The Sons of the Desert is the official worldwide Laurel and Hardy appreciation society. The group was originally founded in the New York city in 1965. The original founding member was Laurel and Hardy biographer John McCabe. As referenced in The Constitution, the founding members were Orson Bean, Al Kilgore, John McCabe, Chuck McCann, and John Municino.
The group's name was taken from Laurel and Hardy's 1933 film titled Sons of the Desert. The plot consisted of Stan and Ollie attending their Fraternity's Convention in Chicago. Without approval from their Wives, they attend the convention anyway under the false pretence that they are going to Honolulu instead.
The Sons of the Desert isn't intended to be a typical Laurel and Hardy fan club. As outlined by John McCabe:
“It is important, I think, to realize that Sons of the Desert is not a fan club. The word ‘fan’ derives from ‘fanatic’ and I hope we are none of us that. I consider us ‘buffs,’ people having a connoisseur-like affection for Laurel & Hardy, and being discriminating in that affection, with fun as our goal and operative guide.”
The original Sons crest was drawn by famous cartoonist Al Kilgore. As suggest by Stan Laurel, it features the words "Two minds without a single thought" which was translated into the Latin as "Duae tabulae rasae in quibus nihil scriptum est", which literally means "Two blank slates on which nothing has been written"
The Sons of the Desert consists of an abundance of Tents. A tent is a group of Sons who organise and arrange their own events (Meetings, Day Trips, etc). Each Tent is named after a Laurel and Hardy film.
There are hundreds of tents located across the world. There are tents in America, Austrailia, Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium, UK, Germany and many more. For more information, take a look at the 'British Isles' tents page and the 'International' tents pages to get more information of each tents members and location.
