Jimmy Logan, Pride of the Clyde

The great Jimmy Logan was born on this day in 1928. Time flies, as we all know, but if dear Jimmy was still with us today he'd be the grand old age of 91. Sadly, Jimmy passed away back in April 2001 at the age of 73. He left behind a huge legacy not in theatre, film and television and remains one of Scotland's best loved performers.

Jimmy had a varied career but was probably best known for his theatrical performances. On the boards from a very young age, Jimmy first found fame during the war years. Logan was most at home working a live theatre audience and spent decades keeping the people of Scotland and much further afield, thoroughly entertained. Although primarily known for comedy, as with a great number of comedians (and I use that term loosely) Jimmy was also capable of many dramatic and deeply affecting performances over the years and was moving into some very interesting film work towards the end of his life.

To us though, Jimmy Logan is best remembered for his two Carry On appearances. Joining the team for Carry On Abroad in 1972, Jimmy played enthusiastic Scottish holidaymaker Bert Conway. I'm not sure what led Jimmy to be cast in the film, perhaps Peter Rogers wanted to extend the appeal of his film series across the border? Anyway, i think Jimmy was a breath of fresh air in Abroad and definitely added something different to the mix. Jimmy makes a great double act with Barbara Windsor and also spars effectively with his onscreen love rival, the wonderful Sid James. Jimmy's bright, breezy and energetic turn is a shot in the arm to the Carry Ons and in a cast full of great actors and brilliant comedy performances, he certainly stands out. 

Jimmy returned to the series the following year, however his guest starring role as the extraordinarily camp TV presenter Cecil Gaybody is less successful than his previous appearance. Obviously taking on a role originally written for Charles Hawtrey, who had left the series by then, Jimmy's over the top turn is not a favourite amongst fans. This is really no fault of Jimmy's and he himself admitted later on he didn't enjoy the role. What a shame. As with actors like Windsor Davies, I wish Jimmy had joined the team earlier in the run as I think he really did have something to add. He remained proud of his association with the films and often talked fondly of working with many of the Carry On team. He had worked with Peter Butterworth's wife Janet Brown as early as 1949 on the romantic drama Floodtide, and had been a fan of the likes of Sid James and Joan Sims for many years.

Jimmy was a favourite in pantomime for over fifty years, starting out in Dick Whittington in 1944. Some of Jimmy's other favourite stage roles included leading parts in productions of Death of a Salesman, The Entertainer, On Golden Pond and The Comedians. Such was Jimmy's love of the theatre that he even purchased one, the New Metropole, in 1964. With plans for a family friendly venue showcasing plays and musicals, it was initially a success but eventually failed financially and as a result Jimmy's career took a downward turn. Never one to let a setback like that hold him back, Jimmy devised a one man show on the life of the great Scottish entertainer Harry Lauder and it became one of his greatest successes. 

Awarded an OBE in the 1990s, Jimmy was well respected in the profession and by fans around the world. Jimmy Logan was also well regarded for his extensive charity work. They don't really make them like that anymore. So to pay tribute to Jimmy, why not stick Carry On Abroad on tonight and enjoy his fun, energetic performance as Bert Conway. 

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The Gerald Thomas Archive: Carry On Abroad Cast Correspondence

A few months back I made a rather delayed trip (thank you British weather) to the British Film Institute on London's Southbank. As I've mentioned over on Twitter, the BFI hold the entire Gerald Thomas archive which is chock full of delightful artifacts from Gerald's long, varied and illustrious career in British film. I was quite frankly dazzled by the array of material on offer and have only managed to flick through a fraction of it, but this blog today is the start of several pieces looking at different aspects of what I've had the very good fortune to see.

Following on from my first blog on Gerald's Scrapbook for Carry On Abroad and my second on the Carry On Abroad Draft Script the next item file I want to write about concerns final preparations for the release of Carry On Doctor in late 1967. I have also, more recently, written a blog about the correspondence between the artist Terence "Larry" Parkes and Peter Rogers about the work he'd been asked to do for the titles of Carry On Doctor and also on what I gleaned from the cast contracts and correspondence from Carry On Again Doctor in 1969.

Today I am going to write about Carry On Abroad once again, always one of my favourites in the series. I went straight to the cast correspondence file again and although I'm curious about what the actors really did get paid for these films, it's the little, personal details which always excite me the most. 

