On Fanlore, users with accounts can edit pages including user pages, can create pages, and more. Any information you publish on a page or an edit summary will be accessible by the public and to Fanlore personnel. Because Fanlore is a wiki, information published on Fanlore will be publicly available forever, even if edited later. Be mindful when sharing personal information, including your religious or political views, health, racial background, country of origin, sexual identity and/or personal relationships. To learn more, check out our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Select "dismiss" to agree to these terms.
The Sons of the Desert
| Fan Club | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Sons of the Desert |
| Dates: | 1964-ongoing |
| Founder(s): | John McCabe |
| Leadership: | |
| Country based in: | United States |
| Focus: | Laurel and Hardy |
| External Links: | https://www.sonsofthedesertinfo.com/ |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Sons of the Desert is the official Laurel and Hardy fan club which celebrates the life and films of actors Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
It was started in 1964 by John McCabe who recently published a biography of the pair.
McCabe himself however did not see the group as a "fan club" and said regarding it:
“The word ‘fan’ derives from ‘fanatic’ and I hope we are none of us that. I consider us ‘buffs,’ people having a connoisseur-like affection for Laurel & Hardy, and being discriminating in that affection, with fun as our goal and operative guide.” [1]
The name of the club is derived from the name of the fictional fraternal order that the duo belonged to the 1933 movie of the same name.
The club has more than 100 local chapters worldwide, though most of them are in the US and the UK. Each chapter is called a "tent" and given a designated number and a name taken from a Laurel and Hardy film.