BCG Comedy Chronicles Page 4

Quote: Aaron @ 21st May 2023, 5:03 PM

These are the Chronicles I'm most proud of being able to publish. It's important we don't forget the legacy others have gifted us and the superstars of yesteryear.

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Like Milligan, Sellers, Secombe and Co. ?

Anyway, to certain things, and Graham's latest gem on Richard Wattis :-

Loved the reminder of the wonderful Joyce Grenfell.................

"The expression he summons when Joyce Grenfell's character, Miss Gossage, urges him shyly but sweetly to call her 'Sausage', is extraordinary in the iridescence of its sense of offence - a spasm of alarm, disgust, fear, confusion and creeping nausea - as if centuries of unsolicited change are now echoing around in his head."

And a bit shocked at this revelation............

"An imaginative bid in the late-Fifties to craft a starring role for himself on television, alongside his friend Richard Hearne of Mr Pastry fame, saw the two men collaborate on a plan for a sci-fi series about a mysterious time traveller. They wrote a pilot script and held talks with the BBC about bringing it to the screen, but, after some procrastination, the Corporation passed on the project (although the later arrival of Doctor Who caused both men to wonder if their suggestion had been its seed). Wattis, as a consequence, stepped back into the mid-distance as far as the prominence of his roles was concerned."

https://www.comedy.co.uk/features/comedy_chronicles/crafty-art-of-richard-wattis/

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 2nd July 2023, 3:39 PM

Like Milligan, Sellers, Secombe and Co. ?

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Oh yes, they're terribly overlooked. No one ever writes anything about them or acknowledges their skills or contributions.

Quote: Aaron @ 2nd July 2023, 5:46 PM

Oh yes, they're terribly overlooked. No one ever writes anything about them or acknowledges their skills or contributions.

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😆 Well, you've got my Peter Sellers quiz to look forward to then in about a couple of weeks.

A nice article on the wonderful Esma Cannon this week.

I absolutely adore her - perhaps in The Rag Trade (one of my favourite sitcoms) particularly. A really lovely tribute.

I remember her having an unusually big part in a non-comedy film called Crow Hollow in which she played one of three spinster sisters living in a dilapidated, run-down house when a newly married couple came to live there and several attempts were made on the life of the new bride. Esma was one of the suspects. She did, after all, keep a collection of poisonous spiders.

Another great one from Mr McCann, on the much undervalued and gorgeous June Whitfield - loved everything she has ever been in.

"Ohhhh Ron, beloved............"

"Yes, Eth"

"What sort of ice cream do you like?"

"Neolopitan"

Yes - it was a good piece.
Sad though - if she'd been born a few decades later she might have had a bit more appreciation at the time.

She was president of Wimbledon FC Supporters' Club in their heyday (living locally as she did).

Yet another superb piece by Mr McCann on the lovely Pat Coombs, which I've only just now found time to read - must get her biography for Christmas 😊

Yet again a superb piece from Graham McCann on the infamous Peter Sellers rant against Tom Sloan at the BBC with "'A very small pebble in a very large pool': When Peter Sellers broke up with the BBC"

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 2nd July 2023, 3:39 PM

Like Milligan, Sellers, Secombe and Co. ?

Anyway, to certain things, and Graham's latest gem on Richard Wattis :-

Loved the reminder of the wonderful Joyce Grenfell.................

"The expression he summons when Joyce Grenfell's character, Miss Gossage, urges him shyly but sweetly to call her 'Sausage', is extraordinary in the iridescence of its sense of offence - a spasm of alarm, disgust, fear, confusion and creeping nausea - as if centuries of unsolicited change are now echoing around in his head."

And a bit shocked at this revelation............

"An imaginative bid in the late-Fifties to craft a starring role for himself on television, alongside his friend Richard Hearne of Mr Pastry fame, saw the two men collaborate on a plan for a sci-fi series about a mysterious time traveller. They wrote a pilot script and held talks with the BBC about bringing it to the screen, but, after some procrastination, the Corporation passed on the project (although the later arrival of Doctor Who caused both men to wonder if their suggestion had been its seed). Wattis, as a consequence, stepped back into the mid-distance as far as the prominence of his roles was concerned."

https://www.comedy.co.uk/features/comedy_chronicles/crafty-art-of-richard-wattis/

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Reminds me of Tony Hancock threatening to sue Terry Nation cos he'd had an idea for a film about a post apocalypse oozy monsters and Terry had gone 'hmmm...'

Another superb Chronicle from the pen of Graham McCann, and I've learnt something, which has changed my view of "A Hackney diamond: The much-misunderstood Ray Martine"

And he was so right when he said "The main reason for the misleading myth of Ray Martine is the fact that the most accessible surviving record of him as a performer is his output in Jokers Wild.", for on that he was abysmal, but I see now it was a sort of part of the act on that show to use him as a punch bag.

I wish I could have seen him at his height, when he performed no holds barred stand-up, making agents and the likes of the Beeb nervous about employing him.

Yes, I think he was shit on Jokers Wild, but my view of him has changed a lot!