Sierra Mountain Times: Tongue in Cheek with the Grand Sheik

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Bruce Calvert
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Sierra Mountain Times: Tongue in Cheek with the Grand Sheik

Postby Bruce Calvert » Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:51 pm

http://mysierramountaintimes.com/2010/0 ... as-atkins/

Tongue in Cheek with the Grand Sheik by Thomas Atkins
When it comes to comedic duos, today’s generation will quickly name off amusing actors such as Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson or Chris Farley and David Spade, but long before them were numerous slapstick teams who became legends of the silver screen. Of these, Laurel and Hardy are perhaps the most famous. Although filmed mainly in black and white, these colorful characters were one of the most popular twosomes in the Classical Hollywood era. Composed of the thin, English-born Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and the somewhat heavier, American-born Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), they became well known during the late 1920s and the 1930s for their work in motion pictures as well as on stages throughout America and Europe. After a period appearing separately in several short films for the Hal Roach studio during the 1920s, they began appearing in movie shorts together in 1926, and the two officially became a team the following year – becoming Hal Roach’s most profitable stars. In total they appeared together in 105 films.

To keep the lives and works of the duo alive, John McCabe, Laurel and Hardy’s biographer, suggested in forming a society for the duos many aficionados. Oliver Hardy was by then deceased but Laurel gave the society his blessing, and in 1965 the Sons of the Desert, an International Laurel and Hardy Society, was formed. The group takes its name from a lodge that the comedians belong to in the 1933 film Sons of the Desert. In keeping with the desert theme, each local chapter of the society is called a “tent,” and is named after a Laurel and Hardy film. Worldwide, there are well over 200 active tents, whose members meet regularly to enjoy Laurel and Hardy movies. One of these ‘tents’ stakes its poles in the quaint community of Columbia, and local resident Dave Byers, 61, is currently its ‘Grand Sheik.’




When Dave and his wife bought property in Tuolumne County nearly twenty years ago becoming a ‘Grand Sheik’ was probably the farthest thing from his mind. In fact, he didn’t know such positions were available in the Sierra foothills. Not many do…unless of course you are member of Tent 81, Them Thar Hills – the Columbia branch of Sons of the Desert. Like Dave, most seem to stumble across this relatively obscure society by chance, and hopefully this interview with the ‘Grand Sheik’ himself will shed some light and laughs about the motives behind this comedy loving club.


Laurel and Hardy in Sons of the Desert. This handshake is imitated by all the clubs around the world when singing their theme song.



Sierra Mountain Times (SMT): “How did you end up in Tuolumne County?”

Grand Sheik (GS): “A friend of ours had a cabin at Cedar Ridge and we used to come up and stay with him all the time. One new years eve he and I were out looking for an ATM machine – back in the day when they weren’t as plentiful, and we were driving from Columbia back up to Cedar Ridge on Big Hill when we passed a piece of property that had a sign up for sale. I jumped out, climbed up the hill, looked around and said, ‘This looks great!’ My wife and I came back the next day and bought the property New Year’s Day, 1990. We finished building our log house in 1991, but because I had my business in Sacramento we moved back and forth every weekend until we moved up here full time a few years ago.”

(SMT): “How did you get involved with Sons of the Desert?”

(GS): “It was a complete surprise that they had an organization like that. If we hadn’t happened to be in the What Cheer Saloon in Columbia one night we never would have known. We had just moved to the area and were sitting in the bar and there was a poster on the wall that talked about the Sons of the Desert meeting. Ben, the bartender, was one of the original founders of the local club and he told us what it was about. So we went to the next meeting and joined that night.”

(SMT): “Describe Sons of the Desert?”

(GS): “Sons of the Desert is an international Laurel and Hardy society and it was formed to honor Laurel and Hardy. So that is what we do, while having a good time. When it was originally founded, Stan Laurel gave it his blessing as well as a lot of ideas for the constitution and by laws to keep it kind of tongue-in-cheek. It’s just a social thing for people who like Laurel and Hardy movies. Article 11 in our constitution says it well: ‘It is hoped, and seriously, that in the strong desire to perpetuate the spirit and genius of Laurel and Hardy, will conduct activities ultimately and always devoted to the preservation of their films and the encouragement of their showing everywhere.’”


