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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Guest Blog: Chris Stephenson on 'Our House'

Chris Stephenson recently wrote a guest blog for me on his own top 20 favourite Carry On actors and it was a great read. Chris has also written in on how he came to become such a fan of the Carry On series and a recent discovery of a classic comedy television series with a host of Carry On links.

So without further ado, it's over to Chris…

My first recollection of the Carry Ons was Carry On Henry at Butlins, Filey as their new film of the week! Being 10 I loved the visual gags but the rest passed by by! Growing up they crept more into my life and now they're my favourite comedy film franchise. Jim Dale, Sid James and Kenneths Williams and Connor are my favourite males while my female choices are more obscure with Angela Douglas, Jacki Piper, Liz Fraser and Dilys Laye being my favourites.

I was recently looking through the Network On Air sale (a great place for old TV and movies) and noticed a DVD called Our House, written by Norman Hudis and Starring Hattie Jacques (a librarian who turns into a foghorn outside the workplace), Joan Sims (whose employment record is second to none), Charles Hawtrey (an oddball who works in a rates office) and Norman Rossington (a law student) who along with five other share the same house!

The series ran from 1960 to 1962 and there were 39 episodes recorded (some 55 minutes and some 45 minutes) but due to some errors all but three were erased and those are on the DVD! Other famous faces appearing to various episodes included Bernard Bresslaw, Johnny Vyvyan, Hylda Baker, Deryck Guyler, Roy Hudd, Frank Williams, Frank Thornton and Leonard Sachs among others although most of these have been lost.

Although Talbot Rothwell is my favourite, Our House creator Norman Hudis is a Carry On legend himself and will go down in history as the scriptwriter for the first six Carry Ons, therefore helping them gain their lasting popularity. The surviving episodes are all from the first series and were broadcast in the September, October and November of 1960. The episodes themselves are a cross between a Carry On movie and a Brian Rix farce. Plenty of one liners ('It's only 86 and a half miles as the crow flies' 'Ooh that poor crow bust be really tired!') and visual gags interspersed with running around the set including up and down the stairs. In one of the episodes Charles plays his relatives including an aunt who is the spit of Lady Puddleton from Carry On Again Doctor! And in one scene Hattie even says the immortal line 'Carry On then'!

As a footnote the Our House producer Ernest Maxin produced programmes for such comedy greats as Norman Wisdom, Charlie Drake (in which he won the Golden Rose for Drake's rendition of the 1812 Overture), Dave Allen, Dick Emery, Les Dawson and Morecambe and Wise (including the 1976 and 1977 Christmas shows!).

Many thanks again to Chris for writing this really interesting Guest Blog.

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Carry On Originals: Norman Rossington

This is part of a new series of blogs looking back at the stars of the original Carry On film, Carry On Sergeant. 2018 marks 60 years since Sergeant was made and released so what better time to turn the focus on all those brilliant actors who brought our favourite series of comedy films to life?

We're continuing with an actor with the reputation as one of the nicest in the business, Norman Rossington.

Role in Carry On Sergeant: Herbert Brown

Other Carry On roles: Norman returned to Carry On for the role of Norm in Carry On Nurse, later in 1958. He also made a cameo appearance in Carry On Regardless in 1960 as the boxing referee. Over ten years later he played a supporting role in the 1972 Carry On Christmas television special, taking on roles originally written for the absent Charles Hawtrey.

Other notable film performances: Norman had roles in a number of well-remembered films including a Soldier in Saint Joan (1957); James Kieran in A Night To Remember (1958); Bert in Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960); Alfie in Go To Blazes (1962); Private Clough in The Longest Day (also 1962); Dewsnap in Young Winston (1972) and Gaffer Andrews in Joseph Andrews (1977). 

Best Remembered for: Playing Private "Cupcake" Cook in the Granada Television sitcom, The Army Game for three series. Norman also reprised his role as Cook for the big screen version, I Only Arsked, which starred Bernard Bresslaw.

Did you know?: Norman is the only actor to have appeared in films with both The Beatles and Elvis Presley. He worked on A Hard Day's Night with the Fab Four and also the Elvis film Double Trouble.

What happened to him?: Norman died in May 1999 after a six month battle with cancer. Just the year before he had returned to the world of Carry On one last time when he took part in the ITV 40th anniversary documentary, What's A Carry On?

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Connor Carries On ... as Bernie Bishop

Next June will mark Kenneth Connor's centenary. This feels like the right time to celebrate the man's legacy and what better a legacy that his seventeen glorious performances in the Carry On films. As I've already done with the three main leading ladies of the series, I plan to embark on a series of blogs profiling each of Kenneth's roles in the Carry Ons, giving my own take on his contributions.

