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JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
 Posted: 01-11-2012 01:18 Post subject: |
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We don't seem to have a Laurel & Hardy thread. I find I like them even more as I get older. Simple? I think not, though they never articulated their theories or politics, like Chaplin. Yet it is hard not to read their films as a commentary on the depression years. When that passed, so did they into the twilight of their later features.
The Holy Grails for L & H collectors are the early short called Hats Off, which seems to have been a draft for The Music Box, with a washing-machine in place of the pianola and The Rogue Song, an early Technicolor feature of which only fragments survive with the soundtrack discs.
We still await their rediscovery. Meanwhile, a 1915 short featuring Oliver Hardy has just been found, having long been thought lost!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0269209/reviews
"Rumor has it that this reel is mostly complete and it will be preserved and copied rather quickly and may be available as soon as early 2013 on DVD."
It's true that Mr Hardy made dozens of films before the 1927 teaming with Mr Laurel but how many survive is less easy to ascertain. A few turn up regularly in compilations but most seem to exist only on lists or - we hope - in archives. |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-11-2012 19:14 Post subject: |
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| I believe L&H's Battle of the Century is still incomplete, the classic pie fight film. It would be nice if someone found the whole thing. |
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| JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
| Posted: 03-12-2012 00:01 Post subject: |
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I'm afraid this looks as if the Grauniad has lazily regurgitated a catalogue's press release but it seems to be an interesting catalogue of lost radio shows, including some lost bits of the Hancock jigsaw:
Hancock Scripts Rediscovered |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 05-12-2012 23:32 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Exning phone box hidden under ivy re-emerges
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-20594745
The phone box, post box and gritting bin emerged after being hidden for most of the summer
A Suffolk village's working phone box has re-emerged after being almost completely hidden by ivy.
Foliage had covered the kiosk in Exning near Newmarket since the summer, but an unknown villager has cut the ivy back and cleaned the phone.
Michael Robinson, who lives near it, said: "I think most people had forgotten Exning had a phone box."
BT said only three calls had been made from it over the past year - the last one in June.
The kiosk is at the junction of four roads - Chapel Street, Laceys Lane, Ducks Lane and Frogmore.
The phone seems to have been given a clean as well
Mr Robinson said: "It's been overgrown for most of the summer, but I didn't think it was an eyesore because all that greenery was quite attractive."
No complaints
Ken Clutterbuck, landlord of The Wheatsheaf pub on Chapel Street, said: "To be honest I hadn't noticed it was hidden and I post my letters in the post box next to it.
"I've never used it. Everyone's got a mobile these days so nobody comes into the pub to ask for a payphone."
BT, which owns the phone box, said it was not responsible for cutting the ivy back.
A BT spokesman said: "We haven't had any complaints from the public about this phone box, but we are sending an engineer to check the kiosk." |
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| Kondoru Unfeathered Biped Joined: 05 Dec 2003 Total posts: 5791 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 05-12-2012 23:34 Post subject: |
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Perhaps they could turn it into a book exchange like they have in Brinkworth?
(Slow news day at the BBC) |
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| staticgirl Following my fish Joined: 12 Oct 2003 Total posts: 478 Location: Hertfordshire Age: 41 Gender: Female |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-12-2012 16:09 Post subject: |
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Pianos usually land on people. Probably a bog body under it. |
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| rynner2 What a Cad!
Great Old One Joined: 13 Dec 2008 Total posts: 21372 Location: Under the moon Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-12-2012 16:43 Post subject: |
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No doubt James W. is out digging in the bogs of Manchester as I write!  |
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| JamesWhitehead Piffle Prospector Joined: 02 Aug 2001 Total posts: 5779 Location: Manchester, UK Gender: Male |
| Posted: 12-12-2012 19:08 Post subject: |
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| rynner2 wrote: | | No doubt James W. is out digging in the bogs of Manchester as I write! |
The condition of the felt is a matter of great concern to me.  |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-12-2012 13:57 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Bolivia's 'fatal lottery' story shown in long lost film
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20693561
By Veronica Smink
BBC Mundo
The documentary had remained unseen for some 85 years
When Carolina Cappa, a film researcher working in Bolivia, was invited to go though the archives of an old cinema in La Paz that was being demolished, she came upon a battered, unmarked tin.
Inside was an old and decaying roll of film.
The contents were too damaged to be played on a reel, but since the discovery in March, Ms Cappa has managed to digitise and restore a few frames - enough to show that the documentary was of a key event in Bolivia's history.
The flickering black and white images show the execution of Alfredo Jauregui, who was convicted of killing former President Jose Manuel Pando in 1917.
