Frankie's Two Elephants

I finally caught up with the brilliant Comedy Legends series on Sky Arts the other evening. Hosted by Barry Cryer, the edition I caught focussed on one of my very favourite comedy performers, the great Frankie Howerd. 

The programme took us through Frankie's back catalogue, his rise and fall and rise again. Howerd was a star of stage and screen but made his name on radio and that's where the clip below comes in. In the days before we all gathered round the goggle box each night, families up and down the land gathered round the wireless. I am and always have been a big fan of the radio and radio comedy in particular. And Frankie was the master.

Howerd's breakthrough came thanks to several spots on the BBC's Variety Bandbox in the late 1940s. Variety Bandbox launched in 1941 and featured a mix of comedy performances and music. It helped launch the careers of many big names, Frankie chief amongst them. Frankie became a regular on the show, appearing from 1946 until the early 1950s. And cutting his teeth as a writer on the show was a certain gentleman called Eric Sykes. Never appearing as a performer on the show, Sykes definitely made his mark as a writer and it set him on the path to stardom too.

The following excerpt comes from an addition of Variety Bandbox and was the surreal sketch which pretty much launched Frankie's career. No small coincidence that it was written by Eric. This bizarre tale of Frankie transporting two elephants across London and down onto the Underground is so unbelievable but in his comedic hands it just works. He milks it for all it's worth and to be honest, it could only really work on radio. I love it, even after all these years and you can listen to it below. It's pure Frank.

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Carry On Faces in Different Places: Heavens Above!

Here we go with another in my 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.
  
More recently I blogged about the Sid James and Kenneth Connor comedy horror What A Carve Up! and the the Gordon Jackson drama, Floodtide. 

And last week I looked at the Carry On links with the wonderful film I'm All Right Jack and the Diana Dors' prison drama, Yield to the Night

Today I'm going to blog about the 1963 comedy film, Heavens Above!

 

What's it about?

A naive but caring prison chaplain, Smallwood, is accidentally assigned as vicar to the small and prosperous country town of Orbiston Parva, in place of an upper-class cleric (Carmichael) with the same name. His belief in charity and forgiveness sets him at odds with the locals, whose assertions that they are good, Christian people are belied in Smallwood's eyes by their behaviour and ideas. He creates social ructions by appointing a black dustman as his churchwarden, taking in a gypsy family, and persuading local landowner Lady Despard to provide free food for the church to distribute free to the people of the town. However, all his good works lead to trouble.

Who's in it?

Heavens Above! is produced by the Boulting Brothers, so as with several other films of the period, their stars include Peter Sellers and Ian Carmichael (who also starred in the brilliant I'm All Right Jack). Also in the cast is Bernard Miles, Eric Sykes, Miriam Karlin, Isabel Jeans and the wonderful character actor, Roy Kinnear. 

 

Carry On Faces?

Lots of them! Carry On original actor William Hartnell plays the town councillor, Major Fowler. Regular Boulting Brothers' favourite Irene Handl, who also had cameos in Carry On Nurse and Constable, plays Rene Smith. Carry On Jack guest star, the great Cecil Parker, stars here as Archdeacon Aspinall while Eric Barker, seen in authority roles in Carry On Sergeant, Constable, Spying and Emmannuelle, plays a bank manager in this film.

There are also a whole host of regular Carry On actors in small parts throughout the film. Joan Hickson plays a housewife, Harry Locke a shop steward and Carry On Up The Khyber actor Cardew Robinson appears as a tramp. Also, look out for Marianne Stone in the role of Miss Palmer, Ian Wilson as a Salvation Army Major and George Woodbridge as a Bishop.

 

Did you know?

The film features small uncredited roles for future well known actors John Junkin and Rodney Bewes.

The film was the 12th most popular film in the UK in 1963.


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Sykes - The Complete Series on DVD!

Those lovely people at Network Distributing will soon be releasing Sykes: The Complete Series on DVD! The set will be available from 26 June and it will contain every episode from the 1970s BBC relaunch of this wonderful comedy series.

