Happy Birthday Sheila Hancock!

Many happy returns to the wonderful Sheila Hancock who celebrates her birthday today. Sheila is well known and often celebrated for her long and illustrious career on stage, film and television. 

Sheila has also become a successful author in more recent years, publishing two memoirs - one about her life with her late husband, the actor John Thaw and another on her life after his sad death in 2002. She has also written her first novel, Miss Carter's War and I was lucky enough to attend a Q&A on this back in 2014.

Sheila has featured in many classic films and television shows over the years but is mainly known to Carry On fans for her definitive performance as Senna Pod, wife of Hengist, inventor of the square wheel, in Carry On Cleo. Sheila was on wonderful form opposite Kenneth Connor. She also worked with Carry On favourite Esma Cannon in the early 1960s sitcom, The Rag Trade and several years later, alongside her life long friend Dilys Laye in My Digby Darling. 

In the early 1960s Sheila co-starred with Kenneth Williams in the West End revue, One Over The Eight. Unlike many of Kenneth's other leading ladies, Hancock took very little of his usual pranks and nonsense, stood up to Kenny and the two became close friends. Sheila even appeared on Just A Minute alongside Kenneth in the late 1960s. It wasn't until recently that I realised Sheila also shares a birthday with the great man.

So whatever Sheila is up to today, I hope she has a wonderful birthday!


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan

Art & Hue Presents: Funny Men

To bring style and fun to your walls, Art & Hue has launched a new collection of stylish pop art prints featuring British comedians and comic actors.

Funny-"ha-ha", in a humorous and comical way, but also funny-"peculiar" with their offbeat, quirky characters and work, these unique talents have brought joy to countless listeners & viewers across the years through their idiosyncratic performances.

Peter Sellers, John Cleese, Benny Hill, Tony Hancock, Frankie Howerd, Bernard Cribbins, John Inman, Leonard Rossiter, Ronnie Barker, & Ronnie Corbett all get the pop art treatment in this collection of iconic funny men from British film & television. 

An official collaboration with Studiocanal, Art & Hue has delved into the archives to uncover images of classic British comedy stars which have been transformed into ten stylish pop art prints.

Exclusively by Art & Hue, the collection is available in three sizes and 18 colour options, printed on museum-quality archival card of 310gsm, made from 100% cotton, with fine-art pigment inks for longevity.

Visit artandhue.com/funnymen to see the full collection.

And if you are looking for something extra special for Valentine's Day check out the Art & Hue range of stylish cards and pop art here: http://artandhue.com/valentines-day/


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram  

Carry On Advertising - Carry On Cabby

This blog is part of a new little series on Carry On Blogging, looking back at the changing face of the Carry On films during their original twenty year run. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the way the films were advertised to the cinema-going public of Great Britain over the years. These days when I do go to the cinema, I try to avoid the trailers as they tend to go on for rather too long, but of course, with Carry On it's a different story!

Thankfully most of the original trailers are now available to peruse on the internet and they provide a unique time capsule of British film history. The changing tastes of mores of the film-going public can easily be traced through these adverts as can the changing face of the British film industry and the social attitudes of the time. It's also fascinating to see how first Anglo Amalgamated and then later on, the Rank Organisation, chose to market and sell these low budget, knockabout comedies. 

Today I'm focussing on the very first Carry On to be written by the legendary Talbot Rothwell, the man who would usher the films through their golden era. Cabby remains by all time favourite film in the series due to its grittier feel, touch of kitchen sink social realism and strong performances from Sid James and most of all, Hattie Jacques. While remaining very much a Carry On, Cabby also taps into changing times both at the cinema and in real life. Its topical feel marks it out from many other Carry Ons and for me it just can't be beat! 

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Catch Bless This House this evening on Talking Pictures TV!

This evening Talking Pictures TV are showing yet another comedy classic from the golden age of British film comedy. Possibly the closest any other film got to being an official part of the Carry On team without actually gaining the Carry On title, Bless This House was yet another quickly made, cheaply made picture from Peter Rogers Productions. A big screen version of the hit Thames Television domestic sitcom, bringing Bless This House to the cinema was just another part of the very 1970s trend of transferring TV comedy favourites to film. This had varying results with some performing better than others. I think we can agree Bless This House is probably one of the most successful.

Part of its success is down to the Carry On-like quality the film has, mainly down to the personnel employed both in front of and behind the camera. Bless This House remains a hugely popular film, 47 years after it was first released. It's easy going, has bags of charm, remains completely light, frothy, undemanding and innocent and in modern, more cynical times its special brand of escapism is very appealing. Nothing really happens across its 80 odd minutes and basically writer Dave Freeman, who would go on to pen Carry On Behind and Columbus, stitches together three potential small screen half hours into one film. 

