Doll-A-Day 2023 #115: Oliver Hardy

   Yes, I missed a day again. By the time I got the book post up last night I was too tired to do the regular post. The book post was farther behind, so it had priority. Now I'm EIGHT days behind for the year! I'll catch up some day. Hopefully I'll at least get this week's late post up in a few days.

  Emma is still in the hospital. She has a drain in her side because she has a tear in her liver, and bile would otherwise be draining into her body. She also has an antibiotic IV drip. She is supposed to be transferred to another, bigger hospital where they can put a stent in her side to drain the bile, while her liver heals. She is feeling better though, other than some leftover pain from all she's been through. They have no idea when they'll be moving her, as they have to wait until there is a bed free at the other hospital. Good thing she didn't have to go there to get the gall bladder out!

  Today's doll is Oliver Hardy, of Laurel and Hardy.

"Chin up! No,no, no! Both of them!": Stan, (who thinks he is 'Lord Paddington', and Oliver is his butler), to Ollie, in "A Chump at Oxford". 

  As you may have guessed from the multiple Laurel and Hardy dolls I've posted HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE, I do love me some Laurel and Hardy. This guy was found at a yard sale or thrift store years ago. I had never washed him, even though I love to wash any second hand thing I can, because I was always afraid he would fall apart. His insides are at least partially styrofoam I think, so I was worried that wasn't going to stand up to the washing machine. Well, poor Ollie was in the Room of Water, so when he came here to be rehabilitated, a trip in the washing machine was his only recourse. He survived quite well, and looks wonderful.

  He's about 22 inches tall, but that's just eyeballing it.

Either he has unnaturally pale hands, or he's wearing white gloves, neither of which Oliver Hardy was known for.

  He's made by a company called  Toy Network. I think he's like a claw machine toy or fair prize. That type of thing.

He was made in 2004. 

To answer the question as to why Laurel and Hardy's likenesses are owned by something called Larry Harmon Pictures Corporation, well, allow me to rant. Larry Harmon was best known for, (other than his various Laurel and Hardy projects), playing Bozo the Clown, which he began doing in the late 1940's. He bought the rights to that too. (He's the guy to blame for all the local Bozo TV shows in the 60's. I hate that guy.) Heck, let me quote myself, from a previous Laurel and Hardy post:

 If you ever check the copyright on a Laurel and Hardy item made from the 60's onward, you'll notice that it says   'Copyright Larry Harmon". Larry Harmon obtained the rights to Laurel and Hardy's images from Stan and his wife, and Oliver Hardy's widow Lucille. Harmon was a friend of Stan's, and was known as the owner and portrayer of Bozo the Clown. (In spite of Harmon's frequent claims to have invented Bozo, Bozo was created by Alan W. Livingston in the 1940's,and was first portrayed by Pinto Colvig. Bozo even served as the mascot for Capitol Records, before Harmon bought the rights from Capitol in 1956.) 

And to complete that thought, here is my answer to a comment on the same post: 

  Oliver Hardy never had any children. Stan had a daughter, Lois Laurel Hawes, who is still alive.(She has passed since that post.) I'm not sure if Lois gets anything, but probably not, since Harmon owned the rights to the names and images. Sad really. Harmon was a friend of Stan's, but I kind of always felt he pulled a fast one on him somehow, getting those rights that way. Why would they sell them? It's like Jim Henson selling the Muppets. I know he sold them because he wanted to (so they would carry on after he was gone.), but it still irritates me when I hear "Disney's Muppets". They're not Disney's, and they never will be to me. Same with Star Wars. That and the Harmon thing reminds me of the scene in Jurassic Park where Jeff Goldblum's character tells 'John Hammond', "...it didn't require any discipline to attain it. You read what others had done and you took the next step. You didn't earn the knowledge for yourselves, so you don't take any responsibility for it. You stood on the shoulders of geniuses to accomplish something as fast as you could, and before you even knew what you had, you patented it, and packaged it, and slapped it on a plastic lunchbox, and now you're selling it, you wanna sell it. Well..." It irks me that 'Bozo' made, and Disney is making, a fortune on the hard work of others, and all they had to do was buy someone else's legend.

  I still stand by that opinion of Larry Harmon and the whole situation. I think Harmon took advantage of his friendship with Stan, and the whole opportunity to befriend Stan in the first place. Stan left his number and address in the phone book until he died, so a lot of people made their way to his door, including Dick Van Dyke, who became a good friend and gave the eulogy at Stan's funeral, and Jerry Lewis, who considered himself a comic genius and wanted to probably discuss comedy with Stan, who was much better at it than he was. (Personal opinion!) Larry Harmon was one of those people who trekked to Stan's door, and ingratiated themselves. Oliver had already  passed away, so it was undoubtedly Stan's influence that allowed Harmon to buy the rights from Oliver's widow, Lucille.

  I'm sorry, but Larry Harmon really, to quote my dad, "Gripes my a**"! 

  And now back to Oliver! He has his classic tie, for 'twiddling'...

The famous 'tie twiddle'.

...and bowler hat...

  and of course, his little bangs and tiny mustache.

  Sorry he's very cat hairy. The culprit is this gentleman right here:

The long arm of the Cowboy.

His name is Cowboy, and he keeps me company most of the time. I think a lot of that is to get away from his stepbrother, Arthur, who loves to annoy him, more than a desire to hang out with me. But I'll take what I can get. He does leave his calling cards behind though, and they are hair.

For being cheaply made, and a bit cartoony, this doll does resemble Oliver quite a bit. 

  That's the doll for today. Hopefully we'll see you again tomorrow.