 |
DIPPING INTO THE WELL:
Over the
years, we have received many,
many letters to this site. Unfortunately, many of our older
emails are now lost to
history, but
thankfully, others were preserved. As
we come across older emails that we enjoyed, we will add them to this
page. |
| Current
Letters |
Letters
from the Past 1 |
Letters
from the Past 2 |
Letters
from the Past 3 |
Unknown Dates
I myself am a great fan of "the Boys." I've been watching their films since I was, oh, around, 6 years old. I consider them to be the two greatest comedians that have ever lived. PERIOD! In my eyes, they are reputed to make todays comedians seems pale by comparison. With a great deal of diligence, and of course luck, I am hoping to ultimately culminate in owning the complete collection of all Laurel and Hardy shorts and features, with the exception of "Hats Off" of course. This was for me an impossible task. But since I've discovered your fascinating website, that is no longer the case. Thanks to your website, I have access to a wealth of information and insight in "the Boys" films, lives, etc..., which has enabled me to fully appreciate the genius of these two wonderful and outstanding comedians. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Daniel
Thanks for the great site devoted to our good friends Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy. I've been a fan of the boys since childhood - my father remembered their movies from the 1930's and 40's and made sure we got to see them on British TV in the 1970's, when they were regularly screened. (Incidentally, my father was fortunate enough to see the great men themselves in a live stage performance on their second British tour.)
My personal favourites among the boys films are "The Music Box", "Towed in a Hole", "Helpmates", "Sons of the Desert", "Way Out West" and "Saps at Sea" (in my opinion, their last truly successful outing - "You're 'Dizzy' and you're 'Dopey'!") But lets face it, even a poor L&H movie is a mile ahead of most films!!!!
I recently became a father for the first time and strongly intend to raise my son on a diet rich in classic B&W comedy, especially L&H.
Sadly, we don't often get to see L&H on British TV screens these days, so I'll have to content myself with a handful of videos and touring your marvellous site.
Once again, many congratulations.
Keith
July 1998
Laurel and Hardy - probably the only one of my childhood passions that I still enjoy. We used to get the shorts on 8mm BlackHawk films from the public library. We'd get 10 or 12 at a pop. That's about all they had, so we'd get the same 10 or 12... again and again. I used to be able to recite most of the dialog from The Music Box by memory.
Anyhow, instead of prattling on, I'll just say thanks for the great site.
Mike
I remember back in the "good old days" when , during the school holidays, not a day went by without Stan & Ollie being on TV early morning. That's how I got into them (some 30 odd years ago) and I've never lost them. I've introduced them to my 5 year old son who , although a "toon head" , still appreciates them. His favourite film is "Towed in a Hole" - one of mine too!
Unsigned
August 1998
First I would like to tell you that you have one of the best L&H web sites on the 'net. Yesterday I was watching the Spanish version of Blotto (La Vida Noctura) and Chickens Come Home~ (Politiquerias)and I was surprised by the difference between the Spanish and American versions. The Spanish versions contain alot of dance numbers and variety acts which I can live without, but the spanish ones also have more gags. In the spanish Blotto, after the man comes and sings the song by their table, they begin "singing" the song in a drunken manner.
This gag and many others are great and should have been included in the American versions as well.
Unsigned
February, 2000
Dear John, dear John,
As a L&H-maniac I would like you congratulate you to your anniversary. I am from Germany and 36-years old. All is very good, but I think you are underrating the features, and overrating the shorts. For example is SWISS MISS a very entertaining film. With BONNIE SCOTLAND I disagree with you too. I think its good, when a L&H-film has many actors and not only the boys and not only tit for tat.
Do you know anything about Lois Laurel or other relations of Stan? Are they members in the Sons of Desert too?
Best Greetings,
Bernhard
Without a shadow of a doubt SONS OF THE DESERT & WAY OUT WEST best features, gun against the head WAY OUT WEST would probably tip it for the dancing scene. Although the film footage of the parade & Stan's Honolulu Baby at the end of the film run it close, very very close.
Not so sure on best shorts, TOWED IN THE HOLE definitely, MUSIC BOX probably, HELPMATES more than likely, HOG WILD I would agree, but I can not believe you do not include THEM THAR HILLS in your top five.