There's the traditional suburban new neighbours move in and don't get on with those around them strand. So what you say? Well when the main opponents are Sid James and an extremely pompous pre-Terry and June Terry Scott, you have comedy magic. Then there's the farcical wedding strand which sees the offspring of Sid and Terry (Robin Askwith and Carol Hawkins) hitch up and get hitched. Of course nothing goes to plan but all's well in the end. In between all this there are several small plots of little consequence such as Sally Geeson's naive 1970s environmental activism, Diana Coupland and Patsy Rowlands hoarding junk for a future antiques business and best of all, Sid and best mate Peter Butterworth attempting to make their own alcohol in the garden shed, with startling results! 

In the hands of lesser actors, all of this would have fallen flat and this little film would be a very distant memory. As with the main Carry On series, the secret of this films' success is the casting. The film is mainly made up of instantly recognisable Carry On faces with only leading lady Diana Coupland failing to Carry On elsewhere (a great pity I think I as you can read here: Should Diana Coupland have carried on? Leading team members Sid James, Peter Butterworth and Patsy Rowlands are joined by Carry On supporting players Terry Scott, June Whitfield, Marianne Stone, Bill Maynard, Patricia Franklin, Julian Orchard, Molly Weir, Wendy Richard and Johnny Briggs. Phew! It seems to modern viewers that Peter Rogers basically arranged for the cast of the early 1970s Carry Ons to decamp to suburban Windsor for six weeks. Recent Carry On starlets Carol Hawkins and Sally Geeson also grab leading roles while rising star Robin Askwith, soon to appear in Carry On Girls and then the Confessions series, plays Sid's son Mike. Quite an ensemble!

Of course several of these actors transferred across from the television version of Bless This House. Alongside Sid, Sally Geeson played daughter Sally in all 65 episodes of the sitcom alongside Diana Coupland. Patsy Rowlands too was a semi-regular in the sitcom as neighbour Betty. However the actors playing Trevor and Mike did not appear in the film. I don't really know why Anthony Jackson and Robin Stewart were replaced by Peter Butterworth and Robin Askwith but I can't fault either of the actors who stepped into the film. To complicate matters further, the likes of June Whitfield and Marianne Stone also appeared in the television series, albeit in very different roles!

Many of the core Carry On crew also appeared behind the camera on Bless This House. Pinewood stalwart Alan Hume was in charge of photography, Eric Rogers did the music while even the hair and make up team moved across in the familiar guise of Stella Rivers and Geoff Rodway. It really was a team effort and a film family and us fans take great comfort from seeing all these names scrolling across the screen once again. 

So make a date to catch up with your favourite comedy character actors in an undemanding hour and half of slapstick, gentle humour and family fun. 

Bless This House is on Talking Pictures TV tonight at 7.10pm. Find out more here: https://talkingpicturestv.co.uk


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Happy Birthday Ian Lavender!

 

The youngest member of the original Dad's Army team celebrates a milestone birthday today! Yes, Ian Lavender, that stupid boy, turns 73! Many happy returns to him. Ian was back on the big screen last year having filmed a cameo role in the new version of the BBC sitcom classic.

To Carry On fans, Ian is familiar for his supporting role as Joe Baxter in Carry On Behind. While I love Behind and think it is the last great Carry On, I do think Ian is wasted in the film and barely gets a look in. Ian is quite clearly brought in as the next generation Jim Dale with Adrienne Posta playing his wife as a bubbly blonde Barbara Windsor type. I think both actors did well in their roles and I believe they were asked back for the next film (or at least on the casting list) but sadly neither joined in again for Carry On England.

I think Ian Lavender was ideal casting for a Carry On, bringing that much needed youthful comedy. He may not have had the same comic physicality as Jim Dale but he was certainly a welcome addition to the team. At the time Ian was branching out into several other low brow British comedy films including roles in Confessions of a Pop Performer, Adventures of a Taxi Driver, Adventures of a Private Eye and Not Now, Comrade. All classics I'm sure you'll agree (!)

 

Thankfully Ian is still flying the flag for British comedy today and is still as busy as ever. Whatever he is up to today, I hope he has an excellent birthday. 

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan 

From Stage to Screen: A New Range of Pop Art from Art & Hue

Art & Hue treads the boards for the new collection of stylish pop art inspired by plays adapted into films.

From the glitzy showbiz of musicals to the provocative black comedy of Joe Orton, Art & Hue has transformed images from the archives of Studiocanal into eight stylish pop art prints which celebrate iconic productions and actors.

All prints in the "From Stage to Screen" collection are available in three sizes and a wide choice of colour options, including a new combination of vibrant orange & purple inspired by posters from the 1968 production of "The Anniversary" starring Bette Davis.

The theatrical collection includes a re-imagined poster for the first all-British "talking picture" with sound released in 1929, "BlackMail" directed by Alfred Hitchcock, as well as Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr Sloane" with Beryl Reid, Peter McEnery & Harry Andrews.

