UPDATED 4-20-24...Revisions to MY STORY pdf (click on "more")
COMMONALITIES PDF 5-22-22 (pdf)
DownloadHarry and I have some major traits in common with the two biggest being our artistic skills and personality. A couple other similar traits are our writing ability and music interest. I just added some new scans on the bottom of the page. According to Walter Semkiw's Principles of Reincarnation, skills, talents, personality traits, one's way of approaching life and the way others perceive you seems to remain consistent across lifetimes. The skills and talents we acquired in past lifetimes are retained within our souls, and they're expressed or suppressed based upon the lessons we are destined to learn per lifetime.
https://reincarnationresearch.com/principles-of-reincarnation/ First, I'll focus on personality traits and approach to life by providing scans from books and magazines which show consistent proof of the sort of personality Harry had. That will be followed by evidence which supports our similar writing ability and interest in music. We're both shy, quiet, introverted, like to be alone, private, dislike divulging much about ourselves. Not very admirable qualities, I have to admit. Sure is tough to make friends! Regardless, every time I read a description of Harry's personality, I had an odd sensation they were talking about me--an intense deja vu reaction, but specifically a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.
After 1928 and into the '30s, Harry was no longer a big star and his ego humbled considerably. He learned that with fame comes a tremendous amount of problems and expectations. I'm including a few quotes from Harry which demonstrate his new approach to life based on his negative past experiences. I share a similar approach and have a tendency to avoid the spotlight, sometimes going out of my way to do so. I believe this is a holdover from Harry's life. This is why I've never gone public about this reincarnation thing...it will attract attention, which is something I generally try to avoid doing. And I would've kept it secret if it weren't for the rather loud and persuasive "voices" coming from my spirit guides who've been urging me to make this website. When a higher power and its messengers inspire you to do something, it's usually for a greater good than we can ever fathom with our short-sighted human brains. So Ok, I'm game. In typical Langdon fashion, I'm also temporarily avoiding sharing the story about how I discovered this past life just because it's so personal, but I'll eventually get around to it. That'll be the last section I add to this website. Update: 8-4-19.....MY STORY page has finally been added, hooray! Go peek.
Taken from 1932 Motion Picture Magazine. See downloads section for entire article
1938 News Sentinel quote (pg. 249 Oldham, King of Silent Comedy) https://youtu.be/tE9xwSuw7F4
1934 LA Examiner quote (pg. 209 Oldham, King of Silent Comedy)
1977 Gertrude Astor quote, a year before I was born (Oldham, King of Silent Comedy pg. 316)
Joyce Rheuban, The Comedian As Metteur-En-Scene pg. 184
March 1927 Moving Picture World , interviewed by Tom Waller...for entire article visit downloads page
Oldham, King of Silent Comedy pg. 150-151
Oldham, King of Silent Comedy pg. 100
Evidence of Harry's writing ability goes back as far his days in vaudeville. In Hayde & Harter's LITTLE ELF book, on pages 603-645 are copies of the scripts Harry himself wrote, typed up and submitted to the Library of Congress for copyright protection from 1912-1923. Here are a few samples .
Harry in 1938, when he was working as a scriptwriter for the Hal Roach studio. He was hired by Stan Laurel to write gags for four Laurel & Hardy features (BLOCK-HEADS, FLYING DEUCES, A CHUMP AT OXFORD, SAPS AT SEA). Script on the desk is from TOPPER TAKES A TRIP. Harry also co-scripted ROAD SHOW and he received screenwriting credits on several Columbia shorts. Photo from my collection.
