LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2008 April Music & Entertainment #688  / 

31476

Laurel and Hardy "Lost" Stage Scripts.

Currency:USD Category:Memorabilia Start Price:3,625.00 USD Estimated At:6,000.00 - 9,000.00 USD
Laurel and Hardy Lost Stage Scripts.
<B>Laurel and Hardy "Lost" Stage Scripts.</B></I> These original scripts come from two different sketches which Laurel and Hardy played on stage during their post-war tours of British theatres. The first sketch comes from their 1952 tour, the second from their 1953-54 tour. All the scripts were devised and written by Stan Laurel. There are three different drafts of the stage sketch <I>A Spot of Trouble</B></I> and two different drafts of <I>Birds of a Feather.</B></I> It's almost unknown for edited scripts to survive, as it was a natural reaction to destroy them once the new "clean" version was issued. The drafts of <I>A Spot of Trouble</B></I> include Draft One, with working title of <I>On the Spot,</B></I>; Draft Two, titled <I>On the Spot,</B></I> a complete version of the script in two scenes, with amendments in Laurel's own handwriting and annotations in shorthand; Draft Three of <I>On the Spot,</B></I> (two pages appear to be missing), some pages overwritten in pencilled amendments by Laurel, dated one week before the team sailed to England to start the tour. Laurel inferred to biographer John McCabe that he'd destroyed his script for <I>A Spot of Trouble,</B></I> claiming, "It worked for us at the time, but I wouldn't want to be remembered for it." If Laurel did destroy his copy, this copy must have been Hardy's. <I>Birds of a Feather</B></I> includes Draft One, with some overwriting by Laurel; and Draft two, considerably overwritten by Laurel and also overwritten in what appears to be shorthand. The shorthand found on these scripts was almost certainly written by Hardy's wife Lucille, whose previous job had been a "Continuity Script Girl" on Laurel and Hardy films. The whole collection of scripts is held in the original spring-clip, hardback folder. On the front is written "Babe Hardy," and the itemsare believed to have originated from the Oliver Hardy estate. They were bought in auction by the current consignor from Camden House, Beverly Hills, CA in 1993. A unique archive long thought lost, in overall Fine condition.<BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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