SONS OF THE DESERT

According to the entry in Wikipedia, THE SONS OF THE DESERT is:
"an international fraternal organization devoted to the lives and films of comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The group takes its name from a lodge that Laurel and Hardy belonged to in the 1933 movie Sons of the Desert.   In 1964, a few years after the book, Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy, was published, author John McCabe formed a small group of Laurel and Hardy admirers, including Orson Bean, cartoonist Al Kilgore, Chuck McCann, and John Municino. McCabe created a mock-serious “constitution” that satirized the formalities of many social organizations. Stan Laurel endorsed and humorously revised the document; he suggested that members might wear a fez or blazer patch with the motto "Two Minds Without a Single Thought." Founding member Kilgore created a logo with the motto in Latin (in the spirit of Laurel’s dictum that the organization should have “a half-assed dignity” about it) as Duae tabulae rasae in quibus nihil scriptum est (literally: 'Two blank slates on which nothing has been written')."

These are the wonderful caricatures of Stan and Ollie masterfully rendered by the late great Al Kilgore, better known for drawing the Bullwinkle daily comic strip in the 60s.

I joined the club in 1976 and had the great fortune of being able to attend the First International Sons of the Desert Convention in Chicago the following year!

A lot of time has passed since then. Most of the celebrities we met at those first SOD conventions are no longer with us but great memories were left behind and as long as there are Laurel and Hardy fans in the world, their legacy will remain with us for a long while!

Long live Laurel and Hardy!