Type
StampLaurel, Stan & Oliver Hardy
The stamps were used from the 1930s throughout Ollie`s lifetime. They were mostly used by the staff at the film studios to reply to fan mail at the peak of their popularity. Stan & Ollie would actually sign as many autographs as they could but busy schedules at the studio, holidays, publicity duties and theatrical tours tended to limit this.
Ollie was very much a 9am to 5pm man, and when the filming at the studio was done, he went off to play golf, enjoy various other recreational activities (ie race track, cards) and a home life. Stan, on the other hand, enjoyed the studio work and would often continue into the night to view the film rushes, help in the editing and plan the next day`s work. He also enjoyed the fanmail and tried his upmost best to sign and inscribe each and every fan photo....he absolutely detested the use of the stamps.
During the 1930s, I would hazard a guess from what I`ve seen, that Stan & Ollie would have actually signed about 80% of the photos leaving the studio.
Of the residual, Stan would have signed half of them with the studio applying an Olle rubber stamp. I would guess that only 10% would have both an Ollie and a Stan rubber stamp. So, in reality, the rubber stamps are quite rare!
both are stamped
reference: Dave Tomlinson
reference: Dave Tomlinson