Comedy Biographies

Max Miller

2011-11-19T20:07:00.000+00:00

Max Miller was many things, but ultimately he was a comedian. For more than 20 years he was the most popular comedian in the UK.

He was a student of comedy, who honed his art to stay top of his profession.

Known as The Cheeky Chappie, cheekiness was a part of his stage persona. He wore clothes that no one else would wear and told jokes and stories that no one else would dare tell. Today he would be known as "edgy".

His comedy could be seen as timeless, he was the archetypal Court Jester with permission to wear what he liked and say what he liked, within reason. His character would not be out of place as a jester in a comedy by Shakespeare or Moliere.

With his persona the most innocent phrase could be seen as the rudest double entendre. His audience was his friend, I used the word "was" as he generally seemed to talk to the audience as a single person. He was sticking it to the man, the man being some mythical character off stage that Miller would occasionally check to see if he was listening before carrying on with his story.

He took the audience into his confidence, his act was almost a confidence trick, hoodwinking the audience into believing all his tales and laughing all the more for being allowed in on the jokes.

He could build a tension before he set foot on stage, such was the strength of his character. When he did appear, he would play on the tension, his longer jokes would start off slow, a little throwaway line along the way, building up more and more, getting nearer to the audience, reaching out to the crowd over the edge of the stage, checking backstage, pausing, pacing, bringing them in more until the crescendo of the punchline. Anyone who doesn't think telling a joke can be an art form has never watched Max Miller. Even in the little footage that exists you can see the mastery of Miller.

Max Miller died on May 7 1963 just as The Beatles were having their first number one hit single. He may not have reached the worldwide heights of the popularity of The Beatles but he remains as one of the greatest British entertainers and for 3 decades he sold out theatres across the UK as the number one comedian in the country.

Born in 1894, Miller was of the same generation as Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, where Chaplin and Laurel had started as comedians early in life, Miller didn't get started in showbusiness until he was 26. Prior to this he had a series of jobs and also served in India and Mesopotamia during the First World War, he had brushes with entertaining and had held thoughts of singing and telling stories for a living. Such thoughts obviously fluorished during the war, alongside concert party performances, a determined Miller (still then known as Harry Sargent, his birth name) set off for London to start his stage career.

His first shot was in a talent show with a prize of £6 and a week's professional engagement. Miller came second to a much older act who wasn't well enough to do the week's work, Miller stepped in. His career didn't grow from there though, in fact it stalled in London, where he struggled to find more work, so he headed back to his Brighton home town and there secured work as a comedian for £3 a week.

On that summer season Max met a woman who 2 years later became his wife, Kathleen Marsh. Kathleen was a singer at the time but later gave up her career to concentrate on managing Max's, she was a strong force in the management of his business interests and his career. A career which was based largely at this time on revue shows, this often meant Max had to perform with others, not something that he enjoyed. Max needed to be the centre of attention and often annoyed his co-stars by upstaging them. Max's preference was variety and a new agent secured him more solo bookings in variety theatres. Some biographies at this point have a high of Miller's career being a 1931 Royal Variety Performance, yet the records I have seen don't show a Miller Royal Performance until 1937, before the new King George VI, Miller dressed for the occasion in red, white and blue with white shoes and hat.

Miller was most at home in the theatre yet his career took him into radio, films and even a recording career. In radio, Miller had limited success, a BBC ban that lasted for five years in the 1940s didn't help. Miller performed a joke live on air that had not been in the script he was meant to use, the risque joke didn't go down well with the bosses. Some claim that the joke is apocryphal and not one that Miller would have told, yet it is the only one ever attached to the story;
"I was walking along a narrow mountain pass - so narrow no one else could pass you, I saw this beautiful blonde walking towards me, a beautiful blonde with not a stitch on, well, I didn't know whether to toss myself off or block her passage".

The Cheeky Chappie appeared in 14 films between 1933 and 1942, the only truly worthy Miller vehicles were the two films as Educated Evans, Educated Evans and Thank Evans. Miller was often cast as an unsympathetic character and in films he once again showed his dislike of working with others. The only other high of his film career was his very first picture, a 3 minute segment as a salesman of songs opposite John Gielgud, his downfall in the success of this was being given free reign to improvise his part, in future roles this didn't go down too well against actors who had learnt the script and didn't veer from it.

