Stan Laurel Letters | February 1959

THE MAGIC BEHIND
THE MOVIES
by Randy Skredvedt

MARCH OF THE
WOODEN SOLDIERS

STAN AND OLLIE
by SImon Louvish

LAUREL & HARDY
COLLECTION – VOL. 1

LAUREL & HARDY
COLLECTION – VOL. 2

FROM THE FORTIES
FORWARD
by Scott MacGillivray

STAN LAUREL LETTERHEAD - 849 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA - TYPEWRITTEN

                    February 12th.'59.
Dear Mrs [Marie] Hatfield:
          Thank you for the nice Valentine card - very
kind & thoughtful of you as always, & much appreciated.
          Our tenants moved out of our house Jan.29th., so we have been busy getting the place fixed up again, there were 3 young children in that family so you [can] imagine what a mess the house was in, the walls & woodwork had to be repainted & the kitchen nook papered etc. The back yard & garden was badly neglected, the lawn near ruined, a very discouraging sight.
          Anyway, its back in shape again inside the house, but it will take some time to get the yard in decent shape again. If there are any kids in the next group, I'm certainly going to raise the rent to cover the cost of any further damage to the property.
          Sorry to tell you Mrs L. has been a bit under the weather, she had just get over a Flu attack & then got an infection on her thumb, I think its called s 'Felon', she finally had to have it lanced & is just starting to heal again - these things are terribly painful & of course its difficult to handle any work - hope our troubles are over for a while.
          We had quite a rain for a couple of days, which was very welcome, sure needed it, its cleared up again, so bright & Sunny again today.
          I heard that a L&H impersonation was done on the Jack Paar show recently - sorry I missed that one as I generally watch that program every night.
          Mrs L. joins in kindest regards to Bob, self & Mother & again thanks far your nice thought.
          Bye & God Bless.
                    Sincerely:
                    Stan Laurel.

Jack Parr (1918-2004) was an American radio and television talk show host. Paar was the original host of "The Tonight Show" from 1957 to 1962; after 1959 it was known as "The Jack Paar Show". In 1959, it became one of the very first, if not the first, regularly scheduled videotaped programs in color.—Editor

STAN LAUREL LETTERHEAD - 849 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA - TYPEWRITTEN

                    February 14th.'59
Dear 'Babe' [London]:
          Thank you dear for the nice Valentine card & note. Delighted to know the film turned out OK, will certainly look forward to the premiere, I'll get Otto K. Olsen to bring down his LIGHTS to the front of the hotel for the occasion, we'll make it a formal opening, I'll have seats placed in the Park across the Street in front of the place for the crowds on your arrival - will have news reels too out there, so get your speech prepared for interviews.!.
          We got the house fixed up again & have listed it with a couple of real estate agents, so hope it have it rented soon now.
          Eda joins in love & best, trust alls well & Happy with you.
          Bye Babe.
          Good luck & God Bless,
                    As ever:

STAN LAUREL LETTERHEAD - 849 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA - TYPEWRITTEN

                    February 17th.'59.
Dear Betty [Healy]:
          Thanks yours, 12th.inst.
Am pleased to tell you we have new tenants moving into the house tomorrow (18th.) - certainly fortunate we rented again so soon & especially that we raised the price $50. So it turned out the other people did us a favor by leaving.
          These new tenants are from Washington, D.C. & have a Son 15 & a daughter 9. He is an engineer in the Missile field & is connected with the Hughes Aircraft Co. his name is Thos. D. Hanscome. They brought all their furniture from back East, so I guess they intend to stay for a while - they signed a year's lease on our place. It was sure a relief to me when the real estate called & gave me the good news (the agent). He sure had worked fast, we only listed it with him last Wednesday (11th). he showed the house to the woman on Friday, her husband arrived Saturday from Washington then went over to look at it & Monday they closed the deal, so the agent made a quick $300. (each party paid 5% commission).
          Interesting to note you know Lena Basquette so well, I saw her last on one of the Quiz Shows, about a couple of years ago I guess, she mentioned she was raising Great Danes - I forget how she made out on the show, whether she won anything or not.
          Yes I imagine Daphne Pollard's husband must have been in his 70's & I think she is in her 60's, she was in the business for many many years, she was a child Star in the Pollard Juvenile Opera Co. in Australia & toured the world. I remember you did'nt care too much of her personally, but you did make a wonderful combination in the picture - great contrast.
          I too saw that Russian girl on the Paar show, she had a very pleasing personality - her name was Luba 'Something'? can't think of her last name.
          Glad to know Wayne finally got his money from Sacramento, you'd think they would have sent it that way in the first place & would have saved all that unnecessary Red tape routine, this is one of the causes of our high taxes.
          Note your Brother has taken interest in writing, sounds like he's off to a good start having two articles already published, this should be very encouraging for him & give him a lot of inspiration to develop his new found talent, wish him lots of success in this venture.
          Pleased you are soon to get your phone connected, thats awful to be without one, it really isolates you.
          Think thats about all for now Betty. Eda joins in love & best to Wayne & Self - take care of yourself & keep well.
          Bye & God Bless.
                    As ever:

P.S. Have had no word on the Allen deal as yet - Shipman wrote him but has had no reply to date, so do'nt know whats going on.