Screen doyenne Bette Davis in "The Anniversary" gets the Art & Hue treatment as does the cult B-movie sci-fi production of "Devil Girl From Mars" with Patricia Laffan.

The Edinburgh-set musical "Let's Be Happy" is pure Strictly-come-dancing ballroom glamour, with Tony Martin in his white tuxedo and Vera-Ellen as a high-kicking showgirl.

Completing the collection, ukelele king George Formby features in an illustrated reworking of "Turned Out Nice Again" and Barbara Windsor takes centre-stage as the prominent star of Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop production of "Sparrows Can't Sing".

A stylish way to bring the theatre into the home, the collection features Art & Hue's signature halftone style (halftone is an age-old technique that uses dots to make up the printed image, similar to newspapers or comic books).

Unlike traditional posters, which are printed on thin paper with inks that fade, Art & Hue creates giclée art prints, printed on 310gsm archival card, made from 100% cotton, with fine-art museum-grade pigment inks to last hundreds of years.

 

Usher stylish pop art prints into your home, exclusively online at artandhue.com/plays  

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Carry On Advertising - Carry On Cruising

This blog is part of a new little series on Carry On Blogging, looking back at the changing face of the Carry On films during their original twenty year run. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the way the films were advertised to the cinema-going public of Great Britain over the years. These days when I do go to the cinema, I try to avoid the trailers as they tend to go on for rather too long, but of course, with Carry On it's a different story!

Thankfully most of the original trailers are now available to peruse on the internet and they provide a unique time capsule of British film history. The changing tastes of mores of the film-going public can easily be traced through these adverts as can the changing face of the British film industry and the social attitudes of the time. It's also fascinating to see how first Anglo Amalgamated and then later on, the Rank Organisation, chose to market and sell these low budget, knockabout comedies. 

Today we're continuing with the very first Carry On to be made in glorious technicolor and the very last to be written by the master of comedy pathos, Norman Hudis. Yes it's Carry On Cruising. Cruising remains a real favourite among fans despite it not featuring many of the core team - Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques and Charles Hawtrey are all absent. It does allow actors like Esma Cannon, Cyril Chamberlain and Dilys Laye to grab more screen time however and that's certainly not a bad thing. This trailer takes full advantage of the bright, colourful, carefree feeling of the film and really does capture the lovely light early 1960s optimism. I hope you enjoy it.

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

The Star of … Carry On Constable

I have decided to dedicate a new series of blogs to what I consider to be the very best performances in each of the thirty original Carry On films. As ever, it's a purely personal take on these films from yours truly and of course you are welcome to agree or disagree as you see fit! 

Since I started the blog in 2015 I have often championed the underdog or the under appreciated. The Carry On series employed hundreds of cracking comedy actors during their twenty year lifespan and while I've done my best to celebrate as many of them as possible, there is still much to do to preserve their legacy. Some of the actors featured in this new series will be household names and leading lights, others perhaps not so well known. Whoever they are, I hope you enjoy reading about my chosen few.

The first in this series saw me write about my love for Kenneth Connor's role as Horace Strong in Carry On Sergeant and then, moving forward to later in 1958, we focused on Kenneth Williams in Carry On Nurse. My star of Carry On Teacher, released in 1959, was that wonderful character actress Rosalind Knight, playing strict school inspector Felicity Wheeler. Today I'm moving on to a rather momentous film in the long running series, Carry On Constable. 

Filmed in late 1959 and released the following year, Constable continued the familiar Norman Hudis pattern of focussing on a beloved British institution and letting those well known Carry On faces run amok within it. Constable tells the simple story of a group of raw recruits flung into the heart of the action at a London police station after many of the regular officers go down with flu. Given that those bumbling new recruits are Kenneth Williams, Kenneth Connor and Leslie Phillips and you pretty much know what you're going to get! Add in Charles Hawtrey's effete Special Constable Gorse and you have a right shower (literally). Following on from Teacher, Hudis again makes the most effective characters the women with both Hattie Jacques and Joan Sims playing strong female characters. With a nod to previous efforts, there is a starring role for Sergeant leading man Eric Barker and cameos from the likes of Terence Longdon and Shirley Eaton, bringing some lovely continuity. 

So who is the star of the film for me? Of course, it has to be a debuting Sidney James as Sergeant Frank Wilkins. Sid breezes into the mayhem as only he could. Grabbing the starring role from the off, his top billing position would be held almost continuously across the series until his departure in 1974. While the two Kenneths, Charles and Leslie grab most of the action and the laughs, Sid calmly does his thing and is amazingly assured given he was new to an already established hit comedy series. Sidney just does what he always did and makes it look oh so easy. 

Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas had hoped to sign up Ted Ray's services again following his successful star turn as William Wakefield, head teacher of Maudlin Street School in the previous film, Carry On Teacher. Sadly Ted was signed to a rival company and the good will which allowed him to work for Peter in both Teacher and that under appreciated comedy Please Turn Over, did not extend to making him a Carry On regular. Peter and Gerald then made the inspired decision to hire Sid James and the rest, as they say, is history. Sid was a household name by the late 1950s thanks to over a decade working his way through the ranks of British film, including some classic Ealing comedies and some unforgettable work on radio and television with Tony Hancock. Having already worked with the likes of Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams, it was such a natural fit for Sid to join the Carry On fun.

In Constable, Sid is the authority figure Hudis always needed as calm centre of the film providing the contrast to the high jinks and slapstick going on all around him. Sid was the everyman here, with the audience rooting for him against his superior, the irritatingly suburban and nagging Inspector Mills. At the heart of the film also is the gentle friendship turned romance between Sid's character and Hattie's Sergeant Laura Moon. The pair have such easy chemistry and are a joy to watch. Watching Constable back now, it's hard to believe it's Sid's first outing with the team, it's just so effortless and he gels extremely well with every single member of the gang.

His underplayed disbelief at the superstitious Constable Constable (Connor) is one of the highlights as is his gentle mocking of the supercilious Benson (Williams). I also love his age and experience versus youthful vigour relationship with Leslie's character. It's all funny and yet also believable. One of the joys of Sid's casting is that he was mainly known at that stage for playing slightly dodgy articles on the wrong side of the law and here he is playing a fine upstanding policeman! The about face casting works a treat though as while we all invest in his turn as a copper, it's still clear Sid's Wilkins has still seen plenty of life. His partnership with fellow old timer Cyril Chamberlain is also very natural and enjoyable. 

Sid is relatively subtle and down to earth in this early Carry On role is also a very refreshing turn of events. There are elements of his Hancock persona for sure - after all Peter Rogers would have been daft not to incorporate this most successful of comedy characters - however there is very little of the lusty woman chaser we'd see in the later Talbot Rothwell films. He's positively restrained! There are glimpses of his cheeky side though, particularly when he comes across a ravishing Shirley Eaton about to err with cheeky P.C Potter and once again when he interrupts Kenneth Connor and a scantily clad Dorinda Stevens. There is much more character to Frank Wilkins though than some of Sid's later performances which while always a dream to watch, did become much more formulaic. Which is no fault of the actor by the way.

Sid's earliest Carry On roles are definitely his most interesting for me. He is the authority figure in the next two films too - Regardless, as the boss of Helping Hands and as Captain Crowther in Cruising, which happens to be one of my favourites of all his roles. There is much to enjoy in Constable though and it's easy to see why Sid so quickly became the Carry On lynchpin performer Peter and Gerald were so obviously looking for. 

Constable works so well as the audience gets behind Sid's authoritative yet sympathetic leading character right from the start. The end of the film is also very satisfying as not only is Sid's Frank Wilkins promoted but he also paves the way for a delightful romance with Hattie's Sergeant Moon. The stage was set for many more Carry On adventures for our Sidney and for that reason alone, Mr James is my star of Carry On Constable. The world of Carry On would never be the same again! 



You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Butterworth Carries On … as Simpson!

A couple of years back I started a regular series of blogs which profiled each of Joan Sims' fabulous 24 Carry On roles. I enjoyed giving each performance a turn in the spotlight so once I completed the mammoth task of writing about everything from Nurse Stella Dawson to Mrs Dangle, I went on to blog about all of Hattie Jacques' roles in the series and then those portrayed by Dame Barbara Windsor.

More recently I have carried out the same task for two of Carry Ons' unsung heroes - Kenneth Connor and Bernard Bresslaw. Now I will turn my attentions to all sixteen of Peter Butterworth's delightful supporting turns in the Carry On series. Peter, along with Sid James and Joan Sims, has long been one of my very favourite comedy actors and favourite members of the Carry On troupe. Sadly, Peter has received scant attention from the wider press, with only diehard fans really giving his acting talent the praise it so rightly deserves.

Peter joined the Carry On team in 1965 for Carry On Cowboy and remained a loyal servant to the series pretty much right through until the end of the original series in 1978. He was also a frequent contributor to many of the team's small screen outings and appeared alongside Sid James, Barbara Windsor and several others in the Carry On London stage farce in the early 1970s. He never put a foot wrong and was the master scene stealer. 2019 marks not only one hundred years since Peter's birth but also, sadly, forty years since he passed away. It therefore seems fitting to devote some blogging time to his wonderful performances.

Follow on from my first blogs in this series on Peter's roles in Carry On Cowboy, Screaming and Don't Lose Your Head today I'm looking at his performance as the supportive butler and perpetual scene stealer (once again) in Carry On … Follow That Camel.

Follow That Camel was the second film in a row in the series to be released originally without the Carry On … suffix. The Rank Organisation, while keen to release Peter Rogers' successful comedies, were still less than enthused with being linked to a series so associated with another distributor. This foreign legion comedy saw other changes too. Leading man Sid James was out of the series following a heart attack and with Rank keen to boost ticket sales in the United States, international guest star Phil Silvers was drafted in to play Sergeant Nocker. The legendary star of Bilko created much publicity however the jury is out as to just how successful his brand of comedy jelled with the Carry Ons.