His recording career was also of mixed success, he did record many singles for HMV and had some successful live albums. "Max at the Met" which was recorded in 1957 when some considered Max to be past his prime is one of the best live recordings by a comedian and is still available today on both CD and to download.

Miller's act was predominantly comedy but there was always a song or two, his signature tune was "Mary From The Dairy", a typical Miller song:

I'm known as the Cheeky Chappie,
The things I say are snappy.
That's why the pretty girls all fall for me.

I don't do things contrary
My love will never vary,
Ask Mary from the Dairy -
Here's the key.

I fell in love with Mary from the Dairy,
But Mary wouldn't fall in love with me.
Down by an old millstream
We both sat down to dream

Little did she know that I was thinking up a scheme.
She said let's pick some buttercups and daisies,
But those buttercups were full of margarine.
She slipped and we both fell
Down by a wishing well,
In the same place where I fell for Nellie Dean.

"Now on our farm," said Mary from the Dairy,
"We've got the finest cows you've ever seen.
I don't do things by halves
I'll let you see my calves,
And they're not the same shape calves as Nellie Dean's

The later years seemed to be a battle between Max and television, as televisions were switched on in every home in the UK an evening at the theatre became a luxury. Max was aware though that an appearance on tv would put paid to him doing the act live again and despite his talent, Max was not a prolific writer, he used much the same act for over 20 years.

Max's prediction that "when I'm dead and gone, this game's finished" proved accurate as the variety halls Miller loved so much have all but ceased to exist and the decline started a good ten years before Max died.

Everything I've read about Max Miller has always mentioned one of his catchphrases "There'll never be another" to point out that it is the case. Whether future generations have provided anyone with the talent of Max Miller is debatable, but the environment within which Max thrived no longer exists. In modern times he would have struggled to stay top of his game for so long without writing too much new material, yet his undeniable natural talent would certainly have seen him rise to the top in any generation.

Eric Morecambe described Max's act as "a study in brilliant simplicity", Arthur Askey said "he was the finest front-cloth comic ever" and Tommy Cooper said he would "never miss an opportunity to see him, you could see those blue eyes of his from the back of the gallery. As an artist there was no one to touch him".

Sadly there aren't too many visual recordings of Max, this one is from one of his films, Hoots Mon.

Oliver Hardy

2011-10-22T19:20:00.000+01:00

As I had a Stan Laurel entry, there has to be an Oliver Hardy entry.

A young and dapper Oliver Hardy

Oliver Hardy was commonly known as "Babe", a nickname he claimed was given to him by an Italian barber who over enthused about his baby face. The name stuck and it was generally only onscreen that he was referred to as Ollie.

He was born Norvell Hardy on January 18 1892 in Harlem, Georgia. He added the name of his late father in his early teens and used it as his first name for the rest of his life.

His mother ran a small hotel and the young Hardy would often be found 'lobby watching' sat quietly watching guests going along with their business. Significant parts of his early life were his attendance at a military college and singing lessons, cinema and theatre also began to creep into his life. By the time he was 18, Hardy was managing a local cinema.

Watching the films on the (probably not so) big screen, Hardy thought he could do better and headed to Florida where part of the movie industry was. Working for Lubin Pictures, Hardy was cast as the 'heavy' in many films, he worked for 3 years in Florida and then moved to New York where he worked on Billy West comedies. West made films mimicking (or even copying) Chaplin and Babe was always the opposing heavy, West's films stopped in 1918 and with the end of those Hardy headed to California.

Oliver Hardy was a great comic actor, yet he often spoke as though he was just a helping hand, interviewed in 1954 by Laurel & Hardy biographer John McCabe, Hardy was surprised he was even being interviewed;

there's very little to say, Stan can fill you in on all the comedy stuff done in the pictures.. I didn't do very much outside of doing a lot of gags before a camera and play golf the rest of the time

"a lot of gags before a camera", amazingly modest when those gags were some of the most memorable in the history of cinema.

Hardy's career in Hollywood was a succession of playing the heavy against some of the leading comics of the day, most notably Larry Semon. Inevitably Hardy tried to shake off the heavy role yet it wasn't until he was teamed with Stan Laurel that he could finally do that. Always a big man Hardy made a lot of effort to move gently and elegantly.

The partnership and teaming of Stan & Ollie will appear in a future entry, as far as Hardy's solo work, when teamed with Stan from 1927, Hardy only worked with Stan, except for 3 movies.

