STAN LAUREL
HAND SIGNED CHEQUE 1928 VERY RARE
THE ENGLISH HALF OF THE LEGENDARY LAUREL AND HARDY COMEDY DUO……Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
c/w C.O.A. - Certificate of Authenticity
“Todd Mueller Autographs Inc.”
GENUINE ORIGINAL HAND SIGNED CHEQUE / CHECK AND
2 x PHOTO DISPLAY
RARE Very Early Hand Signed “1928”
DARK BROWN LANDSCAPE MATTED DISPLAY MOUNT
COMPLETE WITH 3 x MOUNTING INCLUDING :-
2 x ORIGINAL BLACK/WHITE POSTCARD PHOTO's.
1 X GENUINE / ORIGINAL AUTHENTIC HAND SIGNED CANCELLED BANK CHECK.
PLUS C.O.A. - CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY
TODD MUELLER AUTOGRAPHS INC. COLORADO SPRINGS
NOTE:
GENUINE / AUTHENTIC / ORIGINAL HAND SIGNED CANCELLED BANK CHEQUE FOR THE SUM OF $10.00
PAYABLE TO: FATHER O’DONNELL
CHEQUE No. 120
CHECK DATED: 17th SEPTEMBER 1928
(91+ Years Old)
c/w C.O.A. - Certificate of Authenticity “Todd Mueller Autographs Inc.”
Dark Brown matted display mount with 3 x mountings.
Overall Landscape size 420mm x 300mm Approx.
Please note that there is not a back board attached to the rear of this mount, therefore the 3 x display items may be removed and re-mounted at your leisure as per your own personal individual requirements.
Please view the mounted display’s attached photos as they form part of the overall description and condition of this item.
Or if you have any questions please ASK.
This is an original / genuine / authentic hand signed cancelled bank cheque by Stan Laurel of address 718 No. Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills California, which has been stamped on the front Californian National Bank Beverly Hills California, and counter stamped / authenticated on the reverse of the cheque by the bank clearance representative officials, this cheque is over 91 years old.
This being an extremely rare and collectable item indeed, of this Legendary Comedy Film and TV star actor.
A Very Rare and Highly Collectable and Unique Item.
Stan Laurel (born Stanley Arthur Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer and film director, most famous for his role in the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. With his comedy partner Oliver Hardy he appeared in 107 short films, feature films and cameo roles.
Laurel began his career in the British music hall, from where he took a number of his standard comic devices: the bowler hat, the deep comic gravity, and the nonsensical understatement. His performances polished his skills at pantomime and music hall sketches. Laurel was a member of "Fred Karno's Army," where he was Charlie Chaplin's understudy. The two arrived in the US on the same ship from Britain with the Karno troupe. Laurel went into films in the US, with his acting career stretching between 1917 and 1951, and from "silents" to "talkies." It included a starring role in the film The Music Box (1932).
In 1961, Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Blvd. In a 2005 UK poll to find The Comedians' Comedian, Laurel and Hardy ranked top among best double acts and seventh overall. In 2009, a bronze statue of the duo was unveiled in Laurel's hometown of Ulverston, Cumbria.
Arthur Stanley Jefferson was born in his grandparents' house on 16 June 1890 at 3 Argyle Street, Ulverston, Lancashire (now Cumbria), England. He had two brothers and a sister.
His parents, Margaret (Metcalfe) and Arthur Jefferson, were both active in the theatre and always very busy. In his early years, the boy spent much time living with his grandmother Sarah Metcalfe. He attended school at King James I Grammar School, Bishop Auckland, County Durham and the King's School, Tynemouth. He moved with his parents to Glasgow, Scotland, where he completed his education at Rutherglen Academy. His father managed Glasgow's Metropole Theatre, where Laurel began work. His boyhood hero was Dan Leno, one of the greatest British music hall comedians. At the age of 16, with a natural affinity for the theatre, Laurel gave his first professional performance on stage at the Panopticon in Glasgow where he polished his skills at pantomime and music hall sketches.
In 1910, with the stage name of "Stan Jefferson", he joined Fred Karno's troupe of actors, which also included a young Charlie Chaplin. The British music hall nurtured him, and for some time, he acted as Chaplin's understudy. Chaplin and Laurel arrived in the United States on the same ship from Britain with the Karno troupe and toured the country. From 1916 to 1918, he teamed up with Alice Cooke and Baldwin Cooke, who became lifelong friends. Amongst other performers, Laurel worked briefly alongside Oliver Hardy in a silent film short The Lucky Dog (1921). This was before the two were a team.