Them Thar Hills members Rick Nancett (left) and one of the founding members Peter Pardee in the Laurel and Hardy memorabilia room at Dave Byers home.



(SMT): “What else is in the constitution?”

(GS): “Most people get a kick out of the constitution. The whole idea is that it is very tongue-in-cheek and it’s designed for a good laugh. For example here is articles 5-8. Article 5: ‘The officers and board members at large shall have absolutely no authority whatever.’ Article 6: ‘Despite the absolute lack of authority, the Grand Sheik or his deputy shall act as chairman at all the meetings and will follow the standard parliamentary procedure in conducting same. At the meetings, it is hoped that the innate dignity, sensitivity, and good taste of the members assembled will permit activities to be conducted with a lively sense of deportment and good order.’ Article 7: ‘Article six is ridiculous.’ Article 8: ‘The meeting shall be conducted in the following sequence: a. Cocktails b. business meeting and cocktails c. dinner (with cocktails) d. after dinner speeches and cocktails e. cocktails…’ It goes on and on. We’re really not a big drinking group, but we all have a good time. The vast majority of us are not what I would call film buffs – we don’t know what year they were made or who the stars are in each movie. Half of the membership has never even seen a number of the movies, but we all enjoy it and just have a lot of fun. It’s a good group of people and we’ve formed some really close friendships.”

(SMT): “Explain your ‘Grand Sheik’ title.”

(GS): “It’s all patterned after the movie, Sons of the Desert, which is one of the feature length films that Laurel and Hardy were in. In keeping with the desert theme, the club’s officers were given extravagant titles so each tent has a Grand Sheik, which is like the president, a Vice Sheik, which is the vice president, a Grand Vizier, which is acts as the secretary, and the Sub-Vice Vizier, which is like the treasurer. In the film they all wore Arab type costumes with head dresses and the whole nine yards and there is a variety of things we pattern after the movie.”

(SMT): “How long have you been the Grand Sheik?”

(GS): “I’ve been the Grand Sheik for about five or six years. Three years after I joined the club I became the Grand Vizier and I started maintaining the roster and doing newsletters and various marketing type things for getting new members. When I became the Grand Sheik my wife became the Grand Vizier and the guy that was the Grand Sheik became the Vice Sheik. Then he passed away and my wife passed away…so right now we have a couple of vacancies with the officers.”



Tommy Bond (Butch from Our Gang) Lois Laurel (Stan’s daughter), and Dorothy DeBorba Habbereiter (Echo from Our Gang).



(SMT): “How do you become an officer?”

(GS): “We generally vote on new officers around November and December for the following year, but it is very informal. Most of the time we just ask the members, ‘Is anybody interested in doing this? Yes? No?’ That’s about it. I can’t say that we’ve had an official vote in a few years. Right now I’m actually the Grand Sheik and the Grand Vizier, so I am putting out the newsletters, which usually contain photos of our prior meetings. This last newsletter I have a memoriam to my wife who passed away in August.”

(SMT): “When was Them Thar Hills formed?”

(GS): “It was founded in 1988 by about four or five guys that really enjoyed Laurel and Hardy and the club expanded from there. Them Thar Hills, was named after Laurel and Hardy’s 1934 short film.”

(SMT): “How many members are in your tent?”

(GS): “Currently our local tent has about 30 members. We’ve been growing. We were at about 20 a little over a year ago…so we’ve added about ten members just in the last year. It’s pretty nice and the word is getting around. Our members come from this area but also some from Arnold, Escalon, Oakdale and a few other places.”

(SMT): “What is the age range of your members?”

(GS): “We have a wide age range and I’d say the average age is 60ish. Right now our youngest members are twin boys who are 17. We also have an 18-19 year old who has been a member since he was five. His dad signed him up. It’s really amazing because when the young folks come and watch the movies they may or may not have ever been exposed to it before, but once they are exposed to it, they love them. We also have members in their 80s.”



Members of Them Thar Hills tent at their December Christmas party at the Grand Sheik’s house in Big Hill.



On a side note Twain Harte resident, Dorothy Sylwester, 89, is the oldest member of Them Thar Hills and has been attending the meetings for two years. I was able to talk with her and she has an interesting childhood story to tell about Laurel and Hardy.


