Della Lind was the beautiful female lead in Laurel and Hardy’s 1938 musical comedy Swiss Miss. As a true eight-year-old L&H fan, I was certainly aware of the important role she played in this film. These stars were as big as any during those days and I was ecstatic to be meeting them. Hollywood ’80 was the first of two encounters I would have with Della, the second being twelve years later – first in Las Vegas, then at a Way Out West banquet the following week where I ate dinner at her table.
At Hollywood ’80 though, the encounter was brief. But as you can see below, the picture taken of us together on Saturday, August 2, is a classic treasure: the beautiful prima donna giving her time to some little street rat.
Still later, in 1996, I missed an opportunity for one final visit with Della when she was living in Key West under her original name Grete Natzler, when one of our stop during the Sons of the Desert cruise brought us there. She passed away on June 11, 1999 – one of the last of the Laurel and Hardy leading ladies.
The autographs and celebrities of Hollywood ’80 will continue…
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