Regards,
Boyd
March 2000,
Dear John and John,
...[J]ust got to disagree with you on your reviews on a few films. First of all, Pack up Your Troubles. Agreed, the structure of the film is just a alot of sequences strung together ( No better, or worse, than Chaplin's Modern Times - but I guess thats another topic). And, the sequences involving Jacqui Lynn without Stan and Ollie are really corny. However, I feel all the Laurel and Hardy sequences have first rate gags and comedy material. The Army comedy sequences here are in my opinion are the funniest of any movies in the genre ( Well, maybe second best- Shoulder Arms is hard to beat - But a heck of a lot better than Abbott and Costello or Lewis and Martin or Pauly Shore!) Best of all the scenes the boys have with Jacqui are great - they are not cloying or corny or overly sentimental - they are funny and the emotions are genuine. And I think that is the reason for Laurel and Hardy's success. They were not as clever and inventive as Keaton, not as brilliant and multi-talented as Chaplin, but they created characters that were nice, likable, genuine, and believable, more so than any other screen comedian.
The scenes with George Marshall, Jimmy Finlayson and Frank Brownlee (the drill instructor) are just terrific. They remind me of polished vaudeville routines they could have taken on the road. Frank Brownlee in this film just cracks me up. He also figures prominently in Do Detectives Think? and the Midnight Patrol, and really ought to be included in your list of L & H classic supporting characters.
Structurally, you can tell that Pack Up Your Troubles was made by writers more comfortable with two reelers than features. Comedy sequences are great, story telling and plot development are weak. Plots were always a problem in L & H features. They did better just being put in one or two comic sequences, no problem in a two reeler. An ideal feature story for L & H needed to be simple enough to allow for extended comedy sequences, but if the sequences didn't propel the story forward, the movie would seem episodic. By Sons of the Desert and Babes in Toyland they were doing much better integrating comedy and story, but finding a story that was properly balanced was always a problem for L&H features.
To sum up, I admit Pack Up Your Troubles is not a first rate motion picture. It just happens to be a motion picture that contains a lot of first rate Laurel and Hardy. Which means its a lot funnier than most comedies out there.
Well, differ with some of your observations on other movies, particularly Beau Hunks and The Devil's Brother. There are even a few you guys like I don't. But I'll save that for later. Thanks for keeping your site on the web.
John Fisher
July 2000
Dear Laurel and Hardy Central:
I was trying to find "The Laurel & hardy official web page," and the old computer is not working properly. Instead, I found your site, and I must say, I enjoy it very much. I have been a L&H fan since childhood, and my affection for them has never dimmed. I have collected books, cards, and videos of the team (although there are gaps in my collection).
I have no INDIVIDUAL favorite film, but my all-time favorites are: WAY OUT WEST, WRONG AGAIN, TWO TARS, TWICE TWO, COUNTY HOSPITAL, MUSIC BOX and THICKER THAN WATER. Even in their worst features, I always find something to laugh at. I am collecting the silents right now, and even though I have a way to go before the collection is complete, I never tire sitting in my living room and debating which L&H comedy to watch tonight, although I do enjoy the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, and Ernie Kovacs. I throughly enjoyed your prize-winning essay of the films L&H might have made. This Brit had me laughing out loud--especially at the Lord Paddington references.
Bruce Weaver
Hello Laurel and Hardy Central
As I'm scrolling down your reviews of the boys shorts and features it's interesting how we all have our personal favorites--well everything Laurel and Hardy are in are my favorites! This evening I watched OUR WIFE--what a knock-out comedy this one is!!! Yeah--as you mention, this one if filled to the brim with top-notch gags and comical situations that layer one on top of another with precision timing. The jokes easily flow out from mishap to another. You just gotta love those nasty flies all over that cake, Stans attempts at killing them, Stan's eavesdropping on Ollies phone conversation, Ollie smashing through that huge window, Finlayson diving down those stairs, the tiny car, Ben Turpens mumblings at the wedding--JUST FUNNY! All this great classic comedy in a mere two reels. One of their most over-looked comedies, and in my opinion is one of the best.
COUNTY HOSPITAL--also one of my favorites. Loaded with terrific gags. I always liked Billy Gilbert as the doctor, Stan eating the eggs and creating all that chaos. Why does everyone always rag on the climax? I like it because it looks so phony giving it a ridiculous weird atmosphere, especially when those cars and trucks magnify three times in size. It's kind of like a drug trip--well Stan IS doped up during this whole bit isn't he??
Well this is my two cents thrown in. If it's okay with you guys I'll write again with my thoughts on other Laurel and Hardy comedies that I enjoy so much.
'Pat' Ventura
Hollywood
(Creator of many characters for Nickelodeon and The Cartoon Network)
November 2000
Dear John and John,
I just enjoyed visiting your website for the second time and surely will return for a complete read. The two of you are having fun writing, and so am I as a reader.
I am a happy member of Oasis 211 (Leave 'Em Laughing) in Connecticut. Rob Birarelli is our grand exhausted ruler. We meet monthly at Indian River Restaurant in Milford CT and Rob's auto body shop is across the street from the restaurant. Rob runs an auto horn manufacturing plant on the side.
