IN MEMORIAM : My Friend Marshall.

 Very sad to hear the news about Marshall Korby, former Grand Sheik of the Detroit Dancing Cuckoos Tent of the Laurel & Hardy International Organization, The Sons of the Desert; who passed away at 79 on November 1st.

                 

                   I subscribed to his Laurel & Hardy Catalogue and bought many items from him.

 

We met at the Sons of the Desert 1978 Convention in Chicago and became good friends. We kept in touch for many years after that and I last saw him in Florida where we had dinner and exchanged our life stories up to that point. He presented me with a booklet he compiled himself of all my Laurel & Hardy artwork as a gift.

 

Here are some of the vignettes featured in the booklet:

Rest in Peace, my Friend!

THE SONS OF THE DESERT 22nd INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION!

The 22nd International Convention of the Sons of the Desert is being held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, from August 17th to the 22nd, hosted by the Albuquerque Busy Bodies Tent, Oasis 29.

All participating delegates are already having the time of their lives at the Hotel Albuquerque and most of their wives think they are in Honolulu. That's a darb!

Hosted by the Albuquerque Busy Bodies - Oasis 29

Some personal affairs precluded me from attending the festivities this year but I am crossing my fingers hoping I will be able to partake of the forthcoming event a couple of years from now, wherever and whenever it may be held. (As long as I don't have to take the Oath from our Exhausted Ruler).

This was the logo of the now defunct BULLFIGHTERS TENT of MEXICO CITY.

HAVE A MERRY LAUREL & HARDY CHRISTMAS!

 Many years ago I had these Xmas cards printed and sent out to members of the Sons of the Desert, the International Laurel & Hardy Appreciation Society to which I belong. As the 21st century rolled along, I digitally colorized them and now every L & h fan around the world can get my best holiday wishes online!

The 2018 SONS OF THE DESERT Convention in Cincinnati gets underway today!

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!