Elsewhere it was business as usual, with regulars Jim Dale, Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey all taking major roles in the film. Angela Douglas has probably her best part in the series as Lady Jane Ponsonby; Anita Harris makes her series debut as Cork Tip and Joan Sims pops up for an eye catching cameo as bar owner Zig Zig. Although limited in screen time, Joan makes quite an impression as the busty, earthy character! So what of Peter Butterworth?

Well Peter is quite simply one of the highlights of the film. Camel is a workhorse of a Carry On picture, it's neither a classic or a total write off, but the absence of Sid James and the out of place performance by international guest star Phil Silvers takes things in the wrong direction. I love Phil Silvers as Bilko but it just doesn't work surrounded by the most English of English eccentrics, the Carry On team. Everyone else gives it their best but the film misses  the usual down to earth tour de force only Sid could provide. For me, the partnership of Jim Dale and Peter Butterworth is the driving force of Follow That Camel, the pair are simply superb together. As with nearly all of his outings in the series, Peter excels as second in command, the funny man in a double act and the irrepressible scene stealer. 

While Jim is on fine form as the handsome hero Bo West, Peter is his ever loyal butler Simpson, refusing to let his Lord and Master suffer through life in the Foreign Legion by himself. After Bo apparently disgraces himself on the cricket pitch, he takes off from England's green and pleasant land, leaving his love Lady Jane behind. Once signed up, West and Simpson's English ways clash bitterly with the French Foreign Legion and Silvers' Sergeant Knocker! Peter is the perfect English gentleman, ably supporting Jim's upper class hero and the pair make for a deliciously comic duo - typical English eccentrics abroad.

There is plenty of opportunity for Peter to exploit the comedy in each situation to the max. The scenes at Joan Sims' Cafe Zig Zig are a joy, particularly once Anita Harris appears as the sultry Cork Tip. As she dances and cavorts, Peter's reaction shots are sublime. He really does make the most of every opportunity. Jim and Peter obviously got on splendidly well and it amazes me that they both managed to keep a straight face. Of course, this being a Carry On, someone ends up in drag and once again it's Butterworth. Following on from his super turn in woman's attire in Carry On Screaming, Peter drags up rather unconvincingly again here in Camel as one of Abdul's harem girls! 

The resultant scene of Abdul chasing Simpson around the tent is all shadows and hilarious commentary from Peter. A total professional and veteran of countless pantos and reviews, Peter embraced these scenes for all they were worth and really relished the comedy in dragging up so preposterously. While a good deal of Camel leaves a lot to be desired, the action immediately picks up when Peter and Jim appear together on screen. Once again hovering down the cast list and not even grabbing a 'starring' role, Peter steals so many scenes and four films into his run, clearly makes himself indispensable to Peter Rogers Productions. 

So far Peter had only appeared in historical, costume Carry On epics. The next film would see him in a much more contemporary setting as the series returned to the hospital wards for Carry On Doctor. In a cast bulging with series regulars and a big name guest star, Peter received less screen time than in previous films but still made his mark as we'll see in my next blog.

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

What a Carry On this Sunday!

Watch out tomorrow for two classic Carry On films in the television schedules. One in the morning, on at teatime, so you can spend the day sprawled on the couch with our favourite comedy actors. ITV3 are showing one of the last great classics from the series from the early 1970s while over on Film4, one of the crowning glories from the Anglo Amalgamated era. So sit back and enjoy. Here are the details:

Carry On Abroad -  11am, ITV3

Continuing on in chronological order is this classic, one of my all time favourites and a film many would argue is the last truly great Carry On in the series. The gang take on the fashionable 70s trend for foreign package holidays and there is much rich comedy and farcical situations to be found in sending the great bunch of British eccentrics ever to take to the silver screen! Sid James and Joan Sims are the best pub landlords in comedy film history and Kenneth Williams excels as a rather posh, frustrated package holiday tour guide. A lovely supporting cast includes Bernard Bresslaw, June Whitfield, Kenneth Connor, Carol Hawkins, Jimmy Logan and Gail Grainger while Peter Butterworth and Hattie Jacques are the best as the Spanish hosts! Sadly this film also marked Charles Hawtrey's last Carry On and indeed his last ever film role.

