![]() Having their theme played on the carillon and the great warmth of the welcome they’d witnessed in Cobh was a genuine public acknowledgement of the innocent fun they had given to millions which seemed to deeply touch them. “There was no denying the sincerity of the film stars’ gratitude. The warmth of the Irish welcome clearly touched the pair deeply- especially at a time when their star power had all but disappeared in Hollywood. Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he engulfed Dad in his not inconsiderable embrace.” “When Ollie went to take my father’s hand to thank him, the accumulated emotion of that whole morning seemed to suddenly spill over the poor man and words failed him. It was an occasion where the 10-year-old Adrian got to see his heroes close up. Struggling through the massed crowds that awaited their every move from Cobh pier, Laurel and Hardy insisted on being taken direct to the cathedral to “thank the bell-ringers” for the momentous welcome. “Maybe people loved us and our pictures because we put so much love in them, I don’t know. “As the cathedral bells started to ring out our theme song, Babe looked at me, and we cried,” Laurel was later quoted as saying. The love and affection we found that day at Cobh was simply unbelievable.”Īmazed at the sight of hundreds of boats blowing whistles and fog horns, added to by the scores of people screaming on the docks, the pair of comedic legends “just couldn’t understand what it was all about.”Īt just that point, Adrian Gruber’s father Staf, the then carillonneur at the cathedral, began to play’s the Laurel and Hardy theme tune - the Cuckoo Song - booming out from the massive bells across the town and over the water. You’d think people would forget, but they don’t. ![]() It’s a strange, strange thing our popularity had lasted so long. Unable to resist the collective pleas of hundreds of over-excited boys, the ageing Brother Eugenius waved his hands in surrender and granted a morning off school.Īs he hurried down the town’s ancient streets to join the thousands of spectators swarming the quays for a perfect vantage point to witness his Hollywood heroes, little did the young Adrian realise the key role his family would play in the unfolding spectacle of abundant hero-worship about to transpire.įast-forward to the deck of the SS America and the recollections of Stan Laurel as he gazed in awe at the enormous Irish welcome that was assembling on shore for the pair, “The docks were swarming with many thousands of people. We therefore took advantage of the morning yard break to petition the school principal to allow us out to see the film stars.” “The thought that our favourite film comedians might be a stone’s throw away down town while we scholars sat in our classrooms was more than any human beings could be asked to endure. ![]() In a year where thousands of unemployed marched on Leinster House demanding jobs, the pair whose slapstick antics charmed generations of moviegoers brought a badly needed glimpse of international glamour to a deeply conservative Ireland still struggling with the aftermath of ‘the Emergency’ and an all-pervasive economic depression.Īdrian Patrick Gebruers, who celebrated his fortieth year as Carillonneur of St Colman’s Cathedral in 2010, recalled the day as a 10-year old student at St Joseph’s Primary School. As the SS America liner dropped anchor that Autumn morning, the visit to Cobh marked the start of a final gamble for the pair’s fading popularity with a tour of Ireland and the UK designed to lift their fortunes one last time.īut while their departure from New York excited little media comment or attention, their arrival in the famous Cork port saw the pair instead feted as all-conquering comedic heroes whose star remained at its brightest this side of the Atlantic. ![]()
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