The ‘Sons of the Desert’ international Laurel & Hardy appreciation society was formed three decades after the release of the film, created by Stan Laurel and his biographer John McCabe.

Ulverston, Stan Laurel’s birthplace in England, is home to the Laurel & Hardy Museum.

An excellent DVD is available in the US, called simply Laurel & Hardy, and featuring Sons of the Desert, the Oscar-winning short The Music Box, three other films and some extras to boot.  The region 2 version is dull by comparison.

Stan Laurel received a special Academy Award in 1960 for ‘creative pioneering in the field of cinema comedy’.  Oliver Hardy had died in 1957 and was never honoured by the Academy – an unforgiveable oversight, and a prime example of the scandalous lack of Academy recognition afforded to comedy films.