Kenneth is another one of those actors who worked steadily, prolifically and across all mediums throughout his career. From his very early days in film before the outbreak of World War Two, through the 1950s which saw him become an integral part of British radio comedy to the Carry Ons and his unforgettable roles in several 1980s sitcoms, Connor was an incredibly gifted actor. He worked right up until his death at the age of 75 in November 1993. However unlike Sid, Kenneth Williams or Barbara Windsor, I feel that Connor never really got the credit he deserved. He didn't have an outrageous private life, no scandals to be told. He shunned the limelight and his many performances as the ordinary man in the street mirrored his own life away from the cameras. 

Kenneth was also one of the precious few actors who's career spanned pretty much the entire run of the Carry Ons. He was there at the very beginning in Carry On Sergeant and, a five year gap in the mind 1960s aside, remained loyal to the films until the very end of the original run in 1978. Connor, along with Williams and Eric Barker were the only actors to appear in the very first and the very last of the series. Kenneth was still around when Columbus was made in 1992 but declined to take part, probably very wisely. This new series of blogs will be a celebration of all those wonderful comedy performances in the Carry Ons - from bumbling romantic lead through to crumbling character parts, Kenneth could play them all.

So let's continue with Kenneth's second role in the series, as injured boxer Bernie Bishop in the hit film of 1959, Carry On Nurse. After the surprise success of Carry On Sergeant earlier in 1958, Peter Rogers seized on the opportunity of a follow up and set writer Norman Hudis the task of coming up with a medical comedy, tackling another great British institution - the National Health Service. Fortunately Norman's wife Rita was a nurse so he had plenty of real life experience to help make Nurse the biggest hit of the year and also a massive success in the United States. Rogers was clearly beginning to form a team for a series of films as Nurse sees the return of several key faces who not only contributed to Sergeant's success but would also go on to be series regulars for decades. As well as popular actors Shirley Eaton, Terence Longdon and Bill Owen, Nurse saw the return of Kenneths Williams and Connor, Charles Hawtrey and Hattie Jacques. Other new faces included the important additions of Joan Sims and Leslie Phillips.

As with Sergeant earlier that year, Connor proves to be the star of Carry On Nurse, at least for me. Bernie Bishop, arriving in hospital with a broken hand after a boxing match, is the film's every man. Although there are lapses into the funny voices that made him such a vital part of Ted Ray's radio gang and there is a fair amount of bumbling and farce, Connor also proves himself as a straight actor in several scenes which tug at the heart strings. Norman Hudis always added a grounded reality and a touch of social realism to his scripts and in Kenneth Connor, he found a way to contrast the daft antics of Leslie Phillips, Joan Sims and Charles Hawtrey. Resisting treatment and determined not to stay in a hospital "full of sick people" Connor's Bishop is quickly taken in hand both by his straight-talking wife and the hospital nurses and very wisely gives up on his second fight of the night!

Connor shares a few brief but satisfying scenes with Susan Shaw as his wife Jane. Shaw had been a rising star in the British film industry however by the time she appeared in this, her one and only Carry On, her fame was on the wane and a sad future lay ahead. Susan is great in Nurse and forms a believable and touching on screen partnership with Kenneth that leaves the audience wanting more. Kenneth also interacts beautifully with several other male patients on the ward, most noticeably in his chalk and cheese relationship with the snobbish, snotty intellectual Oliver Reckitt played by Kenneth Williams. A solid friendship and mutual respect was formed between these two actors and it's clear they enjoyed sparring together on screen.

Kenneth also features in one of my favourite scenes in Carry On Nurse. No, not the laughing gas sequence although that is pretty great. Michael Medwin and Norman Rossington both provide brilliant cameos as Bernie's boxing manager Ginge and the rather slow-witted fellow boxer Norm. The scene during visiting time sees Medwin try and teach Connor's Bernie a few sly tricks of the trade with the help of dim Norm with calamitous results! Full marks to Norman Rossington for winning all the prizes here when he has very little to say or do. Classic stuff. The mix of shy reluctance and masculine phwoar-ing from Connor is a joy to behold in Nurse. He goes from deep, caring and sensitive husband to shy patient as Nurse Susan Stephen 'reaches the bottom' of things during a blanket bath. That doesn't stop him Cor-ing away as Stephen steps up on a chair next to his bed to open a window. Typical Carry On stuff but quite tame compared to what would follow in the years to come.

Kenneth plays well as part of the gang of male patients which includes Williams, Cyril Chamberlain, Terence Longdon, Bill Owen, Leslie Phillips and Charles Hawtrey, already the loner on the fringes of the action. Bernie plays an active part in the climatic hospital operating scene towards the end of the film and Connor's gift for comic timing comes to the fore. Leslie's upper class twit of a character (Ding dong, you're not wrong!) is anxious to have his bunion removed so he can escape for a weekend of forbidden fruit with girlfriend Meg (Dame June Whitfield no less). Under the guidance of Williams, the gang decide rather drunkenly to get rid of Leslie's bunion once and for all! However, unfortunately the laughing gas in the theatre gets the better of them. Kenneth Connor's delightful giggles steal the show and the entire scene is a joy and an early example of Carry On humour at its very best.

