Carrying On with The Comedy Man

Every so often I like to blog about well known Carry On performers in other films from the era. Despite claims to the contrary, many of our favourite Carry On actors did escape the clutches of Peter Rogers Productions and do other, interesting things. During the 1950s and 60s in particular, there were so many films being made across London that a lot of actors just went from one production to another.

Spurred on by the recent 'My London' programme on BBC Radio London featuring Angela Douglas, I've decided to write about the 1964 film The Comedy Man. 

What it's about?

The Comedy Man is a 1964 British drama film directed by Alvin Rakoff, depicting the life of a struggling actor in swinging 1960s London. Sacked from his job in provincial rep, actor Chick Byrd moves into digs in London with Julian, a fellow actor. Julian's career soars after a successful screen test, but Chick's meets with continued failure. Mobilised into action by the suicide of a friend, Chick auditions for a TV commercial and finally finds fame. Confident of his talents for the first time, but fearing he may have sold out, Chick leaves London to return to rep.

Who stars in it?

Solid leading man of the time, the wonderful Kenneth More leads the cast as Chick Byrd. Kenneth was at the height of his powers at the time, well known for the likes of Genevieve, Doctor in the House and Reach for the Sky. Co-starring are Dennis Price as Tommy Morris, Billie Whitelaw as Judy, Edmund Purdom as Julian Baxter and Frank Finlay as Prout.

Carry On Faces?

Plenty! Angela Douglas, a year before making her Carry On debut as Annie Oakley in Carry On Cowboy, plays Fay Trubshaw. Angela would of course go on to marry the star of the picture, Kenneth More. Carry On Jack guest star Cecil Parker also stars as Thomas Rutherford. 

Carry On originals Norman Rossington and Gerald Campion both co-star in The Comedy Man. Norman is Theodore Littleton and Gerald, Gerry. Both actors starred in Carry On Sergeant way back in 1958 and while Gerald didn't return, Norman went to make appearances in Carry On Nurse, Carry On Regardless and the Carry On Christmas television special in 1972. 

Also look out for Carry On Constable supporting actress Jill Adams as Jan Kennedy and Derek Francis plays Merryweather. Derek had lovely supporting parts in several Carry Ons - Doctor, Camping, Loving, Henry, Matron and Abroad. Gordon Rollings, who appeared briefly as a porter in Carry On Doctor, crops up as Skippy while boxer turned actor Freddie Mills has the part of Indian Chief. Freddie popped up as a thief in Carry On Constable and a boxing promoter in Carry On Regardless. And finally, future Are You Being Served? star Frank Thornton plays a Producer in The Comedy Man. Two years after this Frank made his only Carry On appearance in Carry On Screaming.

Did You Know?

The Sunday Mirror proclaimed 'Kenneth More in the greatest performance of his career. Brilliantly directed'.

More, on reading the script, thought the story reflected his own life as an actor and that of many of his actor friends. 

Sadly The Comedy Man received only a limited distribution at the time, sharing a double bill with Lord of the Flies. 

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Carry On Blogging Interview: Patricia Franklin (Part 1)

 

It was an absolute joy to ring up the actress Patricia Franklin for a good old natter this afternoon. Patricia will be familiar to Carry On fans for her appearances in five films in the series between 1968 and 1976 as well as the big screen version of Bless This House. I wanted to find out more about Patricia's time making the films but also a whole lot more about her acting career. 

First of all I'd love to know what made you want to become an actress?

It was quite strange. I was appearing in a matinee at the National Theatre some years ago when I was told there was someone at the stage door to see me. It was one of my old teachers who had come to see the play with her family. She told me that when I was at school I said one day that I wanted to become an actor. I said I didn't believe I'd said such a thing but she was certain! 

When I was at school we had put on a play with me in the part of Red Riding Hood and my younger sister as Bo Peep. I could remember all the lines really easily and my sister couldn't. The boy playing the lead ended up ill and the teacher wanted someone to take over who could learn lines quickly. My sister told the teacher I could so I ended up in the lead playing a boy! I had long pigtails and had to tuck them up under a hat! Perhaps my teacher was right after all.

 

And how did you get started?

