Laurel and Hardy Museum

27/08/2026

Born on this day in 1887: Happy Birthday James Finlayson.

25/08/2026

07/08/2026

Remembering Oliver Hardy who passed away on this day in 1957.

"I was terribly shocked when Babe died. I had just got through answering hundreds and hundreds of letters of good wishes from old fans all over the world who were praying for him, lighting candles for him. He was like a brother to me. We seemed to sense each other.

Funny, we never really got to know each other personally until we took the tours together. When we made pictures, it was all business even though it was fun. Between pictures we hardly saw each other. His life outside the studio was sports - and my life was practically all work, even after work was over. I loved editing and cutting the pictures, something he wasn't interested in. But whatever I did was tops with him.

There was never any argument between us, ever. I hope wherever he is now that he realizes how much people loved him."
- Stan Laurel, from "Mr Laurel And Mr Hardy" by John McCabe.

06/08/2026

"There's not many places where you can walk around and everybody there is in hysterics." - Customer at the Museum.

02/08/2026

Many thanks to everyone who joined us tonight. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did and see you all again next month.
For those who missed out, our film choices were:

"Never Weaken" (1921) by Harold Lloyd
"Duck Soup" (1927)
"They Go Boom!" (1929)
"Jitterbugs" (1943)

01/08/2026

I'm currently re-reading "Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy" by John McCabe as I haven't read it for over ten years. It really is a fantastic book and definitely a good starting point. While there's a few minor errors here and there it actually remains very accurate on the whole. For the time it was written and considering it was the very first book about Laurel and Hardy it is phenomenal.

However there's one statement in the book that I wholeheartedly disagree with. Regarding their final silent film, McCabe writes:

"The film, Angora Love, began with a single object as its theme and not a wholly pleasant object at that, a goat."

What a cruel thing to say! First of all, Penelope was NOT an object! Secondly, she was absolutely adorable and added so much to the movie. She was such a cutie-pie and I love her and it's among my favourite films. 🎬 We'll have to agree to disagree there Mr McCabe!

~ Matty Cooper.