It was around this time that Laurel met Mae Dahlberg. Around the same time he adopted the stage surname of Laurel, at Dahlberg's suggestion. The pair were performing together when Laurel was offered $75 per week to star in two-reel comedies. After the making of his first film, Nuts in May, Universal offered him a contract. The contract was soon cancelled during a reorganisation at the studio. Among the films Dahlberg and Laurel appeared in together was the 1922 parody, Mud and Sand, of which a short clip can be seen at the left.
By 1924, Laurel had given up the stage for full-time film work, under contract with Joe Rock for 12 two-reel comedies. The contract had one unusual stipulation, that Dahlberg was not to appear in any of the films; Rock thought her temperament was hindering Laurel's career. In 1925, when she started interfering with Laurel's work, Rock offered her a cash settlement and a one-way ticket back to her native Australia, which she accepted. The 12 two-reel comedies were Mandarin Mix-Up (1924), Detained (1924), Monsieur Don't Care (1924), West of Hot Dog (1924), Somewhere in Wrong (1925), Twins (1925), Pie-Eyed (1925), The Snow Hawk (1925), Navy Blue Days (1925), The Sleuth (1925), Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde (1925), Half a Man (1925).
Laurel next signed with the Hal Roach studio, where he began directing films, including a 1926 production called Yes, Yes, Nanette. He intended to work primarily as a writer and director, but fate stepped in.
In 1927, Oliver Hardy, another member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap, and Laurel was asked to return to acting. Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup (1927) and With Love and Hisses. The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the Laurel and Hardy series later that year.
Together, the two men began producing a huge body of short films, including The Battle of the Century, Should Married Men Go Home?, Two Tars, Be Big!, Big Business, and many others. Laurel and Hardy successfully made the transition to talking films with the short Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They also appeared in their first feature in one of the revue sequences of The Hollywood Revue of 1929, and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-colour (in Technicolor) musical feature, The Rogue Song. In 1931, their first starring feature, Pardon Us was released. They continued to make both features and shorts until 1935, including their 1932 three-reeler The Music Box, which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.
During the 1930s, Laurel was involved in a dispute with Hal Roach, which resulted in the termination of his contract. Since Roach maintained separate contracts for Laurel and Hardy that expired at different times, Hardy remained at the studio and was "teamed" with Harry Langdon for the 1939 film Zenobia. The studio discussed a series of films co-starring Hardy with Patsy Kelly, to be called "The Hardy Family." But Laurel sued Roach over the contract dispute. Eventually, the case was dropped and Laurel returned to Roach. After returning to Roach studios, the first film Laurel and Hardy made was A Chump at Oxford. Subsequently, they made Saps at Sea, which was their last film for Roach.
In 1941, Laurel and Hardy signed a contract at 20th Century Fox to make ten films over five months. During the war years, their work became more standardised and less successful, though The Bullfighters, and Jitterbugs did receive some praise. Laurel discovered he had diabetes, so he encouraged Hardy to make two films without him. In 1946, he divorced Virginia Ruth Rogers and married Ida Kitaeva Raphael. In 1947, Laurel returned to England when he and Hardy went on a six-week tour of the United Kingdom, and the duo were mobbed wherever they went. Laurel's homecoming to Ulverston took place in May, and the duo were greeted by thousands of fans outside the Coronation Hall. The Evening Mail noted: "Oliver Hardy remarked to our reporter that Stan had talked about Ulverston for the past 22 years and he thought he had to see it." The tour included a Royal Command Performance for King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London. The success of the tour would see them spend the next seven years touring the UK and Europe.
In 1950, Laurel and Hardy were invited to France to make a feature film. The film, a Franco-Italian co-production titled Atoll K, was a disaster. (The film was titled Utopia in the US and Robinson Crusoeland in the UK.) Both stars were noticeably ill during the filming. Upon returning to the US they spent most of their time recovering. In 1952, Laurel and Hardy toured Europe successfully, and they returned in 1953 for another tour of the continent. During this tour, Laurel fell ill and was unable to perform for several weeks.