Starring Eric Sykes (The Others, Harry Potter) and Hattie Jacques (Carry On films) as twins living and ever so slightly surreal life in this BBC comedy series. Eric and Hattie annoy their snobbish neighbor Mr Brown (Richard Wattis) and aggravate the local PC Corky Turnbull (Deryck Guyler) and generally make a nuisance of themselves in this long running BBC sitcom which aired between 1972 – 1979 and followed Sykes and Jacques previous collaborations Sykes and a… (1960-1965) and Sykes and a Big, Big Show. 

Showcasing Eric's whimsical, slightly anarchic sense of humour, Sykes saw Eric playing an alternate version of himself - just one step removed from normality! Sharing a house with his twin sister Hat, Eric has to suffer the slings and arrows of everyday life, something he invariably does with bad grace and obstinacy. With snobbish neighbour Mr Brown and nosey local PC "Corky" Turnbull always on hand to help turn a drama into a crisis, it's no wonder Eric spends half his time fantasising and the other half coping with catastrophe!

The series features appearances from a whole host of British comedy talent including Peter Sellers, Joan Sims, Roy Kinnear, John Le Mesurier, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Hickson and Bill Pertwee. 

Now, for the first time this new DVD set contains all seven series, 68 episodes in total.

You can find out more here: www.networkonair.com 

With thanks to Tom at Blue Dolphin PR. For now I'll leave you with the wonderful intro from the series...

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram

My Review of Sykes: The Complete Series

 

As I've previously blogged, Network On Air will be releasing the Complete Sykes on DVD, tomorrow 26 June! Sykes has always been one of my very favourite classic comedy series and I was thrilled when offered the chance of a sneak preview of the new DVD set. The set comprises all 68 episodes of the colour series broadcast on the BBC between 1972 and 1979. The first colour series from 1972 was issued on DVD some years back however this is the first time every episode from the relaunched programme has been available for fans to own.

Sykes is a glorious semi-surreal domestic sitcom which at the heart is all about the joyous chemistry between long time collaborators Eric Sykes and Hattie Jacques. As twins Eric and Hat, life at Sebastopol Terrace, East Acton, was always full of surprises. While the series features a host of well-known, colourful guest stars, for me it's all about Sykes and Jacques. Sykes, who also wrote all the episodes, is playing the slightly pompous arrogant little man, finding himself in a host of tricky situations. Jacques meanwhile steps away from the bombastic Matron persona of the Carry Ons to play a softer character who is normally the voice of reason when her brother gets above himself. I always loved Sykes for the fact the writing very very rarely touched upon Hattie's size, something which could sometimes dominate in the Carry Ons. Sykes features by far some of my favourite performances from Hattie, surely one of our all-time greatest comic actresses.

 

For me the first series from 1972 features the best quality scripts and stories. Many of them are simply remade from the original 1960s black and white Sykes and A ... which ran from 1960 to 1965. That doesn't matter - if they feel at all familiar it's only in a comforting sense. My all-time favourite episode has to be the one featuring Peter Sellers as the escaped convict Tommy Grando. This episode, "Stranger" features a rare television performance from Sellers, who obviously goes back a long way with Eric. The chemistry between the three lead actors is superb and it's clear they can hardly keep a straight face throughout. The studio audience reaction is catching and the whole episode a complete joy.

Sykes also features other regular characters. The peerless Richard Wattis plays the snooty, snobbish next door neighbour Mr Brown, very much Eric's nemesis. The pair work brilliantly against each other. Such a shame that Wattis passed away during the run - his absence from the later series is keenly felt. Also along for the entire run is Please Sir! favourite Deryck Guyler as P.C Corky Turnbull. Corky is probably the world's most incompetent police constable but Guyler brings along a breezy sense of comedy and easy going charm and is a vital part of the series' success. Making several appearances throughout the run is Carry On favourite and Hattie's best friend, the wonderful Joan Sims. As bakery owner Madge Kettlewell, Joan is Eric's love interest and very nearly marries him at one stage! Joan is great as Madge and there are some fantastic bloopers included of Joan cracking up on set with Eric and Hattie which show Sims' tremendous sense of fun. It's just a shame she didn't feature more often in the show.

