New book about Goon Show writer Larry Stephens
You may not have heard of the name Larry Stephens before, but you'll have listened to and seen his work. Perhaps most notably he co-wrote The Goon Show with Spike Milligan.
Now a new book is set to be produced to tell his backstory. Glarnies, Green Berets & Goons will aim to expose "the remarkable story of a WWII Commando who transformed British comedy."
Researcher Julie Warren is working with the Unbound crowdfunding platform to raise enough money to publish the book. When the idea has enough backers, those that have pledged receive a copy of the finished product.
Larry Stephens' promising career as a jazz pianist was interrupted by the war, and after serving as an officer with the Commandos he moved to London and struck up a friendship with Tony Hancock (pictured), becoming the sole writer of Hancock's stage material.
Hancock introduced Stephens to Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Michael Bentine and together they created The Goon Show. As one of the main writers throughout the surreal sketch show's nine-year run, Stephens' experiences and acquaintances became themes and characters within the show.
He soon became a regular writer for many leading actors and comedians, including supplying one-liners for Ealing comedy The Ladykillers. However, his career was short lived. He died from a brain haemorrhage caused by hypertension at the age of just 35.
Writing on the Unbound site, Julie Warren explains: "British popular culture would probably be very different had Larry Stephens not been born. We could now be living in a world without the Carry On films or Monty Python and we may never have heard of Tony Hancock, Peter Sellers or Spike Milligan."
Using unrivalled access to Larry Stephens' personal archive of letters, photographs and artwork, plus interviews with Stephens' many notable friends, family members, comrades and colleagues, Glarnies, Green Berets & Goons aims to tell the story of "a boy from the Black Country whose short life had such an enduring impact."
Glarnies, Green Berets & Goons will also include two notable appendices: a 'lost' script for a proposed Hancock sitcom, and a 'Goonopedia' detailing who was responsible for writing each of The Goon Show's episodes - often different from those who were credited with having done so.
Speaking to BCG, Julie Warren says: "I'm very excited to be working with Unbound to tell Larry's story. He certainly managed to pack a lot into his short life! He was highly thought of and considered a very talented comedy writer but a lot of what has been written about him in more recent times doesn't reflect this."
In this video Julie explains more about the project, and visits Grafton's, the pub where The Goon Show team used to write:
To find out more about Glarnies, Green Berets & Goons and to pledge to support the project visit Unbound