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

Bernie Carries On … As Brother Bernard!

Over the past year I have written a series of blogs covering each of the roles of some of our favourite Carry On stars. I began my looking back at each film role played by the three leading ladies in the series - Joan Sims, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor - and most recently I've written about all of Kenneth Connor's Carry On performances in the run up to the great man's centenary. 

Today I am continuing a new strand of this series by turning the spotlight on that gentle giant of British comedy, the late Bernard Bresslaw. Probably one of the most under-rated actors in the main team, Bernard was a part of the series for ten years and fourteen films, tackling a superb range of crumbling villains and delightfully dimwitted foils to the likes of Sid James and Kenneth Cope. Bernard enjoyed a long career away from the Carry Ons and spent much of his later life wowing audiences in legitimate theatre. However he will forever to remembered for his clutch of hilarious Carry On supporting turns. 

Bernard joined the Carry On team in the mid 1960s and along with Peter Butterworth was the last main team member to join the gang. Along with Butterworth, Bernard played a series of smaller, supporting roles to begin with before graduating to major roles towards the end of the decade. Bernard fitted in effortlessly with the rest of the team and he's the kind of actor who is working hard but making it look oh so easy. A quiet, erudite, thoughtful family man away from the film studios, I often think Bresslaw has never received the credit he's due as like Connor and Butterworth, he didn't ever seek the limelight or splash his life over the front pages.

So today, we'll continue this new series looking at Bernard's role as Brother Bernard, in the 1972 package holiday parody, Carry On Abroad. 

Carry On Abroad sees a group of eccentric British misfits take off for a long weekend in the dodgy Spanish island of Elsbells. The series was once again tapping into the latest trends, this time for cheap and cheerful package holidays. They were all the rage by the early 190s so what better than sending it all up by sending the gang you'd more typically associate with Brighton off to Spain (well the Pinewood Studios car park). This really was the last classic adventure for the core Carry On team and it's been one of my favourites since I first saw it as a child, recorded late at night on ITV. I still have the original VHS tape somewhere...

Although I have a grudging love of the bargain basement 1975 film Carry On Behind, yet another holiday film, Abroad is the last to feature the full compliment of original cast members (minus Jim Dale who had departed in 1969). Abroad features knockout performances from a host of wonderful Carry On stars, with prime parts for Sid, Joan Kenneths Williams and Connor and a return to a major role for the brilliant Peter Butterworth. It also features one of the best guest casts in any of the Carry Ons - June Whitfield as the uptight Evelyn Blunt, Ray Brooks as the handsome Spanish waiter, Carol Hawkins and Sally Geeson as two young holidaymakers on the look out for love, Jimmy Logan as the boisterous Bert Conway and Derek Francis as the stuffy old monk.  

The film also features the last role in the series for stalwart Charles Hawtrey. Sadly, growing problems in Hawtrey's personal life had made him increasingly unreliable. Following a spat about billing for the 1972 Christmas special, with top billing going to the main subject of this blog, Hattie Jacques, Charles left the series and despite making occasional theatre and television appearances until his death in 1988, would never make another film. Another Carry On star who was firmly ensconced as part of the gang was Bernard Bresslaw, who takes on one of his most gentle, sympathetic role as Brother Bernard in Carry On Abroad.

While receiving good billing for his performance in Abroad, Bernard's role is pretty unstated and in the background, despite the fact that his character gives up the priesthood and runs off with Carol Hawkins! Brother Bernard is meek, mild and under the thumb of his senior, Brother Martin, played by the brilliant Derek Francis. The pair bicker and moan throughout the film and I only wish Derek had taken on bigger parts in the series, he's superb. Bernard's first big moment, apart from being on the constant look out for the tomb of Saint Cecilia, is to rip off Sally Geeson's skirt in another one of Talbot Rothwell's typical misunderstandings! Sally's character Lily instantly takes again the bumbling monk even though her pal Marge develops quite a soft spot for him.

Bernard gets into another scrape while applying suncream to young Marge on the sandy beach by the Palace Hotel, otherwise known as the Pinewood Studios' car park. Caught in the act of some very mild flirtation, Bernard scrambles to his feet and sprays suncream over everyone within a five mile radius. Bernard's big moment comes later on in the film when the holidaymakers take off for a day trip to the local market. When Charles Hawtrey's Mr Tuttle pays a visit to the local red light bar, owned by a certain Madame Fifi, he encourages some of the other men to join him. Things get out of hand when Tuttle "insults the fine ladies" and all hell breaks loose as the holidaymakers get into a massive brawl and destroy the market! Brother Bernard keeps his distance until the police arrive and try to arrest Marge. A swift punch to the jaw and Bernie's monk ends up spending the night in the cells.

