British Comedy Guide

Hancock's Half Hour Page 12

Olive! Where for art thou Olive? LOVE IT and as I've said previous certainly in my top ten. So funny again when Bill keeps going back to Sid saying we are all falling to bits - you can see his face puzzled over what Sid said and slowly but never working it out.

AND! Forgotten this but the tune they were whistling as they went into the cafe was "Elmer's Tune", WHICH was the poser I set in some other thread (can't find it now - grrrrr!) about what was the tune that was playing on the gramophone when it ran down in Sunday Afternoon at Home. (never did give the answer) Same tune! Ray and Alan must have had a liking for it. :)

I'm hoping now that Cyrano de Hancock (or as we called it many years ago Sid in Love) as that is SO FUNNY. Sid falls in love with Grizelda and Hancock's reaction when Sid tells him is classic - so very, very, very, very funny.

Forgot to mention "Mrs Cravat" who was playing the bit parts, which Hattie often used to do when another female voice was required.

Patricia Hayes was a subject, about a couple of weeks ago, of one of the One Show's looking back where they find a son or daughter (her son in this case) and take them back to what was their family home. Good little inserts when they are on as you get some brilliant insights into the lives of people you no longer hear about.

Used to love that ridiculous hat she used to wear in the TV series. :D

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One of the best this week - "The Poetry Society" - FABULOUS

The Lad at his pompous best until Sid and Bill deflate him., AND both beat him at the pretention game without even trying, and I make no excuse for quoting large chunks of it. G & S at their script writing best and Tony, Sid and Bill reading it so well. Gregory was Warren Mitchell and Fenella Fielding as Greta - who else in that part!!

Gregory:
Yes, well we'll commence with a work by myself...I have entitled it: 'Tin Can'.
Hancock:
Tin Can? (sotto) Tin Can; yes, let's see, I think I'll lean up against the fireplace with one arm up, suggesting the lid's been opened.
Laughing out loud
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hancock:
Oh, very well...make it quick and keep it clean.
Bill:
Mm hmm. Thank you. Eh hem.
'Incandescence', by William.
Hick, hack, hock,
Rinky tinky on purple grass,
Shafts of light, hob-nail boots,
Tramping down the bamboo,
That grows upwards, downwards, sideways,
Into the Concrete Cosmos,
Life is mauve,
I am orange,
Hick, hack, hock.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Gregory:
I am talking to the Master.

Hancock:
Don't make any hasty decisions, listen to mine. Listen,
'The Ashtray', by Anthony.
Steel rods of reason through my head.
Salmon jumping, where jump I?
Camels on fire, and spotted clouds.
Striped horses prance the meadow wild,
And rush on to drink at life's fountains deep.
Life is Cream. I am puce.
Ching. Chang. Cholla.
Gregory:
How dare you revile the group with such shallow, trivial nonsense.
Hancock:
It was as good as his, what's the matter with you? Its too deep for you, that's the trouble.
Gregory:
Well, what does it mean?
Hancock:
What does it mean.? Well, I should have thought that was obvious. It's a plea for the...well, no it's more of an outcry against the...er,...it's an outcry against the licensing laws.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Hancock:
Titles and privileges. So that's what you're up to Mr. James you've been sitting there reading the rule-book. Show me that. 'The leader of the group receives from levies from other members a remuneration of no less than five-hundred pounds per year, so that he may be exempted from the need to work, and may spend all his time on contemplation and intellectual pursuits.' Five-hundred a year, is this right, Gregory?
Gregory:
Oh, yes. And his lieutenant gets three-hundred and fifty.
Hancock:
Who's his lieutenant?
Sid:
It says here...'the leader has the privilege of choosing his own lieutenant'.
Hancock:
At three-fifty a year?
Sid:
Yes.
Hancock:
And that's what you're after. Well you've had that, because it also says here that...'the leader can only choose for his lieutenant, a man who has proved his intellectual qualifications by having produced an original, cultural piece of work'.
Sid:
Exactly. I shall now read an abstract poem, which I just happen to have written. 'Limbo.' by Sidney.
Hancock:
Oh this is getting farcical. I should have this job.
Gregory:
Quiet please, everyone. Sidney's going to read to us.
Sid:
'Limbo.' by Sidney.
Mauve world, green me,
Black him, purple her,
Yellow us, pink you...

