A TELEPHONE CALL WITH STAN LAUREL
Classic Images, No. 165, March 1989

By Samuel K. Rubin

One of my prized possessions is a recorded telephone conversation in which Stan Laurel talks about the Classic Images' predecessor 8mm Collector. It's a gem! But, before I reveal it to you, it must be prefaced with a few introductory remarks. When the 8mm Collector was first started in June 1962, I had a mailing list comprised of a limited number of collectors' names I had received from other people. I had decided, before starting to publish, that I would use only funds on hand. The greater the sum of money to arrive, the larger the issue.

The publication did grow; the amount of material submitted for publishing grew disproportionately, causing the one recurring problem which never ceased until the day I retired: too much material for the available space. So, in order to get more material in each issue, I reduced the size of the type considerably. I did get complaints. Stubborn as I am, it was some time before I saw fit to enlarge the type. (Stan Laurel was instrumental in forcing this upon me.) However, at that time, I established the policy of squeezing as much material as possible into the available space. That policy never ceased!

Now, let me introduce you to Mike Polacek from the state of West Virginia. (Huntington, I think.) Mike was a fanatical Stan Laurel devotee. I have not heard from Mike for years. I heard from several sources that when Stan Laurel died, the heart went out of Mike, and he discontinued his Stan Laurel activities. It's hearsay only, I can't vouch for it. Anyway, Mike came to visit me in Indiana, Pennsylvania, one fine day. We had a scintillating talk about Laurel and Hardy. He even managed to pry some L & H lobbies from me.

I asked Mike about the possibility of a Stan Laurel interview. Following his suggestion, I wrote to Stan. Mike was an engineer at a TV or radio station. He would call Stan regularly and record the conversations. Some time after our meeting, he sent me a copy of a tape in which he and Stan discussed the 8mm Collector.

The following is an excerpt from that tape, reproducing only the portion pertaining to the 8mm Collector. Usually, I edit conversations or interviews because superfluous words and much repetition so often occur in them. However, I have left everything in this conversation to retain the flavor and enable you to read what Stan Laurel really felt about the 8mm Collector in his exact words.

Stan: Hi!
Mike: Hello, old buddy!
Stan: How are you, Mike? Glad to hear from you.
Mike: How's everything with you?
Stan: Oh, pretty good ... about the same. Y'know, some days good, lousy in others. We have a hell of a heat wave here.
Mike: I saw that in the paper ... and you wrote to me.
Stan: Brother, it is really murder.
Mike: I told you, send some of it down here.
Stan: Yeah, I wish I could. You're welcome to it.
Mike: We could use it. Of course, it's not too bad in the daytime, about 70. In the evening it gets chilly and frosty.
Stan: Where?
Mike: Here!
Stan: Oh, back there!
Mike: Yes, back here ... it's getting to be about that time of the year.
Stan: I got a letter from [hesitation] ... Sam Rubin. He sent a kind of questionnaire.
Mike: When I was up in Pennsylvania, I stopped in to see him.
Stan: Yeah, you told me.
Mike: He said that he got a letter from you.
Stan: I told him, I'm not up to writing anything.
Mike: I told him that "I'm pretty sure you can ask what questions you want, and I'm sure Stan can help you on that."
Stan: He sent me a kind of questionnaire, and I answered what I possibly could, you know.
Mike: He wants to do a big article on you.
Stan: I told him he needed bigger type in that paper.
Mike: See, he is actually running in a hole with it. He's an old movie collector.
Stan: Well, no wonder he's running in a hole with it. People can't read the ... thing. I mean, what's the use?
Mike: Well, the first one he had started with fairly big print.
Stan: I'll bet he can put the Lord's Prayer on the top of a pin.
Mike: I know what you mean. He's only had 60 some subscriptions to it.
Stan: At least a typewriter would be better than that.
Mike: That's what you call photo-offset printing.
Stan: I know, but he better get something people can read ... you can go blind trying to read that bloody thing. It's ridiculous.
Mike: A lot of times I have to use a magnifying glass to read some of the stuff.
Stan: It's ridiculous. I mean ... you can't put out papers with that type of print.

The taped conversation then went on to other subjects. The questions and
answers appeared in one of our issues at the time. To increase my mortification, I played the recording at one of the Cinecons; the audience was comprised of Cinephiles, most of them were subscribers who were aware of the difficulty in reading the tiny print. Upon hearing the conversation, the audience broke out laughing, emphasizing the fact to me of which I was already aware. The type in the 8mm Collector was too small.

I took appropriate steps!