Bruce Calvert
2008-02-14 22:43:50 UTC
http://www.al.com/entertainment/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/entertainment/1202984171199370.xml&coll=3
Mobile, Baldwin 'tents' celebrate Laurel & Hardy
Thursday, February 14, 2008
By MIKE BRANTLEY
TV & Media Editor
The cinematic antics of pioneering movie comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver
Hardy are being regularly celebrated by attentive fans on both sides of
Mobile Bay.
Mobile and Baldwin counties are each home to new chapters of Sons of the
Desert, an international Laurel and Hardy appreciation society.
The group takes its name from a lodge that the late comedians belong to in
their 1933 film "Sons of the Desert." In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek
"desert" theme, each local chapter of the society is called a "tent," and is
named after a Laurel and Hardy film.
Worldwide, there are more than 100 active chapters.
The Mobile tent is holding its next free screening of vintage movies at 2:30
p.m. Sunday at Playhouse in the Park at 4851 Museum Drive. The tent is named
for the 1928 short film "You're Darn Tootin'."
The Fairhope chapter -- named after the 1932 film "Any Old Port!" -- will
hold its next free screening at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 30, at American
Legion Post 199 on Scenic Highway 98 in Fairhope.
Richard Ward, an associate professor of communications at the University of
South Alabama and an organizer of the Mobile chapter, said each screening
draws a mix of old-time admirers of Laurel and Hardy and young people
laughing at their comedic misadventures for the first time.
"It does have a timeless appeal," said Ward, whose Southern Illinois
University Press book "A History of the Hal Roach Studios" chronicles the
Hollywood birthplace of many of the great Laurel and Hardy films.
The classic films "really deal with the same frustrations that we all deal
with every day," Ward said. "The clothing changes and the cars change, but
we all have to deal with difficult people. That's what the boys find
themselves doing in a very difficult and hostile world."
Carole Schneider, organizer of the Fairhope tent, said she has been a fan of
the Laurel and Hardy team since 1950. Recently relocated from Detroit, she
still counts herself a member of the Dancing Cuckoos, the Michigan-based
tent she said was the second to be organized.
She joined in 1975, she said.
"I just love Laurel and Hardy," Schneider said. "They are precious
comedians. I want children to see them because they are not on TV anymore. I
think children should be exposed to this kind of humor."
While she encourages parents to bring their children to her Sunday afternoon
Laurel and Hardy screenings, Schneider also plans to serve the old-style
humor to audiences at the other end of the age spectrum by presenting the
films at nursing homes.
Schneider wants anyone with an interest to call her at 928-8627 or e-mail
her at ***@mchsi.com. She has not yet picked the films for the
one-hour March screening in Fairhope.
Ward, meanwhile, has the slate for the February screenings in Mobile
detailed on his tent's Web site at www.laurelandhardyfans.com.
He said the Mobile events on alternating months will offer classic films
from the Hal Roach catalog, including Laurel and Hardy titles, as well as
other selections. Sunday's event will feature a Charlie Chaplin comedy,
1914's "Cruel Cruel Love," as well as the 1927 Laurel and Hardy film "Love
and Hisses" and the 1928 Charley Chase comedy "Limousine Love." Following an
intermission, the program will conclude with the 1937 Our Gang title "Hearts
Are Thumps" and the 1931 Laurel and Hardy film "Come Clean."
--
Bruce Calvert
--
Visit the Silent Film Still Archive
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com
begin 666 34373733363462313437623463326230__RM_EMPTY_&.dat
K1TE&.#EA`0`!`(#_`,# P ```"'Y! $`````+ `````!``$```("1 $`.P``
`
end
Mobile, Baldwin 'tents' celebrate Laurel & Hardy
Thursday, February 14, 2008
By MIKE BRANTLEY
TV & Media Editor
The cinematic antics of pioneering movie comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver
Hardy are being regularly celebrated by attentive fans on both sides of
Mobile Bay.
Mobile and Baldwin counties are each home to new chapters of Sons of the
Desert, an international Laurel and Hardy appreciation society.
The group takes its name from a lodge that the late comedians belong to in
their 1933 film "Sons of the Desert." In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek
"desert" theme, each local chapter of the society is called a "tent," and is
named after a Laurel and Hardy film.
Worldwide, there are more than 100 active chapters.
The Mobile tent is holding its next free screening of vintage movies at 2:30
p.m. Sunday at Playhouse in the Park at 4851 Museum Drive. The tent is named
for the 1928 short film "You're Darn Tootin'."
The Fairhope chapter -- named after the 1932 film "Any Old Port!" -- will
hold its next free screening at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 30, at American
Legion Post 199 on Scenic Highway 98 in Fairhope.
Richard Ward, an associate professor of communications at the University of
South Alabama and an organizer of the Mobile chapter, said each screening
draws a mix of old-time admirers of Laurel and Hardy and young people
laughing at their comedic misadventures for the first time.
"It does have a timeless appeal," said Ward, whose Southern Illinois
University Press book "A History of the Hal Roach Studios" chronicles the
Hollywood birthplace of many of the great Laurel and Hardy films.
The classic films "really deal with the same frustrations that we all deal
with every day," Ward said. "The clothing changes and the cars change, but
we all have to deal with difficult people. That's what the boys find
themselves doing in a very difficult and hostile world."
Carole Schneider, organizer of the Fairhope tent, said she has been a fan of
the Laurel and Hardy team since 1950. Recently relocated from Detroit, she
still counts herself a member of the Dancing Cuckoos, the Michigan-based
tent she said was the second to be organized.
She joined in 1975, she said.
"I just love Laurel and Hardy," Schneider said. "They are precious
comedians. I want children to see them because they are not on TV anymore. I
think children should be exposed to this kind of humor."
While she encourages parents to bring their children to her Sunday afternoon
Laurel and Hardy screenings, Schneider also plans to serve the old-style
humor to audiences at the other end of the age spectrum by presenting the
films at nursing homes.
Schneider wants anyone with an interest to call her at 928-8627 or e-mail
her at ***@mchsi.com. She has not yet picked the films for the
one-hour March screening in Fairhope.
Ward, meanwhile, has the slate for the February screenings in Mobile
detailed on his tent's Web site at www.laurelandhardyfans.com.
He said the Mobile events on alternating months will offer classic films
from the Hal Roach catalog, including Laurel and Hardy titles, as well as
other selections. Sunday's event will feature a Charlie Chaplin comedy,
1914's "Cruel Cruel Love," as well as the 1927 Laurel and Hardy film "Love
and Hisses" and the 1928 Charley Chase comedy "Limousine Love." Following an
intermission, the program will conclude with the 1937 Our Gang title "Hearts
Are Thumps" and the 1931 Laurel and Hardy film "Come Clean."
--
Bruce Calvert
--
Visit the Silent Film Still Archive
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com
begin 666 34373733363462313437623463326230__RM_EMPTY_&.dat
K1TE&.#EA`0`!`(#_`,# P ```"'Y! $`````+ `````!``$```("1 $`.P``
`
end