Finally special mention to the delightful cameo from Jeremy Connor, Kenneth's very own son at the end of the film. When Bernie Bishop is discharged, wife Jane and son Jeremy (what a coincidence) turn up to take him home. As Kenneth greets his son, there is an unscheduled slap to the face from young Jeremy which clearly takes Kenneth by surprise but Gerald Thomas wisely left in the final print! As the family strolls off down the corridor, it brings Kenneth's beautifully played performance in Carry On Nurse to a satisfying conclusion.

Next up will be my blog on Kenneth's return to the world of Carry On in 1959 when he played bumbling, lovable science teacher Gregory Adams in Carry On Teacher. Stay tuned for that! 

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Our House

In the early 1960s television was becoming much more accessible in the United Kingdom. With the growing demand for programme content, the advent of the TV sitcom brought many stars of the big screen on to the small screen. As well as early hits such as The Army Game and Sykes, Our House also boasted Carry On connections.

For a start it was scripted by Norman Hudis, the man who put words in the mouths of Carry On actors for the first six films in the series. Our House also boasted a prime cast of early Carry On stars. It featured the likes of Charles Hawtrey, Hattie Jacques, Joan Sims, Norman Rossington and later Bernard Bresslaw. 

Our House was basically an excuse to put lots of exaggerated comedy characters into a big house and have them live together. Nothing wrong with that when the cast reads as above. I admit I've never seen this series before, this is partly due to the fact many episodes have disappeared or been wiped. Thankfully some kind soul has uploaded some of the surviving episodes to YouTube.

So sit back, relax and enjoy some of our favourite Carry On actors on the small screen. 

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Not Quite A Carry On: Nurse On Wheels

Away from the main Carry On series, producer Peter Rogers and director Gerald Thomas made many other films, particularly during the late 1950s and early 1960s. I want to start blogging about some of these other pictures, many of which are pretty much unofficial Carry Ons, featuring familiar faces, situations and writers. While some of them are not up to the Carry On standard, they are still close to my heart.

Let's start off with one of my favourites, Nurse On Wheels, released in 1963. This film was one of a glut of economically made British comedies that came on the back of the Carry Ons' growing success and attempted to tap into this lucrative market. It may not be particularly well known today but it boasts a cracking cast and is actually a very sweet film.

Nurse On Wheels tells the story of a district nurse who, having passed her driving test, takes up a new position in a small English village. The film follows her comic misadventures with the colourful local residents as well as her blossoming romance with a handsome local businessman. It is pretty twee but thanks to a good script, excellent performances and a cracking pace, it moves along well and is charming.

At the heart of Nurse On Wheels are the characters of Joanna and her mother, played brilliantly by Juliet Mills and Carry On regular (at that time) Esma Cannon. Juliet Mills, who would go on to star in Carry On Jack had previously worked for Rogers and Thomas in Twice Round The Daffodils and was obviously moving up the ranks. She is great in Nurse On Wheels, but my absolute favourite is Esma Cannon, who dithers, twitters and runs amok with wonderful comic timing. It is one of her most substantial film roles but sadly it would be her last as she retired not long afterwards.


The film also boasts supporting performances from other well known Carry On faces such as Joan Sims, Joan Hickson, Norman Rossington, Renee Houston and Jim Dale. Not a bad line up! We also get wonderful performances from Irish actor Noel Purcell, classic stage actress Athene Seyler, George Woodbridge, Deryck Guyler and Raymond Huntley. Playing the romantic lead in the film is Ronald Lewis, fresh from Twice Round The Daffodils. Lewis is effective in the lead role again and it's a shame we didn't see him in more films for Rogers and Thomas as he makes an excellent handsome hero.

The film meanders along and nothing major happens but it is charming and shows an old fashioned life long gone. Everyone acquits themselves well and the scenery is lovely. A perfect Saturday afternoon film to relax and enjoy.


Sadly, there is one downside to Nurse On Wheels and it's nothing directly to do with the finished film itself. Originally Joan Sims was asked to play the lead role of Joanna in the film and apparently Joan was thrilled to have a starring role at last. Unfortunately before filming started, Peter Rogers wrote to Joan to tell her the part had been recast and now Juliet Mills was starring. 

According to Joan's autobiography it had been agreed that she wasn't slim enough for the leading role. One can only imagine what a blow this must have been for Joan, particularly given how fragile her confidence could sometimes be. Although I like Juliet Mills, it would have been fantastic to see Joan take top billing in a film like this. Joan may not have been as slim, but she was still a gorgeous, funny, extremely talented actress and she certainly didn't deserve to be sidelined. 

Anyway, I digress. Although Joan didn't take the lead role, I still love Nurse On Wheels. It's a prime example of an early 1960s feel-good British comedy film, something of the like we don't see much of these days. Check it out next time you see it in the television schedules or hunt it down on DVD.

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