Text Lexus
Saturday 20th April 2019 7:15pm [Edited]
West Anglia
122 posts
Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 29th January 2019, 11:35 AM
Now here's a bit of really obscure trivia for Hancock fans :-
What is the tune that starts to play on the wind-up gramophone player before it runs down?
New member here, having joined after a brief lurk; I'll try to make the proper introductions on the 'Hello' thread.
There are some excellent discussions here & I hope to be able to contribute more in future ... but my *specific* reason for joining today was that my eye was caught by the above triv. question - the answer to which I reckon I've coincidently just spotted a few days ago.
I believe this is 'Elmer's Tune', first composed in the 1920's ( it certainly sounds like that sort of vintage ) although it wasn't committed to vinyl until many years later. According to Wikipedia there are quite a few recordings, the first cluster of five in 1941 being by various artists, including Lawrence Welk of Rutles fame:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer%27s_Tune
The song definitely pops up in HHH just over a year later in 'The Childhood Sweetheart', from the following - and final - radio series #6 ( broadcast late 1959 ). It's at about 22'15", when Hancock, Sid and Bill are arguing over tactics before entering the coffee bar to look for Olive. TH refers to it by name and sings some of the lyrics.
At any rate, the intro on the dodgy gramophone in 'Sunday Afternoon ...' sounds like the same tune to me. Maybe Galton and/or Simpson, or even Hancock, had a particular fondness for it. It's interesting that it should be featured twice - for those who enjoy comedy trivia, anyway. I suppose it could just have been the nearest disc to hand in the BBC record library.
Edit: This is worth a look for anyone interested in a further layer of trivia / comedy regarding this tune -
https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth415807/m1/3/zoom/?resolution=3&lat=4751.000000000001&lon=2637.000000000001
TL;DR: " 'Elmer's Tune' was very coldly recieved on its first presentation [...] There were two very good reasons for this ...
1) The audience was Chinese
2) The audience was dead"