Dorothy Sylwester: “I had no idea about the club until I saw a clipping in the newspaper. I was so excited when I heard about it because when I was little girl, about nine or ten years old my parents had a silent picture show in this tiny country town in Indiana. It only had about 400 people in the town and there weren’t very many theatres around. My job was to sit down in the very front row with the screen right in front of me with an old victrola and I had to play the records for the music to go with the movies. So I used to watch a lot of the old silent Laurel and Hardy movies and Tarzan movies. So I’ve been a member ever since and since telling my story at the first meeting, they’ve been treating me like the queen of England ever since. But I enjoy the club. I just love Laurel and Hardy comedies. They are funny to the point of being ridiculous…but the nice part about it is that they are clean, which is hard to find these days.”


(SMT): “What takes place at the meetings?”

(GS): “We usually start out with the business part of the meeting where we talk about the convention coming up and what we are doing and what others are doing and so forth. The opening ceremony is straight out of the movie. First we do the toasts to the various Laurel and Hardy folks: a toast to Stan, to Babe, to Fin to Mae Busch and Charlie Hall. And sometimes we will add our own. For example when we are meeting at The Rock in Twain Harte we toast Diane whose place is where we are. Then we all gather around and link arms and sing the ‘We are the Sons of the Desert’ song. If we are meeting at a restaurant we order dinner but if we are meeting somewhere else it is usually a potluck. While we eat we watch anywhere from two to four Laurel and Hardy movies.”

(SMT): “How many Laurel and Hardy movies are there?”

(GS): “There are 105 movies. That is pretty much the joint ones, and then there is a number made just by Stan or Ollie.”

(SMT): “Have you watched them all?”

(GS): “We haven’t been through them all. I’ve probably seen the majority of them. I’m even finding some that I had never seen before. A few months ago we watched one that I could not believe. Today you’d never be able to make a movie like this. There were white guys in black face and people coming out that were acting very, very gay…it was just a hilarious movie, but very politically incorrect. But that’s the way it was. When I took over again as the Grand Sheik I decided we would start with their first movie and go right on through, and that way would see all of the movies including these really old ones that nobody has ever seen. Our tent owns a set of DVDs and we are getting ready to buy another set from Great Britain…but we have to get the right kind of player that can use their DVDs because they use a different format.”

(SMT): “Have you always been a Laurel and Hardy fan?”

(GS): “I watched Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang since I was a little kid and I have always really loved them. I actually like them more than the Three Stooges which was the big one in my day. But I’ve always been fascinated with Laurel and Hardy. I just love their comedy. I think most of the people in our tent will tell you that. They were exposed to it when they were kids. And some probably didn’t see any of it for a long time until there was resurgence some years ago when AMC showed all of the old Laurel and Hardy movies…and that kind of brought it back to some people. It’s classic comedy. It’s not what you see today. There are no swear words or violence other than a pie fight. They are just classic.”



The two youngest members of Them Thar Hills are twins Mike and Matt Rocco, 17, pictured with their grandpa James Carlon.


(SMT): “Do you have a favorite Laurel and Hardy film?”

(GS): “That is hard. The Sons of the Desert that we are patterned after is one of my favorites. There is also a pie fight one that I can’t think of the name of, but it is pretty hilarious to watch 100s of pies being thrown. Even I, the Grand Sheik, don’t know all the movie names. I will know the scene in a movie that someone refers to but I couldn’t tell you the name of it. But the previous Grand Sheik, Peter Pardee, he is one of the original founders and an authority on the movies. If you ask him, he’ll not only tell you the name of the movie but who was in it and what year it was made…he’s got them down. He is still a member. When you stop being the Grand Sheik, you become the ‘Exhausted Ruler.’”

(SMT): “Do you only watch Laurel and Hardy films at the meetings?”

(GS): “Every now and then we’ll watch one that doesn’t have either one of them in it, but it’s from the same era and has some of the other stars that were in movies with them. Sometimes we’ll see a commercial or a show where they make a reference to Laurel and Hardy and we’ll watch that. Plus, once and a while we will throw on an Our Gang clip.”

(SMT): “Explain Our Gang.”

