says, "Here's another nice mess you gotten me into matey."

To celebrate Stan's 124th birthday, we screened You're Darn Tootin', Busy Bodies, Any Old Port, and The Bullfighters. On our second break, we all first sang Happy Birthday to Stan and then we made two birthday cakes quickly disappear. Thanks to Bob Duncan, Victor D'Agostino, Jayne Barnhart, Chris Spicher, Ken Runyan, Dave Griem, and Rick Weigel for helping me with the Toasts and singing the Song. Special thanks to Bob Duncan, Ken Runyan, and Jayne Barnhart for helping me with the UCLA Raffle.


Carla Laemmle

Carla Laemmle, the niece of Universal Studio's founder Carl Laemmle, passed away on June 12th at the age of 104. Some of Carla's credits include The Phantom of the Opera (1925), Dracula (1931), and The Hollywood Revue of 1929 (which also featured the Boys). She became an honorary member of Way Out West in 2005.


Dick Jones

Dick Jones passed away on July 7th at the age of 87. Dick appeared in Babes in Toyland, and was the voice of Walt Disney's Pinocchio. Dick also appeared in many classic films, such as , Destry Rides Again, and Virginia City, just to name a few. He also appeared in a lot of early television westerns. Dick and his wife, Betty, were longtime honorary members of Way Out West and often joined us at our meetings and banquets. He was a great guy who will be missed.


Philip Hurlic

Philip Hurlic passed away at the age of 86 on the same day as Dick Jones. Philip was best known by Laurel & Hardy fans for his supporting role as Zeke with Oliver Hardy in Zenobia. Philip also appeared in a few Our Gang films, as well as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), The Pie-Covered Wagon (1932) and Penrod and Sam (1937). Philip was a longtime honorary member of Way Out West.

 




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