My mother was always very encouraging. We used to go to the cinema together and I remember us seeing the film Cat On A Hot Tin Roof with Elizabeth Taylor. We found out that the local amateur theatre was putting on a production so we went to see it and started going along quite regularly. We noticed that they ran classes for students and my mum said I should join, so I did. This place became the Mountview in North London which is now a very respected theatre school. A couple of actors who were in the amateur productions with me went on to RADA (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) so I thought that's where I wanted to go too. My dad was quite strict but agreed I could apply as he liked the sound of the "Royal" part! Anyway I got in and that was me.

Can you tell me more about your first professional role?

Well I left RADA in the July of 1967 and I got my first agent at the end of term show we put on, Tis Pity She's A Whore. Greg Smith saw the show and told me he liked my work and wanted to represent me. Greg was part of an agency called Busby Management at that time and of course went on to produce films, most notably the Confessions series. He very quickly got me three auditions and I think my very first role was in a television series called At Last The 1948 Show for ITV. It was a sort of sketch show and I played lots of little parts in various scenes. It was created by Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Marty Feldman and it came along just before Monty Python. Just after that I got a commercial for Oxo and then I had my first introduction to some of the Carry On team in a theatrical farce at the Whitehall Theatre called Uproar in the House.

I spent nine months in the West End doing Uproar in the House and I had a really good, big part in that. It was great stuff to do and the cast was Joan Sims (who became a great friend at the time), Peter Butterworth and Nicholas Parsons. They were all lovely to me - Joan's dressing room was on one side of mine and Peter's on the other. Joan and I used to laugh a lot. And Peter's wife Janet Brown would often come in afterwards with their children. Years later I attended a special Carry On screening in London and Tyler Butterworth was there. I told him I'd last met him when he was a little boy in his dad's dressing room at the Whitehall. 

 

Can you tell me more about how you came to be a part of the Carry On films?

Well it was through that farce at the Whitehall really. Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas came to see the show and they liked what I was doing in it and it went from there. Peter Rogers then had a conversation with my agent and I remember being down on location when they were filming Carry On Camping. It was a scene where Terry Scott was going up the road into his house. I watched it being filmed and after that Peter and Gerald asked if I would like to be in the Carry On film and I said "Yes please!"

How did you find Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas to work with?

Oh they were great to work for. I know there have been lots of stories of them not paying their actors well and all the rest of it and there was that side to it but my experience was great. I played little character parts, just popping in for what I'd call "a lovely day out". Gerald was a lovely person, he was very paternalistic towards me. i think he had three daughters and every time I was cast in one of the films I seemed to have just had another child and he always asked after them all. I thoroughly enjoyed working for him and I loved the opportunities they gave me to play so many very different parts. 

I remember Peter Rogers asking for me for a part in one of the films and he went through my agent as I was working in Sheffield at the time. I was about eight months pregnant at the time, about to give birth. They were trying to persuade me to get on a train and come back to play the part and I had to explain my situation. Turned out the part involved wearing a bikini so there's no way I could have played it! But it was lovely to be remembered and asked back and it was always such jolly fun to be a part of.

Your first role in the series was in Carry On Camping in 1968. What are your memories of working on that one with Charles Hawtrey and Derek Francis?

Oh they were both lovely and very professional. It was all done very quickly and mine was quite a small part really. I just remember us getting on with it and having a lot of laughs about how silly the scene was, well it was quite ridiculous really, but they were both very straight forward and professional when it came to shooting the scene. Charles was such a unique character and I know there have been stories in the newspapers about him over the years but I honestly didn't have a problem with him or with any of the main actors. He was absolutely charming to me, they all were. The film was made at such a pace there was no time for egos! 

I was recently having a look at some papers in Gerald's archive at the BFI and I came across one of your Carry On contracts!

Oh how much was I paid, I bet it wasn't much!!

£30!

Well there you go!

I wanted to ask you about it as the contract was actually for one of the Carry Ons you didn't end up doing. The part was a Night Nurse in Carry On Again Doctor in 1969. Can you remember why you didn't do it?

Oh that's right! I think that was after Camping. I was doing something in the theatre at the time and I don't think the schedules worked out so they must have re-cast the role.

That must be it - it says on the contract that you were appearing in a play at the Royal Court theatre at the time. 

Yes, I was in a very demanding play at the Royal Court in 1969 called Saved, by Edward Bond. Quite a different job from one of the Carry Ons!