The first contract in the bundle was that of the late, great Peter Butterworth. Peter was based in Sussex at the time and despite being very much a series regular at that stage, he was still paid on a per week basis like so many of the supporting actors involved in the films. Peter received £250 per week over a three week period for his superb turn as Pepe (or is it Mario?) in Abroad. At the time of planning for Abroad, Butterworth had missed out on several of the previous films and when he did appear it was usually a small cameo role. I had always wondered why and a little of that is cleared up in the memo from Peter that accompanies his contract. Writing to Peter and Gerald from HTV West Television in Bristol on 9 March 1972, Peter comments that he had recently been working on a television comedy series with John Le Mesurier and asks if there might be a part in the new Carry On film for him. He also apologises again for not being able to appear in the previous Carry On (Matron) "because of that Italian job". I have no idea what the Italian production was however the comedy series is definitely A Class By Himself, co-starring Le Mesurier and Richard Stilgoe. Peter played Clutton.

June Whitfield joined the Carry On team for the first time since Nurse in 1958 with her role as Evelyn Blunt in Carry On Abroad. June was paid £1000 per week for four weeks' work on the film and thereafter £250 per week. June's contract was subject to time off to record appearances on various BBC radio productions during the April of 1972. June's screen husband, series regular Kenneth Connor, was paid £2250 for six weeks in the role of Stanley. Meanwhile, Jack Douglas, still at the cameo stage and here playing Harry, the pub regular, was paid £40 per day with a guaranteed fee of £80. 

Barbara Windsor, making her seventh appearance in the series as the object of Sid's longing, Sadie Tompkins, received £2500 for six weeks on the film. Interestingly it was written into her contract by her then agent Richard Stone, that Barbara was still appearing in a production of The Threepenny Opera at London's Piccadilly Theatre when Abroad began shooting. Another actress represented by Richard Stone was Gail Grainger, making her first and only appearance in the films as Moira. Gail was living in Ealing, West London at the time of making Abroad and was paid £500. Her contract notes that Gail was then also appearing on stage at the Duke of York's Theatre in London opposite Leslie Phillips in The Man Most Likely To… Also included in the file is the original telegram Peter and Gerald sent to Gail Grainger on her birthday, 4 May. Sent to the Duke of York's ahead of that night's performance it says: Many happy returns. Hope you have a lovely birthday, love Peter and Gerald.

Patsy Rowlands, playing the reduced role of Miss Dobbs in the early scenes of the film, only worked for three days on the picture, earning just £20 per day. This again highlights the strangely varying size of the roles Patsy played throughout the series. The late Bill Maynard filmed for one day as WundaTours boss Mr Fiddler, shooting scenes with Gail Grainger, Patsy Rowlands and Kenneth Williams. Despite his scene being cut from the final film Bill was still paid £75. Another actor who was paid for a role which never materialised in the final print was Lindsay Marsh. Lindsay had previously appeared in a small role as a 'shapely nurse' in Carry On Matron and would return to play Myra in the film of Bless This House. Her part as an air hostess in Abroad, for which she received £25, was cut, along with the entire sequence to be filmed aboard an aeroplane.

A young actress who did play a sizeable role in the success of Carry On Abroad was Please Sir and Fenn Street Gang star Carol Hawkins. Carol, who like Gail and Sally Geeson was paid £500 for the film, wrote to Peter Rogers on 6 March 1972:

Dear Sir,

As I have recently completed the film of 'Please Sir" and the comedy TV series "Fenn Street Gang" playing the part of Sharon, I thought perhaps you would like a photograph of myself to keep in your files for future references.

The letter and photo obviously caught their eye as Carol was soon cast in the role of Marge. She would go on to appear in the film of Bless This House, again for Peter and Gerald, before returning three years later to play Sandra in Carry On Behind. There is another letter involving Carol later on in the file and it concerns her wedding in the Summer of the same year:

Dear Carol,

Please take your horses out of this and use the rest for a wedding present from me,

Love…

Another example of the generous nature of the men behind the Carry On films although I'm not sure if the letter and kind gesture is from Peter or Gerald. 

Another actor making his Carry On debut in this film was Scottish performer Jimmy Logan. Paid £1000 for his role as cheerful Bert Conway, Jimmy was granted special permission to miss some filming to honour a prior engagement. Again showing the kindness of Peter Rogers, the original letter from E. H Cochrane, Chairman of the Barnardo's Ball Committee in Motherwell, thanks Peter for allowing Jimmy the time away to host the Rose Ball in the presence of Princess Margaret in Glasgow. 

Finally, to a very sweet, human story involving regular supporting actor Brian Osborne. Brian debuted in the series in the previous film, Carry On Matron, playing an ambulance driver and would appear in every film up until England in 1976. In Abroad Brian played the market stall holder who sells the holiday makers Santa Cecilia's Elixir. Brian, represented by Peter Eade (who also looked after Joan Sims, Kenneth Williams and for a time writer Norman Hudis) was paid £100 for Abroad. 

