Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FAN & OLLIE
Devoted Paul’s 4,000-strong haul of fame
WHEN comedy biopic Stan & Ollie hit cinemas this month, superfan Paul Allen wasn’t resting on his Laurel.
The ex market trader was one of the first in line to see the film about his heroes Laurel and Hardy.
Paul is such a fan of the screen legends he has collected memorabilia worth up to £30,000.
His 4,000-strong haul includes autographs, postcards, photos, videos and at least 200 ornaments.
Paul, 60, has collected so much since falling for the slapstick duo when he was 18 that it has now taken over half his kitchen.
He said: “It was getting to the stage where I was taking down pictures of my two daughters to hang up pictures of Stan and Ollie.
“I think my wife Janet was sick of seeing Laurel and Hardy stuff all around the house. And we can
I took down pictures of daughters to hang up Stan & Ollie PAUL ALLEN
ON HOW HIS PASSION TOOK OVER
always get a takeaway.” Paul, of Canvey Island, Essex, started out with just a few videos.
His collection now ranges from tiny cake toppers and stamps to paint-it-yourself kits and four-foot figures of the actors.
The duo – Englishman Stan Laurel and American Oliver Hardy – teamed up in 1921 and made more than 100 films over the next 30 years, including Way Out West and The Music Box.
Among Paul’s favourite items in his collection are a TV guide once owned by Stan, and a 1937 comic called the Laurel and Hardy Book of Wisecracks, bought for £25 – and now worth around £500. He also has a 78rpm record of an interview and rendition of their signature Cuckoo Song which he says is “absolutely brilliant.”
And he was delighted by the Steve Coogan and John C Reilly biopic.
Paul said: “It’s like watching the boys in real life. It’s magical.”