Greta:
Beautiful. Beautiful.
Sid:
Lead pipes, fortune made,
Six-to-four, come in second,
Green country, blue Haringey,
And White City.
Hick. Hike. Hock.
Gregory:
I can't take any more. All this sensuous excitement in one evening. What an experience to hear such beauty, such translucent symbolism. How you must know life, Sidney.
Sid:
Oo. I do, boy.
Greta:
How you must have suffered to produce work like that.
Sid:
Suffered? It's been murder, sometimes.

Laughing out loud

Never even watched this should I give it a go? I am a huge Sid James fan, is it worth seeing it?

That's from the radio show not the tv show

"You see...you've upset Greta now, her perceptive aura's gone-for-a-Burton. "

:D

Quote: Wheel @ 28th May 2019, 9:39 PM

Never even watched this should I give it a go? I am a huge Sid James fan, is it worth seeing it?

Yes, 100% worthwhile. Both radio and television series.

Quote: Aaron @ 8th July 2017, 9:44 AM

The British Comedy Society erected a plaque on the hospital in 2013.

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Where is the hospital?

2013?

I'm guessing closed down

I blame Thatcher

Quote: Chappers @ 28th May 2019, 10:21 PM

Where is the hospital?

* EDIT: It's in your neck of the woods. You can go there and take some nice sharp photos for us to post them on here..................oh, no...of course - sorry, you don't know how to do that, despite me explaining it in easy terms for you Whistling nnocently :D

It's still there, although not a sanatorium as when G&S met and first started writing together.

https://www.surreylife.co.uk/people/celebrity-interviews/steptoe-and-hancock-comedy-writing-duo-galton-and-simpson-honoured-in-milford-1-2223335

http://milfordhospitalleagueoffriends.com

Quote: Wheel @ 28th May 2019, 9:39 PM

Never even watched this should I give it a go? I am a huge Sid James fan, is it worth seeing it?

Absolutely! You'll love it, or you should. I certainly do but then I can so relate to it as it is of my period of the 50s and early 60s. Whatever, CLASSIC comedy and a masterclass in comedy writing, timing and performance.

As you like Sid, there is a classic one of his famous laughs right at the beginning of "Poetry Society" when they get sight of Hancock's beatnik/drop out clobber.............................. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vR07PVBLKc

All the early radio series had "We present Tony Hancock, Sid James, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr and Kenneth Williams in H-H-Hancock's Half Hour..........................." Then they went on without Hattie or Kenneth. The absolute best one in my mind and the one that came top in the poll of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society EVERY year was "Sunday Afternoon at Home" - brilliant and I NEVER tire of listening to it.

With the TV series it was Sid only (Williams did appear in one), THEN Tony "disposed" of Sid for the TV series "Hancock", which had some of his most famous works such as "The Blood Donor" and "Radio Ham" AND the series opener "The Bedsitter" aka "Hancock Alone" (not many can hold a sitcom on their own for half hour) etc., THEN he thought he could do without Galton & Simpson, THEN it went all pear shaped........................

Pear shaped?

More like bottle of booze shaped

Alcoholic extraordinaire

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 28th May 2019, 11:38 PM

* EDIT: It's in your neck of the woods. You can go there and take some nice sharp photos for us to post them on here..................oh, no...of course - sorry, you don't know how to do that, despite me explaining it in easy terms for you Whistling nnocently :D

It's still there, although not a sanatorium as when G&S met and first started writing together.

https://www.surreylife.co.uk/people/celebrity-interviews/steptoe-and-hancock-comedy-writing-duo-galton-and-simpson-honoured-in-milford-1-2223335

http://milfordhospitalleagueoffriends.com

Well I knew it had to be. Near to where I'm setting my novel.

Did I mention that I often park in Railway Cuttings when I go to see Sutton United?

Quote: Chappers @ 29th May 2019, 11:43 PM

Did I mention that I often park in Railway Cuttings when I go to see Sutton United?

:O Outside 23?

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 30th May 2019, 12:06 AM

:O Outside 23?

If I can but it's usually quite busy on a match day and there's lots of drop kerbs.

Well, what can one say. The Lad Himself is back on Radio 7 (4 Extra) again with the first ever episode, "The First Night Party" and apart from no Hattie it pretty much set the standard for all shows with the intro. etc.

Moira Lister as Tony's girlfriend with Bill Kerr as his mate/hanger-on, and Sid James - clearly not one of "the clique" yet - just a local crook, Kenneth Williams in a minor part and a young Gerald Campion as one of Sid's sidekicks.

Most enjoyable :)

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