I recently decided to purge my phone of redundant text messages that were taking up space and stumbled across these. No reason for including them here other than that I like them.
“You’ve lost a fight to him, you have. (R.I.P. John Inman)”
“Well done Drew!, cats now trying 2 get in kitchen window! All we need now is 4 the whippets 2 come 4 a visit – another murder!”
“Tis your fault. u gave milk!”
“Lol. I might just store it in my pouch till later like a hamham xxx”
“Ferret beautiful ferret xxx”
“Wher did you get those duck crisps from? L v k x”
“Just found the closing theme to Quatermass II on itunes. A snip at 79p.”
“What the hell is elo? Is it that spikey lego stuff? xxx”
“How much money in slang words is monkey worth? Quick TB x”
“No… I’m being serious…”
“Oh wow! I am like racecar! “
“Thick and crisp and even xxx”
“After punching some stuff I’m better xxx”
“OMG we’ve been living in filth urgh x”
“Do you have any personal opinions on Milton Keynes?”
“What the fuck? You? In a club? With young peoples music? What would norman clegg say?”
To all you patient folks out there waiting for my book, (there must be at least two of you, right?) things are starting to move along. Currently I have a good friend and designer working on the cover while another designer works on the interior.
In the meantime I have added a NEW PAGE to this site which includes streaming audio copies of all surviving material from the original Five Star Theatre run of Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel in 1932/1933. You can access them at any time by clicking the link to the sidebar at the right of this page. Hope you enjoy!
Moving house recently has turned up a lot of treasures long thought lost. A Gordon the Gopher hand puppet, old greetings cards, my Blue Peter badge – but nothing quite compares to my unearthing an old blue writing book that contains, squeezed between some rather awful pubescent fan-fiction, a homework assignment interview with my Grandmother.
I remember this piece of work fairly well; it was given either late on in primary school or early on in secondary school, and we were all asked to interview an ‘older person’ about the changes between ‘now’ and ‘the olden days.’ What follows is my transcription of a tape recorded interview I conducted with my maternal grandmother. The tape is long gone but I’ve typed the hand-written text up, pretty much the way I wrote it save for correcting some grammatical and spelling errors. Parkinson, Theroux or Murrow I was (and am) not, but in my defence I think we were all given a set of questions to ask.
Tell us a bit about your background.
I’m from a place called Sengenith in South Wales. I was born in 1924 – 15th of June; so that makes me seventy-seven. My mother was called Katie, my father Guillem, and brother Tommy.
Tell us about the place you were born.
The place I was born was a pit village.
When did you go to school?
I went to school when I was three, I used to follow the other kids and my mother asked if I could stop there.
What were your hobbies?
When I was fourteen/sixteen, the war started. There wasn’t much of hobbies or things. I used to go to the park with my friend in London. I had to work, I was too young to go into the forces, so my first job was in tailoring at fourteen. I did that for two years, then I went to a place called Dunstable to work in a factory ‘till I was eighteen.
Where did you live as a teenager?
I lived in London, in North Kensington, and there were two flats over a shop. I lived with my friend and her mother. I lived with Mrs Dyer and they had five children.
What happened around Christmas?
Because of the war, the people I lived with used to keep a bantam hen, and at Christmas they thought they would kill it for Christmas Dinner. So, Christmas day we were all sitting round the table and she brought the chicken out and they all started to cry, saying, “Poor Percy!”
Nobody would touch it.
What was the popular music and entertainment at the time?
Just wartime songs. You could go to the theatre but we never had the money. We used to go to the pictures a lot – to see musicals and war pictures.
What kind of things did you buy?
Like I said, we didn’t have money. To get clothes you had to have a ration book and if you had the points you didn’t have the money and if you had the money you didn’t have the points. Couldn’t win.
What were your main pastimes?
Going dancing.
What did you listen to on the radio?
We didn’t have it on very much ‘cause it run on a battery or an accumulator and you had to get it charged. We listened to music and comedy shows and sketches.
