The Terrible Catsafterme

I was up and rarin’ to go on the morning of Saturday, July 26, 1986. The Valley Forge Sons of the Convention was officially underway and we had a day ahead of us packed with fun events. The first item on the agenda was the Pee-Wee Contest at 9am. At this juncture in Sons history, the Pee-Wee Contest was only two years old, having originated at the ’84 convention in Ulverston, England – which my family did not attend. This was my first crack at the contest, and my showing was poor – setting the precedent for nearly all future Pee-Wee Contests (with the sole exception being the one that I won in 2006). I also started snapping photos right away – for the first time with my new Pentax, the first 35mm camera I ever owned.

Although I was more interested in my scholarly explorations of Laurel and Hardy, I threw myself into this type of frivolity as well. My Mom and sister did likewise – and I think also did likewise and equally poor at the contest itself. A filmmaker named Sandy Marshall was filming many events at the convention for a documentary that he would produce entitled The Revenge of the Sons of the Desert (now found on the 20th Century Fox release of L&H’s The Big Noise). The only section of the film in which I can be seen is in three different shots as a spectator of this Pee-Wee event. True to my laughable fashion of the day, I was wearing jams and white knee socks. For the record, Roger Gillette of the Minnesota Block-Heads tent won the contest (and would become the official keeper of the Stan Laurel Shield which I posessed for two years).

 My photo of the Pee-Wee Contest sign

 Frame capture from Revenge showing me watching some Son try to bonk a Pee-Wee

 Another frame grab, showing me chatting it up with my new pal Dwain Smith

 Third screen grab showing me as I watch Dwain hit the Pee-Wee

Denise’s 15 seconds of fame, a screen grab showing her attempt. Fellow tent members Dee and Holly Ahlm look on.

The other thing that I distinctly remember about the Pee-Wee Contest was that it was here that I introduced myself to Dwain Smith. Dwain was a bigwig in the organization, well-known to the membership, and had been a member of the New York Founding Tent since 1970. Besides my desire to explode onto the Sons scene by getting chummy with such muckety-mucks, I had also read that Dwain had acquired some rare photos of Laurel and Hardy on the set of The Flying Deuces from a fan who had actually visited the set as a film student. I asked Dwain how I might acquire those photos. A month or two after the convention, Dwain had copies of them printed and sent them off to me – absolute gems to add to my fledgling collection. These photos can be seen here.

We had over an hour before the next event so I spent it wisely. Running into Thomas Benton Roberts in the lobby, I sat down to a nice conversation with him, furthering my chumminess with another celebrity at the convention. Mr. Roberts was a special effects man at the Hal Roach Studios, known as a stand-by carpenter in his day. He had also played a small roll in the Laurel and Hardy film Two Tars, in which Stan Laurel smashes a tomato in his face. I was interested in acquiring a photo of him from the film to get signed and asked him how I might go about it…and his reply will be discussed more fully in the next posting. But the photo that I snapped of him in the lobby can be seen here.

At noon, we all departed for the Grand Parade of the Sons of the Desert with the final destination being historic downtown Philadelphia. The parade was held via antique cars. Local collectors provided the cars in which we were transported. My family rode in a dark green 1940 Packard, driven by the owner of the car, an African-American woman wearing a chauffer’s cap.

Celebrity guest Henry Brandon (brown shirt) in the antique car parade

Upon arrival downtown, the Sons then paraded – some of them with their tent banners – around Philly and ended up at the famous Bookbinders Restaurant. My family didn’t eat there (doubtlessly too expensive for my parents’ taste), so we grabbed lunch elsewhere. Although I can picture the place we ate in my head, I’m not sure what the restaurant was, but I’m thinking that New York Son Marty Kondack was eating in the same restaurant and we chatted with him for a while about his house being robbed or something.

Sons roam Philly, specifically here Marcia Opal, Alan Garfield, and the Chicago Bacon Grabbers

We then saw at least two major historic sites in Philadelphia: Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell Center. We toured Independence Hall, site of the debate, adoption, and signing of the Declaration of Independence and also the signing of the U.S. Contitution. I’m sure that visting here would mean a lot more to me now and would very much like to see it again. Likewise the Liberty Bell, which is on display in Liberty Bell Center across the street. Tradition states that the bell was used to summon the citizens of Philadelphia for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence. I was excited because I knew that the bell could be seen in the Laurel and Hardy movie Liberty. Hey, we actually got an L&H location in on this trip!

 Dad’s photo of Independence Hall

 Denise in full Sons regalia and my old 110 camera in front of Independence Hall

The famed Liberty Bell, which brought our country the freedom to wear outrageous silly outfits like the one that kid is wearing

We caught our buses back to the Sherton at about 3:30pm that afternoon and then had some ‘rest time’ until 6:00. Who knows what I did, but I’ll guarantee you that I didn’t rest. I was probably socializing with Steve and Sharon Stayonovich, fellow tent members from Lima who we had met at the conventions in 1980 and ’82, forcing them to look at my autograph photo album that I had lugged along with me.

At 6:30pm, the Sons’ Exhausted Ruler John McCabe delivered his upbeat keynote address. He ended it with a surprise announcement – at least it was a surprise to me – the introduction of his fiancee, Rosina Lawrence. Rosina had co-starred in Laurel and Hardy’s greatest film Way Out West and I had first met her at the 1980 convention, as seen here. I was completely shocked as I had no idea that they were even dating, and I found it amazing that Laurel and Hardy’s biographer would be hitching up with one of their co-stars.

Photo I snapped of John McCabe and Rosina Lawrence during the convention

But the most sigificant event of the day came immediately following the keynote speech, an event that still reverberates hugely in my life today, and would actually chart the course of many of my future adventures.

The day will continue…

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 6:41 am and is filed under 1980's - Late, Celebrity Encounters, Historical Locations, Laurel and Hardy, Vacations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.