Of all of the celebrites I’ve met who worked with Laurel and Hardy, none can really approach the magnitude of Anita Garvin. When celebrities were gathered for the Hollywood ’80 Sons of the Desert convention in Los Angeles, Anita Garvin was truly the last of the living members of the Laurel and Hardy Stock Company, an informal title applied to those performers who frequently starred in the boys’ films. Anita worked in a whopping eleven films with Stan and Babe, twice portraying Stan’s wife and once as Ollie’s girlfriend. This doesn’t even take into account her numerous appearances with Charley Chase and the Our Gang – and an attempt by Hal Roach to form a female comedy team along the lines of L&H, using Anita with Marion Byron.
Anita with Laurel and Hardy’s 1928 silent From Soup to Nuts
So yes, she was a giant – and I got to meet her three times, the first encounter being at Hollywood ’80. If memory serves me correctly, I approached her in the hospitatlity room the evening of July 31 to get her to sign my little blue autograph book. She added the moniker “Mrs. Red” to her signature. At the time, I had no idea what it meant – thinking perhaps it was a colorful, exotic nickname. Of course now I know that it was in reference to her beloved husband Red Stanley, who had just passed away not long before the convention.
As it happens, it was the fact that her husband had been included on the invitation to attend a function of the Way Out West Tent that opened her mind to first making a public appearance…and it was two of my friends that made it all possible. She had been rather reclusive, and it wasn’t until my pal Bill Cappello was able to track down her address that anyone even found out where she was. Following that, she refused several invitations to visit with film fans, until my friend Bob Satterfield sent her an invite that included her husband.
Lucille Hardy Price, Anita Garvin Stanley, and William Janney at the Meet the Celebs event on August 2, 1980
The rest was history. Anita fell in love with the Sons of the Desert and came as a special guest to the first convention in 1978. She then attended Hollywood ’80, followed by another appearance at the Detroit convention in 1982. Because of health concerns, this was her last convention appearance, although she went on to visit additional events of the Way Out West tent into the late 1980’s. I had one last opportunity to visit with Anita Garvin in 1988 while she was living at the Hollywood Motion Picture Home. In a strange coincidence, news of her death reached Sons while we were celebrating at the 1994 convention in New York. Truly Anita was a legend I am thrilled to have known.
Continue with the celebs of Hollywood ’80…
Okay, now *this* article surely can be ported over to The Wax Apple, yes? It’s been in need of updates since March. As postman Charlie Hall would say, “All ya have to do” is to take your L&H articles from here and put ’em over there. Simple!
Randy Skretvedt
December 1st, 2007
Another fascinating posting, thank you.
But I have to wonder if the 2004 Sons convention really was in New York. Could that be a typo? I attend the 1994 Sons convention which was indeed in New York, and I think I would have been aware had the 2004 convention been in New York as well.
But maybe not…maybe somehow the 2004 convention also took place in New York and I shamefully missed it…
Peter
December 1st, 2007
I am honored to have been a part of Anita meeting the Sons. She and Red were such a class act.
Bob
December 1st, 2007
Well, since the text now says 1994, it makes my above comment kind of irrelevant. But I’m relieved to know that I didn’t somehow miss a NY convention in 2004!
Peter
December 2nd, 2007
I second Bob’s comment. I only got to meet Red a couple of times (and wish that I had interviewed *him,* since I didn’t know until after his passing that he had been a member of Irving Aaronson’s Commanders and Rudy Vallee’s Connecticut Yankees, two great dance bands). Anita was generous beyond words–our Orange County tent invited her to a meeting and we offered to come get her in Camarillo, but she insisted on driving out by herself (about 80 miles each way) in her little red Honda Civic. She let me interview her many times, and I treasure the 15 minutes or so of Super 8 sound film I have of her talking about working with Stan and Babe.
Randy Skretvedt
December 2nd, 2007
i cant find any televised interviews with anita garvin on you tube.she was so beautiful.
chas
April 30th, 2013
Hello,
A quick introduction from my end-Iam Chinmaya from Bangalore,India. The reason for my mail is that I understand that the “sons of the desert” are having their next convention at Hollywood and would want to know if you are attending it. You may check this for more details- http://www.laurelandhardywood.com/ .
Incase you or anyone whom you know are,please let me know as there are somethings that i want to discuss regarding the same.My id is-chimayaprakash@gmail.com Else,you may ignore this.
Regards and best wishes,
Chinmaya
Chinmaya
December 14th, 2013
I would gladly have slept with the Anita Garvin from 1927.
She was as sexy as an Ava Gardner
Pretty damn …
Sir Stephen
January 8th, 2021