Further reading: Carry On Blogging Interview: Sally Geeson 
Carry On Blogging: Whatever Happened to Gail Grainger? 
Carry On Blogging: My Top Ten Carry Ons - Carry On Abroad 

Carry On Cleo - 5.05pm, Film4

Surely one of the best ever films in the entire series, this send up of the big budget Hollywood Cleopatra movie featured particularly lush costumes and sets mainly because the Elizabeth Taylor epic left loads of gear behind when they left Buckinghamshire for a sunnier climate in 1963. Cleo boasts a stunning star turn from Amanda Barrie as the dippy, rather camp Cleopatra who spends most of her time up to her neck in asses' milk. Also along for the ride are Sid James as a very Hancockian Mark Anthony and Kenneth Williams as the definitive comic Julius Caesar. For me though, one of the stand outs is Kenneth Connor as the beautifully judged timid slave, Hengist Pod, inventor of the square wheel. Charles Hawtrey, Jim Dale and Joan Sims provide peerless support.

Further reading - Carry On Blogging Interview: Amanda Barrie 
Carry On Blogging: Five Reasons Why I Love Carry On Cleo 


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Carrying On with … Confessions of a Pop Performer!

I've written before about the Confessions series of bawdy comedy films from the 1970s but really only from the perspective of the effect they had on the slightly more innocent Carry On films we all cherish. The Confessions films have suffered the same fate as the Carry Ons in that they have frequently been looked down on, written off or just plain criticised.

However these films all featured a superb range of actors and provided entertainment to the masses during years when perhaps the country sometimes didn't have that much to laugh about. What interests me a great deal about these films is how they represent the changing face of British society. By the time Confessions of a Window Cleaner burst onto cinema screens up and down the land in 1974, censorship had been relaxed and a whole new generation were much more liberally minded. 

Last time, I focussed on the hugely popular Confessions of a Window Cleaner, the sexy comedy film which burst onto cinema screens across the country back in 1974 and catapulted leading man Robin Askwith to lasting fame. Today I thought I would move on to the following year and another big hit, Confessions of a Pop Performer. Many of the same original team from Window Cleaner returned for this second outing with recurring actors Bill Maynard, Sheila White and Tony Booth appearing again as the traditional sitcom style family around Robin's Timmy Lea. They provide the grounding and the basis for much of the comedy in between the racier material. Sadly Dandy Nichols did not return to play Mrs Lea after the previous film but she was ably replaced by fellow sitcom legend Doris Hare. Doris would go on to appear in both further Confessions films. 

Val Guest, that legendary British film director, chose not to make another Confessions film, allegedly because his wife wasn't keen on him being on set with so many scantily clad nubile young actresses! Columbia Pictures, the big name backer of these low budget comedies and clearly cleaned up with Window Cleaner (as it were) and were keen for more antics. And Mr Askwith was only too happy to oblige! Pop Performer sees Booth's wheeler dealer character become manager to a dubious pop group called Kipper and Timmy gets involved too. The usual slapstick and naughtiness follows as I'm sure you'll already know.

There are several Carry On links to this film and not just in front of the camera. The brilliant cinematographer Alan Hume, who worked on countless Carry Ons as well as big budget pictures in the Star Wars and James Bond franchises, worked on Pop Performer. Frank Bevis, Production Manager on this film, was also involved in many Carry Ons. Frank was Production Manager on Carry On Sergeant, Nurse, Teacher and Constable and later worked as an Associate Producer on Cabby, Jack, Spying, Cleo, Cowboy and Screaming!

In front of the camera, we've of course got the brilliant Robin Askwith, who had already made a name for himself as Larry in Carry On Girls and as Sid's son Mike in the film of Bless This House. And Bill Maynard, there once again as Mr Lea, appeared in supporting roles in five 1970s Carry Ons. Playing a major supporting role in Pop Performer is the lovely Carol Hawkins as the rather proper journalist, Jill Brown, object of Timmy's affections. Carol had already appeared in Carry On Abroad by this stage, playing Marge and the same year worked with Robin in Bless This House. 1975, the year Pop Performer was made, also saw Carol return to Carry On for a major supporting role as glamorous camper Sandra in Carry On Behind as well as co-starring in two episodes of the ATV series Carry On Laughing. Despite the raunchier material in the Confessions film, Carol maintains her dignity throughout, I hasten to add!

Also appearing is that wonderful comedy character actor Peter Jones. Playing a rather obvious send up of a notorious television host, Peter rather over eggs it as Maxy Naus. Another recruit from the world of television comedy is the great Ian Lavender in a cameo turn as Rodney, which involves a lot of funny business with a pantomime horse! Say no more. Ian  was still appearing as Private Pike in Dad's Army at the time and also in 1975 he cropped up in Carry On Behind as Adrienne Posta's husband. Clearly in the Jim Dale persona, sadly Ian suffered from a lack of screen time. Ian's Dad's Army co-star, the late great Bill Pertwee also pops in for a brief cameo in Pop Performer as the stereotypical angry husband who chases Robin's Timmy off with the help of a javelin! 

Two future Carry On girls made quite an impact in Pop Performer as the aptly named Climax Sisters, a truly awful singing double act! Giving a rather spirited performance are Diane Langton and Linda Regan as Ruby and Brenda Climax. Diane would go on to appear in Carry On Laughing on television the same year and in 1976 would take on the Barbara Windsor persona in the awful Carry On England. Joining Diane in England was Linda Regan who several years before had a small part in one of the Carry On Christmas television specials.

