I assume that'old Green hardy" movies were Laurel & Hardy, yes?

Becca, your story about your sone reminded me of my Cousin kenny who is now a grown man and about 6 foot 4. When I was 17 he was 4. He and his mother came down to visit us for a couple of weeks and I was the only non-adult left in the house, my sister having grown up and gotten married. Kenny stuck to me like glue and being a typical annoying teenager, that bugged me.

I set him up in my bedroom to watch Treasure Island on TV but he kept coming out to find me to tell me what was happening in the movie. I told him I'd seen it before and he didn't need to keep telling me. Finally, he came out again and when I scolded him, he came over and whispered urgently in my ear "But he scares me!" Who scares you, i asked.   "Long Johns Shivers!" he cried!

I relented, took mercy on the poor kid and told him he didn't have to finish watching the movie if the pirate scared him. Then he said "but I want to watch the movie" - thereby demonstrating that even little kids like to be scared so long as there's somebody near by. He convinced me to go back and sit on th ebd with him and every time "Long Johns Shivers" appeared, he'd burrow his little head under my arm until I told him it was safe to look.