On 15th May, Brian had written to Gerald informing him that his wife Elsie had, the night before, given birth to their daughter Helen Shirley. After sharing the happy news, Brian went on to apologise for being unable to attend the press show for Carry On Matron due to filming commitments with the television series 'Follyfoot" in Leeds. Two days later, on 17 May 1972, a handwritten letter from Brian's wife Elsie is also found on file. Thanking Peter and Gerald for "the really beautiful flower display in a cradle you sent for Helen", Elsie goes on to say:

I have been promoting your films to all the other patients and staff, without giving any other secrets away, so I hope box office sales do well.

It's a lovely record of a long ago act of kindness and reciprocity and the whole correspondence has a genuine thoughtfulness and feeling of innocence about it. It was a privilege to see it and a joy to read.

Thanks once again to the staff at the BFI for all their help. It was a wonderful experience to spend time going through Gerald's archive.

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Carry On Faces in Different Places: Floodtide

Here we go with a brand new series of blogs looking at some of the cream of British comedy film making from the 1950s, 60s and 70s. Although this blog is all about the Carry Ons, believe it or not, there were some other joyous comedy films made away from Peter Rogers Productions. However, given the quality of the actors Peter employed to make his series, it's no wonder that most of them popped up elsewhere.

So far I've looked at the wonderful 1959 crime caper Too Many Crooks , the 1954 domestic comedy starring Dirk Bogarde, For Better For Worse , the big screen spin off Please Sir! and the wonderful Up Pompeii and the brilliant John Gregson and Diana Dors vehicle, Value for Money.
  
Most recently I blogged about the Sid James and Kenneth Connor comedy horror What A Carve Up!

Today I'm going off track a bit with a blog about the 1949 romantic drama, with a bit of ship building thrown in, Floodtide.

Carry On Faces?

Quite a few Carry On connections in this film. There is a substantial supporting role for the wonderful Jimmy Logan playing Tim Brogan. This role is miles away from his parts as Bert Conway in Carry On Abroad and Cecil Gaybody (!) in Carry On Girls, but there is still plenty of cheeky charm! Also in the film is reliable Scottish character actress Molly Weir, playing landlady Mrs McTavish. Molly had a cameo in Carry On Regardless and much later, in the film of Bless This House.

Floodtide also co-stars the brilliant Janet Brown, years before her fame as Mrs Thatcher impersonator extraordinaire. Janet was of course married to Carry On legend Peter Butterworth from 1947 until his death in 1979. And the film leading couple are played by Gordon Jackson and Rona Anderson, whose main Carry On connection was that they were lifelong friends or Carry On star Kenneth Williams.

What's it about?

David Shields (Gordon Jackson), the son of a Scottish farmer, dreams of a life in the city. Against his father's wishes he obtains a job in the shipyards where his flair for design moves him swiftly up the ladder. This is resented by many of his colleagues, as is his impatience and dislike for performing menial tasks. However, David designs a revolutionary ship which impresses his boss, whose daughter (Rona Anderson) he is deeply in love with. Will he succeed in all he wishes to achieve?

Best Bit?

Much of the film is carried by the easy, affable charm of Gordon Jackson and his terrific chemistry with Rona Anderson and Jimmy Logan. My favourite scene sees a drunken Jackson lured back to the flat of scheming temptress Judy (Elizabeth Sellars). He is rescued just in the nick of time by Logan and Anderson and as Judy's true colours are revealed, Logan's Tim Brogan deals with her perfectly with the line "you'll get the jail for that caper, ye daft wee besom".

Did you know?

Gordon Jackson and Rona Anderson first met on the set of this film. They would go on to marry two years later, in 1951. They had an enduring marriage, which lasted until Gordon's early death from cancer in 1990. They worked together again on film in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie in 1969 and later still, when Rona surprised Gordon as one of the guest stars in an episode of The Professionals in 1981. The casting director Esta Charkham had kept Rona's casting secret from Jackson.


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Barbara Carries On ... As Sadie Tomkins

Barbara Windsor will be celebrating her 80th birthday this August. In the run up to this milestone, I've decided to blog profiles of each of her nine famous Carry On roles. Much the same as I did with both Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques, these blogs will take each part in turn and provide my own personal take on them. 

