Stanley “Tiny” Sandford provided Laurel and Hardy with one of their most menacing adversaries by sheer virtue of his incredible girth. Often we see him portraying an officer of the law – or least someone laying it down for Stan and Ollie. Filmographies generally agree that Tiny appeared in 23 films with the boys, so we can assume that this number is correct, right? In the immortal words of Stan Laurel, “uh-uh.” (more…)
The stunning Jean Parker, best known to Laurel & Hardy buffs as the lovely Georgette, the object of Oliver Hardy’s affection in The Flying Deuces, passed away on November 30, 2005. Jean had an illustrious Hollywood career starring in over seventy-five films. She also worked in Zenobia, Hal Roach’s 1939 attempt to team Oliver Hardy with Harry Langdon during a contract dispute with Stan Laurel.
Among Jean’s films, she co-starred in three with Our Gang star Edith Fellows, most notably in Life Begins with Love in 1937. Here is a photo of the two starlets together: (more…)
Typical of all Sons of the Desert Conventions thus far is that they have all been held in hotels with elevators. This has left ample opportunity to bellow out yet another ridiculous line of dialogue from the films of our favorite funnymen. From the back of a crowded elevator, we will often hear in a baritone voice, “Out Please!” A worthy trivia question to follow might be: who played the midget who spoke this line in Block-Heads? Most likely, even from the most skilled contestant, the response will be: Harry Earles. But now we know – ’tisn’t so.
When the exhaustive filmography was compiled in the McCabe-Kilgore-Bann Laurel and Hardy bible, many faces were matched with names by using an illustrated casting directory. Harry Earles, as it turns out, was the spitting image of another midget performer named Karl “Karchy” Kosicsky. (more…)