Tonight I will view "Hog Wild" again, particularly to see the dog in the background at the end of the film, which you pointed out in your commentary.
I am wondering whether you have noticed a continuity fault in "Hog Wild" as I have. Stan hits Ollie on the head with a board; Ollie grabs it away from Stan but in so doing thrusts it through a window, breaking the glass. Ollie's wife opens the window, hits him on the head with a pan, and then closes the window - which now is unbroken.
Joe
December 2001
Hi
Just wish to tell you what a joy the L&H central site is. I Love all forms of comedy, old or contemporary. However, in all of 20th century comedy,
two names will always stand out on above of the rest. The comedy was funny, fresh, warm as well as simple and clever. It wasnt only comedy in those films, I think the close, warm friendship of Stan and Ollie came through the camera and onto the screen, which is why, I believe, they continue live on deep in the hearts of so many people.
For me, I have no idea why this is... I never new L & H personally, they are both from a different era to me, I just remember their movies when I was a kid, yet - when I read John McCabe's books, on "The Boys", I cannot help shedding a tear when it comes to the chapter on their deaths. They touch people even now. And with those restoring films, archives, books and sites such as this, Stan & Ollie will continue to touch peoples hearts and funny bones for a very, very long time.
Thank you for doing such a great job.
Al
February, 2002
Dear JB and JL:
I have to let you know again how much I love Laurel and Hardy Central! I just listened (ok, twice) to I Want to Be In Dixie, and-I don't mean to gross you out-you should know that your site fills my heart...thank you very much, fellas. Whatever it was the Boys had, that something that makes the viewer focus on them, care about them, even if what they were doing at a particular moment wasn't hysterical, comes through on your site. (Give me Twice Two over Here Come the Coeds any day!)
I have been very much enjoying Diavolo and Sons in the last several weeks. What strikes me about Diavolo is how relaxed it is, as though each of the actors had a Martini right before filming. This film is often held up as a "formal" outing, but that indeed is a relative term; compared with other L&H perhaps it is formal, but compared with anything else, it seems so intimate and friendly. The fancy clothes and sets of Diavolo don't hide the fact that we are invited into a cozy and, well, nice world.
Dennis King as Diavolo...don't get me started! Why is it (certain) early films seem (in certain aspects) so unapologetic, so I-don't-care-what-people-think-I-gotta-be-me? In Diavolo's flashback, early in the film, as the Rogue is recounting his ride in Fin's coach, he describes himself as "What a Marquis!" I just love that line...we then, of course, get to see his over the top... er...wooing...of Lady Pamela, which somehow never comes across as sleazy or creepy. We of course know why he is so attentive to her, but we can also easily believe that Pamela would be responsive to such a man. Why can't today's lovers be as baroque as Diavolo and Pamela? Alas...I guess he does only want her jewels...not even looking over his shoulder when he escapes at the end of the film...What a Marquis!
I laugh the hardest early in this film, such as when Stanlio's mule won't move from its puddle and, in response to Ollio's advice "Why don't you give it some *click* *click* (tongue clicks)?", Stanlio replies "I'm saving the *click* *click*s for the hills;" happily, I have not watched the film enough to tire of this gag. Notice, too, that what makes it work is that it isn't delivered in a smart-aleck way, but rather with complete sincerity on Stanlio's part.
This film also features an example of what Kilgore/Bann/McCabe refer to as Stan's "rhetorical strangle;" Stanlio has just made an argument for he and Ollio to become bandits; Ollio asks "Tell me that again," and Stanlio responds with trepidation: "All of it?" There is something very Zen (ugh, now I am starting to gross myself out!) when Stan proceeds to mangle not only his own argument but also certain well-known aphorisms, in that what makes it so funny (perhaps) is that we realize how thoroughly silly we sound when we try to be sage and wise. (By this time I am laughing quite hard.)
Finally, after Stanlio declares that maybe they should NOT become bandits, Ollio sends me into a gale of laughter and climaxes this wonderful scene with his "We can be bandits!! It doesn't take any brains!!" Can YOU count the number of ironies in that comment?
You have both spoken of your dislike for the hanging scene, but I would say that it isn't THAT bad, and Stanlio's question "Do you want be buried or stuffed?" is some pretty good gallows humor. I will tell what I do not like in this film, namely Ollio's kicking a tied-up Lord Rocberg four times, or his pushing of Stanlio when he can't do kneesie-earsy-nosy; I do not mean to be a prude here, but there is a fine line between slapstick and violence, and these two instances cross the line for me. (Isn't it interesting, though, how Stanlio hitting Ollio with the bed-warmer is hilarious? Indeed a fine line.)
