THIS YEARS MARKS the 80TH year of the release of Laurel and Hardy's feature film, 'A Chump At Oxford' . . a great anniversary for Stan and Olly . . but also quite an amazing quirk of fortune for Peter Cushing back then. If ever Peter Cushing comes up in conversation, pop this little nugget of info into your chat...and people wont believe you! 😃I find it strange also that this film features a comedy fright scene with a 'ghost'! Ironic or what?? 😉
ABOVE IS A SHOT of Peter Cushing and the other scoundrel students of 'Oxford' getting their just deserves in the garden lake. He is one of the students singing 'Fee Fie Fo Fum' and appears in a couple of other scenes too. He was just 26 years old when this was made. When often asked about his time with Stan and Olly, Peter would fondly recall his experience as an extra on this film and said his outstanding memory was of how concerned Oliver Hardy was about the welfare of the extras in the film and demanded that the producers arrange for towels and fresh clothes be supplied for the extras who got soaked in the pond scene and personally brought in a large tray of doughnuts for the extras to enjoy during filming . .
A MAN WHO CERTAINLY needs no introduction to anyone who regularly visits
this page. Today we mark the birthday of the late Terence Fisher, a
director whose trade mark blend of fairy-tale, myth and sexuality, gave
us some of Cushing's and Hammer films greatest hits. The Curse of
Frankenstein, Dracula, The Mummy, The Gorgon, Frankenstein Must Be
Destroyed..... and many, many others. All absolute gems. Happy Birthday
Terence Fisher!
CUSHING, Thorley Walters and director, Terence Fisher take a break, at Bray studios, during the making of, 'Frankenstein Created Woman' (1967). .
DURING POST PRODUCTION work on The Devil Rides Out he was hit by a motor
bike while crossing a road and suffered a fractured leg. This resulted
in him being replaced by Freddie Francis as director on Dracula Has
Risen From the Grave. Just few years later, the incident happened again, resulting in Fisher taking an early retirement . .
TODAY BACK IN 1965, we said goodbye to Arthur Stanley Jefferson... Stan Laurel. Laurel traveled to the US with the Karno trope, and after a long period
eventually Laurel signed with the Hal Roach studio, so did Oliver
Hardy, who was a member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star
players...and the rest is history! If I were to pick anyone from this
era of cinema history, Stan and Olly get my vote every time.
A CHUMP AT OXFORD (1940) was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Hal Roach studios. Stan Laurel played Stan / Lord Paddington, Oliver Hardy is Ollie! The film is of particular note to us, because Peter Cushing also featured in the cast. If YOU HAVE NOT seen A Chump At Oxford, I highly recommend it, not just for an opportunity to see a young Peter Cushing at work, but also the joy of watching the skill and talent of the two 'boys'. It never got better.
PETER CUSHING'S CONTRACT (bearing his
signature) with Hal Roach Studios for A CHUMP AT OXFORD (1940) with Stan
Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Cushing recalled it was in the evening when
they filmed his final scene getting tossed into the pond. Laurel
and Hardy personally made sure that every actor who got wet received
towels and hot drinks. Cushing was star struck by Laurel and Hardy and
would remember them fondly for the rest of his life.
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ON COMPLETING his first Hollywood film with 'The Man In The Iron Mask'
shot in 1939 with 'Frankenstein' director, James Whale, he learned that
Hal Roach Studios required English actors for his latest Laurel and
Hardy picture, A Chump At Oxford'. Cushing auditioned and was accepted
to play the role of Oxford student Jones.
CUSHING worked with the legendary
comedy duo for one week. Cushing was very lucky to appear in one of the
duos funniest comedies. The film contains some priceless
comedy moments. 'A Chump At Oxford' print was later extended for
European release by adding a chaotic dinner-party scene during the
opening of the film. This was in fact, a remaking of an early Laurel and
Hardy silent short form 1928 called ' From Soup to Nuts!'. Sadly
Cushing was not included in this addition footage.
