Uploaded March 2010 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Below is Stan Laurel's response to this recording, in a letter to Steve Anderson.
"Dear Steve, Don Marlowe finally admitted recording a telephone conversation & broadcasting it without my permission, but claimed the tape has been destroyed, so of course I never did hear what exactly what was said. He of course laid the blame on station officials, said they instructed him to make the recording figuring I would never know about it. Anyway, they fired him after they found out I had not been informed, no doubt they feared a law suit. I have'nt heard from Marlowe since so I let the matter drop." - Stan Laurel
DON MARLOWE AND STAN LAUREL
The "Lost" Interview
In 1968, just a few years after Stan Laurel died, a man by the name of Don Marlowe ran an ad in "8mm Collector." He was selling a 1964 recording he made of himself talking with Stan on the telephone. The recording was pressed onto a 7" record.
In his ad, Mr. Marlowe also fraudulently claimed to have been "Porky" in the old Hal Roach "Our Gang Comedies." I suppose, in the late '60s, when information on the silent film days was scarce, it was easier to perpetrate a hoax like that. In fact, over the years, there have been many people who claimed to have been members of the "Our Gang" group. I'm not sure what became of Mr. Marlowe once the real "Porky" was discovered (Colorado teacher Eugene Gordon Lee), but he did continue to run ads in film magazines, only now sans his inaccurate boast.
Marlowe, who apparently did know Stan in his later years, was also a friend of other Hollywood legends including Bela Lugosi. He was a bit-player in Hollywood "B" pictures and appeared in a film titled Squad Car in 1961. He also wrote a book in 1969 titled, The Hollywood That Was about his "mis"-adventures in the film business.
Thanks to Nico Cartenstadt, a Moderator at the Laurel & Hardy Forum, you can now listen to this rare recording.
STAN
By Don Marlowe
During the latter years of Stan Laurel's life it was difficult for him to get around. I once offered to take his tape recorder to a shop to have it repaired. As I recall, the bill came to only $1.10. When I brought the recorder back to Stan, he asked me how much I owed him. I told him to forget about it. He insisted on reimbursing me for my outlay and found he did not have quite as much cash.
He then wrote a check for the small amount and commanded me to accept it. I really did not want Stan to reimburse me, as he was a good friend and when I got home later I tore up the check.
About six weeks later, Stan called me and asked why I had not cashed his check. I told him it was a small matter and that I had wanted to have his recorder fixed and saw no reason for his paying me. When he again insisted that I cash his check. I had to tell him what I had done with it. In the mail, two days later, I received another check from Stan and a note which consisted of two words: "Please cash."
A number of years ago, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I was at a television station and happened to telephone Stan, and turned on a recorder. With no thought of anything in particular in mind, I took the recording home with me and several days later put it away with some other things in storage. A few years after his death I was told that I was the only person in the world who had ever made a [telephone] recording with Stan Laurel.
Because of many requests from people
all over the world for a copy of this recording, I decided to put the conversation on a record. When the record was released, to my surprise, I received thousands of orders for it from all over the world. This record I have been told is now considered a real collector's item.
—Classic Film Collector (Spring 1970)
Below is Stan Laurel's response to this recording, in a letter to Steve Anderson.
"Dear Steve, Don Marlowe finally admitted recording a telephone conversation & broadcasting it without my permission, but claimed the tape has been destroyed, so of course I never did hear what exactly what was said. He of course laid the blame on station officials, said they instructed him to make the recording figuring I would never know about it. Anyway, they fired him after they found out I had not been informed, no doubt they feared a law suit. I have'nt heard from Marlowe since so I let the matter drop." - Stan Laurel
DON MARLOWE AND STAN LAUREL
The "Lost" Interview
In 1968, just a few years after Stan Laurel died, a man by the name of Don Marlowe ran an ad in "8mm Collector." He was selling a 1964 recording he made of himself talking with Stan on the telephone. The recording was pressed onto a 7" record.
In his ad, Mr. Marlowe also fraudulently claimed to have been "Porky" in the old Hal Roach "Our Gang Comedies." I suppose, in the late '60s, when information on the silent film days was scarce, it was easier to perpetrate a hoax like that. In fact, over the years, there have been many people who claimed to have been members of the "Our Gang" group. I'm not sure what became of Mr. Marlowe once the real "Porky" was discovered (Colorado teacher Eugene Gordon Lee), but he did continue to run ads in film magazines, only now sans his inaccurate boast.
Marlowe, who apparently did know Stan in his later years, was also a friend of other Hollywood legends including Bela Lugosi. He was a bit-player in Hollywood "B" pictures and appeared in a film titled Squad Car in 1961. He also wrote a book in 1969 titled, The Hollywood That Was about his "mis"-adventures in the film business.
Thanks to Nico Cartenstadt, a Moderator at the Laurel & Hardy Forum, you can now listen to this rare recording.
STAN
By Don Marlowe
During the latter years of Stan Laurel's life it was difficult for him to get around. I once offered to take his tape recorder to a shop to have it repaired. As I recall, the bill came to only $1.10. When I brought the recorder back to Stan, he asked me how much I owed him. I told him to forget about it. He insisted on reimbursing me for my outlay and found he did not have quite as much cash.
He then wrote a check for the small amount and commanded me to accept it. I really did not want Stan to reimburse me, as he was a good friend and when I got home later I tore up the check.
About six weeks later, Stan called me and asked why I had not cashed his check. I told him it was a small matter and that I had wanted to have his recorder fixed and saw no reason for his paying me. When he again insisted that I cash his check. I had to tell him what I had done with it. In the mail, two days later, I received another check from Stan and a note which consisted of two words: "Please cash."
A number of years ago, on a rainy Sunday afternoon, I was at a television station and happened to telephone Stan, and turned on a recorder. With no thought of anything in particular in mind, I took the recording home with me and several days later put it away with some other things in storage. A few years after his death I was told that I was the only person in the world who had ever made a [telephone] recording with Stan Laurel.
Because of many requests from people
all over the world for a copy of this recording, I decided to put the conversation on a record. When the record was released, to my surprise, I received thousands of orders for it from all over the world. This record I have been told is now considered a real collector's item.
—Classic Film Collector (Spring 1970)