 

A host of other brilliant, well-known talent features in the series. The likes of Bernard Bresslaw, Roy Kinnear, John Le Mesurier, Joan Hickson, Dinah Sheridan, Sheila Steafel, Michael Ripper, Derek Francis, Les Dawson, Chic Murray, Hugh Paddick and Bill Maynard all appear throughout the run. The quality of the writing and the performances from all these wonderful talents really does make Sykes a cut above many other comedy series of the time.

The DVD set isn't cheap however it contains pristine versions of all 68 episodes, totaling nearly 2000 minutes of classic BBC comedy, of the kind they just don't make any more. The set has some interesting extras. They include a special interview with the late, great Eric Sykes; a special Spotlight programme on the comedian; behind the scenes footage from the studio as the series was filmed and an extensive booklet of extra information on the series written by television historian Andrew Pixley. 

 

The chance to own a complete set of this classic comedy is just too good an opportunity to miss. I grew up catching repeats of this series on BBC2 and sadly it appears yet another one of those shows that is just never broadcast on the television any more. This newly presented DVD box set is the perfect opportunity to relive some classic comedy and see some of our favourite comedy stars doing what they do best!

Sykes: The Complete Series is available from tomorrow, Monday 26 June.

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram

Sykes - The Complete Series on DVD

 

Those lovely people at Network Distributing will soon be releasing Sykes: The Complete Series on DVD! The set will be available from 26 June and it will contain every episode from the 1970s BBC relaunch of this wonderful comedy series.

Starring Eric Sykes (The Others, Harry Potter) and Hattie Jacques (Carry On films) as twins living and ever so slightly surreal life in this BBC comedy series. Eric and Hattie annoy their snobbish neighbor Mr Brown (Richard Wattis) and aggravate the local PC Cork Turnbull (Deryck Guyler) and generally make a nuisance of themselves in this long running BBC sitcom which aired between 1972 – 1979 and followed Sykes and Jacques previous collaborations Sykes and a… (1960-1965) and Sykes and a Big, Big Show. 

 

Showcasing Eric's whimsical, slightly anarchic sense of humour, Sykes saw Eric playing an alternate version of himself - just one step removed from normality! Sharing a house with his twin sister Hat, Eric has to suffer the slings and arrows of everyday life, something he invariably does with bad grace and obstinacy. With snobbish neighbour Mr Brown and nosey local PC "Corky" Turnbull always on hand to help turn a drama into a crisis, it's no wonder Eric spends half his time fantasising and the other half coping with catastrophe!

The series features appearances from a whole host of British comedy talent including Peter Sellers, Joan Sims, Roy Kinnear, John Le Mesurier, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Hickson and Bill Pertwee. 

Now, for the first time this new DVD set contains all seven series, 68 episodes in total.

You can find out more here: www.networkonair.com 

I have just taken delivery of the DVD set and will be blogging a review of the series soon, so watch out for that!

With thanks to Tom at Blue Dolphin PR. For now I'll leave you with the wonderful intro from the series...

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan on Facebook and on Instagram

Carry On Blogging Interview: Tessa Le Bars

 

Back in January I had the great pleasure of interviewing legendary theatrical agent Tessa Le Bars. Tessa has been representing some of the best and most loved comedians and writers this country has produced since the 1960s. Tessa started her working life at Associated London Scripts and she was soon mixing with the likes of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, Eric Sykes, Johnny Speight and one Mr Francis Howerd. With the centenary of Frankie Howerd's birth coming up, it seemed the perfect time to have a chat with Tessa about working closely with Frankie over the years and her memories of the great man.

First of all, I'd be really interested to find out how you became an agent?
I finished Grammar School and went on to take a secretarial course without really knowing what I wanted to do next. I went for an interview at Associated London Scripts and out of the blue they offered me the chance to be a "Girl Friday". I took the job without really knowing what to expect. When I first started I had general office duties and soon I was going to Frankie Howerd's house every week to help answer his fan mail. ALS was taken over in 1968 and became The Stigwood Organisation and I went with them into the new company. I continued with similar work but then moved into Accounts. In 1976, Beryl Vertue, who had first taken me on and was agent to Frankie and Galton and Simpson, decided to move on and became a hugely successful television producer. I took over and then set up my own agency in 1983, which I've been running ever since.