In 1939 after a contract dispute with studio boss Hal Roach, Stan parted company with the studio but Hardy had time on his contract. By all accounts Roach tried to break up Laurel & Hardy by putting Roach in a film alongside fading comedy star Harry Langdon, Zenobia. Zenobia wasn't a great success, although it has some funny moments, audiences just wondered where Stan was.

After Laurel & Hardy had more or less finished making films (the ill fated Utopia was to come in 1951), Hardy made another two films. After forming a friendship with John Wayne doing some charity work, Hardy appeared alongside the Duke in his feature film The Fighting Kentuckian (1950). Hardy was given the chance to do some serious acting in this film and doing it well. He also had an hilarious cameo role in the Bing Crosby film Riding High, playing with type as a heavy gambler.

You can see some of that appearance below

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Ten days before Laurel & Hardy were due to start filming a TV series (their first) in 1956, Oliver Hardy had a mild stroke, sadly there was a more serious stroke to come and for several months, he made vain attempts at recovery, ending with his death in August 1957.

Speaking of Babe's death, Stan commented "I hope wherever he is now that he realises how much people loved him".

Deryck Guyler

2011-08-13T23:13:00.000+01:00

Deryck Guyler may not be the biggest names in comedy but he has one of the more immortal voices, his voice still appearing on The West End stage and an imitation of it regularly on television.

Most known to viewers for his roles as Corky the policeman in long running sitcom Sykes and as Norman Potter in Please Sir!

He worked with many of the great names of entertainment, The Beatles, John Gielgud, Morecambe & Wise and the mighty Fred Dibnah.

His work ranged from comedy on tv, radio and film to straight acting and music (an accomplished washboard player he backed Shakin' Stevens on 3 tracks of an album).

His west end immortality is as the news announcer in The Mousetrap (the long running theatre play), his voice was in the very first show in 1952 and remains in it to this day. On television, his voice (mimicked by Bob Mortimer) is the voice of the Churchill dog ("oh yes"). Guyler was much sought after as a voice over.

Deryck Guyler

My personal favourite was his title role as The Laughing Policeman in a 1970s children's tv series.

The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin

2011-08-06T22:13:00.000+01:00

Originally spanning 3 series, the first series of The Fall & Rise Of Reginald Perrin was based on the novel The Death of Reginald Perrin by David Nobbs and adapted for television by the author.

Reginald Iolanthe Perrin

This was a much darker sitcom than most British comedies of the time (the first series went out on the BBC in the autumn of 1976). The central character was portrayed by Leonard Rossiter who rather uniquely was also starring in another hit sitcom, Rising Damp over on ITV.

The strength of Rossiter's character acting gave no problems to the audience seeing him in two very different roles.

In Reggie Perrin, Rossiter was given the task of playing a depressed and confused middle aged man on the verge of a breakdown and playing it seriously and for laughs. The scripts obviously helped but very few actors could have made Reggie such a loved and remembered character.

When discussing casting ideas Nobbs had thought Ronnie Barker would be a good lead, however a busy Barker was unavailable and BBC head of comedy Jimmy Gilbert suggested Leonard Rossiter.

There's a nice little website with a full series breakdown and other information here.

Whilst the central character was pivotal, the supporting cast were excellent and it is difficult to find any flaws with them.

Pauline Yates was Reggie's wife Elizabeth, she was calm and cool headed, probably the most sensible character, yet she occasionally showed her own eccentricities. Her greetings to Reggie both at the start and end of his working day added to Reggie's frustrations with his repetitive life.

Probably the most famous of the support characters is CJ, played by John Barron. I will know use the phrase that has become a part of the English lexicon, I didn't get where I am today without knowing a good catchphrase when hear it. CJ was the embodiment of the 'system' Reggie wanted to escape from.

Then there was Reggie's family, daughter Linda and son in law Tom ("I'm not a people person"), brother-in-law Jimmy (The fabulous Geoffrey Palmer) who was often having a cock-up on some front or other, usually the catering front, in the first series there was also glimpses of Reggie and Elizabeth's son Mark, the out of work actor. Ironically Mark didn't appear in the second season his character getting work on a theatre tour meant the actor portraying him ended up out of work.

Reggie's co workers were his much lusted after secretary Joan Greengrass (Coronation Street's Sue Nicholls), the inept Doctor, Doc Morrissey and the yes men David Harris-Jones (Super) and Tony Webster (great).

