WELCOME HOME STAN LAUREL. A very special 60 minute documentary.
This is a project dear to my
heart. I've always been a fan of Laurel and Hardy and
slapstick comedy. Now I am excited to be telling the very
personal story of the happiest day of Stan's life.
Laurel and Hardy
were on a stage tour in England with their wives in 1947,
just after the Second World War. While their film career was
pretty much over by the post war years, they were still very
much in demand touring Europe live on stage. We learn that
Laurel and Hardy were real people, gracious and self effacing
and were humbled and moved by the love and attention they got
from their fans later in their career. Whilst they were performing their show
at The Morecambe Winter
Gardens, they all
took a day trip up the bay to Stan's home town of
Ulverston. It was here he received a hero's
welcome on the balcony of the Coronation Hall and was presented with a copy of his
birth certificate. Hilarity ensued as Laurel and Hardy
joked around in front of hundreds of happy cheering
onlookers.
____________________________________________________________________
This is that story told from the point of view of retired
StanLaurel in the early 1960's in his Santa Monica apartment
by way of dramatic recreations. Also featured are interviews
with present day Ulverston historians and first hand accounts
of that visit.
____________________________________________________________________
This documentary features
never before seen original archive footage of that special
day on May 27th 1947.
____________________________________________________________________
Lois
Laurel-Hawes, Stan's daughter has agreed to stand behind the
project and open up her archives for us, including Stan's
private collection. reproduction set of Stan's Santa Monica
apartment will be built. Jim MacGeorge has agreed to play
Stan and was actually chosen by Stan himself as the best
person to impersonate him.
____________________________________________________________________
OUTLINE:
Retired Stan in the early
1960's is in his Santa Monica apartment with his wife Ida,
unknowingly acts as our host, carrying us through the
dramatic thrust of the story on camera and in voice over.
Stan is routinely answering his fan mail at his typewriter.
He comments to his wife how crazy the world has become and
questions the validity of his “old fashioned”
kind of humour with all the blue material coming out of
modern day comedians. Had his work meant very much or made a
difference? He is stopped in his tracks when he opens one
particular letter. It contains a photograph of his visit to
Ulverston. He becomes speechless as all those memories come
flooding back. He remembers being given a hero's welcome when
he returned to Ulverston a Hollywood star with his partner
Oliver Hardy and their wives.
Stan recalls how poor old 1947 England
having just come out of war time, was still on ration coupons
and had survived one of the coldest winters in recent years.
We learn about the little market town of Ulverston itself and
what made Stan remember it so fondly all his
life through new interviews and historical
photographs.
Stan remembers how they were performing for
several nights at the majestic Morecambe Winter Gardens
Theatre. We see a little of their stage act for the first
time through original audio recordings and visual
re-enactments. After an official invitation to Ulverston by
Councillor Henry Simpson, they all set out in a large Austin
Saloon and make their way up to Ulverston. We cut between
first hand accounts of that day, unseen 8mm footage that
belonged to Councillor Simpson himself and Stan at his desk
typing to his fans. At one point, he walks out on to the
balcony of his second story apartment. The background melts
away revealing retired Stan standing on the balcony of the
Coronation Hall in Ulverston. This is where he was honoured
with receiving a copy of his birth certificate, in front of a
town square packed full of cheering onlookers. Retired Stan
looks down with a smile. A tear forms in his eye. We see we
are back in Santa Monica again as Stan says quietly to
himself "That was the happiest day of my life". He looks up
at the horizon as the sun sets over 1960's Santa Monica and
2006 Ulverston simultaneously. He knows in his heart he
had left the world a better place.
____________________________________________________________________
New first hand living memory interviews This will all be held
together using music and inventive transitional wipes and
captions reminiscent of the fun style seen in their 1930's
two reelers.
INTERVIEWS:
Mabel Radcliffe: Saw Laurel and Hardy when
they came to Ulverston and since the 1970's has lived in the
house he was born in.
John
Marsh: 15
year old John waited outside Stan's birthplace until they
arrived to look around the house. They spoke together and
subsequently, had his picture in the papers with them.
Carol
Williamson: Vividly remembers serving
them and their wives lunch as she was the only waitress at
the Golf Hotel. She showed them to the bar for a drink and a
joke after their meal.
Jennifer
Snell: Local historian speaks of
the history of the town and young Stan Laurel's life there.
Marion
Graves: Daughter of previous Mayor
of Ulverston, Bill Cubin and Curator of the world's first
Laurel and Hardy museum talks of Stan's childhood and Laurel
and Hardy's visit to Ulverston.
Booth
Colman: Well known actor and
longtime close friend of Stan's from 1947 up until Stan's
death in 1965. Stan looked upon Booth as a
son to him.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
SHOOTING
THE DOCUMENTARY
Below is a shot from the top
of Hoad Hill at sunset. Note the Glaxo refinery in the
background and Morecambe Bay behind.
Below are two shots from the
Coronation Hall balcony. Very little has changed since the
"boys" visit in 1947!
A photo shoot for the local
press while shooting Mabel's interview in Stan's original
living room, 3 Argyle St.