 

Can you tell me when you first came to work with Frankie Howerd and what projects he was working on at the time?
I met Frankie soon after I started at Associated London Scripts and we got on well from the beginning. I can remember him working on a show in the theatre at around this time called "Way Out in Piccadilly" and I think Cilla Black was involved in the show too. I used to go to the dressing room to help with his mail and Cilla would often be there. They were great friends and stayed in close contact until Frank died. 

How would you sum up your experience at Associated London Scripts?
I was very young and I didn't really know what to expect or what would be ahead of me, I'd just left school and really just took things as they came along. I knew of most of the people who worked in the offices there but it was quite something to find myself working with them, even as a junior. I had been aware of Frankie Howerd for some time and remember going with my local youth club to see him in the stage musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" in the 1960s. To suddenly find myself working with Frank was quite something but I just got on with it really.

What was Beryl Vertue like to work with?
It was Beryl who hired me in the first place. She had known Alan Simpson since school and they ended up working together many years later once he had started writing with Ray. Beryl first got to know Frankie when he was managed by Stanley Dale, or Scruffy Dale as he was known. Eventually Frank came over to work with Beryl. Beryl knew the business inside out and eventually went on to form her own production company, Hartswood Films which is still in business today. She is one of the biggest, most successful female television producers and still working today (Vertue is the Executive Producer of Sherlock). Beryl and I are still in touch and are really close friends.

 

I know Eric Sykes was a major player at ALS. I loved him in Sykes with Hattie Jacques. What was he like to work with?
Eric was very friendly, just like the rest of them really. I used to see them all in the offices most days and we'd all go out to lunch and Eric would be a part of that. There were the usual office parties and get togethers but there was a falling out which led to the agency splitting in 1968 as I mentioned before. When I moved as part of the Stigwood Agency, Eric decided not to join. 

We all know Frankie's comedy persona but what was he like to be with?
Frank really had the same sort of personality off as he did on. He was always a funny man and good fun to be with. Like all of us, he did have a serious side and loved getting into heated discussions with people about life and what was going on in the world. I got to know him very well over the 28 years we worked together and after a while I was invited to family parties and gatherings and would regularly visit Frank at his home in Somerset and also take holidays with him at his place in Malta. Frank had his ups and downs and worried about his career but he kept coming back and he was great to be around.

Who was Frankie closest too amongst his contemporaries?
He didn't realise socialise with fellow comedians that much, other than those he worked with through ALS and Stigwood. People like Spike Milligan, Eric Sykes and Galton and Simpson. 

 

i run a blog about the Carry On films. How important a part do you think those films played in Frankie's career?
Beryl was his agent when he did those films but I know they had a huge impact and are still very popular today. Frank only made two I think but everyone tends to think he was in all of them! The brand is so powerful really. I know he was paid more than the regular actors to make the two films he did. The only thing I was aware of really was that he, like many other of the actors in the Carry Ons, was annoyed about the lack of residuals given how often the films were shown afterwards.

I read that Frankie was quite surprised by his popularity amongst university students in the late 1980s. Why do you think they embraced his comedy?
Frank became a sort of a cult figure among all the students. I remember us producing special Frankie t-shirts and a range of merchandise and he was really very popular. He was getting a bit older by that stage and was genuinely delighted that they found him funny and they respected what he did. There was a lot of alternative comedy around at that time but there was Frank doing just what he'd always done. I was with him when he went to play the Oxford University Student Union, which was a very prestigious place to go. I remember vividly how nervous and fraught he was before he went on and although it was a huge success, he was glad when it was over!

 

What do you think Frankie would make of his continued popularity today?
I think he would be delighted that he had achieved such longevity and that people still enjoyed his work. Frank worked for a long time but he always respected his fans and was very kind to them, he was adored by the public and Frank was thrilled by the reception he got.

