1951 Letters
STAN LAUREL LETTERHEAD - 1111 Franklin Ave., Santa Monica, CA - TYPEWRITTEN
October 23rd.'51.
My Dear Betty [Healy]:-
Nice to hear from you again. Glad to know you enjoyed your visit to Hollywood & your pleasant trip back home. I am sure the coat thrilled you to death & especially just what you needed. It was certainly nice of your friends.
I think your story of Teddy's life has terrific human interest & could be developed into another "Peg O' My Heart" background & feel if it gets into the right hands it would be very successful. I sincerely hope so - you surely & rightfully deserve it, after all the hard years you have put in trying.
Will look forward to seeing your picture in the car with all your wild animals. I think the picture we made in France is to be released here in December - they are changing the title, so as soon as I hear, will let you know & when it plays in your Metropolis, you will see Babe & me with a bunch of Wild Foreigners!
I hope you will get started again soon Betty, as I know how it feels to be inactive, especially with show business in your blood. Glad to tell you I am weighting 144 lbs now & feeling good & can't wait to get going again. Sorry I was'nt able to see you when you were here to have a good gab fest. However hope to see you next time you get around here.
All for now Betty.
Take care of yourself & Chin Up.
Hello & my best to Wayne
As ever:-
The picture “made in France” was released in France and Italy as Atoll K in November 1951 and in England as Robinson CrusoeLand the following year. It went unreleased in the United States until December 1954 when it hit theaters as Utopia.
STAN LAUREL LETTERHEAD - 1111 Franklin Ave., Santa Monica, CA - TYPEWRITTEN
We have no percentage deal on ours at all, otherwise we certainly would have been collecting. All we can do now is to stop them using our name in connection with any other product unless of course we are paid for it.
October 30th.'51.
My Dear Betty [Healy]:-
Many thanks for your note with enclosure of newspaper displaying the ad for our picture on TV.
I guess you have been reading re the Roy Rogers case against the Republic Studio on the same situation. He won, stopping them to use his name to sell corn plasters etc. They have the right to use his name in selling the picture, but not for any other purpose.
No Betty, we have no percentage deal on ours at all, otherwise we certainly would have been collecting. All we can do now is to stop them using our name in connection with any other product unless of course we are paid for it.
However, they have been running our pictures for over two years now & there is a chance that it may be retroactive, but of course that means long drawn out Court Cases etc. It has at least been beneficial in one way, It has created a tremendous new audience for us which has paved the way to give us the opportunity to make more, otherwise we might have been forgotten entirely. So it's an ill wind dept!
Have you heard any further on your story deal? sincerely hope you will get some good news soon. All here as usual, so nothing exciting to tell you.
Trust you are feeling much better. Hello to Wayne for me.
Kind thoughts always:-
Leonard Franklin Slye (1911–1998), who became famous as Roy Rogers, was a singer and cowboy actor. He and his second wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger, and his German shepherd, Bullet, were featured in over one hundred movies. In 1951, Rogers and fellow cowboy star Gene Autrey sued Republic Pictures for the right to sell their movies to television. By the time Republic won, Rogers had launched his own television show. The Republic films, cut to 54 minutes for TV distribution, couldn't compete, and The Roy Rogers Show had a successful run from 1951 through 1957.