Playing Augustus is that instantly recognisable character actor Robert Dorning. Robert would join what was left of the Carry On team three years later to play The Prime Minister in Carry On Emmannuelle. Also look out for Darth Vader himself, Dave Prowse in a brief cameo as a Man in the Cinema. Dave had played a small role as a Bearded Torturer in Carry On Henry five years earlier. Playing Mr Barnwell is the small screen comedy actor Bob Todd, who had already played two small Carry On roles. He had a wordless cameo as a patient in Again Doctor on the big screen and played two small parts in Carry On Again Christmas in 1970. And finally Carry On Behind cameo player, the Danish born actress Helli Louise, plays Eva, one of Timmy's conquests. We see rather a lot of her here, as did Peter Butterworth in yet another shocking Carry On shower scene also in 1975 when she popped up and out in Carry On Behind. 

Pop Performer clearly cashed in on the very best of British comedy talent from both the big and small screen and followed the pattern started with Window Cleaner in casting a mix of 'interesting' young starlets alongside some instantly recognisable and well respected comedy performers. The content might have dated and may not be for everyone but it's all lighthearted fun and exists today as a fascinating time capsule of a Britain in tumult undergoing great social and cultural change. Watch out for a small cameo from future leading lady Rula Lenska as a rather harrassed receptionist and even a fairly major supporting turn from a pre-The Gentle Touch Jill Gascoine, revealing rather a lot as Mrs Barnwell. 

If the sight of legendary character actress Rita Webb running about a freezing cold Borehamwood housing estate screaming "Have you seen my Fanny?" gives you the giggles, Confessions of a Pop Performer is definitely for you!! As far as I'm concerned, anything that gives us plenty of Bill Maynard, Carol Hawkins and Peter Jones is fine by me. And Robin does what only Robin could. And he does it with aplomb! 

Compared to some of the content we see on our screens these days, Pop Performer is relatively tame but watching it again, it's clear times have certainly changed! It's quite possibly the most gloriously Seventies film I've ever seen. And that's a compliment! 


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Butterworth Carries On … As Bidet

A couple of years back I started a regular series of blogs which profiled each of Joan Sims' fabulous 24 Carry On roles. I enjoyed giving each performance a turn in the spotlight so once I completed the mammoth task of writing about everything from Nurse Stella Dawson to Mrs Dangle, I went on to blog about all of Hattie Jacques' roles in the series and then those portrayed by Dame Barbara Windsor.

More recently I have carried out the same task for two of Carry Ons' unsung heroes - Kenneth Connor and Bernard Bresslaw. Now I will turn my attentions to all sixteen of Peter Butterworth's delightful supporting turns in the Carry On series. Peter, along with Sid James and Joan Sims, has long been one of my very favourite comedy actors and favourite members of the Carry On troupe. Sadly, Peter has received scant attention from the wider press, with only diehard fans really giving his acting talent the praise it so rightly deserves.

Peter joined the Carry On team in 1965 for Carry On Cowboy and remained a loyal servant to the series pretty much right through until the end of the original series in 1978. He was also a frequent contributor to many of the team's small screen outings and appeared alongside Sid James, Barbara Windsor and several others in the Carry On London stage farce in the early 1970s. He never put a foot wrong and was the master scene stealer. 2019 marks not only one hundred years since Peter's birth but also, sadly, forty years since he passed away. It therefore seems fitting to devote some blogging time to his wonderful performances.

Follow on from my first two blogs in this series on Peter's roles in Carry On Cowboy and Screaming, today I'm looking at his performance as the conniving if slightly slow-witted CItizen Bidet in the 1966 film, Don't Lose Your Head. This French Revolution romp was an important picture for Peter Rogers Productions as it was the transition film in many ways. After parting company with Anglo Amalgamated earlier that year, Peter signed on with The Rank Organisation as the Carry On films' distributor. However Rank were not keen on using the Carry On moniker as it linked the series too much with their rival, Anglo. Hence why the film was released in the first instance simply as Don't Lose Your Head. After this entry and the next in the series performed less well at the box office, they were both re-released with the Carry On title and took off up the charts! Given that the films were made by the same crew, written by the same writer and starred many of the same faces, it was surely only a matter of time.

Don't Lose Your Head is another costume heavy, period comedy parody, sending up films like The Scarlet Pimpernel. The film pitches goodies versus baddies and English versus French as landed gentry Sir Rodney Ffing and Lord Darcy (Sid James and Jim Dale) head to France and the guillotine to rescue their French aristocratic counterparts, including the foppish Duke de Pommefrite (Charles Hawtrey). Much of the film sees the enraged and increasingly deranged revolutionary leader Citizen Camembert attempting to unfrock the English Master of Disguise and this cat and mouse game is very funny when it's Sid pitched against the high camp of Kenneth Williams. It's a glorious film full of delicious performances, brilliant sets and locations, cracking costumes and plenty of action. 