What role do you play in preserving his legacy in 2017?
I represent his recorded work, in television and on radio. If a television company want to use one of his shows or whatever they come to me and ask for permission to use it. I'm not involved in any personal way or as a manager as all of his family are now gone. 

Will there be celebrations planned to mark Frankie's centenary this year?
No is the short answer! There won't be any physical celebration as far as I'm aware as so many of the people connected to Frankie are now no longer with us. Very few people are actually asking about the centenary which is a shame. I've prompted the BBC several times about doing something to mark it but they haven't showed real interest although I'm going to have another go. I was talking to Spike's agent the other day and it's his centenary this year too, so I might use that angle.

Finally, what's your favourite of all Frankie's performances?
I like the comedy horror film he made in the 1970s, The House in Nightmare Park. I also have a great deal of affection for Up Pompeii and a lot of his stand up work still really makes me laugh. 

I'd like to thank Tessa for giving up her time to chat on the phone with me. It was a fascinating conversation and it's a thrill to feature her on the blog. I hope you have enjoyed reading this interview as much as I enjoyed doing it. 

You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and also on Facebook

Life After the Carry Ons - Charles Hawtrey

 

This is a new occasional series of blogs in which I will look at the careers of each of the main Carry On team players once they left the series. Some would go on to appear in many other productions over the years while others would sadly not be so fortunate. Today I am looking at the later career of Charles Hawtrey.

Charles Hawtrey has always been a real fans' favourite in the Carry Ons. One of the most loyal actors to the Carry On brand, Hawtrey clocked up 23 appearances in the films, beginning with the very first in the series, Carry On Sergeant in 1958 and coming to an end in 1972 with Abroad. There was no other actor quite like Charles and he was irreplaceable once he left the series. A gifted film actor, Hawtrey's career dated back to silent films and included several pictures with Will Hay as well as regular work at Ealing Studios. Sadly, personal issues made him unreliable and by late 1972 Peter Rogers had had enough. It was a very sad end to a long and profitable assocation and I've always felt the films that followed Hawtrey's departure really do lack something.

 

While Carry On Abroad proved to be Charles' last film, it wasn't quite the end of his acting career. For while he did retreat into a kind of obscurity, living down on the Kent coast at Deal, he did make the occasional acting appearance. For several years in the late 1970s he turned up in various provincial pantomimes and summer seasons. Sadly, as with the Carry Ons, his poor time keeping and volatility led to his theatrical appearances becoming few and far between. He appeared in the farce Stop It Nurse! at the Pavilion Theatre, Torquay in 1972, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at Nottingham in 1974 and his final theatrical appearance came in late 1979.

Hawtrey also continued to appear on radio. He had been a big star on BBC Radio right back to the early 1940s, starring in Norman and Henry Bones, The Boy Detectives opposite Patricia Hayes. Charles appeared in a series of three radio plays about a criminal gang - they were Burglar's Bargains (1979); A Right Royal Rip-Off (1982) and The Bigger They Are in 1985. These plays saw him work alongside fellow Carry On actors Bernard Bresslaw and Peter Jones. 

 

On television, his last acting appearance came as Clarence, Duke of Claridge in a 1987 episode of the children's series Super Gran. He had also appeared in a minor role in Eric Sykes' television adaptation of his silent film The Plank in 1979. Charles did make several appearance as "himself" on television during the late 1970s and 1980s. He appeared twice on This Is Your Life - first of all for actress Dinah Sheridan in 1979 and then two years later to be reunited with Carry On Sergeant co-star Bill Owen. In 1976 he made a guest appearance in the children's show Runaround, appearing as a cackling Dracula opposite regular host Mike Reid. His final credited appearance was an interview in the BBC series Movie Memories in 1981 which saw him interviewed by Roy Hudd.

Apart from these rare appearances, Charles seemed content to retire from the spotlight. An astonishing career in the British film industry came to a rather sad end. Charles' own demise in late 1988 at the age of 73 is well documented and is something on which I'd rather not dwell. As with all his Carry On colleagues, Charles has left us a wonderful legacy of superb comedy performances and for that we must always be grateful.

 

 
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