Randy Skretvedt is the author of Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies, the single greatest book on Laurel and Hardy ever written – and probably one of my all-time favorite books overall. I can still remember the excitement when this book was delivered in the Summer of 1987 via postal service. I tore through the envelope and took it to the bathroom, where I do all of my heavy reading, and mulled it over for at least an hour. I have read it repeatedly over the course of the last twenty years – and am currently in the middle of it yet again.
I actually met Randy for the first time at the 1992 Sons of the Desert convention and Randy was immediately taken aback by the fact that this guy (being me) in his early twenties had such a vast knowledge of the boys as well. Randy had gotten hooked by the L&H bug at a very early age and joined the Sons in his early teen years. So we got along swimmingly and had some lengthy conversations about the boys. I subsequently visited Randy’s home later that week, again in 1995, and also spent quite a bit of time chatting with him in 1997, during a trip to Monterey.
I hadn’t seen him in nearly ten years, when Jimmy and I, following our visit to the Richard Nixon Library on Tuesday, February 13, 2007 headed over to his place in Orange County. There we were entertained for nearly seven hours visiting with Randy and pawing over his collection of memorabilia, rare photos, letters, ephemera, and documents pertaining to Stan and Ollie. He also took us on a tour of his amazing ‘Barn Full O’Records’, a carpeted, air-conditioned shrine to all things musical from the early 1900’s to the 1960’s. Shelves and shelves of neatly organized 78rpm records lined the walls, with additional stacks of CD’s, tapes, 33rpm records, or whatever recording medium is necessary to complete his collection, filling in the gaps – not to mention the rows of autographed photos from some of the giants of the early music industry punctuating the collection. Randy uses his archives for the greater good by hosting a weekly radio show called Forward Into the Past every Sunday afternoon on KSPC Radio in Los Angeles.
Randy with one of the actual wooden soldier miniatures from the Laurel and Hardy film Babes in Toyland
After we had already snacked on some nice meat and cheese appetizers, Jimmy, Randy, his friend Rob, and I all headed out for a nice classic chicken dinner at Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant at Knott’s Berry Farm. As it got into the late evening hours, Jimmy and I took off and headed for his place…but not before Randy loaded me up with a collection of Bix Beiderbecke and other various CD’s of 1920’s and 30’s popular dance music – which I am still playing repeatedly to this day.
Once we were back at the Wiley house, Jimmy and I attempted to watch some episodes of Wings but I began to nod off during the opening credits. I needed some rest for a big day of location scouting the next day.
To be continued…
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