In May 1954, Hardy had a heart attack and cancelled the tour. In 1955, they were planning to do a television series, Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables, based on children's stories. The plans were delayed after Laurel suffered a stroke on 25 April, from which he recovered. But as he was planning to get back to work, his partner Hardy had a massive stroke on 14 September 1956, which resulted in his being unable to return to acting.
On 7 August 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Laurel was too ill to attend his funeral and said, "Babe would understand". People who knew Laurel said he was devastated by Hardy's death and never fully recovered from it. He refused to perform on stage, or act in another film without his good friend, although he continued to socialise with his fans.
In 1961, Stan Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small flat in the Oceana Apartments in Santa Monica, California.
Always gracious to fans, Laurel spent much time answering fan mail. His phone number, EXbrook 3-1851, was listed in the telephone directory, and fans were amazed that they could dial the number and speak to him directly.
Jerry Lewis was among the numerous comedians to visit Laurel, who offered suggestions for Lewis's production of The Bellboy (1960). Lewis paid tribute to Laurel by naming his main character Stanley in the film, and having Bill Richmond play a version of Laurel as well. Dick Van Dyke told a similar story. When he was just starting his career, he looked up Laurel's phone number, called him, and then visited him at his home. Van Dyke played Laurel on "The Sam Pomerantz Scandals" episode of The Dick Van Dyke Show.
Laurel was offered a cameo role in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), but he turned it down. He did not want to be on screen in his old age, especially without his comedy partner, Oliver Hardy, who had died in 1957.
Laurel and Dahlberg never married, but lived together as common-law husband and wife from 1919 to 1925.
Laurel also had four wives and married one of them a second time after their divorce.
Laurel married his first wife, Lois Neilson, on August 13, 1926. In December 1927, during the early years of Laurel and Hardy's partnership, Laurel and Neilson had a baby girl, also named Lois, who later married actor Rand Brooks. In May 1930, their second child, Stanley Robert Laurel, died after nine days.
In December 1934, Laurel divorced Lois and in 1935 married Virginia Ruth Rogers. In 1938, he divorced Virginia and married Vera Ivanova Shuvalova. By 1941, he had divorced Vera and remarried Virginia. In 19 Laurel was a heavy smoker until suddenly quitting around 1960. In January 1965, he underwent a series of x-rays for an infection on the roof of his mouth. He died on 23 February 1965, aged 74, four days after suffering a heart attack on 19 February. Just minutes away from death, Laurel told his nurse he would not mind going skiing right at that very moment. Somewhat taken aback, the nurse replied that she was not aware that he was a skier. "I'm not," said Laurel, "I'd rather be doing that than this!" A few minutes later the nurse looked in on him again and found that he had died quietly in his armchair.
At his funeral, silent screen comedian Buster Keaton was overheard talking about Laurel's talent: "Chaplin wasn't the funniest, I wasn't the funniest, this man was the funniest." Keaton would himself die of lung cancer one year later in February 1966. Dick Van Dyke, a friend, protege and occasional impressionist of Laurel during his later years, gave the eulogy, reading A Prayer for Clowns.
Laurel had earlier quipped: "If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I'll never speak to him again."
Laurel was cremated, and his ashes were interred in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills Cemetery.
Laurel and Hardy are featured on the cover of The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967).
In 1989, a statue of Laurel was erected in Dockwray Square, North Shields, Tyne and Wear, England where he lived at No. 8 from 1897 to 1902. The steps down from the Square to the North Shields Fish Quay were said to have inspired the piano-moving scene in The Music Box. In a 2005 UK poll, Comedians' Comedian, Laurel and Hardy were ranked top among best double acts, and seventh overall.
Neil Brand wrote a radio play entitled Stan, broadcast in 2004 on BBC Radio 4 and subsequently on BBC Radio 4 Extra, starring Tom Courtenay as Stan Laurel, in which Stan visits Oliver Hardy after Hardy has suffered his stroke and tries to say the things to his dying friend and partner that have been left unsaid. In 2006, BBC Four showed a drama called Stan, based on Brand's radio play, in which Laurel meets Hardy on his deathbed and reminisces about their career.
A plaque on the Bull Inn, Bottesford, Leicestershire, England, marks Laurel and Hardy appearing in Nottingham over Christmas 1952, and staying with Laurel's sister, Olga, who was the landlady of the pub.
In 2008, a statue of Stan Laurel was unveiled in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, on the site of the Eden Theatre. In April 2009, a bronze statue of Laurel and Hardy was unveiled in Ulverston.
