Well here's another nice mess !

Wed, May 13th 2020 at 12:50 pm - 2:00 pm

Gordon Wowk gave a live online Zoom presentation.

The most recent meeting of the Rotary Club of St Andrews was a milestone in its history, being the first occasion on which members came together virtually. Thirty-five joined a Zoom meeting from their own homes. President John Christie thanked them for having donated the money each would have spent, in normal times, on the Club’s weekly lunches, from which grants had been made to Community Aid St Andrews and other local causes. The title of Gordon Wowk’s talk to the Club – “Here’s another nice mess” – was not a comment on the meeting, which proceeded remarkably smoothly, but part of the famous catchphrase of Laurel and Hardy. They were voted the seventh greatest comedy act of all time by UK comedians in 2005 and it was clear that Gordon shared this appreciation of their slapstick humour and ability to extract multiple gags from a simple idea, such as a tit-for-tat argument. He traced their careers, from Laurel’s birth to a theatrical family in Lancashire and arrival in America as part of Fred Karno’s Troupe, and Hardy’s early years helping out in a Georgia movie house, through their 13 years filming together for the Hal Roach Studios, to their last live stage performance at the Palace Theatre in Plymouth, England, on a bill that also featured a young Harry Worth. James Murray included President Christie in his vote of thanks, praising the ingenuity and commitment that was keeping the Club together in challenging times, before each participant could be seen in the Zoom gallery raising a glass for the traditional toast: Rotary the World Over.