The Fall 1995 issue of Dante’s Info was yet another attempt at producing the ultimate in Laurel and Hardy research and entertainment. Like its predecessor, this issue ran an incredible 28 pages in length as well. Also like the previous issue, it was plagued with inferior looking photos when photocopied, giving it what I consider to be a ‘dirty’ appearance.This was the only issue that included one of these ‘dirty’ looking photos on the cover (the others were all printed directly from the printer). The reason for this was to showcase a rare photo from Block-Heads that I had found. In fact, the whole issue was themed as Block-Heads and showcased various photos that I had been loaned by my friends Bob Satterfield and Randy Skretvedt.
The centerpiece article about the film (which mostly gave me an excuse to give the issue a Block-Heads them – and thereby showcasing the pictures) was one of the few times that I simply rehashed previously published info – in this case deriving most of my info from Randy’s Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies.
I was proud to show the Block-Heads alley that I had visited during my Summer California trip
There were, however, some nice researches pieces about Our Gang member Billy Wolfstone (more info here) and Block-Heads co-star Karl Slover (more info here, full article here). It also included the editorial with the rantings found here, a new original piece on the similarities between Laurel and Hardy and The Honeymooners, four pages of rare photos from Block-Heads, a letter from 1956 written by Block-Heads co-star Minna Gombell, and a page of recent events mostly describing the new Laserdisc and video releases coming out.
A look at the Honeymooner: a mere filler (or bag of shells) to enhance both the newsletter and the meetings. I liked wrapping various subplots into both.
The two pages of upcoming Meetings included our meeting from October 1 at my apartment (featuring an array of shorts and the first of three episodes of The Honeymooners which would be shown at each of the remaining 1995 meetings), the meeting on October 29 at the home of Charles Sexton (featuring W.C. Fields in The Man on the Flying Trapeze), and of course the final meeting of the year held on November 26 at my Dad’s place on Gainsborough which naturally featured Block-Heads.
Return to Fall of 1995…
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