History Laurel and Hardy's Model T, How'd They Do That???

The car I remember was crushed lengthwise and was about one foot wide from bumper to bumper but still had its tires attached and was rolling slowly down the street after an encounter with trolley's or trains. I haven't seen any photos on the internet of it.

 

Busy Bodies '33


I also remember the Saturday morning, and night, Laurel and Hardy shorts being on local TV here in so cal along with the Stooges. They'd play them round the clock at Shakey's pizza too.

 

Buster wasn't his real name either. He was given that by Harry Houdini who worked in a traveling medicine type of show with Keaton's parents. BK fell down a flight of stairs when he was a baby and didn't cry or scream, Houdini said something to the effect of "that was some buster that kid took". The name stuck.

Girls always flock to Model T's.


Looks like they got some mileage out of that squished T.

 

Buster was actually a common name for that era, seldom a given name but a lot of men got called that. he probably didn't cry because he was in shock or wasn't aware that he was supposed to. LOL

 

The movie you guys are reffering to is "Busy Bodies". You can find most of these on "YouTube" if you look hard enough. They might be in Spanish or Romanian, though.

 

"Well, Stanley. Here's another fine mess you've gotten me into!"

 

Spanish is not a problem although some of the gags don't really translate. Now Romanian is an entirely different story.

 

I have always been a huge fan of L&H. I have all of their Hal Roach shorts on DVD as well as many of their silents and later stuff after Roach. My oldest grandaughter always wanted to watch them when she came over. We both sat there and laughed like fools at them. Several years ago, we both went and got matching L&H tattoos. Two derby hats and the caption, "Hard boiled eggs and nuts". It's a line from "County Hospital".

 

their fan club is called "sons of the desert." that one was about the two lying to the wives and going to the sons of the desert convention. of course, they appeared in a newsreel that the wives happened to see at the movies!

 

I see what you're talking about but in this shot it looks to be a normal T wheel?

 

Back in the '70s I went to several of the meetings of the L.A. chapter, or Tents as they're called. Sounds kinda ****y now but it was very cool to hear the stories of former employees of Hal Roach Studios that worked on the L&H shorts. Those ol guys sharing their memories weren't much older than I am now.

Still another prop T


Both ears down!

 

I see you're a W.C. Fields fan too.

 

There's one episode where they piss off that big mean dude and he opens the hood of their car and lifts out the engine and throws it on the ground. Betz has that engine in his collection of movie props, I think it might be carved out of wood or some type of plaster of paris. I've got a picture of it somewhere that I took.


.

 

Did they have a special Model T with extra room behind the steering wheel? I noticed that the fat guy has plenty of room when he is driving. And I have a 28 roadster pickup that I can barely fit in. And I aint' all that fat.

 

The T is sawed in half in their movie "Busy Bodies" in the final scene. This is the movie where they were carpenters at a huge lumber yard. One of the boys best ones IMO.

 

They sure did some clever special effects in those L&H movies - always fun to watch! Myself, I've always been a big fan of the Jack Benny radio program. Mel Blanc used to provide the sound effects of the Maxwell, and the show always paints a picture in my mind of some of the funny antics with that car.

 

[QUOTE

When I was little Laurel and Hardy and Abbot and Costello were common Sunday afternoon movies on the TV.[/QUOTE]

They had TV's back then???

 

Harold Lloyd and his car on a railroad track with a train approaching.
http://49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsgvwwLa7o1qbcfcko1_500.gif

 

Keaton did kinda the same thing 5 years earlier with a house.

 

Then he repeated the gag in one of his later so-so sound films.

 

Several years ago, I met a guy here in the San Gabriel Valley that rents a lot of stuff to the movie studios. We were walking around in his back yard, and there a****st a lot of very cool stuff, was this car used in the movie. It was so cool seeing it in real life!

 

It was in the Peterson for years (still might be?) I wonder if he donated it, sold it or still owns it?

 

I wonder if they really knew people would be enjoying their antics this long, or maybe even forever

 

it's funny that you could buy a "t" for a few bucks back then. my dad grew up out there and had a t when he was 14. it got t-boned at an intersection, so he went to a junkyard and bought a replacement body for $5.

 

Keaton

 

The Model Ts were cheap and plentiful at the time. They could buy them running and driving for $25 or so all day long, and it didn't matter if they destroyed a half dozen of them in filming one short.

 

Thanks 58custom, that's the link I posted on page 1 but couldn't figure out how to post it like you did. How'd you do that?

 

can anyone tell what the other car is?

 

I think they did towards the end of their lives. Stan Laurel and Buster Keaton both lived long enough to see an entire generation re-discover their work, L&H through TV and Keaton through festivals. Both were surprised and very grateful. Keaton never stopped working in films and TV until he died but his legacy is on the 28-30 films he made at his own studio, compared with Chaplin who made 80+ and Lloyd's 200+ films. Laurel retired when Hardy died, spent his days with his wife in Santa Monica answering letters from fans and forging friendships with the likes of **** Van ****.

 

It's Keaton's own Mercer Runabout. I think the Mercer was towing the T with piano wire for that gag. Got the details in one of my books. He used the Mercer in a few other films too.




In a strange twist of fate one of Keaton's sons, Jim Talmadge who was a car guy and best friends with Joe Mac of Ford Obsolete fame, had a friend in the 1950s who restored a Mercer Runabout and they took it to show Keaton at his Ranch house in Woodland hills and it turned out to be Keaton's old car. He still had the paperwork from when he bought it in the early 20's.