ARRIVING at the
collage, they arrive by cab wearing ETON collars, much to the amusement
of Cushing and the fellow students, 'But, you are wearing ETON collars'
says one of them. 'Well, that's swell..' says Stan, '..We haven't EATEN
since breakfast!'. It's noticeable that Cushing gets more lines than the
fellow students, possibly because he was the only genuine English
sounding actor there! He looks every inch a star, with his pencil
mustache, waved hair and his rakish mortar board hat. CATCH A CHUMP AT
OXFORD in co,our just uploaded to our PCAS YOUTUBE Channel!
#HAMMERFILMSATURDAY:
TWOgreat peeps behind the scenes on Hammer films, 'Dracula Has Risen
From The Grave' (68) Veronica Carlson up in the roof top set and Les
Bowies, 'Dracula's Remains!'
IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.
Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help
us reach our 30K following total for Peter Cushing BIRTHDAY on MAY 26th
2017 AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!
REMEMBERING Oliver Norvell Babe Hardy (Oliver Hardy) I guess, very few people have ever made me laugh as hard and long..as these two guys, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Today we mark the birthday of Olly. Many would know and remember their films, but maybe few would probably know of their Peter Cushing connection? Cushing appeared in their feature, A Chump at Oxford, directed in 1939 by Alfred J. Goulding and released in 1940 by United Artists, and was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Hal Roach studios.
Peter Cushing , front row first on left... with Stan and Olly in 'A Chump At Oxford' (1940)
Peter played a rather plummy student, who with his friends to play tricks on Stan! He had quite a bit of screen time, played some of the scenes with a very odd disguise of a bushy tash! But what a duo, a team and partnership..you couldn't have one without the other. But, just for today..we remember Olly and wish him a happy birthday!
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#THROWBACKTHURSDAY: Some panels from the very rare and vintage comic, #MOVIECOMIC from September 1939. This issue, number six included in it's colour pages, a comic strip adaption of a Laurel and Hardy feature film, that was to be released the following year, 'A CHUMP AT OXFORD', which also included one Peter Cushing in it's cast! But, 1939 was just the beginning . . .
WITH THE ARRIVAL of the internet, portraits, comic strips and studies of Peter Cushing arrived on a website and forum called, DeviantArt. It was started by Scott Jarkoff (Jark), Angelo Sotira (Spyed) and Matt Stephens (Matteo), who launched the site on August 7, 2000. There are literally thousands of examples of artwork on the subject of Peter Cushing, and many comic strips too. There have of course since 2001, been several other smaller adaptions of the Star Wars saga, and many other strips that have inclusion of a Cushing-like character plus some adaptions of stories where again, the Peter Cushing image has influenced the look of a villain, doctor, academic, in comic strips and comic art. The MOST IMPRESSIVE of all of these is the breath-takingTHE PROFESSOR . . .
AND SO the image and influence of Peter Cushing is still very much with as an a comic strip character. Something that he would ndever have dreamed back in 1939, when his image was first pressed into the comic strip panel of MOVIE COMIC....
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#throwbackthursday A CHUMP AT OXFORD (1940) was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made
at the Hal Roach studios. Stan Laurel played Stan / Lord Paddington,
Oliver Hardy is Ollie! The film is of particular note to us, because
Peter Cushing also featured in the cast..SEE the actual contract below!
STAN LAUREL was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson on the 16th June 1890, at 3,Argyle
Street, Ulverston, Cumbria, England. He travelled to the US with the
Karno trope, and after a long period eventually Laurel signed with the
Hal Roach studio, so did Oliver Hardy, who was a member of the Hal Roach
Studios Comedy All Star players...and the rest is history! If I were to
pick anyone from this era of cinema history, Stan and Olyy get my vote
every time.
IF YOU HAVE NOT seen A Chump At Oxford, I highly recommend
it, not just for an opportunity to see a young Peter Cushing at work,
but also the joy of watching the skill and talent of the two 'boys'. It
never got better. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Stan, you still remain head and
shoulders above the rest!
