Where
The Laurel & Hardy Museum is in Ulverston, Cumbria, which is the birthplace of Stan Laurel (1890-1965), one half of the comedy duo who gained enormous success through silent cinema in the 1920s into the “talkies” of the 1950s. The museum is in a 1930s period cinema called the Roxy.
What
The museum opened in April 2009 to coincide with life-size statues of the duo being installed in the town centre, but began as the private collection of its founder Bill Cubin. It is probably the largest collection of memorabilia dedicated to Laurel and Hardy in the world.
“There are items from everywhere you can imagine,” says Mark Greenhow, owner and curator of the Laurel & Hardy Museum. “The sheer amount of memorabilia with their likenesses show how well loved they were.”
Who
As the grandson of Cubin, Greenhow has been involved with the museum for most of his life in one way or another. “From an early age, my brother and I were dressed up as ‘the boys’ for events and local newspaper photographs, even occasionally appearing on television. And as a teenager I helped out in the school holidays, and then worked for my mum when she took over the museum,” he says.
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“I started running the museum around 15 years ago and oversaw our move from the original location to the ground floor of the Roxy Cinema, a 1937 art deco building.”
Collection
Greenhow says that the first object acquired by the museum likely came from the house that Laurel was born in. It was being renovated in the 1970s and items were being sold. “My grandfather went in and took anything that might have been there when Stan was around – a door, a fireplace, an old mangle from the shed,” says Greenhow.
But he adds that some of the most inspiring items are the letters Laurel wrote to fans after his film career had ended. “In his later years, he spent a huge amount of time corresponding with fans – some are short notes of thanks while others developed into years-long correspondence.”
Highlights
“Our most recent object was the donation of an original cinema programme from Germany for the film Swiss Miss,” says Greenhow. “A visitor just brought it in, which happens quite frequently. But the most important items we hold are the films of Laurel and Hardy.
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That’s essentially why we’re here, to share their comedies so that they can continue to make people laugh for generations to come.”
Greenhow says that Laurel and Hardy remain relevant for as long as people are laughing at their films, which the museum plays in its resident cinema. “And they are still laughing,” he says.
“We often have three generations of people in the museum all laughing together – if that’s not relevant I don’t know what is.”
He emphasises their unending endurance: “You see flashes of their comedy style all over the place today – movies and television shows. People who know comedy, know Laurel and Hardy.”
Help at hand
“I run the place almost single-handedly, although I couldn’t do it without my friend Matthew who volunteers his time to help occasionally,” says Greenhow. “He’s an even bigger fan than I am, so he loves to be here.”
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Future plans
“We’d like to carry on doing what we do, sharing the love of Laurel and Hardy with anyone who arrives at our door,” says Greenhow.