(GS): “Our Gang was the Little Rascal series. Because Our Gang people were filmed by the same studio that did the Laurel and hardy films, the Hal Roach studio, we have a pretty good connection to the Our Gang folk. Some years back we used to have Tommy Bond (he lived in Madera and is since passed away) who played Butch, come to our meetings on occasion. And Dorothy DeBorba Habbereiter who played Echo has been a few times. I believe she is in her 90s now and lives down in Livermore and it’s kind of hard for her to get around now. Stan Laurels daughter, Lois Laurel, has come up a few times from L.A.”

(SMT): “What else does the club do?”

(GS): “Our tent has done a variety of things. For a fundraiser some years ago we designed and made the sashes to match the sashes worn in the movie. They have the state or country that you are from on them as well as a button with the rosette which tells which tent number you are in. We sold those all over the world. People are now wearing our sashes in great Brittan Canada, Holland, Germany, Italy, you name it. We sold them everywhere. At the conventions everyone wears the sashes. Other tents have made them, but I think ours were the best looking ones.”

(SMT): “How many tents are there?”

(GS): “Basically there are over 200 chapters which are called ‘tents’ located throughout the world. In California we have the Columbia tent, of which I am the Grand Sheik. There are also tents in Sacramento, the Bay Area, Monterey and the Los Angeles area. Every two years on the even numbered years all the tents have an opportunity to get together during an international convention which meet at different locations around the world.”

(SMT): “Who decides where the conventions will be held?”

(GS): “During the convention the various tents that are interested will put on a presentation to try and get the bid for the upcoming convention. At the convention the Grand Sheiks all get together and have a business meeting and the various tents that are interested give their presentation and we all vote on it. It takes a good year just to get your presentation together because there is a lot that must be done. The presentations include things like activities planned such as ice cream eating contests, pie throwing fights and various games as well as costume nights where everyone dresses up in a Laurel and Hardy costume from one of their movies. Plus arrangements must also be made for lodging, transportation, food and tourist activities. All of these things have to be worked out and that is part of the presentation made to the Grand Sheiks. Decisions are usually based on best value, something unique – possibly a part of the country or world we haven’t been. When a new tent’s location is chosen we call it passing the pineapple. Whoever gets the convention gets this pineapple trophy, which is based off of the movie Sons of the Desert. So the tent chosen basically has two years to get ready for the convention.”

(SMT): “Have you ever been to a convention?”

(GS): “In 1996 my wife and I and Paul and Mary Gjerde, owners of the Columbia Mercantile, did a convention on a Carnival cruise ship from Miami to Cozumel and back. There wasn’t a pie fight on the cruise, but we did have the ice cream eating contest. You couldn’t use your hands, you just had to put your face in it and go to town. There were over 350 ‘sons’ at that one. Typically at a convention you’ll have several hundred members from all over the world. I haven’t made it to any of the others ones. I wanted to go to the one in Holland two years ago, but couldn’t. But this year, 2010, Sacramento got the bid. I am planning on going and I think a lot of people from our group are going to go to that because it’s so close.”

(SMT): “When and where do you meet?”

(GS): “Our meetings start at 6 p.m. and usually go to 8-8:30 p.m. We meet in the even numbered months and alternate between a Saturday and a Monday night to make it easy for some of the folks that can’t do it one or the other. Generally we would meet in the room behind The Rock in Twain Harte, but since the fire we have meet at other locations. Last month’s meeting was at my house for a Christmas party potluck and then next meeting (Monday, February 1st) will meet at the 49er RV Ranch in Columbia. Until The Rock gets rebuilt we will probably be meeting at the 49er RV Ranch or different members houses. These meetings consist of a potluck meal. Guests are always welcome.”

(SMT): “How do you sign up?”

(GS): “Just show up and decide if you like it. If you like it, it costs $20 for the year and that includes your subscription to the international journal, a quarterly glossy, colored 12-20 page magazine. In fact that is what the majority of the money goes to.”


For more information, visit http://www.sons.byersweb.com which has the tents newsletters, handbook and schedule for yearly meetings. Membership fees are $20 a year and $30 for a couple. Twelve and under is $10 and 7 and under are free. The next meeting will take place on Monday, February 1 at 6 p.m. at the ‘49er RV Ranch in Columbia and will feature a potluck. For more information, call Dave Byers (588-0240) or Dorothy Sylwester (586-3511).

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