WHAT COLOR WAS STAN'S TYPEWRITER

Situated on the main square in Colonial Williamsburg, the Peyton Randolph House was painted white for most of the nineteenth and all of the twentieth century. The style set trends for modern homes built in the popular "colonial style" for nearly a century. However, recent microscopic paint analysis confirmed that the siding, trim, and windows were originally painted a dark red brown! Since Colonial WIlliamsburg is essentially an outdoor museum and historical accuracy is of the utmost importance, what do you think they did? They re-painted the building to the correct color, of course.

The Peyton Randolph House analogy came to mind as I was discussing a curious bit of information found in the recently discovered "Last Film Footage" of Stan Laurel with the film's owner Tyler St. Mark.

According to Tyler, "I went back to the original film, freeze framed it and then did some research to confirm. You may be surprised to learn that Stan's typewriter was not light green but light gray."

The notion that Stan's typewriter was light green came from a source in the "Way Out West" tent a decade ago who claimed have Stan's typewriter. The owner supposedly typed a phrase on the typewriter that was in one of Stan's letters and it matched perfectly. He decided to sell the typewriter in 1998, and posted this notice in the "Laurel & Hardy" Usenet newsgroup:

"Stan Laurel, in his last days, would spend hours typing replies to fan mail, and, above all, new Laurel & Hardy stories and gags. STAN'S TYPEWRITER, a late 50s/early 60s light green manual Olympia portable (as pictured in the McCabe and Skretvedt books and the color home movie of Stan at Oceania—remember?) has been obtained from the caretaker of Stan's last wife, Ida, authenticated and displayed at the Way Out West meeting. Typed output matches reprint of Stan's letter in McCabe book. Now accepting silent bid offers on Stan's typewriter. P.S. Those not interested do not answer."

A quick review of the color home movie of Stan at the Oceana proves that Stan's typewriter is not on his desk. And while there are a number of photographs of Stan sitting at his typewriter, there are virtually none in color. Hence, Tyler St. Mark's newly restored film may be the deciding factor in this matter.

While it is possible (though unlikely) that Stan could have exchanged a light green typewriter for the gray one at some point, "The Stan Laurel Correspondence Archive Project" has decided to change Stan's typewriter color to match the color home movie footage. LettersFromStan.com strives to be historically accurate. If any color photos surface showing a light green model on Stan's desk, we will be the first to acknowledge the finding.

Until then, we're calling it like we see it...gray.