All this does not go down too well with his Brother Martin and when Bernard decides he wants to take Marge to Pepe's farewell party in the hotel, we finally get to see Brother Bernard in his civvies! Sadly the cast is so packed with fan favourites and superb guest actors that we don't get much character development for Bernard and Carol's characters however from what we do see they make a lovely pairing. Bernard's role in Abroad is quite unlike any other he plays in the series. Yes, there's a touch of bumbling and slapstick, but Brother Bernard is neither a snarling villain or yet another version of his stock in trade Army Game simpleton. 

It's a lovely role for Bernard and once again, he proves himself to be the everyman of the early seventies Carry Ons. 


Stay tuned for my blog on Bernard Bresslaw's next role in the series, in the 1973 film Carry On Girls.



You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Happy Birthday Judy Geeson!

I'd like to wish the actress Judy Geeson a very happy birthday. Judy, based over in the United States for many years now, turns 70 years young this very day.

To Carry On fans Judy is mainly known for two things. First of all, for starring in Carry On England as Sergeant Tilly Willing opposite Patrick Mower in 1976 and also for being the real life sister of Bless This House and Carry On Abroad actress Sally Geeson. 

Although Judy only made one Carry On appearance, she has enjoyed a long and varied career on screen on both sides of the Atlantic. Following her break out role as Pamela in the 1967 film To Sir, With Love, other films quickly followed. Among Judy's best are Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (1968) with Barry Evans; 10 Rillington Place (1971) with Richard Attenborough and John Hurt; Fear in the Night (1972) with Joan Collins and Peter Cushing; Brannigan (1975) with John Wayne and The Eagle Has Landed (1976) with Michael Caine and Donald Sutherland. Judy also starred in comedies such as Percy's Progress (from the Betty Box/Ralph Thomas stable) and the sub-Carry On sex comedy Adventures of a Taxi Driver (again with Barry Evans).

On the small screen Judy has been seen in the likes of Emergency - Ward 10, Danger Man, the original 1970s series of Poldark and Tales of the Unexpected. Over in the United States, Judy's career has taken in everything from Murder She Wrote and The A Team to Charmed and Mad About You.

You can read more about Judy here

Whatever Judy is up to today, I hope she has a great birthday!


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

Happy Birthday Sally Geeson!

 

Many happy returns to the lovely Sally Geeson, who celebrates her birthday today. Sally, who returned to the entertainment business a couple of years back, did of course star in two classic Carry On films in the 1970s.

Sally made her biggest and most memorable appearance in the series with her role as Lily in Carry On Abroad in 1972. In what many fans believe to be the last really great Carry On, Sally worked well opposite Carol Hawkins as two young girls off on a long weekend to the Spanish island of Elsbells. Sally proved such a hit with the team that she returned for the very next Carry On, playing the cameo role as Cecil Gaybody's assistant Debra in Carry On Girls. 

Sally did make an even earlier appearance in the Carry Ons, with a blink and you'll miss it cameo as a child actor in Carry On Regardless in 1960. If you keep your eyes peeled during the Ideal Home section of the film, you may just spot a young Sally in the audience as Kenneth Williams demonstrates the latest in children's toys!

These days Sally is best remembered for playing Sid James' daughter (also called Sally) in the classic Thames television sitcom Bless This House. Sally spent nearly six years with the series and also appeared in the big screen version, produced and directed by a certain Peter Rogers and Gerald Thomas. Sadly Sally is now the last surviving cast member from the Bless This House series. 

I love Sally's obvious love and devotion for her late colleague and screen father, Sid James. She always speaks so fondly of Sid and clearly admired him, enjoyed working with him and learned a lot from the great man. As Sid's memory was frequently sullied following his death, it's wonderful to hear such positive recollections of a man who was a comedy hero to many.

 

Whatever Sally is up to today, I hope she had a wonderful birthday! 


You can follow me on Twitter @CarryOnJoan and on Instagram

The Gerald Thomas Archive: Carry On Abroad Scrapbook

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

I started off looking at one of Gerald Thomas’ scrapbooks. Gerald kept meticulous records of all the films he directed and these scrapbooks provide a fascinating insight to the publicity machine behind the success of the Carry On films. Gerald took an intense interest in how the films were perceived in both the national and regional press and as well as organising countless promotional shoots, tit bits and interviews, he also kept reviews from a wide range of publications.

