The fun of the fifth International Sons of the Desert convention in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, continued on Monday, July 28. Time had virtually stood still for me and the days really had no meaning at this point. True to the anthemic song of the Sons, I in fact was ‘having the time of my life’ amidst all the friends, both new and old, camaraderie, memorabilia, films, purchases, events, autograph gathering, scholarly overtones, and of course heavily social undertones.
I spent what was no doubt a rather quiet morning on this particular day. An optional trip was a Pennsylvania Dutch countryside tour which we opted not to go on. Instead I most likely meandered through the dealers room, the memorabilia room, poked my head into the theatre located in the Hancock Room of the hotel, and mostly scoped out my new friend Bob Satterfield or some other poor victim to strike up a conversation with.
The first real activity of the day was a bus trip to the Coloniol Theatre at 2pm. Although irrelevent to this gathering, this was the theater used in the film The Blob with Steve McQueen. It was always great to see Laurel and Hardy brought into the public theaters and enjoy the howls of laughter from non-Sons, but I must say that it was a rather poor choice of a main feature to screen.
Here’s how dumb I was: if I had gotten on the other side of the Colonial Theatre, I would have gotten the Laurel and Hardy films on the marquee, and wouldn’t have had the sun in my eyes!
We started off with the silent film Liberty, which made all the sense in the world, considering our Valley Forge location (even the Liberty Bell can be seen in the intro to the film). But to screen the compilation Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s was a rather bonehead move, especially considering that most of the film Liberty is showcased in the Laughing 20’s film…so we in essence watched it twice. The crowd still laughed uproariously though.
What was amply more rewarding was seeing some of the celebrities from our convention get up and speak on stage. Bob Satterfield acted as the emcee for stars Henry Brandon, Virgina Karns Patterson, and Dorothy deBorba, who each spoke briefly to the crowd in the theater.
Bob emcees the screening. Assistants Rick Lindner and Lori Jones flank William and Virginia Karns Patterson, Dorothy deBorba, and Henry Brandon
After the screening, we headed back to the hotel on our buses to prepare for that evening’s banquet at 6pm. Of all the events of the week, this is the only one that I can truly classify as a bust. The night was a tribute to the late Al Kilgore, one of the founders of the Sons and the artist who created the Sons escutcheon. I had met Al four years earlier at the Detroit convention. He was a good guy and an asset to the Sons, but unfortunately if you weren’t from the East Coast tents, an evening dedicated to the man was simply a non-event.
To make matters worse, the evening went on far too long with a New York style night club entertainer performing his schtick and what’s worse, excruciating videos of Al Kilgore performing at past tent meetings. One by one the members crowd snuck out of the banquet and by the time the lights came up, the room was nearly emptied.
I was up bright and early the next morning on Tuesday the 29th. Although it sounds incredibly dull on paper, I was really looking forward to the Newsletter Editors Seminar at 9am. The current editor of the Intra-Tent Journal Rick Greene was hosting the talk. I had long admired his work on the ITJ and was very interested in starting a newsletter for our tent. Rick always had a very keen eye for graphics and presentation so it was fun to look at his and other examples of newsletters and listen to some of his suggestions. If I was going to make a contribution to the group by doing my own publication, here was the best place to start.
Following that seminar was a meeting of the Grand Council. As I was now greatly interested in Sons politics, I have no doubt that I attended it, although I’ll be darned if I can remember a single thing that was discussed.
Amidst all of this activity, I had the pleasure of meeting former Little Rascal Jerry Tucker for the first time. Bob had discovered his whereabouts just before the convention and had convinced him to come from his home in New York to visit the convention for the day. This was an unscheduled bonus so I’m not exactly sure where it fit in timewise on this morning, but Jerry gave an outstandingslideshow of his career in films. In fact, his presentation was so good, it almost sounded as if he was going to try and sell us something.
But the fact is that Jerry Tucker (now once again using his real name Jerry Schatz) was simply one of the nicest guys you would ever hope to meet. He had starred in seventeen Our Gang films over a seven-year span, most notably as the snobby rich kid with the new fire engine in Hi-Neighbor! I had no photos for him to sign, but he gladly signed two notecards for me and then that night took my name and address and later mailed me a signed photo. What a great guy!
There were other optional tours that my family chose not to take that day: one to Longwood Gardens and one to Atlantic City. I was just as happy to stay back at the hotel and watch the Trivia Contest. This was just the second one in Sons history and I was chomping at the bit to be in it. Unfortunately, the contestants from the four regions had already been chosen: Bob Satterfield (West), Tracy Tolzmann (Midwest), Scott MacGillivray (East), and Tore Ekeli (International).
I sat up in the front row next to old-timer Hal Stanton and wrote down the answers to the questions on a pad of paper as they were asked. Rick Greene and Dwain Smith were running the contest, and just the night before I had chatted with Rick Greene and some other Sons, rattling off trivia and trying to prove my worth. I didn’t do too shabby as I answered the questions to myself, probably scoring in the 80% range. Tracy ended up winning the contest with a perfect score. Doubtless I wouldn’t have done quite that well. Tracy and I would be on the same trivia team 14 years later.
Quiz kids Scott, Tracy, Bob, and Tore
I was rather surprised that Bob didn’t do better in the contest. I assumed that he knew everything about the world about Laurel and Hardy, but although he knew/knows a lot about a lot of things, he’s not a trivia guy when it comes to L&H – at least not of the professional caliber. One of my favorite moments was when he was asked who sang the operatic falsetto for Stan in Way Out West. Bob gave the wrong answer and responded sarcastically that he had gotten nervous when Sons founder John McCabe had walked in. The timing couldn’t have been any better when Rick replied that the answer to the question had just walked in with Professor McCabe – his fiance Rosina Lawrence.
After the contest, it was on to the next event, this one outdoors. It was called the Why Girls Love Sailors pool party and it mostly consisted of silly water frolics and games. I stood by on the sidelines and merely watched this one, but for Mom and Denise, this was right up their alley. Remember, I wasn’t there to have that kind of fun!Most of the games were ridiculous ones, such as a key toss or a toy horn assembly with pieces scattered on the bottom of the pool. The first one to toot was the victor. Denise, being a ten-year old cutie, became quite popular during this event.
Denise kicks back with some bigwigs: Venice Lloyd, Lois Laurel Hawes, Tony Hawes (also seen at the top of the posting), and Dwain & Elaine Smith
Lots of Sons flesh ready for the Pool Party
John Duff and Jimmy Wiley are on the left (before I ever met them). Also standing by are Bob Conte, Carl Ahlm, Denise, Mom, Holly Ahlm, Dwain Smith, and Marcia Opal
Mom, Denise, and Carl frantically do something with a toy boat
Denise and Holly team up as Carl looks on
Mom and Dwain cheer on Denise and Stacy Ahlm
Apparently a sore loser tosses Denise into the pool
This event was all well and good as it gave an opportunity for my Mom and Denise to have some high-spirited and silly fun, but I was looking forward much more to the final banquet of the convention. This one was a doozy and created some Laurel and Hardy history of its own.
The 1986 convention will conclude in the next posting…
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