Watch out for Part Two of my interview with the wonderful Patricia Franklin, coming up soon. Find out what she had to say about returning to the Carry Ons to work with the likes of Kenneth Williams, Liz Fraser and Patsy Rowlands. And find out more about Patricia's brilliant career on stage and how she got back stage to meet a certain Mr Albert Finney while he was performing in Billy Liar!

I'd like to thank Patricia for agreeing to the interview. And also many thanks to Sarah at Beresford Management and to the lovely Andrew Lynford for helping to set it all up!

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Carrying On with The Professionals!

 

One of my all-time favourite British television series has to be The Professionals. It had it all - action, humour, social comment, daft 1970s fashions and three cracking leading actors in Martin Shaw, Lewis Collins and Gordon Jackson. Over the course of 57 episodes, screened between 1977 and 1983, CI5 agents Doyle and Bodie tackled an endless crime wave (and no, I don't mean Shaw's perm) across London with Jackson as their slightly fearsome yet very wry and human boss, George Cowley. 

The series fell out of favour in the 1980s due the amount of violence on display let alone some other aspects which did still portray life as it was in the Britain of that time. I love it in the same way I love The Sweeney - strong characters, great actors and a unique time capsule back in the slightly grim recent past. The series also featured the usual delightful cavalcade of guesting British character actors and several of these were also familiar Carry On faces. So what are the links between these two great British institutions? 

 

Probably one of my very favourite Professionals cameos came in the 1979 episode "Backtrack" and in the shapely shape of Liz Fraser. Liz, the face of many classic British comedy films from the 1950s, 60s and 70, gladly hammed it up shamelessly as "fence" Margery Harper. Margery was a rather colourful character who took a bit of a shine to Ray Doyle! The scenes featuring Shaw, Fraser and Lewis Collins are full of wonderful comedy and are deliciously knowing. The strength of Liz's performance once again proves why we should have seen much more of her in British television drama over the years.

Julian Holloway, an actor who appeared in countless classic British series at the time, also played the guest role of policeman Harvey in The Professionals episode "First Night", first broadcast in 1978. This episode saw Julian work most closely with Gordon Jackson in several scenes at CI5 HQ and also on the South Bank by the River Thames. Fellow character actor Derek Francis, well known to Carry On fans for his brilliant roles in the likes of Carry On Matron and Abroad, appeared in not one but two episodes of The Professionals, in different roles. In the first series episode "Look After Annie" he played the rather unpleasant John Howard and four years later he was back, playing Len Hatch, a member of the criminal underworld in the story "You'll Be All Right".

 

Another actor to appear twice in the series was the late Llewellyn Rees, first as Sir Arden French in the first series episode "Everest Was Also Conquered" and then three years later he cropped again as Dr Philip Hedley in the 1980 story "Wild Justice". In between these two episodes, Rees played the Lord Chief Justice in the 1978 film Carry On Emmannuelle. Patrick Durkin, who played small parts in Carry On Sergeant, Nurse, Cabby, Spying, Cowboy and Dick, first joined The Professionals in the rather bizarre part of a Russian hitman, Terkof, in the 1977 episode "The Female Factor". To me it looks like his performance is very obviously dubbed. In 1980 Patrick was back for the cameo role of truck driver Wally in "Hijack". 

The familiar Australian actor Ed Devereaux, who had small roles in the films Carry On Nurse, Regardless, Cruising, Jack and Bless This House, grabbed a major guest starring role in the 1979 episode "Runner" seeing him work opposite well-known actors Michael Kitchen and James Cosmo. Ed played the rather fierce gangster Albie. Reliable character actor Harry Towb popped up for a brief cameo as small time rogue Harry Spence in the 1980 Professionals episode "Blood Sports". Harry played the dubious Doctor in the film Richard O'Callaghan takes Jacki Piper to see in Carry On At Your Convenience.

 

The glamorous Penny Irving (I wonder what happened to her?) played the character Pam in the very first episode of The Professionals ever broadcast, "Private Madness, Public Danger" in 1977. Penny, who went on to appear in many episodes of Are You Being Served? was one of Joan Sims' Birds of Paradise in the 1974 film Carry On Dick. Fellow "Bird" Laraine Humphrys, who also appeared in Carry On Girls and the 1973 Carry On Christmas television special, played the uncredited role of Doyle's girlfriend in the 1977 story " When The Heat Cools Off". 