Leonard Rossiter agreed to do a second series if writer David Nobbs would first write that as a novel too, believing that this added to the style of the sitcom. I'm inclined to think that series 2 is better than the first one.

If you haven't seen The Fall & Rise then buy the box set or catch it somewhere.

So without too many spoilers, here is Reggie ordering an Italian lunch

and a nice day at the zoo

Elizabeth I

2011-08-02T10:34:00.000+01:00

Queen Elizabeth was not actually reknowned for her comedy work. It is rumoured that she once did a ten minute set at the Glasgow Empire in between Bruce Forsyth and Ken Dodd but neither of them will verify it.

This particular comedy entry however refers to the rather splendid portrayal of everyone's favourite Elizabethan by Miranda Richardson in Blackadder II.

A full Blackadder entry will be arriving shortly, for now let's look at Queenie in action.

First is an extract from Blackadder Back and Forth that was originally shown in The Millennium Dome

A little interaction with Nursie

and a little bit more...

Dad's Army

2011-07-10T14:10:00.000+01:00

Dad's Army is a british sitcom focussing on the Home Guard during the Second World War. It also contains one of the funniest incidental sitcom characters of all time, Mr. Blewitt, played by Harold Bennett.

Dad's Army was an ensemble piece, unusual in sitcom its finished product was even better than it appeared on paper. It is certainly the oldest sitcom to be consistently repeated on the BBC and achieve good ratings. Between 1968 and 1977 there were 80 episodes, there were also radio episodes (many were rerecordings of TV shows), a touring stage show and a feature film.
The characters were the driving force of the show, each one had their own unique mannerism or catchphrase that enhanced the plot.

At the head of the platoon was bank manager Captain George Mainwaring played by Arthur Lowe. Lowe had been in another long running role as Arthur Swindley in Coronation Street, one time love of Emily Nugent (now Emily Bishop). His stage acting saw him appearing at The National Theatre alongside John Gielgud at the request of Laurence Olivier. He also did the voice over for The Mr. Men cartoons (not that they were cartoons as such, but that's for another day). Lowe's portrayal as Mainwaring was a masterpiece in characterisation, where other actors would have just shown the pompous side, Lowe made him more real. With Lowe's portrayal Mainwaring was occasionally insecure and sometimes brave. His relationship with his upper class deputy bank manager and platoon sergeant Arthur Wilson inspired some of the series funniest moments.

Wilson was played by John Le Mesurier, an experienced stage and screen actor, appearing in over 200 films and TV series. Sergeant Wilson was the calm and polite English gentleman, his pauses and looks of despair were worthy of Oliver Hardy or Jack Benny. Le Mesurier had worked with Clive Dunn previously and took the role as Wilson when he heard Dunn was to play Corporal Jones.

Clive Dunn played the veteran Jack Jones who by day helped the people of Walmington on Sea with their meat ration. He also managed to secure the position of Corporal due to owning the platoon's transport, his butcher's van. As one of the youngest in the cast Dunn played the oldest member of the platoon having fought in the Sudan under General Kitchener. Dunn also provided many of the series more memorable catchphrases, "They don't like it up 'em" and "Don't panic, don't panic".

Dunn played the oldest character in the show, the oldest actor was Arnold Ridley who played Private Godfrey. Born in 1896, Ridley had been a successful playwright and actor. The character of Godfrey was beautifully portrayed as the charming and humble Englishman. Wilson and Godfrey would quite happily have talked the Germans out of the war with tea and cucumber sandwiches.

John Laurie was the classical actor who believed that Dad's Army was a little beneath him artistically, he would occasionally complain that of all the great Shakespeare he had performed he would be "remembered for this bloody rubbish". The character he played was Private Frazer, a stereotypical dour and stingy Scotsman, again the character and the humour were heightened by the expert portrayal of the actor. The darker side of his character, who was also an undertaker, would not have been out of place in the earlier Hitchcock films in which Laurie appeared.

Jimmy Beck played the spiv, Private Walker, with a little nod to George Cole's Flash Harry of the St Trinian's films. Beck was seemingly indifferent to the war, except when it earnt him a few bob and this didn't endear him to Mainwaring. Beck died (aged 44) during filming of the sixth series in 1973.

Ian Lavender played Arthur Wilson's 'nephew' (writer Jimmy Perry says that he was indeed Wilson's illegitimate son).