What was the difference between what girls were taught compared to boys?
Apart from arithmetic, boys did woodwork – the girls did cookery and sewing. We were in separate buildings.
Not exactly a riveting interview, I grant you. But there is something above that seems to capture it’s subject; she’s quiet, has some good stories, but is a little shy when confronted with a tape recorder. There has been a word processed and printed out copy of this same interview knocking about my old house for a while now, but there is something about finding my original transcription that is very special. Idiot that I am, the original audio tape is long since lost, and the notes, being only one generation removed, are the closest thing I have.
Betty died about five or six years ago now. We were close and I still miss her. I wish I could remember the teacher who gave this homework; just to say thank you for inadvertently helping me to keep a little piece of her alive.
I’ve mentioned some of the television projects I have been involved with in the past but for the most part I’ve been unable to actually show much – until now. My good friend Stephen Lavatory has launched his own youtube channel which includes samples of the many documentaries he has produced, including ones I worked on. Enjoy?
Grindhouse – Script Writer and Consultant
Stand By For Action – Editor
Meet the Stars: Alvin and the Chipmunks – Script Writer and Narrator (ahem)
To break up the silence for you, here is another repost. This was originally written – overwritten perhaps – in response to this article from The Guardian. I care too much to be healthy:
At twenty-two years old, I don’t really like being tarred with the brush this sentence yields:
“If younger viewers think of it at all, they do so with derision.”
I’ve enjoyed Last of the Summer Wine on and off since I was a young child who looked forward to the adventures of Clegg, Compo and Foggy, and who looked to the show as a beacon of fun in an otherwise dreary Sunday schedule consisting of Songs of Praise and Antiques Roadshow.
As I’ve grown older I’ve gladly been able to look back at previous eras the series and appreciate it at it’s best. The first several series are bleak, darkly comic and, at times, brilliant. Three old men talk, try to make sense of what they have done with their lives and ponder their own mortality. Nowhere is this better handled than in the TV film Getting Sam Home – a really neglected entry in the canon of British television comedy.
All this being said, I am much less a fan of the show in it’s present form. Too often now do episodes feel like retreads of earlier situations and characters recently added to the line-up lack the depth that memorable characterisations, like Norah Batty of Norman Clegg, possess.
Still, as recently as 2000, Clarke was capable of moving tragicomedy in episodes in which the characters bid farewell to the popular Compo. Last year’s clip show, in which characters once again recalled the scruffy one, demonstrated to me that the writer still has it in him to produce something special when he puts his pen to the right kind of story. Occasional flashes of the old magic still shine through in almost every script. It may only be a scene or line here and there but to me it’s still worth it.
With the passing of Kathy Staff this year, Last of the Summer Wine once again faces a regular problem; how to continue on with a frail and elderly cast and how to explain the sudden absences of old friends. It isn’t enough to simply say Norah has gone to live in Austrailia; the character deserves more than that, as do a legion of dedicated viewers.
Last of the Summer Wine was at its best when dealing with the turning of the earth, the passing of time and the memories of youth, and deserves a chance to go out with dignity – Perhaps a final feature-length episode that eschews broad pratfalls in favour of the low key musings of yesteryear. Sadly though, I don’t see this happening.
Recently, Jerry Beck posted this promotional image for an aborted Marx Brothers cartoon series over at the excellent Cartoon Brew. A Marx Brothers cartoon seems a slightly stranger prospect than some of the other comedy teams who made it into animated form; Abbot and Costello, Laurel and Hardy and The Three Stooges were all more child-friendly than the Marxes. Strip the brothers of their more abrasive, adult humour and you’re not left with too much for Groucho and Chico to do. Harpo on the other hand, would have made a brilliant cartoon character!