Harry wrote an article for Writer's Digest magazine in 1931. Ebay auction which I lost. Wish I had this article to share
Quote from Mabel Langdon 1997, evidence of Harry's writing proficiency and creativity, as well as music ability. (Cult Movies Magazine #22...whole article available in Downloads page)
More writing evidence ...(Oldham, KING OF SILENT COMEDY pgs. 243 & 328)
Now here is evidence of my writing. I enjoyed writing stories from a young age and still have my story from 1992, which won a Young Author's award when I was 14. It features two cartoon guinea pigs who had personalities very much like Laurel & Hardy's screen personas. I had just discovered silent films on TV (a show called, "Dead Comics Society" on The Comedy Channel in 1990 - hosted by Robert Klein) and Buster Keaton became, and still is, my idol. I was inspired by the silent comedy I was watching, so I imagined my guinea pigs in all sorts of funny situations. Then I began a 6 year hobby of writing and sketching my ideas in notebooks for future use. I was doing this daily, while I was in class during my high school years and a couple years into college, so roughly 1992-1998. I have 4 notebooks, 160 pages each (640 total). I didn't see my first Laurel & Hardy film until 1994, yet these guinea pigs I daydreamed about obsessively since 1992, and wrote gags and stories for, acted very much like them. Was I sub-consciously remembering writing for Laurel & Hardy or remembering typing up those vaudeville scripts? I don't know where the motivation to write comedy ideas came from or even what was fueling my imagination. I shot a video to show the extraordinary amount of writing I did. I didn't plan on talking so please forgive my informal manner of speech. My memory was a little foggy and I couldn't remember the year I saw my first L&H film ...it was December 1994 not 1996. Then AMC began showing ALL of L&H's sound films early in 1995. "Dead Comics Society" TV show did air THE STOLEN JOOLS in 1990 I remember, but that was the only L&H film they ever showed and their scene was less than a minute. They also showed Harry's TRAMP, TRAMP, TRAMP and LONG PANTS, but those didn't have an impact on me. You'll find out more about how I made the Harry Langdon past life connection in the MY STORY page coming soon. Have a look at the video. It's 9 minutes of me flipping through my notebooks and reminiscing, very off the cuff.
My 4 comedy notebooks 1992-98. This photo doesn't convey the 640 pages worth of writing I did. Please watch the video above. Here are a few links to some very amateurish animation I did in college in 1996. Gags were taken from these notebooks. Superhero & Egg: https://youtu.be/hb4OK8QU_qo Genie Lamp: https://youtu.be/cQJG4upNPS8 ..... My final film was over-exposed. You can see my drawings better in these Genie Lamp video tests prior to filming. It took 8 hours to shoot 3 minutes worth of drawings! https://youtu.be/wvkCWu4vxQk
I wrote this in 1992 when I was 14, 3 years before I'd ever seen a Laurel & Hardy film. Chester was the bigger, bossy guinea pig and Charlie was the smaller, dumb one. Notice I describe him as, "dumbfoundedly scratching his head", which is a typical Stan Laurel mannerism. "Uh, oh" is a phrase often uttered by Harry in his movies and he types it in his vaudeville scripts from the 19-teens, as well.
Here is a still shot from BLOCK-HEADS (1938), one of the films Harry worked on with Laurel & Hardy. This drawing from my book reminded me of this scene. I imagine Harry was around witnessing this scene being filmed. Remember, I wrote my book 3 years before I'd ever seen a L&H film.
Quote from his son, Harry Jr.up above. Harry was a prolific musician and could play many instruments including the banjo and piano. (Oldham, KING OF SILENT COMEDY pg. 248). I have never tried to learn to play any musical instruments though the idea is appealing to me. I do seem to have retained a voracious appetite for ragtime-era music. No other type of music stirs my soul and makes me instantly happy as much as ragtime music and popular songs from the early 1900's.
Long story about how I was introduced to ragtime and pop music from Harry's lifetime, early 1900's. It was all a series of happy accidents. At 16 in 1994, I bought my first ragtime CD and was hooked. I DO NOT like modern music. I fell in love with the music from Harry's lifetime before I even knew who Harry Langdon was. My favorite time period, specifically, is the late 1890's to 1918. I've been buying actual 78rpm records from this time period for 15 years. Seeing is believing. Just go to my Sound Cloud channel to see and hear a portion of my record collection. Slowly adding a few at a time. I own roughly 1500 records from 1899 to the early 1930's.
Harry wrote a few songs that were published, "Lulu" and "Calling All Cars". This picture was from an Ebay auction I didn't win, hence the watermark.