The seven above were the core of the series, they were the "Dad's Army", Walmington On Sea also had the Vicar and his verger and the Chief Air Raid Patrol Warden/greengrocer Hodges, probably a bigger enemy to Mainwaring than Hitler. There were also funny women folk too, notably Mavis Pike, "friend" of Arthur Wilson and Mrs Fox who was married to Jack Jones in the final episode.

The series was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, once the cast was in place it may look as though it would have been easy to write. In some ways I'd say that was true, but I wouldn't like to take anything from the writers, the plots and dialogue were perfectly crafted. Perry was in the Home Guard (the character of Pike was based on himself) and had also written the part of Walker to play himself (he was later talked out of it).

The theme tune was recorded by Bud Flanagan, who's voice was recognisable as a singer of many wartime tunes, Run Rabbit Run, Hang All Your Washing On The Siegfried Line and British music hall classics such as Underneath the Arches, which he sang with his partner Chesney Allen. The Dad''s Army theme was not an old song however but a newer one co-written by Jimmy Perry especially for the show. Flanagan died shortly after the airing of the last episode of the first series.

Dad's Army is a pretty good insight into the British life, with the snobbery and insecurities of class and age brought to the fore. Even a little ahead of it's time, it wasn't until 1990 that a poorly educated former bank manager from a working class background made it to Prime Minister, though John Major was never quite as pompous as Captain Mainwaring, I could quite easily see Michael Portillo standing alongside him, "The ERM? do you think that's wise Prime Minister?".

Tommy Cooper

2011-07-08T19:04:00.000+01:00

The biographer John Fisher has in my opinion written the most definitive book on the great British comedian, so I'd heartily recommend this book. There is of course Wikipedia too which has biographical information, some of it is even true. Writing about Tommy Cooper both as a person and as an act is difficult for someone who grew up loving and admiring this giant of comedy.
Yet Cooper was not all he seemed, his personal life was something of a mess, shortly after he died it became public knowledge that for almost 20 years he had continued an affair with his personal assistant, add that to his alcoholism and excessive stinginess it is difficult to feel any warmth. Those who knew him well also admit this was the case but Cooper had an unquantifiable charm that overflowed into his performing. Even Cooper himself was often bemused as to why he got laughs at moments when he was being serious.
I was fortunate enough to see one of Tommy's live shows, the show started in total darkness with an off stage Tommy trying to find his way onto the stage, the image of him all suited and fezed up trying to work his way onto the stage, opening and closing various doors along the way, had the audience in hysterics before he even made it onto the stage. Tommy Cooper was a rare comedian who's appearance alone (and even lack of it) could raise a laugh.
His whole body was the comic, not just his voice or his eyes, his feet were hilarious, his conjuror's hands were amusing, even his hair sticking out from under the fez was funny.
As I mentioned, details of his personal life left a part of me not liking him too much and the tales of hid professional life had a similar effect. By all accounts Cooper liked to use and pay for other people's material and tricks, yet if he could manage it he would get by without paying. In his earlier days he managed to use material he had seen and heard whilst in the USA it would be difficult to imagine him getting away with that today.
Whilst I haven't any details (or even facts!) to hand I have heard tales of other performers having seen Tommy doing their material and deciding to stop doing it themselves, Cooper was doing it better and funnier. When a joke was told by Tommy Cooper, whether he had written it or not (more often not), it became a Tommy Cooper joke.
He has been immortalized in statue form in his home town of Caerphilly and below is a stamp with a Gerald Scarfe drawing of Tommy on, one of 5 comedians selected to be pictured (Eric Morecambe, Peter Cook, Les Dawson and Joyce Grenfell were the others), below that are a few videos, there are hundreds of Tommy Cooper's around. He died in 1984 and remains one of the most popular British comedians, remembered affectionately by the vast majority of the British public.

