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by Randy Skretvedt (Author)
March of the Wooden Soldiers, the 1934 Laurel and Hardy film originally titled Babes in Toyland, has been a holiday classic on TV since the early 1950s. The annual showing on WPIX in New York has kept this film alive in American popular culture, when for many years that film was all but unavailable anywhere else.The film exudes warmth, charm, happiness and a wish for love to conquer evil. The hundreds of people who contributed to making the movie certainly shared those emotions. But, as with any creative collaboration, there were conflicts.
Behind the scenes, there were injuries, a divorce, a not-quite-legal marriage, a secret romance, a barroom fistfight, illnesses and a rift that nearly spelled the end of the Laurel and Hardy team. The film was made at great cost - and not just financial. The Laurel and Hardy film is an enduring classic, but it's only part of the fascinating story of Babes in Toyland.
Featuring nearly 400 rare photographs, March of the Wooden Soldiers: The Amazing Story of Laurel & Hardy's Babes in Toyland brings to life Barnaby, Tom-Tom, Bo-Peep, the Bogeymen, and of course Ollie Dee and Stannie Dum, as it shares the full story of the making of the beloved holiday classic.
