Stan Laurel's Ulverston

A Memory of Ulverston.

The thin half of the world's greatest movie comedy duo, Laurel and Hardy, was born in Foundry Cottages, Ulverston, now Argyle St., in 1890. He was born and lived in his grandparents' home until the age of 6. His grandfather, George Metcalfe, ran the shoemender's shop in Newlands Bottom, which fascinated the little boy. Christened Arthur Stanley Jefferson, Stan spent a lot of his Ulverston boyhood around the canal, fishing or just relaxing whilst chewing his favourite Beer's Treacle Toffee, bought at Gillam's grocer's, the family business still going, now in Market St. At other times he would enjoy the delights of Hoad Hill and in later life remembered the local tradition of "egg jarping".
Long after Stan left Ulverston, a local man, Bill Cubin from Greenodd, decided to start the world's first Laurel and Hardy Museum, now removed to the Roxy Cinema and still going from strength to strength. Bill became Mayor of Ulverston for two terms, one in which he had the honour of welcoming H,M. Queen to the town. The boy's father, Arthur Jefferson, ran Spencer's Gaff theatre in the town before relocating to the north-east to run various theatres, whilst the boy's mother, Madge Metcalfe continued her career as an acclaimed actress We all know what happened to the boy, after he joined the Fred Karno company as Chaplin's understudy, and was taken to the USA, where he chipped away at the movie industry until taking the world by storm when teamed up with the heavyweight from Georgia.
After their film career as a pair, Laurel and Hardy made several tours of Europe with personal appearances, and revisited Ulverston, most famously in 1947 when Cllr. Simpson made a home movie of the pair on the balcony of the Coronation Hall, footage which was gone around the world and been widely used in documentaries and archives. The statue of Laurel and Hardy outside the Coronation Hall, was entirely funded by the international army of fans, which have no trouble in keeping alive the memories based on the silent and sound shorts and the feature films. Laurel and Hardy movie releases, memorabilia and literature are always sell-outs. A wonderful book Laurel Before Hardy was produced locally and is now a much sought-after rarity. The town of Ulverston has featured prominently in numerous TV and movie documentaries on Laurel and Hardy and the museum has been emulated in three others throughout the world. But it's the little town of Ulverston that brought Stan Laurel into the world, to produce comedy that keeps up the laughter through the generations and into the future.

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