46, he divorced Virginia and married Ida Kitaeva Raphael, whom he did not divorce.
There is a Laurel and Hardy Museum in Stan's hometown of Ulverston. There are two Laurel and Hardy museums in Hardy's hometown of Harlem, Georgia. One is operated by the town of Harlem, and the other is a private museum owned and operated by Gary Russeth, a Harlem resident.
In 2013, Gail Louw and Jeffrey Holland debuted a short one-man play "…And this is my friend Mr Laurel" at the Camden Fringe festival. The play, starring Holland as Laurel, was taken on tour of the UK in 2014 until June 2015.
Release date
Title
Short / feature
Notes
December 1, 1921
The Lucky Dog
Short
Produced by Shiller Productions
Available for viewing online
December 13, 1926
45 Minutes from Hollywood
Short
Released by Pathé Exchange
Hardy in a supporting role and Laurel in a bit part
March 13, 1927
Duck Soup
Short
Released by Pathé Exchange
Based on "Home From the Honeymoon", a sketch written by Arthur J. Jefferson (Stan Laurel's father)
April 3, 1927
Slipping Wives
Short
Released by Pathé Exchange
June 12, 1927
Love 'em and Weep
Short
Released by Pathé Exchange
July 17, 1927
Why Girls Love Sailors
Short
Released by Pathé Exchange
August 28, 1927
With Love and Hisses
Short
Released by Pathé Exchange
September 10, 1927
Sugar Daddies
Short
September 25, 1927
Sailors, Beware!
Short
Released by Pathé Exchange
October 5, 1927
Now I'll Tell One
Short
Partly lost film
October 8, 1927
The Second Hundred Years
Short
The first "official" Laurel and Hardy film where they are presented as a team
October 15, 1927
Call of the Cuckoo
Short
Laurel and Hardy and Charley Chase in supporting roles
November 5, 1927
Hats Off
Short
Lost film
November 20, 1927
Do Detectives Think?
Short
December 3, 1927
Putting Pants on Philip
Short
December 31, 1927
The Battle of the Century
Short
Partly lost film
January 28, 1928
Leave 'Em Laughing
Short
February 12, 1928
Flying Elephants
Short
February 25, 1928
The Finishing Touch
Short
March 24, 1928
From Soup to Nuts
Short
April 21, 1928
You're Darn Tootin'
Short
May 19, 1928
Their Purple Moment
Short
September 8, 1928
Should Married Men Go Home?
Short
October 6, 1928
Early to Bed
Short
November 3, 1928
Two Tars
Short
December 1, 1928
Habeas Corpus
Short
Sound (music and synchronized sound effects only)
December 29, 1928
We Faw Down
Short
Sound (music and synchronized sound effects only)
January 26, 1929
Liberty
Short
Sound (music and synchronized sound effects only)
February 23, 1929
Wrong Again
Short
Sound (music and synchronized sound effects only)
March 23, 1929
That's My Wife
Short
Sound (music and synchronized sound effects only)
April 29, 1929
Big Business
Short
Silent
Added to the National Film Registry in 1992.
May 4, 1929
Unaccustomed As We Are
Short
Sound (all-talking)
May 28, 1929
Double Whoopee
Short
Silent
June 1, 1929
Berth Marks
Short
Sound (all-talking)
June 29, 1929
Men O' War
Short
Sound (all-talking)
August 10, 1929
Perfect Day
Short
Sound (all-talking)
September 21, 1929
They Go Boom
Short
Sound (all-talking)
October 19, 1929
Bacon Grabbers
Short
Sound (music and synchronized sound effects only)
November 16, 1929
The Hoose-Gow
Short
Sound (all-talking)
November 29, 1929
The Hollywood Revue of 1929
Feature
Sound (all-talking)
All-star revue produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Nominated—Academy Award for Best Picture
December 14, 1929
Angora Love
Short
Sound (music and synchronized sound effects only)
January 4, 1930
Night Owls
Short
January 21, 1930
The Rogue Song
Feature
Operetta film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer with Laurel and Hardy in supporting roles
Filmed in Technicolor
Partly lost film
February 8, 1930
Blotto
Short
Three reels
March 22, 1930
Brats
Short
April 26, 1930
Below Zero
Short
May 31, 1930
Hog Wild
Short
September 6, 1930
The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case
Short
Three reels
November 29, 1930
Another Fine Mess
Short
Three reels
February 7, 1931
Be Big!