Jack Benny

2011-06-11T22:31:00.000+01:00

Benjamin Kubelsky was born in February 1894 in Waukegan, Illinois, putting him in the same generation as the great comedy stars of early cinema. Buster Keaton was a year younger, Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy were just a few years older. Yet Jack Benny as he became known was a big star of stage, radio and television. Weekly visits into American households made him a ‘friend’ to many.
His style wasn’t of the aggressive comedy of his contemporaries, where friend and fellow comedian Bob Hope would try and do as many gags as he could in his given time, Benny did the opposite. Benny got more laughs in his legendary pauses than most comics could muster in 10 jokes.
His first encounter with entertainment was when he was given a violin for his sixth birthday. He practiced daily and by the time he was 14 was working as a violinist at the local vaudeville venue, The Barrison Theatre. When he was 17, he encountered the young Marx Brothers who played the theatre, their mother, the legendary Minnie offered Benny the chance to tour with them, which his parents declined.
By around 1912 he was known professionally as Ben K. Benny. The comedy started when he was performing classical violin whilst in the navy during the First World War (where he never progressed from ‘defending’ Lake Michigan), the audience weren’t too appreciative, so he eventually put down the violin (later the character of 'Jack Benny' would inflict his terrible violin playing on his friends) and started a bit of patter, this led to more comedy and he continued on this path back in vaudeville after the war.
By 1921 the name change was complete and he was billed as Jack Benny: Aristocrat of Humor.
For the next few years established himself as a popular vaudeville star and in 1929 was given a contract with MGM to make movies. The first film he made was largely an extension of his vaudeville career, being used as a host of a revue show, The Hollywood Revue of 1929, which featured amongst others, Laurel & Hardy doing a magic routine.
His movie career wasn’t successful (although To Be Or Not To Be and Charley’s Aunt were) and after returning to the stage, Benny decided in 1932 to try his hand at a new medium, radio.
His first radio appearance was on The Ed Sullivan Show, his radio career opened with the line
"This is Jack Benny talking. There will now be a slight pause while everyone says, 'Who cares?'".
Between May 1932 and May 1955 there were over 900 radio shows. His TV shows ran from 1950 to 1965 with 260 30 minute episodes. NBC decided to end the series in 1965 when the show was commanding 18 million viewers a week.
The format of the shows was part sitcom part entertainment. Benny was always keen to maintain the characters throughout, working with many of the same writers throughout and keeping a close eye on the scripts. His own character had many traits, from the infamous stinginess to his being forever 39.
I’ve jumped over a lot of The Jack Benny Program as I think the characters and the series itself require at least another entry.
Throughout his radio and tv career Benny continued to make live appearances and did so after the tv show finished. He made regular chat show appearances in the US, notably with Dick Cavett and The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, he also made stage and TV appearances in the UK, appearing amongst others on Royal Variety Performances and on Parkinson and Des O’Connor Shows.
In 1974 he was cast to appear alongside Walter Matthau in the Neil Simon film The Sunshine Boys. Jack Benny was taken ill as rehearsals were due to begin. Rather than shelve the film Benny suggested his lifelong friend George Burns be considered for the role. Despite Burns not being known as an actor or movie star the eventual casting was an overwhelming success and Burns won an Oscar for his performance. We can only wonder what the film would have been with Benny playing the slow and fastidious Al Lewis. I’ve also wondered what the movie would have been had Phil Silvers, who took a screen test for the Matthau part, had been cast alongside Benny. The Dick Cavett interview of Benny and Silvers shows the warmth and admiration the two had for each other.
Jack Benny died on December 26 1974.
The International Jack Benny Fan Club website has more detailed biography and other information.


Jack Benny at the 1961 Royal Variety Performance alongside Shirley Bassey and George Burns with the Duchess of Kent.

The Addams Family

2011-05-30T15:15:00.000+01:00

The Addams Family has had various forms, from a cartoon strip, a Hanna Barbera cartoon series, a Broadway musical and movies. The most memorable must surely be the original sitcom which ran for 64 episodes between 1964 and 1966.
The series was beaten in the ratings by the largely similar The Munsters. The Addams always seemed more sophisticated than the Munsters, not only in their day to day living but more importantly in the comedy.
Nat Perrin who was series producer (and by all accounts was script editor and had a large hand in writing and plotting many of the scripts) was a writer on several Marx Brothers' movies, so perhaps Gomez Addams' cigar smoking and wisecracks were more than a nod to Perrin's close friend Groucho.
John Astin played Gomez and Carolyn Jones was his wife Morticia, The Addams were a real couple, despite their quirkiness it was easy to believe in their relationship, I'm not sure how anyone could ever think anyone would love Herman Munster.
Jackie Coogan who as a child star had starred alongside Charlie Chaplin in The Kid played Uncle Fester. Everyone has a weird relative knocking about, Fester was that and so much more, Fester was the most handsome, debonair, intelligent, sophisticated man in the world, or so he believed.
The 6'9" actor Ted Cassidy played the even creepier butler Lurch, his large frame and booming "you rang" whenever he was summoned always caused a reaction in one of the many visitors.
Ken Weatherwax took the role of the Addams' son Pugsley and his sister Wednesday was played by Lisa Loring. Making up the rest of the house were Grandmama (Marie Blake), the severed hand Thing T Thing (or just Thing) and the wondrous Cousin Itt who paid the occasional if nonsensical and hilarious visit.
The Addams Family weren't too far removed from the 1975 documentary Grey Gardens in which the rather frightening Little Edie and Big Edie lived in their own bizarre world, oblivious to their differences with the rest of 'society'. Albeit the Addams had a few more out of this world eccentricities, they were still firmly rooted in it, a fact which annoyed several religious groups at the time.
The Addams Family episodes tended to involve visitors who the Addams treated with great respect but they never seemed to come of well from the visit.
The Addams Family returned in 1977 with all but Grandmama from the original cast, it was hoped the Halloween special would turn into a new series, but this was not to be. Their have been other remakes (1998/9 series The New Addams Family featured Astin in the role of Grandpapa Addams) and several TV companies are talking of new series.
It's probably true that the most memorable part of the show was its unique theme tune, possibly one of the most memorable tv themes of all time, written by Vic Mizzy.