A key chapter in Bolivian history was inside this tin
The silent documentary, filmed in 1927 after Jauregui and three others had spent 10 years in jail, captures the young man moments before his execution, smiling nervously at the camera.
With officials and spectators gathered at the scene of the execution outside La Paz, the firing squad takes aim and shoots. Jauregui slumps and two priests approach to pray over his body. Punishment duly meted out, the huge crowd heads back home down the hillsides.
The film fragments are shocking enough, but they are part of an even more dramatic story.
According to Bolivian law at the time, when three or more people were found guilty of the same crime, only one faced execution.
Their fate was sealed by drawing lots - in this case a black ball.
But there was another twist - it subsequently emerged Jauregui was in all likelihood innocent, as were the other three.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
We have suffered a lot due to what happened. This film will speak for itself”
Elda Jauregui
Alfredo's great-niece
The film, the last work by Bolivian filmmaker Luis del Castillo, a photojournalist turned movie director, was censored as soon as it was released and remained unseen for 85 years.
News cuttings from the time show the film was not banned because of its violent images, but rather from the fear that if it were seen abroad, it could expose Bolivia and its judicial system to international criticism.
There was also concern among Bolivia's European-descended elite that the people shown in the film were mainly indigenous men and women, which, in their eyes, would also damage Bolivia's reputation.
Panic
Jauregui, who was only 16 when Pando died, was caught up in the political machinations of the era.
Historian Mariano Baptista Gumucio, author of a book called The Death of Pando And The Execution of Jauregui, told the BBC the four men, who were all related, had been accused because Pando had died in their house.
Jauregui smiles for the camera as he waits to be led to his death
They had killed Pando, founder of Bolivia's Republican party, as part of a Liberal Party plot, it was alleged.
But the version of events as told by Jauregui's uncle Nestor Villegas, who was also convicted of Pando's murder, was more a combination of bad luck and bad judgement.
According to Villegas, Pando had dropped by their house unexpectedly on his way to La Paz. They were sharing a couple of bottles of wine he had given them when suddenly Pando had a stroke and died.
Panicking and fearing they would be accused of his death, they wrapped him in a blanket and threw his body over a cliff.
The corpse was found and a post-mortem examination indicated that Pando had died of natural causes, said Mr Gumucio.
But these findings were never revealed and a second examination, apparently ordered by the leader of the Republican opposition Bautista Saavedra, concluded Pando had died as a result of injuries inflicted by the men.
"The men were falsely accused by Bautista Saavedra..., who used Pando's death as an excuse to overthrow the Liberal government and take over the presidency," Mr Gumucio said.
Clearing the family name
The legacy of those events resonates to this day.
If the entire film is restored, more historical details may emerge
Elda Jauregui, Alfredo's great-niece and granddaughter of another of the convicted men, said the discovery of the documentary would help to finally prove the men's innocence.
"We have suffered a lot due to what happened. This film will speak for itself," she said.
Mr Gumucio also believes this film could make Bolivia re-examine its past and learn the truth about Pando's death and Saavedra's accession to power.
However for that to happen the film, which runs for some 17 minutes, must first be digitised, but the FCB - a private institution- says it cannot afford the $10,000 (£6,000) needed.
The organisation has asked other Latin American film institutes for help but has been unsuccessful.
Without financial help the FCB warns that this vital piece of Bolivian history could remain unseen forever.
Editing by Liz Throssell, BBC News |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-01-2013 14:31 Post subject: |
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I think this best fits here.
| Quote: | UK garden step 'is ancient Sri Lankan moonstone' artefact
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21137743
The auctioneer's website describes the stone as "beautifully carved"
A garden doorstep at a home in Devon in the UK has been identified as a rare Sri Lankan artefact expected to fetch more than £30,000 ($47,500) at auction.
The auctioneer Bonhams says the carved granite step is a Sandakada Pahana - or moonstone - similar to those found in temples dating from Sri Lanka's Anuradhapura period (c400BC-1000AD).
Sri Lanka's director of archaeology says it is unclear if it is authentic.
But if so, he believes the authorities should take steps to acquire it.
The stone was found in the garden of a bungalow in Devon. Its owner said that it was originally in a home in Sussex that her family had bought in 1950.
Bonhams says the house had been purchased from a tea planter who had lived in Sri Lanka.
Experts say that the discovery of such a stone outside of Sri Lanka is extremely rare.
Senerath Dissanayake, head of Sri Lanka's archaeology department, said it could prove very difficult to secure the return of such an item to Sri Lanka because legislation might not be adequate to support such a move.
"It could be in a diplomatic manner by talking to the parties - or by law. But until we verify the authenticity, we cannot think of law," he told BBC Tamil's Jeyapragash Nallusamy.