The ad was printed in a 1966 which means the finished product would have been somewhat of a frankenstine job; Chico died in 1961, Harpo followed in 1964 and would Groucho, who was still around and active, even have wanted to lend his voice talents alongside actors imitating his brothers. If not, it’s hard to imagine anyone being able to fill his shoes.
Hundreds of projects like these were attempted, and stalled during the 60s and 70s, one that immediately springs to mind is the The Bickersons. The interesting part about the above image though, is that it offers screenings to interested customers. This would imply that a pilot had been produced; I’d love to see that turn up!
In light of this projects absence here are two great vintage cartoons, one from Disney, one from Warner, that feature brilliant caricatures of the brothers amongst others.
I originally wrote this review for The Crack magazine but someone beat me to it this time. Hope you like.
Songs new and old pleased fans at The Sage during an excellent performance by king of the beach, Brian Wilson. The aged Beach Boy was on fine form, his vocals hampered only slightly by a sound mix that threatened to overwhelm his words with a large backing group. Luckily, the mix was much improved during a second set that brought forward old favourites like ‘Good Vibrations’ and ‘Barbara Ann’as well as choice cuts from the solo catalogue. Ironically, this expansive and superbly arranged band really helped to make the event as special as it was. From keyboard to bass and percussion to, joy of joys, theramin, all the performers gave it their all and the overall feeling that radiated from the stage was one of joy and love.
For an audience attending the concert of an ex band member gone solo, the danger is always that, despite whatever quality of music on offer, they will be left with a longing for the real group. Wilson, though, has a legend and mystique all of his own and, aided by some superb backing singers, one never got the impression that a fuller Beach Boys line up was ever missed.
Unlike some of his contemporaries, and in spite of his past personal problems, Wilson still exudes the innocence with which such hits as ‘God Only Knows’and ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’.The man also, above anything, represents an America in its prime. With his recently troubled nation now speaking in terms of hope and change, the warm reception for Wilson’s brand of peaceful optimism at The Sage seems fitting.
I’ve been sitting on this exciting development for a little while now, so it is a great pleasure to make the following news properly public. I will be attending the annual Rod Serling Conference in Ithaca, N.Y. this year – as a guest speaker!
Earlier this year I submitted an abstract in response to a call for papers casting a fresh light upon Serling, the famed television playwright and Twilight Zone creator. Having forgotten all about my entry in the months following my submission I was delighted to receive an email telling me I had been invited over to present my work. I only hope my final lecture, entitled Second Chances: Rod Serling, Redrafting and Adaptation, can to justice to a man whose work I come to respect more with each new paragraph I read on him and each new product of his imagination I experience. To add to the considerable pressure of delivering my paper to a conference full of academics, this year marks the 50th Anniversary of The Twilight Zone – a pretty big deal in and of itself.
Still, I can’t let my paper be influenced by my own sense of awe surrounding Serling’s work and legacy. If anything I am to attempt to humanise the man by looking into his self-criticism and misgivings over his own work.
The conference is held on October 2-3 2009 and I encourage anyone who might be around the NY state area to at least check out the website detailing events here.
Stand By For Action, a television documentary on the work of supermarionation giant Gerry Anderson, which I edited, is now available for your viewing pleasure direct from its producer. If you don’t mind me saying, I think it turned out pretty damn good – the best documentary on its subject to date, in fact. For ten quid you purchase a DVD with the complete two hour programme and currently, this is the only place to get it.
A good amount of time has passed since I last blogged about the excellent Nutty Nut News Network Site and a lot of excellent interviews have been added to the archive since then.
Jacqueline White acted alongside Laurel and Hardy in their 1943 film, Air Raid Wardens.
Dick Jones was one of the many children to appear in the 1934 film, March of the Wooden Soldiers. He has very little recollection of being in that film but can perfectly recall lending his voice to Walt Disney’s Pinocchio!
Randy Skretvedt is the go-to man for Laurel and Hardy history and talks here about an upcoming reprint of his indispensable reference work The Magic Behind the Movies.
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