CHILDHOOD/SOME ADULT PHOTOGRAPHS WITH COURTESY FROM THE STAN LAUREL MUSEUM, ULVERSTON (thanks Marion!) FURTHER PHOTOS - AND A BIT MORE OF THE STORY - CAN BE FOUND ON THE OTHER PHOTO PAGES...........
If, like I did, you want to know the WHOLE story - and nothing but the whole story! - then in pictures there is some very basic events, facts and moments fully expanded, witticised and dramatised in the scenes in the film "Laurel".

This page covers only the very bare bones of some of Stan's life until when he first goes professional - the rest to be on further photo. pages) with the facts on the Home Page - and of course, in the film!

Baby Stan - "Oh - Aint he sweet, when he's walking down the street....."

Stan in his Sunday best - the clothes he came home in after falling in a barrel of fish guts! (cries) "Grandad, I couldn't help it...!"scene - where Grandadad gives him a stropping and sends him to the washouse!

AJ, (Dad), Gordon (Older Brother), Madge (Mum) Stan and Bea (little sister) and Grandmother Metcalfe (Madge's Mum) - whose cottage Stan was born in and looked after for his first nine years. Note the lack of Grandad!

"Foundry Cottage, Argyle Street, Ulverston - Stan with Grandmother, in the post-shopping scene. Photo by big brother Gordon!

The Shaw's - Uncle John, Aunt Nante, cousins Mary, Elsie and Nellie - and baby Jack.

The Shaw's Shop - Sawrey: in front of the apple orchard..........

..........and the Apple Orchard itself - on a rainy day! Just like the day that Uncle John sat on the freshly painted (unfortunately, no sign!) wet bench! Very funny slpastick/"Mack Sennett" scene in film........ ......

Grandfather, Grandmother, Bea, Stan and Teddy - "oot back" in the yard at Argyle Street, Ulverston - right next to the wash-house!

Stan went to various boarding schools - here he is in his school mortar board with Nellie and Elsie.

Madge with Stan - Dockwray Square, North Shields, 29th January 1904. (Photo taken by Gordon)

The Lock Gates on the Canal - how they looked in Stan's time - when Uncle John took him fishing.......and where the fish he caught scared him half to death.........Another funny, "Mack Sennett" type scene with sad overtones regarding Madge's death..........

Stan's special place - Dr. Thomas Watkins Wilkin MD's miniature, 24 hours/7 days gas lighthouse tomb. When, many years later, when famous and being mobbed, with his name (and Ollie's) in blazing lights in Leicester Square, Stan was asked about his impression of it all - Stan told the journalist that it "Couldn't hold a candle" to this memorial.......

Hoad Monument - and Hill. Scene of the hand-painted Easter boiled eggs rolling down the hill contest with your friends - (remember those days?): the eternal and re-occurring "boiled eggs" (and nuts!) theme throughout many Laurel and Hardy films - Oh, and we're first introduced to the "fingers game" protrayed in Laurel and Hardy's "The Bohemian Girl".

Mmmmmmmmmm-smell this shop! - polish, mothballs, spices, tea leaves, disinfectant, carbolic soap, sweets, tobacco, coffee, lavender water, gasoline. (sigh!)...... Mr. Gillams' corner shop Ulverston - internal shot.

and an external shot - Mr. Gillam's shop - scene inside this shop based on " F-f-fetch a cloth!" - "Open All Hours" ! (my tribute to Ronnie Barker and David Jason)

T'town clock, Ulverston (opposite Mr. Gillam's shop) - a quaint and pretty town - cobbles, hand lit gas standard lamps, close community, horse-drawn traffic, steam trains, bottled glass window - the streets in this photo look in perspective like they are almost knocking together....

Staff and musicians of the Gaffe - The Hippodrome, opposite Foundry Cottages. This has a romantic story - AJ first saw Madge there and fell in love, vowing "That is the girl I will marry!" Stan was born (and nearly died) in the back bedroom of a cottage opposite.

Ulverston Station - how it looked then.....scene has family waiting on a platform to go to Lake Windemere (which they often did) - and a STEAM train pulling in - (hands up all those that remember that!?) Beginnings of the William Morris/John Ruskin Arts and Crafts Movement, which led on to becoming the National Trust.

The Shaw's new house, LadyAnne Rd., Batley - where Stan walked on stilts to meet (and embarass Mary!) at the station. They later go back to the house and have a family tea - and Stan and Mary put on a biblical shadowgraph show (very early forerunner to films!)

King James The First Grammar School, Bishops Auckland - where the Master, Master Bates encourages Stan's comedic talents by asking him to give shows after school - and the location of the non-academic Stan's arch-enemy, the pencil chewing and spitting when angry, Herr GERMAN MASTER

Stan and the Jefferson's Nurse - for baby Teddy...... and the ailing Madge..............Dockwray Sqare, North Shields.

Stan (standing) and pal, prior to the "Relief of Mafeking" eveningcelebrations at AJ's Theatre Royal, North Shields (where Stan first gets hooked on adrenalin as they warmth comes off the crowd when they applaud and cheer him on stage 'en tableau' in the same costume). Inset: Roland Parks, as Lord Roberts, 19th May 1900. He met Stan 50 odd years later in Stan and Ollie's "This Is Your Life" televised live in the States....

"PickardsTheatre, (very non-legit!) on the 1st Floor, of the Panopticon Building, 1906-1920: open 6am-10pm, 2d entry.......Stan's amateur 'debut' - where he appeared in the ruin of AJ's best suit! In the Panotpicon, they have had a human freak show, a wild west tableau, palm-readings, gardens, and side shows - such as "What-The- Butler-Saw machines.....

The "Circus Variete", Station Sure, Rotterdam - note: it has a METAL ROOF (not wood) - also known as The Iron Circus and Concert Hall (see page 5 for interior)

Damien Lewis - same smile, same eyes, same nose - red hair, blue eyes, slim build - but, as he has closer ears and he's a few inches taller I have to say "Ok - OK ! I give in - he's only 99% ideal to play Stan" as a mature man - he's got the talent level needed to make the world believe that Stan for real was about as OPPOSITE as you can get from Stan's CHARACTER on screen......(Damien - were you born for this part?)........

So much better looking than people expect in real life and so very different in his real personality than his on-screen persona! It's a VERY common mistake to make if you think that Stan's real life personality and talents are anything like his ON-SCREEN CHARACTER - just about as opposite as you can get (which shows what a thoroughly good actor he was!) A lot of people are in for a big surprise! ..........

On the 'S.S. Cainrona' - first trip to USA, (1910) with the Fred Karno Company, as Chaplin's understudy (that's Charlie in the life ring) - Stan is last on left (kneeling down)

Stan with Arthur Dandoe (London) - "The Rum 'Uns from Rome" - "Barmicus" (Stan) and "Sillicus" (Ted) - NB: no laurel leaves............

Stan and The Hurley's - as "The Keystone Trio" (USA) - in Stan's own "Nutty Burglar" skit - "NOTICE: Waffles & Co. - Berglers, Merders Dun" on the bag, in gold letters, 1915.

This is the photo where Alice invites us to 'step into' and takes us to their 'Big Brother' type scene.....The camera goes through, round the bottom of those hills, to their hired "darling cottage" on the seashore (now Muscle Beach, Venice) where the plan, act and rehearse their new ac "The Crazy Cracksman" as "The Stan Jefferson Trio" (USA) - Stan is Chaplin - with a cheeky (!) Baldy and Alice Cooke, "The Stan Jefferson Trio" 1916