Doll-A-Day 2017 #174:Movie Icons Stan Laurel

  This post is a little late,as it was supposed to coincide with the 127th birthday of Stan Laurel,who was born on June 16th, 1890. But better late than never. So here is today's doll. (You can call him an action figure, if that makes you feel better.) He's this Stan Laurel figure.

 Stan was a gift from Emma a few years ago.She knows I love Laurel and Hardy. If you've been reading the blog for a while you'll remember a couple of other Laurel(and Hardy) dolls I posted about previously. You can see them HERE and HERE.



He was made in 2005.


He's made by SD Toys.There was also an Oliver Hardy figure to go with him.


The pamphlet that came with him describes him as a 6" figure, but I measured him as just over 7".



He comes in this cool film canister.

He has a stand that looks like a film reel.

He attaches to the stand by a peg on the reel that fits into a hole on the bottom of his right foot.

 

Unfortunately there is no articulation in this figure. It would have been nice if his arms could have moved.

 Instead of articulation, Stan comes with two different right hands...

This is his head scratching hand.

And this is his hat tipping hand.

  ...a clapper board...

I think it would have been better if the clapper board had been filled out with the most common people who worked on Laurel and hardy films, like their producer Hal Roach,and  their frequently used director,James Parrott.

...and a pie in mid throw.

It would have been nice if he could have held the pie,as if he were throwing it,(In which case it should have looked more intact.),or it could have attached to his head somehow,as if he'd been hit.

While pie throwing was not uncommon in early film comedies,Laurel and Hardy's films were less known for pie throwing than the comedies of Mack Sennett. Having said that, Laurel and Hardy starred in what is often called the all time greatest pie fight in movie history,1927's "The Battle of the Century".

 "The Battle of the Century" starts with Ollie trying to cause Stan an injury so he can collect on the insurance. When a pie maker slips on a banana peel intended for Stan,the pie maker throws a pie that starts what turns into an all out war,eventually involving the whole street. According to the Guinness Book of World records, as many as 10,000 pies may have been used for the pie fight,although the amount is usually stated as 3000. That's still a lot of pies,especially since in those days they were still actual pies, and not just the aluminum pans of whipped cream that are used now.

For years the only bit of the film that was known to exist was a condensed version of the pie fight,seen in Robert Youngstons's 1957 compilation film "The Golden Age of Comedy". In 1979 most of the first reel was discovered. (Short films in the early days of cinema were what were referred to as 'one reelers' or 'two reelers',a reel of film being approximately 15 minutes long.) In 2015 it was discovered that Robert Youngston had kept a 16mm print of the entire second reel,which contained the pie fight,made from the original negative.So there now exists a practically full copy of the film.

Stan's clothes have some fabric detail.

I especially like his shoes.

 Tomorrow is Shrunken Saturday,so we'll be looking at a mini doll.