Another Carry On actress, the lovely Suzanne Danielle, played one of her earliest acting roles in the first series episode "Killer with a Long Arm" in 1977. Playing the role of Pretty Girl, Danielle would find herself playing the leading lady in the last of the original Carry Ons following year in Carry On Emmannuelle. 

 

Finally, no blog on The Professionals can go without mentioning one final link to the Carry Ons. In Gordon Jackson, the series found one of it's most bankable and talented stars. Gordon was also one of Kenneth Williams' closest and most loyal friends. Despite this Kenneth didn't pull any punches when watching Jackson in the series in early 1978. Let's just say that although Kenneth thought Gordon one of the best actors in the country, he did not think the role of George Cowley suited him at all!

Anyway, to finish, here's a reminder of the brilliant intro theme from The Professionals:

 
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Whatever Happened To ... Derek Francis?

I have been running a series of blogs which take a look back at some of those reliable, solid, instantly recognisable character actors who provided such wonderful support in the Carry On films. Often, so little has been written about them and I think it's time to change all that. So far I have written about everyone from Carol Hawkins and Esma Cannon to Peter Gilmore, Cyril Chamberlain and Richard Wattis.

Today I am going to focus on a well known supporting actor who graced six classic Carry On films - Derek Francis. 

Derek Francis began his Carry On career in 1967 with a cameo role as Sir Edmund Burke in Carry On Doctor. He shares scenes with Kenneth Williams, Jim Dale and Hattie Jacques. Burke works with Kenneth's Dr Tinkle to get rid of Jim's character from the hospital. After this bluff, gruff cameo role, Derek was invited back for the role of a farmer in the hugely successful Carry On Camping. He plays Patricia Franklin's father in the film and after getting the wrong end of the stick thanks to Charles Hawtrey, ends up shooting Terry Scott's Peter Potter in the backside!

We next see Derek Francis in the very small role of the vicar who shares a train compartment with Terry Scott right at the beginning of Carry On Loving, released in 1970. Derek again plays a farmer in Carry On Henry, this time interrupting Sid's King Henry as he is about to indulge in some jiggery pokery with the lovely Margaret Nolan!

After his fourth Carry On film, Derek then went on to have two more substantial supporting turns in two prime 1970s Carry Ons. First of all he played the droll Arthur, Finisham Maternity Hospital's security guard cum night watchman in Matron. Derek shares some wonderful deadpan scenes with Sid James in this one. FInally, Derek returned to Pinewood one last time to play Brother Martin in Carry On Abroad. This final appearance saw Derek share most of his scenes with Bernard Bresslaw, who shocks Brother Martin by ditching his plans to become a monk to run off with Carol Hawkins. Watch out for some wonderful moments at the end of Abroad which sees Derek dance with Hattie Jacques' Floella!

Derek Francis made some wonderful contributions to the Carry On series. However, he was also extremely prolific in other areas of the acting profession. He clocked up no less that 168 screen credits during a career that spanned nearly three decades. In film, he appeared in the likes of Press For Time, What's Good for the Goose, The Comedy Man, Scrooge, Jabberwocky and The Wicked Lady. The majority of Derek's screen credits however, came on television.

On the small screen Derek Francis popped up in nearly all that was good on British television during the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. The following is just a small selection: The Sweeney, The Professionals, Danger Man, Jason King, Up Pompeii, Rising Damp, The New Avengers, Sykes, Rings on their Fingers, The Dick Emery Show, Middlemarch, Nicholas Nickleby and The Forsythe Saga. 

For fans of classic Coronation Street, Derek also turned up in Weatherfield in 1977. He played Charles Beaumont, a relative of Rovers Return landlady Annie Walker. While Annie had always boasted about the Beaumont's of Clitheroe, sadly Charles turned out to be a chancer on the scrounge and after borrowing money from several of the Rovers regulars, Annie had to show him the door.

On Stage, Derek Francis is best remembered for the title character in Cymbeline for The Old Vic in 1957.

Derek Francis was born in Brighton in November 1923. Little is known about his early life however he began his acting career in the mid to late 1950s. He continued to appear regularly on screen right up until his death from a heart attack at the age of just 60 in March 1984. His last role, as Pemberton in a television film of A Christmas Carol was broadcast posthumously.

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