The Lost World

Lewis Stone: for one generation he was the father they always wanted. He played the role of Judge Hardy the dispenser of sound advice to an adolescent Mickey Rooney.

The film series between 1937 and 1947 apparently didn't influence a certain part of that generation enough. Stone, 73, was felled by a heart attack brought on by chasing young miscreants who were throwing rocks at his house in 1953.

For Nora, Channel 10 screen reruns of the Andy Hardy series on Sunday afternoons (along with Deanna Durbin muscials) in the late 1980s is part of a pleasurable memory. Discovering more about Stone for this Nifty Knick Knack has been a joy.

A veteran of two wars (the Spanish-American and WW1), Stone's film career also survived the talkie era.

Stone also starred in the 1925 sci-fi classic The Lost World, a film based on the novel written by Sir Arthur "Sherlock Holmes" Doyle.

The story was revived in a 1999-2002 series and filmed in Nick and Nora's home town of the Gold Coast.