What struck me immediately when I started to flick through the scrapbook for the 1972 film Carry On Abroad, was how old fashioned the reporting was. There was a definite trend towards using the often new, glamorous young actresses from the film to help sell it at the box office. Of all the cast of Carry On Abroad, there are endless photo features and little interviews with the likes of Sally Geeson, Carol Hawkins and Gail Grainger. Sally and Carol, both then in their early twenties are frequently described as “dollies” or “dolly birds” while Barbara Windsor is “pert”, “bouncy” and “bubbly”. Nothing mentioned about their acting talents you might notice!

Barbara Windsor, by then a main draw for the series, was interviewed by Margaret Pride for Reveille magazine. Even though the journalist was female, she was obviously still under the guidance of her male bosses as the following description of Miss Windsor shows: “She is nearly 35 and has a fabulous skin with not a wrinkle in sight. She says she can look like a twenty year old floosie, why make the most of it after all?” I can’t really imagine actresses wishing to be portrayed in such a fashion these days.

Carol Hawkins, fresh from success in the big screen version of Please Sir and the spin off television series The Fenn Street Gang, was also garnering a fair amount of publicity for the film. This was Carol’s first with the Carry On team, despite having filmed a uncredited cameo in the Thames Television Carry On Again Christmas special back in 1970. Hawkins would go straight on from filming Abroad to playing Kate Baines, daughter of Terry Scott and June Whitfield, in the Peter Rogers/Gerald Thomas film of Bless This House, also filmed at Pinewood in 1972. 

The Sunday Express reported that Carol announced her engagement at the Carry On Abroad end of picture party. There was a great deal of publicity on the wedding, which took place at Northaw Church on 25 June that year. Carol was born and raised in Barnet, North London, and the local paper, the Barnet Press, carried a story “Wedding Bells for Carol”. The paper noted that the reception, where the happy couple of Carol and new husband, electrician John Brown would greet their guests, would take place at the Terenure Country Club in Totteridge, North London.

And if you’re interested, Gerald also kept a clipping which gave details on Carol’s wedding attire. Under the headline “Sunshine Look for Bo-Peep Bride” we learn that Carol wore a bo-peep style chiffon dress with a rose decorated picture hat. Well it was 1972…

Another headline describes Miss Windsor in the following glowing terms: “What A Carry On for Bouncy Barbara” – yet again the newspapers focussing on Barbara’s appearance rather than the fact she was just finishing a five month run on the West End stage in The Three Penny Opera. 

A quite frankly hilarious colour article is also pasted into the scrap book, this time featuring a young Sally Geeson. Sally, already a name on the small screen thanks to her prominent role as Sid James’ daughter in Bless This House, is featured in “Fashion Chat” with Diana. We glean the following fascinating insight into young Sally’s sense of style. Apparently Sally liked “pretty frocks” and her main fashion tip was “for casual wear, smock top and plimsolls!” How enlightening.

In a more serious piece, entitled Carry On Sid, journalist Bruno Broffenbrenner went to meet the series’ leading man Sidney James. In quite a frank interview, of the kind that’s pretty rare these days, Sid briefly talks about his decision to focus on comedy parts: “I’ve played a couple of serious parts and made a bloody mess of them that I just don’t want to know anymore”. I think Mr James is being far too hard on himself. I’ve certainly seen evidence of his great depth and range as an actor on screen. “Seriously though, I’m not that good an actor- I’m a re-actor. I never wanted to be a star because I’m very far removed from being a star. I’m a chief supporting actor and as that you get a long life”.  I think this is typical of Sid James – his down to earth everyman modesty was a bit factor in him becoming that star he claimed not to want to be. Everyone in the audience knew a Sid, was a Sid or had a Sid as a husband, son, father or brother.

The article concluded as Sid is called back to work on Carry On Abroad: “The final call comes and Sid jogs off, stopping mid-way to exclaim ‘ Why the heck am I running? Struth! This picture’s already three days ahead of schedule! I don’t want to put anybody out of work!”. I think these snippets show the real man behind the famous Sid laugh and the lusty on screen antics. And it was a joy to read.

Stay tuned for the next in my series of special blogs on Gerald's archive coming up soon!

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