There are lots of full episodes of The Addams family online, so check them out. Here's an interview for the launch of the DVD and a chance to see Cousin Itt without the hair!

Zero Mostel

2011-05-29T18:39:00.000+01:00

There aren't too many Z entries to be had, so forgive my changing from surname to first name for this entry.
The name "Zero" should inspire special treatment and my entry at the letter 'z' was an especially funny man.
Sadly 'Zero' isn't any kind of abbreviation of a name given to him by his Eastern European born parents, it's a nickname devised by a press agent, his real name was Samuel.
Probably now best remembered for his role in The Producers, Mostel was a big Broadway star and was the first actor on Broadway to play the part of Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, a part he played many times between from its launch in 1964 to just a few months before his death in 1977.
Born in New York, Mostel studied art and whilst giving humurous talks around New York art galleries and museums he was approached to have a regular comedy spot at a Manhattan nightclub. The press officer for that club, the "Cafe Society" gave Mostel the name Zero and the tag "here's a man who made something out of nothing".
Mostel had several early TV appearances which led to Life magazine labelling him in 1943 as 'just about the funniest American now living'. Mostel's career halted throughout the majority of the 1950s due to being blacklisted by The House of UnAmerican Activity. Whilst I know some about this there are more knowledgeable entries than mine ever could be about this period. Mostel was unco-operative with the committee. His blacklisting seems to have hit him harder than others who were similarly treated and he reverted to painting to earn a living.
His eventual return to the theatre was in the award winning Ulysees in 1958. This led on to more theatre work including A Funny Thing Happened on The Way to The Forum (a role in which he recreated for cinema) and Fiddler On The Roof. TV work also returned, starring as Estragon opposite Burgess Meredith in Waiting for Godot.
He initially turned down the role as Max Bialystock in The Producers, Mel Brooks asked him to show the script to his wife who then persuaded him to do it. Mostel was often criticised for his over the top and show stealing stage performances, a criticism he vigorously defended, never having seen a stage performance, I can only judge from film. His 'scene stealing' in The Producers was exactly what the role called for, I don't think the role was bettered or even equalled by Nathan Lane in the remake nor could it have been.

Here's Zero giving a performance as Tevye at a Tony Award's evening.

Yes Minister

2011-05-24T00:17:00.003+01:00

http://www.yesprimeminister.co.uk/Yes Minister is one of my favourite sitcoms, in some ways it doesn't fit the general sitcom format but on closer inspection it is fairly similar to many standard ones. At the heart of the show are the interconnecting relationships between 3 men, the comedy generally stems from the shifting status between them.
We begin shortly before Jim Hacker (paul Eddington) takes up the role of Minister for Administrative Affairs. His Permanent Secretary is the Civil Service grandee Sir Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne) and his Permanent Private Secretary is Bernard Woolley (Derek Fowlds).
Yes Minister had 3 series between 1980 and 1982, each of 7 episodes. A special in 1984, entitled "Party Games" led to the sequel series Yes, Prime Minister.
Throughout the 37 episodes there never appears to be a word written (by Anthony Jay and Jonathan Lynn) out of place or a fault in the delivery.
The amazing thing is that 30 years after they were first aired they don't date, in fact some episodes remain pertinent to modern events, off the record interviews with the press being made public, allowing parents to choose their childrens' school, government cuts whilst civil servants and ministers' pay increases, European interference, government waste, openness, etc all feature. Whilst some things may change the machinations, (or at least people's perceptions thereof) of government do not.
Here's Jim Hacker giving an almost (or at least soon to be) Prime Ministerial speech on sausages!

