Begin forwarded message:
From: ALAN SKEOCH <alan.skeoch@rogers.com>Subject: EPISODE 419 TWO AMUSING LETTERS RE: LAUREL AND HARDY EPISODE 418 FROM GELN GREY AND BILL PROCIWDate: August 29, 2021 at 7:28:38 PM EDTTo: Bill Prociw <bill.prociw@gmail.com>, Glen Gray <glen.gray7@sympatico.ca>
Glen and Bill….Can I send out your letters…they are terrific.?EPISODE 419 TWO AMUSING LETTERS RE: LAUREL AND HARDY EPISODE 418 FROM GLEN GREY AND BILL PROCIW
REMEMBER THE EPISODE ABOUOT THE LITTLE SKEOCH MOTOR CAR COMPANY? THIS CAR LOOKS SIMILAR.alan skeochaugust 30, 2021I hesitated to write the episode about Laurel snd Hardy. “Who would care?”“Many readers may never have heard of them.” “Hardly big issues of our times.”“Boring…interior decorating””Slapstick humour is dated”Well I was dead wrong. Yesterday I received two fascinating letters from Glen Grey, stalwart memberof our High Park Curling Team and Bill Prociw who was a fellow teacher for decades at Parkdale Collegiate.The stories they tell are far better than what I wrote:BILL PROCIWThanks Marjorie, for giving the BOYS a home. I’m still a fan of their earlier movies. The last one, Atoll K or Utopia is a stinker.My earliest memory of going to the movies was when I was pre-kindergarten age. My mother took me to an evening movie at the Pix theatre onOssington and Dundas, a short walk from our house on Crawford Street. The movie was Swiss Miss, a Laurel and Hardy flick. What I remember wasone of the late scenes in which the two had to transport a piano across a rope bridge over a deep canyon in the Alps. There was a confrontationwith a gorilla on the other side of the piano and of course the rope bridge was bound to break over the canyon.It scared the bejesus out of me but I can’t remember if anything else came out of me. I’m sure I thought about this scene many times before fallingasleep in my bed- but not recently, though.Thanks for the memory,BillGLEN GREYAlan,
Several years ago we were in the Lake District of England and stumbled upon something that was so amazing, so unexpected and gave me great joy, no matter how the other three felt.I found a one pound note. No, no, no, we came upon a museum solely dedicated to no other than Laurel and Hardy. What in heavens name was it doing there? There was every conceivable memorabilia of the duo including a theatre that would play for us, since no one else was there, any of their movies. The middle aged man was keeping the museum going that his dad had started and had filled it with scads of Laurel and Hardy stuff. Posters, puppets, chewing gum wrappers, glasses, anything and everything that had their name in it. We sat and watched one movie short before moving on to our booked b&b. There was precious little to buy which was a shame. I was hoping for s big replica poster but no all I got was an 8 1/2X11 black and white picture that sums them up to a tee. I have it hanging in my living room where it is slightly hidden by a shelving unit but I can always see it from where I normally sit . They had dug a tunnel to escape from prison and in their usual manner had misjudged and wound up in the wardens office. The expressions on their faces, priceless ….. you couldn’t help but laugh at how stupid they were. It didn’t matter that they came up through floor boards and a carpet that might have clued in normal people.
One movie short that tickled my fancy as a kid that I always remember when their names come up, was one where they had adjoining stores. One got mad at the other for something silly and marched into the others store while the other watched and ruined something. The other then marched back into the others store and ruined even more again while being watched. This went on for some till both stores were a total wreak without so much as either raising a hand in protest. Tit for tat was retribution enough no matter how much damage was sustained by either one. A quizzical look by the one being put upon without raising a finger I found so amusing as a kid. Thanks for the memories ( Laurel and Hardy not Bob Hope).gg
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