Barbara, or Dame Babs as it is now, is a showbiz legend in the UK, with a career dating back to the 1950s. As the recent Babs drama on BBC1 revealed, things haven't always been easy for Windsor, but her hard work and determination have seen her bounce back time and time again. No matter what else she has done in her career, the Carry Ons will always dominate. So let's carry on today with Barbars's role as Sadie Tomkins in Carry On Abroad.

 

Many people consider Carry On Abroad to be the last great Carry On film ever made. In 1972 a full roster of classic team members flew off for a long weekend package holiday to the delightful Spanish island of Elsbells. Ahem. As with many of the best films in the series, Abroad excels because it gently lampoons something currently in the public consciousness. In this case, the trend for foreign travel and the cheap package holiday. 

All the gang put it terrific performances and Abroad is surely one of the purest Carry Ons - it's innuendo followed by sight gag followed by witty one liner followed by full on slapstick throughout. There is none of the pathos that even Convenience managed the year before. In a cast littered with team members and memorable guest turns (particularly June Whitfield and Jimmy Logan) Barbara puts in a strong performance as Sadie.

The main plot (if it can be called that) circles around Vic Flange's attempt to sneak off on holiday with Sadie behind wife Cora's (Joan Sims) back.Sid and Joan work tremendously well together in Abroad and look so right behind the bar. Their relationship on screen, although highly comedic, is also truthful and believable. Cora is afraid of most forms of travel so Vic is used to travelling alone, only this time he fancies a bit on the side with Sadie Tomkins (Barbara Windsor). Vic's fiendish plan is sabotaged by an unknowing Jack Douglas and Cora ends up tagging along for the holiday. With fellow holidaymakers including Kenneth Connor, June Whitfield, Bernard Bresslaw and Charles Hawtrey, it was never going to be plain sailing! 

Before talking more about Barbara's role in the film, special mentions must go to three outstanding performances. Kenneth Williams is on deliciously manic form as Wundatours courier Stuart Farquhar while Peter Butterworth and Hattie Jacques are sublime as the inept owners of the Palace Hotel, which quickly crumbles around the British guests. It really is an all guns blazing film and due to Hawtrey's imminent departure at the end of the year, it would be the beginning of the end.

 

Barbara very much plays to type in Carry On Abroad (no surprises there). She's the cockney blonde with the big bust and the suitcase full of skanties ready to burst open as soon as she claps sight of Jimmy Logan. Originally planned as a bit of fun with Vic, Sadie's holiday romance turns out to be Scottish good time lad Bert Conway (Logan). There is much comedy gleaned from the rivalry between Logan and James for Barbara's affections while Joan Sims lurks in the background as the ultimate put upon wife. Sid and Barbara work extremely well together in this film and their chemistry is irresistible, although as always I think Sid and Joan are the far better partnership. Full marks also to Jimmy Logan for his spirited turn as Bert. As a known entity, coming into a long established film series must have been a challenge but I love Logan and it's great to have a Scottish actor involved. (I wish I could speak so positively of his follow up performance as Cecil Gaybody in Girls). 

I like Windsor and Logan together - they make for a believable couple and even if their on again off again relationship is a bit tedious, it only gets brief coverage due to Abroad's constant requirement for endless double entendres and slapstick. Barbara holds her own against the latest flock of new young Carry On actresses in the glamorous shapes of Sally Geeson, Carol Hawkins and Gail Grainger and while the role doesn't test her acting credentials (no surprise there) it's reassuringly Babs. There is the usual bra popping sequence with Sid in a hotel corridor with Joan watching on which is par for the course, however there is also a rather memorable (if not necessarily for the right reasons) shower scene featuring the same actors. Quite a lot of Barbara is on display in this scene and it's all for the benefit of a rather lame sight gag. It feels cheap and rather nasty to be honest and it highlights yet again how the formerly innocent Carry On brand was being stretched by this period in their history. Things would only deteriorate further once they had the Confessions films to compete with.

 

In the end all the couples are reunited or get together and a happy ending is guaranteed in what must be one of the most satisfying finales of any Carry On. All the main characters gatherered round the bar in Sid's pub. Barbara's Sadie Tomkins gets together with Logan and all is well. Joan and Sid are once again solid as a rock and the screen fades to black on surely the best collection of British comedy talent ever to grace the silver screen.

Abroad is probably the last great outing for the gang. Barbara would return for just two more films in the series, neither of which are particular favourites of mine. However, I shall attempt to put those feelings to one side as I continue this series with the next of Barbara's roles - as Hope Springs in the 1973 film, Carry On Girls. 

To finish, here's some classic innuendo from Carry On Abroad, featuring Barbara and Sid:

 

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