WHAT'S ON STAN'S DESK? — PART THREE
Continuing with our series of articles on "What's On Stan's Desk?", we look at three more items. The first two were purchased at the Christie's Auction of items from the Stan Laurel Estate: a perpetual desk calendar and a "Stan Laurel Productions" metal stamp. The third item is a key fob and key for Stan's apartment at the Oceana in Santa Monica, California.
STAN'S PERPETUAL DESK CALENDAR
This felt-bottomed metal perpetual calendar is stamped "MADE IN ENGLAND" on its back. By depressing the levers on each side of its face, one can change the numbers, which in turn correspond to the date. The month is displayed underneath on strips of paper, allowing one to continuously use this calendar forever and ever.
Stan has personalized this particular perpetual calendar by adding a red Dymo Label with his name above the area that displays the date. I keep the calendar "perpetually set" on June 16th—Stan's birthday as a memorial to the great comedian.
Perpetual calendars are not widely used these days with everyone having cell phones, Blackberrys and computers to check the date, but they were very popular in Stan's day. I often think about how many times his fingers depressed the small round buttons on either side of the calendar to change the date.
STAN LAUREL PRODUCTIONS STAMPER
Sometime in 1935, Stan decided not to extend his contract with Hal Roach under the existing terms, and Roach insisted on including a morals clause—no doubt due to all of the negative publicity generated by Stan's marital difficulties. As a solution, Stan formed "Stan Laurel Productions," which had a non-exclusive contract with Hal Roach Studios. The first film the new company made for Roach was Swiss Miss, which went into production in December of 1937.
This metal stamper has the "Stan Laurel Productions" logo etched into it in reverse, which allowed for the stamper to be set into an ink pad and then pressed onto a sheet of stationery, envelope or other paper item.
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It was the personal property of Stan's and remained in his possession until his death in 1965. One can only imagine why he kept this particular small piece of memorabilia. Perhaps he held onto it as a memory of his attempt to start his own film company. Maybe he just kept it because it made a nice paper weight. The metal stamper is small (approximately 1"x2") but has a hefty weight to it—enough to hold down a few sheets of paper from the wind blowing from an open window.
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This item, like the perpetual calendar, was among Stan's desk accessories when his wife Ida packed up his things after he passed away. They were to remain hidden from view until Christie's Auction House held their sale of these and other rare personal items that belonged to Stan in the spring of 2007.
A ROOM KEY FOR STAN'S OCEANA APARTMENT
"We are moving…on June 15th & our new address will be Oceana Hotel, 849 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica (Apt 203). This is a brand new building & our Apt. faces the Bay—really a nice place, the elevators run right to the garage, so no steps to climb, am very pleased about that."
Stan moved into the Oceana apartments on June 15, 1958. It was his last address as he and his wife Ida remained there for the next seven years. A key like this one would have opened the door to Stan's apartment.
He drew small X's on a brochure advertising the Oceana to show an arriving visitor where his apartment was located. You can see his pen strokes on the photo to the right.
"I have no postcard of the hotel here, but am enclosing a brochure which will give you a rough idea of the place, I have an Apt. on the front, directly facing the Ocean—very pleasant view—on the brochure picture I marked an X denoting this Apt."
The Oceana just underwent an extensive remodelling effort and is open for business. Maybe you can actually stay in the same room Stan and Ida lived. Wouldn't that be something? |
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In the next installment of "What's On Stan's Desk?", we'll take a look at one of Stan's bowties, his "decision maker" and brass desk bank.
 
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