He certainly got a lot of mileage out of that false story about BIG BUSINESS.
There's a taped phone conversation with Stan Laurel that refutes it. He says something about Roach like: "What did he think we were nuts!?"
Since Stan died in 1965, that gives you a rough idea of how long Roach was telling that story. You have to take everything Roach says with a grain of salt because of that.
BTW, Roach seems to know as much about L&H before their Roach days as Jerry Lewis does!!!
That was a generous clip from SCHOOL'S OUT that they showed. Of course, it is PD so no wonder they chose that one. Not sure why they showed the girls on the stage giving the title, though. You would think they did that so Letterman could ask a question about it, but he didn't.
Also interesting that L&H were mentioned way down the line during Letterman's intro. Our Gang was mentioned first, which is fine, but L&H should have been mentioned second. In 1982, and probably today, both Our Gang and L&H are probably the most known of the Roach Stars. In 1982, Will Rogers was mostly known for those annoying ads in movie theaters for the Will Rogers Institute, after which they came around with a tin can to put coins in as a donation. You heard very few clinks when that happened, I might add!
