The Wax Apple

You’ve seen people naked. Quite an auspicious opening line, eh? Anyway, you’ve seen people naked. And photos of your favorite celebrities fully clothed are few and far between. But when your favorite celebrity poses nude, there’s always a bit of shock value. It’s the forbidden fruit, the guilty pleasure of seeing the uncommon.

The same might be said for seeing our favorite vintage stars in color. When it comes to Laurel and Hardy, I must admit that there is nothing quite so cool as to see the boys in living color. Probably the simple reason for this is that there are so few photographs and so few reels of film that show them in this fashion. I’ll never forget one time back in the mid-nineties a member of the Sons wrote to me inquiring about my tent newsletter Dante’s Info. He had heard that I had printed color in a couple of issues and was interested in getting copies of these particular volumes. He was not interested in the content of the newsletter, nor of what the color photos in question even were; the fact that I had used color at all was enough for him. (more…)

It has been generally accepted that Charlie Hall appeared in 46 films with Laurel and Hardy. In the invaluable tome Laurel and Hardy by John McCabe, Al Kilgore, and Richard W. Bann, it is noted that he worked with the boys in 47 films - but this included Charlie’s deleted appearance in Oliver the Eighth.

All filmographies to date only show Mr. Hall appearing in 46 films with Stan and Babe, but now it can be reported that Charlie Hall actually appeared on screen in 47 films with the boys. (more…)

We would like to take this opportunity to wholeheartedly invite you to experience our forthcoming publication The Wax Apple. Over the years there have been numerous Laurel and Hardy publications of varying degrees of quality that have come and gone. Some of the better ones delved into meaningful research that have unveiled startling new depths in our studies of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The best of these publications are treasured among our collections and are stacked neatly beside our numerous books, just below a shelf full of statuary, positioned right next to our video and DVD racks.

Yes, in essence, we are all hooked on these vintage comedians. Not just Laurel and Hardy, although they are certainly the leaders, but on the other performers of the Hal Roach Studios as well: Our Gang, Charley Chase, Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts, The Boy Friends, and Harold Lloyd - just to chip away at the surface.

This brings us to our newest publication The Wax Apple. Simply, our purpose is to provide you and ourselves with an outlet to unleash our research, insights, collections, and observations about these classic films and comedians. Although the easiest way to understand our purpose is to just dive right into the material, perhaps our subheading describes us best: “The Premiere Research Journal Devoted to Laurel and Hardy and the Hal Roach All-Stars.”

And as our outlandish title indicates, we hope to have a hell of a lot of fun as well. Look for this publication to begin amazing you in the near future. In the meantime, we have set up this website to give you a preview of the type of information you will see in our journal, as well as material exclusive to the website. We invite you to comment, praise, criticize, or just note your indifference to the articles herein. We thank you…