Q: What is the connection between Laurel & Hardy and the Georgia town of Harlem?
A: Harlem is the birthplace of Oliver Hardy — one half of the classic Hollywood team that had audiences laughing from the 1920s to 1950s.
Every October, the town located 20 miles west of Augusta hosts the Oliver Hardy Festival, which on Oct. 7 is expected to attract more than 30,000 people, said Linda Caldwell, curator of The Laurel and Hardy Museum of Harlem, Georgia. That’s 10 times the town’s U.S. Census population of 3,018.
While Hardy was born in Harlem in January 1892, he didn’t live there for long. Hardy’s father died 10 months after he was born, and the family moved to Milledgeville, where Hardy was raised. As far as Caldwell knows, Hardy never returned to the small town of his birth.
But in October 1989, Harlem hosted its the first Oliver Hardy Festival to honor the portly comedian known for the catchphrase, “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into.” A record book at the museum shows the first festival drew about 5,000 attendees.
This year’s festival will include a parade, 275 arts and craft vendors, two food courts, entertainment and Laurel and Hardy impersonators.
“It really brings people into the town,” Caldwell said.
Next year, the city-owned Columbia Theater is expected to become the new home of Harlem’s Laurel and Hardy Museum, which opened in 2002 in an old post office and displays memorabilia such as figurines, ceramic cookie jars, whiskey decanters, and photos, paintings and posters of the duo.
The 1940s movie theater, which was the first in Columbia County, is undergoing renovations that also are expected to include a Harlem welcome center and theater, said Brett Cook, Harlem’s city manager. The $1 million project includes renovations of the historic theater and the surrounding area, which could have an amphitheater or a pavilion.
Harlem’s museum is one of three Laurel and Hardy museums worldwide, and the town attracts its share of international visitors because of it. Caldwell said between 300 to 400 people visit the museum each month. In August there were guests from 11 countries and 38 states.
Other reminders of Laurel and Hardy include murals on town buildings and a bronze plaque that stands in the place of Hardy’s family home, which is now a laundromat.
On display in the museum include a prop hat that Hardy used in “Bonnie Scotland” and copies of letters from Stan Laurel to Hardy, who joined comedic forces in 1927. The two acted in 107 films, including 1932’s “The Music Box,” which won an Academy Award, and the 1933 film, “Sons of the Desert,” which is the namesake of the International Laurel and Hardy Society.
“Everything in (the museum) has been donated from around the world,” Caldwell said.
If you’re new in town or have questions about this special place we call home, ask us! E-mail q&a@ajc.com or call 404-222-2002.
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