Short
Three reels
February 21, 1931
Chickens Come Home
Short
Three reels
April 1, 1931
The Stolen Jools
Short
Presented by National Variety Artists and released by Paramount
Cameo appearances by Laurel and Hardy
April 4, 1931
Laughing Gravy
Short
May 16, 1931
Our Wife
Short
August 15, 1931
Pardon Us
Feature
September 19, 1931
Come Clean
Short
October 31, 1931
One Good Turn
Short
December 12, 1931
Beau Hunks
Short
Four reels
December 26, 1931
On the Loose
Short
Stars ZaSu Pitts and Thelma Todd
Cameo appearances by Laurel and Hardy
January 23, 1932
Helpmates
Short
March 5, 1932
Any Old Port!
Short
April 16, 1932
The Music Box
Short
Three reels
Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film
Added to the National Film Registry in 1997.
May 25, 1932
County Hospital
Short
May 26, 1932
The Chimp
Short
Three reels
September 10, 1932
Scram!
Short
September 23, 1932
Pack Up Your Troubles
Feature
November 5, 1932
Their First Mistake
Short
December 31, 1932
Towed in a Hole
Short
February 25, 1933
Twice Two
Short
April 22, 1933
Me and My Pal
Short
May 5, 1933
The Devil's Brother
Feature
Based on the opera Fra Diavolo by Daniel Auber
August 3, 1933
The Midnight Patrol
Short
October 7, 1933
Busy Bodies
Short
October 28, 1933
Wild Poses
Short
Our Gang film with cameo appearances by Laurel and Hardy
November 25, 1933
Dirty Work
Short
December 29, 1933
Sons of the Desert
Feature
Added to the National Film Registry in 2012.
January 13, 1934
Oliver the Eighth
Short
Three reels
June 1, 1934
Hollywood Party
Feature
A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production
June 23, 1934
Going Bye-Bye!
Short
July 21, 1934
Them Thar Hills
Short
November 30, 1934
Babes in Toyland
Feature
Based on the operetta by Victor Herbert and Glen MacDonough
Reissued as March Of the Wooden Soldiers, March of the Toys, and Revenge is Sweet
December 11, 1934
The Live Ghost
Short
January 5, 1935
Tit for Tat
Short
February 26, 1935
The Fixer Uppers
Short
August 6, 1935
Thicker than Water
Short
August 23, 1935
Bonnie Scotland
Feature
February 14, 1936
The Bohemian Girl
Feature
Adapted from the opera by Michael William Balfe and Alfred Bunn
With Darla Hood
May 11, 1936
On the Wrong Trek
Short
Charley Chase comedy with cameo appearances by Laurel and Hardy
October 30, 1936
Our Relations
Feature
April 16, 1937
Way Out West
Feature
May 21, 1937
Pick a Star
Feature
Cameo appearances by Laurel and Hardy
May 20, 1938
Swiss Miss
Feature
August 19, 1938
Block-Heads
Feature
October 20, 1939
The Flying Deuces
Feature
An RKO Radio Pictures production
February 16, 1940
A Chump at Oxford
Feature
Released by United Artists
May 3, 1940
Saps at Sea
Feature
Released by United Artists
October 10, 1941
Great Guns
Feature
A 20th Century Fox production
August 7, 1942
A-Haunting We Will Go
Feature
A 20th Century Fox production
1943 (early part of the year)
The Tree in a Test Tube
Short
One reel film (in color) produced by the United States Department of Agriculture. Laurel and Hardy, appearing in cameos, made this during the filming of Jitterbugs. Available for online viewing here.
April 4, 1943
Air Raid Wardens
Feature
A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production
June 11, 1943
Jitterbugs
Feature
A 20th Century Fox production
November 1, 1943
The Dancing Masters
Feature
A 20th Century Fox production
March 1, 1944
Nothing but Trouble
Feature
A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer production
September 1, 1944
The Big Noise
Feature
A 20th Century Fox production
May 18, 1945
The Bullfighters
Feature
A 20th Century Fox production
November 21, 1951
Atoll K
Feature
A co-production of Les Films Sirius (France), Franco-London Films (France), and Fortezza Films (Italy); released in the United Kingdom as Escapade; re-issued in the United States as Robinson Crusoe-Land and Utopia