Laurel & Hardy

[Brian Rose]

I hadn't thought to check YT. As the copyright is probably expired, I'm not surprised to see several postings of the film. This one is closer to what TCM showed- the aspect ratio was not expanded to met current screen standards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmkOXrvLvbA

<Edit> And then there's this version. Dialogue dubbed in German and much more German flavored music. My forty + year old High School German could sort of keep up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uPvOoSxCXw

I had originally looked at your reply on an Ipad. The photos you'd attached didn't shown up there. Having watched it a couple more times, one begins to the continuity errors. While Phillip is being examined after getting off the boat, his cap badge moves from above his left eye to the center of his forehead to much closer to his left ear. All before the bonnet gets removed.

YT being YT, it began to show me clips from Bonnie Scotland. I'd never heard of that one either. The first clips shown ( and a couple others) were taken from an edition dubbed in German. A Highland regiment sergeant issuing orders in German. Then again it is a comedy. Having seen the clips, I'll have to obtain a copy.

[OC Richard]

Here's my favourite scene!

One of Laurel & Hardy's best gags.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aXv1J9ewjY

The pipe band is playing, over and over and over, The Campbells Are Coming.

In the notes to that tune in the Black Watch Collection they state that though it was popular in the regiment the pipes & drums was not allowed to play it due to its Jacobite connections until after WWII.

Interesting that they chose it for the film!

[kiltimabar]

But weren't the Campbells on the Government side in the '45?

[OC Richard]

About that I don't know. All I know is what is says in the book, which is

A Collection Of Pipe Music Of The Black Watch

which was written and published by the regiment.

The notes to The Campbells Are Coming say

"A traditional tune, this became a popular melody in the Regiment but, along with other Jacobite tunes such as Cock Of The North, Bonnie Dundee, and March Of The Cameron Men, the Black Watch pipes & drums were not permitted to play it until some time after the end of the Second World War.

It is the company march-past of the combined Black Watch and Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders company of the 7th Battalion Royal Regiment Of Scotland."

I wonder what pipers, what pipe band, appeared in that film. I'm sure it was filmed in Hollywood.

There was an elderly retired Colonel named Ewing I met around 1980 who said that he had lived in Southern California in the 1930s and that he had been the piper on many of the old Shirley Temple films and such. I've googled him in that connection and not come up with anything.

I've also come across a couple photos of Los Angeles area pipe bands back in the old days. It's probably them who appear in that Laurel & Hardy film, the Shirley Temple films, and such.

[Crazy Dave]

Even if the tune was wrong, I am amazed at the detail in the dress for a gag short. With all the costume errors today in big budget productions, it's nice to see how much they cared then.

[AbernethyCameron]

Although born in England, Stan Laurel moved to Glasgow in his teens with his family, his father managed a theatre there where his first performances were. This maybe explains the influence on later films. More here:

https://www.ardanaiseig.com/stan-laurel-ties-glasgow/

[OC Richard]

Doing a bit of digging, I think the band in the Laurel & Hardy film quite probably is the early Los Angeles Scottish Pipe Band, seen here. I read that they were founded in 1915.

I just looked at the Bonnie Scotland clip again, I can tell the pipers are actual pipers from how they're fingering their chanters. When you have Extras pretend to play the pipes it doesn't look that good.

I don't have a date for this photo, I would guess around 1930.



When I started playing (mid-1970s) some of the people in these photos were still around, perhaps still playing.

[jf42]

[QUOTE=OC Richard;1389325]About that I don't know. All I know is what is says in the book, which is

A Collection Of Pipe Music Of The Black Watch

which was written and published by the regiment.

The notes to The Campbells Are Coming say

"A traditional tune, this became a popular melody in the Regiment but, along with other Jacobite tunes such as Cock Of The North, Bonnie Dundee, and March Of The Cameron Men, the Black Watch pipes & drums were not permitted to play it until some time after the end of the Second World War. "


This note is strange to see, especially in a book produced by the BW museum and compiled by a former Colonel of the Regiment. Not only were the Campbells very much allied to the Hanoverian cause but of the original six Independent Companies of the Highland Watch - am freiceadan dubh- , three were formed and commanded by Campbell officers, with the name Campbell continuing to feature prominently down the years. As many will know, one theory is that the Government tartan was based on the Campbell sett.

According to former Pipe Major of 1BW Alastair Duthie, as far back as the 1850s (earlier records have been lost) 'The Campbells are coming' featured in the regiment's list of field calls signifiying 'Prepare to Charge' ('Hielan' Laddie' in Strathspey or Double time gave the order to charge).

Perhaps there was a distinction between duty calls played by regimental pipers and tunes played by the pipes and drums of the Black Watch playing in retreats and tattoos.

As for Jacobite tunes, strange as it may seem the regimental pipe tune for reveille was 'Hey Johhnie Cope' (are ye waukin yet?) and indeed my father as adjutant in Germany was rebuked one morning for letting the piper play that 'ranting rebel tune.' This was probably at the end of the notorious Crimean or Long Reveille played on the 15th of each month. Hangovers were common and fierce in post-war Germany.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWzxGF9V-ew

[OC Richard]

Yes that struck me as odd too, as we know the Black Watch and the Campbells were inextricably mixed from the beginning.

One book I have says there were so many officers named Campbell that sorting the regiment's mail must have been challenging.

[jf42]

By way of illustration, the third Lieutenant Colonel of Murray's 'Highland Regiment' 1749-55 (in the aftermath of the '45, a delicate time) was John Campbell.

In addition, a roll of the officers of the 42nd RH at the time of the Egypt campaign of 1801 indicates how complicated sorting the regimental mail might have been, particularly among the subalterns.