Another comment I would make is that one of the strongest characters in this film seems to go unnoticed by all...The Taverne De Cucu itself! Its spacious suites, labyrinthine corridors/staircases, bar, balconies, dining room in which Diavolo plots, courtyard, its cellar chock-full of wine, front gates...am I the only one who would just LOVE to stay there? I adore that set, and I adore the way the characters move through it. Finally, the Innkeeper is also wonderful and, you have to admit, his daughter and Lorenzo, as drippy as they are, DO solve the mystery as to who the Marquis De San Marco is!!! (What a Marquis!)
I have written you before about my love for the silent short "Their Purple Moment." Simply, this film makes me laugh as hard as anything the Boys did. I would also argue that its production values are super-high (remember I am not quite the film historian you two are!!) The camera angles are stunning, for example, the boys being led to their table with their girlfriends du jour, walking along the edge of the dance floor, strikes me as very powerful. The sets also appear to be first-rate, and it looks like even a great deal of thought went into Anita Garvin's hat!! The music is also very strong (although I am not sure if my tape's music was part of the original release). These factors and other contribute to TPM being an overall very energetic, fast-paced, almost in-your-face film; even the movie's rather weak ending (a pie fight) is at least consistent with TPM's overall feel of being energetic and confident. TPM is a, if not the, classic example of the Laurel and Hardy domestic short.
Given this, the first thing that struck me about Sons of the Desert, made several years later, is that this energy and confidence seemed to be gone. The music is absent as well, and if I expected Sons to be TPM times ten, I would have to say I was disappointed. (Don't worry, my essay will have a happy ending.)
It later hit me, though, that the problem is not with Sons, but with my math. TPM is great, but it is a picture painted with very broad strokes; the wives are simply awful, the situation with the cigar coupons pretty far-fetched, the girlfriends are weapon-totin' floozies, the tattletale rather silly. TPM is also only twenty minutes long, is silent, and I have wondered if this film could be even better if the titles (as wonderful as they are) were removed. Imagine TPM as pure pantomime! What I cannot imagine, though, is TPM any longer, with sound, with sympathetic wives...perhaps you can see where I am going with this. TPM is in a class by itself, and so is Sons. They are both "pure" Laurel and Hardy but that does not mean they are or should be exactly alike. (Although I must say Sons would be even greater with really good music track...)
Sons, like Diavolo, is relaxed and, I would say, intimate. We get to see the dynamics not only between Stan and Ollie but between the two of them and their wives, and indeed between the wives themselves. I love the fact that the couples live next to each other in that cute little duplex!! (Very Los Angeles, by the way!) Of course the situation and the relationships are exaggerated (this IS a comedy, after all), but these four people can really pass as friends and as spouses. Because of this, the story-Stan and Ollie HAVE SWORN to go to the convention in Chicago-actually is a story and not simply a device for gags. The relationship between Betty and Stan is among the most interesting of them all, since we really want to see if Stan will end up telling his wife the truth. Mae and Ollie, well, are Mae and Ollie, and thus the fur flies; but listen carefully to her tirade about "wanting to make you proud of me" and, gulp, maybe this film is a bit too intimate!
But enough sophistry, enough thesis-corroborating, enough cleverness, enough analysis...
This movie is delightfully, deliciously, utterly and completely hilarious...I watched it by myself the other night and my laughter infected my wife, who was in the other room. There is nothing nicer than laughing so hard that you bring it out in others, when they don't even know what the joke is. I utterly refuse here to go into my theory as to WHY it is funny (I do have a theory, though), but would like to simply emphasize the THAT it is funny. A couple of gags I love, that I have not heard reference to in other essays: Betty being "Out duck hunting", and then coming into the Hardy apartment, with, sure enough, a brace of ducks, with a couple for her friend, although the hunting wasn't that good; Stan slapping Ollie on the leg, saying "You think about it" after lecturing Ollie on marriage (Stan has to leave now, with his shotgun-toting wife); Ollie frantically kicking his pineapple under the couch when he realizes the Hawaii gig is up; and the final scene of the film, Stan singing "Honolulu Baby" but changing "Where'd you get those eyes" to "Why'd you close those eyes."
Sons does what TPM can't and didn't need to do, TPM does what Sons can't and didn't need to do. They are two domestic-type, pure Laurel and Hardy outings, but with vastly different approaches.
JB and JL, sorry to go on so long, but maybe you will get a tiny fraction of the enjoyment out of reading my analyses as I have gotten reading yours. Do not feel you have to respond to this e-mail, and I certainly am not asking you to post it with your other letters. You boys simply inspire me!!
My Very Best,
Tory Mitchell in Portland, Oregon
|
Copyright ©
John Larrabee, John V.
Brennan 2003.
All Rights Reserved.
|
