It was at the Hollywood ’80 Sons of the Desert convention when I first became acquainted with the flight of steps that Laurel and Hardy encountered in their 1932 Acadamy Award winning film The Music Box. This short film had been the first one that I had ever seen from my favorite comedy team so I was well aware of the significance of where I was standing – on the corner of Vendome and Del Monte in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles on that warm summer afternoon, Thursday, July 31, 1980. Although I was only eight years old, I can distinctly remember being at this location, walking up and down the 133 steps, milling about, oohing and aahing, and then pressing on to our next locations.
And not only were these stairs prominently featured in the aforementioned Oscar winner, they were employed as a plot device in an earlier Laurel and Hardy film, the silent Hats Off (1927). Sadly this film is missing, so we cannot see the steps as they appeared in this short other than in existing stills. We do know that unlike The Music Box, Hats Off shows the actual top of the stairs rather than moving us to a studio soundstage to film the house ‘on top of the stoop.’
Anita Garvin addresses Laurel and Hardy at the top of the steps in Hats Off.
The steps in 1980. I did not get in a photo with them unfortunately, but my future friend Randy Skretvedt can be seen in the bottom left-hand corner.
The steps in 1980 – before the safety rail was added.
It would be eight years before I would visit the steps again. This time it was in 1988 during my Summer trip to stay with my new friend Bob Satterfield before we flew off to the sixth Sons of the Desert convention in the Twin Cities. I remember that I was glad to be back – and that Bob refused to climb the steps. He chose to drive around and pick me up at the top.
Me on the steps in 1988.
At the top of the stoop, where the Hats Off house (seen above) is visible
1988 Bob at the bottom of the stairs
In 1992, I was back again. On Saturday, July 18, a group of out-of-town delegates who had attended the Way Out West Tent’s 25th Anniversary banquet the night before, some of whom would be heading to Catalina Island later that night to celebrate Stan Laurel’s 100th birthday made a private trek out to the stairs once again. It was at this time that I discovered the famous crack in the sidewalk that could be seen in the film.
A group of us swing by the stairs in 1992 – among us Kathy, Diane, and Art Luhman, Steve Wichrowski, and Becky Kane.
As usual, I’m last to make it to the top
I find the crack in 1992. Look at the photo at the top of this posting and see the crack (by the nursemaid’s foot) as it originally looked.
I actually wrote a piece about the crack – and the new plaque that had been placed into the steps – after visiting the location during my Hollywood trip in 1995 on June 25. On this occasion, we actually made two trips to the steps because when we arrived the first time, I found that the lithium battery in my camera was dead.
Back again in 1995 – after the plaque was added by several groups (not including the Sons unfortunately)
The Hats Off house had suffered earthquake damage and was being re-construted in ’95
Bob crosses the street toward the stairs. The houses behind them can also be seen in the film – as you will see in the next posting.
Here is the brief narrative that I wrote and entitled A Plaque and a Crack – as a sidebar to the article Hollywood ’95, which was published in my Dante’s Info #13 tent newsletter – along with the photos seen along with the musing.
Now when one ventures up The Music Box steps, in search of the house right on top of the stoop, a new addition to the steps may be enjoyed: a commemorative plaque. Contrary to reports that this plaque has already been stolen, I will submit that it would be almost impossible to steal without supplies from the Cement Worker’s Bazaar because it is inset into the steps themselves.
Seen just to the left of the nursemaid (in the photo at the top of this posting) is a crack which runs along the entire section of cement which I have always been fascinated with because it is still there! Incidentally, these photos were taken on our second trip to the steps that week. The first time there, we found a dead lithium battery in my camera. Another nice mess.
Pointing out the crack in ’95
A nice, fresh clean plaque that hasn’t been used
My final visit of the old millenium came two years later during my California trip of 1997 on June 27. This one was in conjunction with the Way Out West Tent‘s 30th anniversary banquet. Although we did have a formal bus tour two days later – the first one I had been on since 1980 – we did not stop by the stairs, so this was a private visit.
The steps two years later in 1997, with a handwritten warning on the garage
The Hats Off house – cleanly reconstructed by ’97
The plaque had already been vandalized
Coming up next: my more thorough inspections of the area in the 2000’s…
Continue with L&H locations from 1980… (under construction)
Continue with L&H locations from 1995… (under construction)
So THAT was the crack you were talking about! Oh, it makes sense now. My bad!
Bob
October 27th, 2007
Iconic Los Angeles and the memorable films made there.
I miss living near LA. Now living in the Antelope Valley.
Bob
August 6th, 2017