So what about Peter Butterworth's role in proceedings? Peter grabs one of his most substantial supporting turns in Don't Lose Your Head. As with his other roles to date, Peter is playing second in command as part of a hugely successful double act. This time he's partnering Kenneth Williams and as the toadying CItizen Bidet, Butterworth excels. Kenneth always wrote very fondly of Peter in his diaries and it's clear there was a great deal of affection between the two actors. No mean feat really, given how picky Williams could be. As Bidet, Peter is on fine comedic form as the snivelling, grovelling Bidet, constantly muttering on about 'the glorious new French Republic'. The timing and exchanges between the two actors is consistently sublime and really makes the film.

When Camembert and Bidet are joined by their third wheel, the pretty but ditzy, high pitched Desiree Dubarry (Joan Sims), we're all set for a delicious romp. Joan's first scene is pure high camp with comedic misunderstandings and Peter's drooling underling unable to keep his eyes off her. When the three French baddies go rather unconvincingly undercover in England in a bid to trap Sid's 'Black Fingernail' we are treated to some rather lavish (for a Carry On) scene at Sir Rodney's ball (yes, 'you've always had magnificent balls…and I wouldn't miss one of them'). With Bidet sent to trap the Fingernail in action we are treated to Peter's brilliantly inspired range of funny faces and delightful sight gags. He never misses a trick or an opportunity to pull a face in the background, upstaging his co-stars. When those stars are Sid, Joan and Kenneth Williams, you can understand that it takes a supremely talented comedy actor to achieve this! And that's what Peter was. 

Being a true professional, Peter throws himself into all manner of scrapes, being bashed over the head, falling into mucky ponds and basically enduring whatever the script demanded. One of my favourite scenes sees Bidet fooled by Sir Rodney into thinking Robespierre (Peter Gilmore) has instructed that Camembert is actually the Black Fingernail in disguise. This set up sees Butterworth and Williams in a wonderful comedy of misunderstandings, bickering and slapstick which defines them as the closest the Carry Ons ever got to the work of Laurel and Hardy. Yes, I think as a double act they are that good. Kenneth and Peter imbue their characters with so much comedic charm that the audience loves to hate them. We may even feel a touch of sympathy for the pathetic Bidet and all he endures at the hands of the nasal, camp Cammy. 

The climax of Don't Lose Your Head, and as all fans know, every Carry On needs a big climatic sequence, sees Camembert's country pad in lockdown as Sir Rodney attempts to rescue the lovely Jacqueline (French actress Dany Robin) from Camembert's fiendish clutches. While you could argue this final scene goes on a tad too long, it does provide plenty of spectacular action, stunts and set pieces as Sid, Jim and Charles Hawtrey takes on Kenneth's men and destroy his precious home and priceless artefacts in the process. Even Kenneth Williams struggles to maintain the momentum as he flings himself about the place clutches smashed porcelain and slashed chairs. He does have one lovely moment though when he runs nostrils first in a harp! 

Peter has a running gag (literally) throughout this sequence as he continually fails to come to Camembert's aid. First of all he's pretty much blown up by an exploding front door, then he's continuously pushed behind said heavy door and squashed by a variety of opponents. Peter really did have a gift for physical comedy and in his safe hands he provides several big laughs which act as a counterpoint to some of Kenneth's overacting. Right at the end of the sequence, just when you think Bidet is coming good for his nasty boss, sadly he goes awry once again and single handedly demolishes the palace. As Sid leads the rest of them to safety, Camembert and Bidet run up the stairs clutching bits of furniture for protection!

All is well in Carry On Land as Sid and Jim win the day. Sadly though for Camembert and Bidet there is an unpleasant final twist as the two snivelling wretches go to the guillotine. In a final flourish the executioner is revealed to be none other than Sid James as the Black Fingernail. With his characteristic chuckle he pulls the leaver and it's goodnight Vienna! A fairly gruesome end really, for a comedy at least if you think about it. Don't Lose Your Head is always up there as a favourite for me. I think it's production values raise it up to a different level, much like Screaming or Cleo. A lot of that is down to it's period costume setting. Several key players are missing - there's no Bernard Bresslaw, Barbara Windsor, Kenneth Connor or Hattie Jacques - but the handpicked cast of favourites do a sterling job and Peter puts in one of the most consistently funny performances. He really did work terribly hard for his laughs in so many of his Carry On roles. Lots of physical comedy, face pulling and inspired reactions to other lines and funny situations. Always a true pro.

So there we have it, my take on Peter Butterworth's glorious turn as Citizen Bidet in Don't Lose Your Head. Coming up next is my blog on Peter's role as Simpson, manservant to Bo West in the Foreign Legion Carry On caper, Follow That Camel.



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