Lina Basquette (1907–1994) was an American actress who started working in motion pictures around age 9 in 1916. She married Sam Warner of Warner Brothers nine years later. (Warner is considered The Father of Talking Pictures.) She was a mother at 19 and a widow at 20. Sam died of a brain abcess complicated by pneumonia. Basquette was a breeder of the Great Dane for more than twenty years. Her kennel, Honey Hollow, was located just outside of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. | Betty Healy shared the screen with Daphne Pollard as well as Stan and Babe in "Our Relations" (1936). Betty played Mrs. Betty Laurel, while Daphne played Mrs. Daphne Hardy. | Russian Lubov Orlova (1902-1975) was Stalin’s favorite actress and a Soviet sex symbol. —Editor

STAN LAUREL LETTERHEAD - 849 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA - TYPEWRITTEN

                    Feb.18th.'59.
My Dear Ben [Shipman]:
          Herewith please find enclosed the Lease & Cheque for the Franklin St. house. This amount covers the rent for the 1st & last Month also a deposit of $50.00 against damage, which is returnable if the property is left in reasonable good order.
          Due to the Tenants cheque being drawn on a Washington.D.C. bank Mr Beazell (the Agent) issued his personal cheque, but requested me to hold it a few days till the other came through.
          Thanks Ben.
          Regards & Best,
                    As ever:

RUBBER STAMP - 849 Ocean Ave., Santa Monica, CA - TYPEWRITTEN

                    February 20th.'59.
Dear Mrs [Marie] Hatfield:
          Just a line to thank you for the nice card
you sent to Mrs Laurel (Eda), she appreciated very much your kind thought - pleased to tell you she is feeling much better again.
          She would have written you personally, but being Russian its difficult for her to write in English, so she hopes you will understand & pardon her inability.
          Happy to say, we have new tenants in our house, a family from Washington.D.C. He is a missile scientist for the Hughes Aircraft Co. - I hope he does'nt start experimenting & blow up the joint.!! thats all I'd need right now. If you hear a big explosion sometime, you'll know what it is.!
          All for now. Kindest regards to you all from us both here.
                    As ever:
                    Stan Laurel.

THE STAN LAUREL
CORRESPONDENCE ARCHIVE PROJECT
HOPES TO COLLECT AND CATALOG
LETTERS FROM STAN TO BETTER
UNDERSTAND HIS LIFE AND CELEBRATE
HIS COMEDIC GENIUS.

IF YOU HAVE AN ORIGINAL
LETTER FROM STAN OR HAVE A COPY
NOT INCLUDED IN THESE ARCHIVES,
PLEASE ADD A COPY OF YOUR LETTER
BY CONTACTING US VIA E-MAIL AT:
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STAN LAUREL WAS THE GREATEST
By Cleveland Amory

Chuck McCann, the "hi guy" of the Right Guard commercial and the funny "househusband" of the otherwise not so funny "All That Glitters" TV show, all his life has had one idol—the late beloved Stan Laurel.
     "I feel I started with him when I was a baby, Mr. McCann said. "I feel I owe a lot to Ernie Kovacs. I loved him. But to me, Laurel and Hardy will always be the greatest comedy team ever. Stan, who, remember, wrote and directed everything they did, was to me the greatest comic talent who ever lived."
     The rotund McCann, we noted, was digging into a large breakfast—not caring a whit for poor miserable us and our no breakfast diet. We looked, we told him sternly, more like Oliver Hardy. "Yes," he smiled, helping himself to more sausages." I'm doing a lot of commercials now. In commercials, they want you to look happy."
     We smiled grimly. My father was a musician and arranger at the old Roxy," McCann confirmed. "I met all the stars but Stan was always my idol. As a kid I laughed at one thing in those films but as I grew up I saw a lot of other things in them. Now I have almost all of his films. No matter how often I see them, I still find something new to love—and to laugh at, too."
     McCann's first meeting with Laurel, after years of correspondence with him, was a memorable one. "I came into his apartment in Santa Monica," he said. "He was out in a deck chair on the veranda, which looked out over the whole ocean. It was late in the afternoon. He was all in black. He limped toward me with his arms out-stretched.
     "Chuck, my lad," he said, "so good to see you," and then he threw his arms around me.
     "We talked for four hours. I remember his wife, who had been away, came in and said "God, Stan, it's pitch dark in here. What are you doing to our guest?"
     "I remember so well him saying, "Chuck, if you want to be a juggler, be a juggler. If you want to be a tap dancer, be a tap dancer. But if you want to be a comedian, don't try to do all things."
     Laurel and Hardy were playing then—and still are playing today—all over the world. Their appeal is universal. McCann told us that during the Second World War they were loved equally by Churchill, Roosevelt and Hitler. Mussolini was crazy about them
     "When I was with Laurel," McCann said, "the mail seemed about equal—from all over, and he would answer every piece personally. Even after his stroke, he'd type every answer—by hunt and peck. All of us who loved him offered to hire him a secretary, but he wouldn't do it."
     "I remember the last time I saw him," McCann said quietly. "It was at the hospital. A nurse brought in six bags full of mail. He turned to me. "Oh my God, Chuck," he said. 'What am I going to do?'"

—Los Angeles Times (August 22, 1977)