Armando Siahaan

Peter van Rooij has thousands of collectibles of the comic duo Laurel and Hardy and travels to conventions each year to meet with fellow fans. (Photo: Peter van Rooij, JG)

Laughing Out Loud With Laurel and Hardy

Avid fan Peter van Rooij doesn’t remember exactly when he first saw comedians Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy on television, but it was the early ’70s and he was just a kid.

And he knows he liked them instantly.

“One of the reasons why people laugh at Laurel and Hardy is they’re more stupid and sillier than we are, so we can feel more relaxed about ourselves,” van Rooij said, sitting in his South Jakarta apartment surrounded by Laurel and Hardy memorabilia. “It’s a combination of them being very silly and very naive, and yet in situations that could happen.

British-born Laurel and American-born Hardy were classic comedians who starred together in 106 motion pictures in the first half of the 20th century. Their first title as a comedy duo was the 1926 silent movie “45 Minutes in Hollywood.” Other popular films included “Sons of the Desert,” “Way Out West” and the Oscar-winning short film “The Music Box.” Their last movie together was in 1951, and an honorary Oscar was bestowed upon Stan Laurel in 1960 for his contributions to the field of movie comedy.

Van Rooij, who was born in the Netherlands in 1967, said he admires the duo’s ability to keep him laughing for the length of an entire film.

“What I like as well is the friendship between the two,” he said.

“Even though they fight a lot. They argue a lot. At the end of the day, they are true friends. That’s something that appealed to me, and still does.”

Every morning, van Rooij wakes to a giant poster of the comedians near his bed. He watches their movies over and over again and browses the Internet looking for anything he can find on the comic pair.

But most impressively, he owns thousands of the duo’s collectibles — including more than 5,000 movie stills, 1,000 posters, 500 lobby cards, 500 movies, 250 books and 250 metal miniatures.

Van Rooij works for the Geneva-based International Labor Organization, a UN agency, and established the first Laurel and Hardy fan club in Switzerland in 1998 while based there. He moved to Jakarta in 2007 as deputy director of the ILO office here, and in February of this year founded Indonesia’s first chapter of the fan club. Although the club only has five members, they have already screened Laurel and Hardy movies at an orphanage, a psychiatric hospital and at two private parties.

“[Watching Laurel and Hardy] gives me joy,” van Rooij said. “According to the Laurel and Hardy [fan club] constitution, but please don’t take this seriously, we are responsible to share the joy with future generations. As long as I can share my joy with another person, then I’m happy.”

The first collectibles of the pair that Van Rooij owned were three VHS tapes he bought from a video store in Hong Kong in 1989. The following year, video stores in the Netherlands began selling the duo’s videos, making it that much easier to build his collection.

His late father shared his enthusiasm for the entertainers, and he vividly recalls their mutual passion.

On Dec. 5, 1991, van Rooij received a set of videos from his mother as a Saint Nicholas Day gift. His father was unhappy though, as he didn’t receive any himself.

About to leave for college, van Rooij told his father he could watch his videos. “But that wasn’t enough for him,” he said.

So for Christmas that year, his mother purchased a number of videos for her husband’s gift. Van Rooij’s father never got to watch them, however, as he died four days before Christmas.

“So when my father died, I got Laurel and Hardy films that were supposed to be for him,” van Rooij said. “Sounds sad, but it wasn’t, because it was something that my father and I shared a passion for.”

His first non-video collectible was a half-meter-tall statue of Laurel and Hardy sitting on a bench. “Looking back, it was an ugly statue,” he said, adding that he has a number of items he considers “junk.”

Regardless, “I buy a lot, but I don’t sell and I don’t throw away anything.”

The most expensive item he owns is a fez worn by an actor in “Sons of the Desert” (1933). Out of the 50 hats used in the movie, he said, there are only six left in the world. Laurel or Hardy did not necessarily wear his fez, but he paid $6,000 for it anyway.

In 2004, van Rooij bought the complete stock of another Dutch collector, adding about 7,000 pieces to his personal treasure trove. Some of those items are with him in Jakarta, but the majority are in storage in Switzerland.

“I want to open a Laurel and Hardy museum in Switzerland before or when I retire,” he said of his plans for his collection. “I want to have the museum downstairs, and live upstairs.”

The item with the most sentimental value for him is a pair of pants worn by Hardy in the movie “Swiss Miss.”

People often ask him whether he has worn the pants.

“I have not and I will not,” he said, describing them as “sacred” and “not supposed to be worn by other people.”

While in Indonesia, he has a personal quest to find an Indonesian movie poster of a Laurel and Hardy film. “In the 1940s, there must have been showings of Laurel and Hardy. If I get one, that would be amazing.”

In 1998, van Rooij went to Birmingham, England, to attend his first Laurel and Hardy convention, where fans from around the world gathered to celebrate the comedy team with movie screenings, comedy sketches, music performances, trivia quizzes and more.

Since then, he has always attended at least one out of two conventions each year. “That’s non-negotiable,” he said. This year, he already has his flight tickets and accommodation booked for a convention in Ghent, Belgium, in August.

“Laughing is also something very social,” he said. “When I watch Laurel and Hardy at home alone, I enjoy that. But it’s not the same thing as when we watch their movies with 1,000 people.

“If 1,000 people laugh, even if you don’t like the movie, you will laugh as well, because it’s contagious.”

And for him, laughter is what Laurel and Hardy were all about.

“Who doesn’t have good memories of laughing so much that your eyes started to cry, or you laughed so much that your belly ached?

“Laughing is one of the best emotions in life.”

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