Dr Dissanayake also said that the department had kept records in the Anuradhapura district since 1890 and he could see no reason why the removal of such a stone would not be recorded.
'Beautifully carved'
The auctioneer's website describes the stone as "beautifully carved" and "featuring a curved procession of animals including lions, horses, elephants, birds and Brahim cows."
Bonhams said it believed the "provenance to be accurate and fulsome and correct and the object is as described".
The stone will be put up for auction in Bonhams' Indian and Islamic sale in London on 23 April.
The original owner of the moonstone was four years old when they moved to Sussex, her husband, Michael Hickmott, told BBC Sinhala. "As a child she would be playing with it in the garden."
They moved the stone with them every time they moved house.
But it weighs almost a tonne and measures 8ft by 4ft. The owners were keen to move to a smaller house and, after meeting with a Bonhams expert, invited him to look at the stone, which was lying at the end of a path in their garden.
"When I saw the photographs and she explained the full story, I knew that it could be of great historical interest and importance," Sam Tuke of Bonhams in Exeter is quoted as saying. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-01-2013 20:21 Post subject: |
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Do ewe own these sheep? Move quickly before these people tell the sheep to flock off.
| Quote: | Lost sheep herded into Sussex garden remain unclaimed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-21202166
The flock of 28 sheep remain in Cam and Mark Nichol's East Sussex garden
d
A couple who allowed police to herd 28 lost sheep into their garden while officers looked for the owner said they have not yet been claimed.
The wandering flock in the Heathfield area, in East Sussex, were reported to police at 03:00 GMT.
Officers knocked on Cam and Mark Nichols door asking if they could keep them in their garden as it had a gate.
However, the owner has not been found and the sheep have remained in the garden eating all the plants.
Mrs Nichols said: "Our dog was going ballistic at three o'clock this morning, which was followed by police knocking on the door saying they found some stray sheep and could they put them on our drive.
Mr Nichols revealed his frustration over the lost sheep in a tweet
"We thought it was just a few sheep and it turned out to be 28 of them and they're still there.
"It's an entire flock and the police still haven't found the owner."
She said she had "foolishly expected" the sheep to have been claimed by now and the couple have resorted to Twitter to appeal for the owner to come forward.
"They poo enormous amounts absolutely everywhere, and have eaten every plant possible," she said.
"My neighbours think it's hysterical."
A police spokeswoman said officers have so far been unable to find the owner of the sheep and have asked them to make contact.
She said: "We are very grateful to the resident who has kept the sheep safe while inquiries are carried out and would like to thank him for his patience." |
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| EnolaGaia Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Total posts: 1305 Location: USA Gender: Male |
| Posted: 05-03-2013 02:26 Post subject: |
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Hmmmm ... A pipe organ is a pretty large item to go missing ... 
| Quote: |
Missing Pa. church pipe organ found; all forgiven
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A Pittsburgh Roman Catholic church says the mystery of its missing pipe organ has been solved.
Police said Monday the church's former organist confessed he removed it last week for safekeeping.
Worshippers had struggled to understand how and why anyone would take the massive 200-pipe instrument from St. Justin's, which closed last month after merging with another church.
Authorities say the organist had a key to the building in the city's Mount Washington neighborhood and was worried the organ would be damaged by the cold of winter.
The church's pastor, Father Michael Stumpf, says taking the organ was an imprudent and terrible mistake but not a criminal one so the church is choosing to forgive and not press charges.
SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/missing-pa-church-pipe-organ-found-forgiven-001544514.html
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 05-03-2013 19:21 Post subject: |
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| Wait a minute - did he rescue the organ with help or by himself? Because if it was by himself that makes it even more remarkable. |
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| EnolaGaia Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Total posts: 1305 Location: USA Gender: Male |
| Posted: 05-03-2013 20:01 Post subject: |
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| gncxx wrote: | | Wait a minute - did he rescue the organ with help or by himself? Because if it was by himself that makes it even more remarkable. |
I know!
I can't find any specifics on the organ itself, nor any claim the former organist had helpers. However, one report at:
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/watercooler/article/233687/108/Organ-thieves-target-church
... mentions a church manager noting the pipes could only be accessed via a ladder up into the ceiling. The organ was located in a choir loft.
The first video at this local CBS affiliate news site:
http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/03/04/man-obsessed-with-church-organ-admits-to-stealing-it/
... mentions the following:
- The church had ceased operations about a month earlier
- It took the guy 3 days to dismantle and remove the organ apparatus
There's no mention of the guy having accomplices.
This particular church was in the process of being closed down, and at least some of its furnishings were being transferred to the church with which it was being merged.
I suspect anyone witnessing the "organ extraction" would have assumed it was part of the decommissioning and moving activities - especially since the thief had a key to the building. |
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