My favorite Urban Legend

Is Clint Eastwood the son of Stan Laurel?

Most of the stuff I find on Snopes as the result of some e-mail that's been forwarded on to me about $50 Applebee's Gift Certificates, kidney thieves in Las Vegas or poisonous snakes at the children's playground at Burger King.

The legend claiming that Clint Eastwood is the son of Stan Laurel is one I discovered on my own and is a personal favorite. Snopes.com mentions that Clint Eastwood was born the same month that Stan Laurel's wife gave birth to a son who died 9 days after being born. The rumor has it that the baby didn't die, was given up for adoption and was taken into the Eastwood home. Who knows maybe it is true? Has Clint Eastwood ever come forward and proved that he's not the son of Stan Laurel? What is he trying to hide from us? I'm growing suspicious.

Sometimes when people send me the Urban Legend e-mail I'm inclined to write them back and introduce to them the wonders of Snopes and how they should check every e-mail against the Snopesbase to verify what they are reading. Some programmer out there should add that to e-mail filtering software. It would detect an Urban Legend and attach the Snopes reference to the message so that the user could get all the facts at once.

I enjoyed the Laurel and Hardy movies growing up. My Dad would check them out from the library in reel to reel format(no VCRs or DVDs in my childhood, sonny). On New Years Eve at church we would have a potluck and my Dad would show a Laurel & Hardy, Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin movie. Also there was a program called "Supes On" on Channel 43 WUAB in Cleveland and the first hour of the program usually featured a Stooges or Laurel and Hardy movie. Going to church to see an old comedy sure beats going to Sunday School.