&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;gt;Yes
Yes Minister has been recreated in many countries and continues to this day. The series inspired then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to write a sketch with her press secretary Bernard Ingham, that was performed with Paul Eddington and Nigel Hawthorn, with Thatcher playing herself as PM with an idea to abolish economists.
Yes Prime Minister has recently been made as a play touring UK theatres.

Harry Worth

2011-05-22T19:26:00.001+01:00

Harry Worth is probably one of the more unlikely of great British comedians. He was born with a name as eccentric sounding as the character he eventually became known as, Harry Bourlon Illingsworth.

Born in Yorkshire in 1917, his early career was like that of many a Yorkshireman at the time, he worked as a miner. He started off as an amateur entertainer, from entertaining as a schoolboy to throwing voices whilst working down t'pit, he entered talent competitions and by the time he was 21 was earning enough to become professional.

As with a lot of his generation his career was stalled by the war but after a stint in the RAF the comedy took off in the early 50s. His initial career was largely as a ventriloquist, with dummies Fotheringay and Clarence. Whilst touring with Laurel & Hardy's British tour in 1952 and again for the 1953/4 tour. Oliver Hardy persuaded Harry to change his act so that it had a smaller amount of ventriloquism and more comedy without the dummy. Eventually Worth dropped the ventriloquism altogether. When he subsequently appeared alone and without a dummy for support he was very nervous, yet similar to contemporary Frankie Howerd he managed to capitalise on his nervousness for comic effect that was a big hit with audiences. His avuncular nature was a refreshing change to the more brash style of other comedians.

Steady work throughout the early 50s led to a discovery by tv producer Johnny Ammonds (most known now for producing Morecambe & Wise shows), this resulted in television work and eventually his own TV series, The Trouble With Harry, then "Here's Harry" and later simply "Harry Worth". The picture above was in the opening credits to the programme and became an epidemic for watchers of the series, there's plenty who still do it today. The sequence was filmed in St Annes Square, Manchester in a store that is now Starbucks. A quick look through YouTube shows a number of videos of various people "Doing a Harry Worth", I dare you not to laugh at this Herbert

Harry Worth appeared in sitcoms playing characters called Harry Worth regularly between 1960 and 1980, he remains a British institution, not only for his messing about in a shop window but for the character he played so well. The character was at odds with the world and constantly exasperated by the world, but unlike Victor Meldrew in One Foot in The Grave it never got him down and he remained his pleasant self throughout. His ability to take what ever the world threw at him was and like Wile E. Coyote in his pursuit of the Roadrunner, the more he took it, the funnier it became.

His final series in 1980, Oh Happy Band was written by the writers of Are You Being Served and Allo Allo, but sadly only ran for 6 episodes and is not remembered as Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft's finest work. Harry Worth died in July 1989.

Viza Za Budućnost

2011-05-21T15:20:00.000+01:00

Viza Za Budućnost

Viza Za Budućnost is Bosnia's first sitcom, it is a 45 minute show, that ran for 180 episodes between 2000 and 2008. I have looked at YouTube videos and like the BBC sitcom The Life Of Riley, I have no idea if it is funny or not.

It is the entry for V on my A to Z of comedy as I couldn't muster the will to write about The Vicar Of Dibley.

Stanley Unwin

2011-05-14T18:30:00.000+01:00

There aren't too many comedy letter U entries, there certainly aren't too many people in the history of comedy like Stanley Unwin. I've often heard of people referring to comedians having their own voice or style, Unwin went one step further and had his own language.
Forever immortalized on The Small Faces album Ogden's Nut Gone Flake, Unwin employed his "Unwinese" on the album, notably with the track Happiness Stan.

He made TV and film appearances galore, notable films include the fifth Carry On, Regardless and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
His uniqueness led to many TV commercial appearances, even Alan Sugar used him for this early word processor ad

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;W&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;
and I insist you listen to Goldiloppers and The Three Bearloaders.

 So 

Stanley Unwin was born in South Africa in 1911 and died in 2002.
Thanks for ready, hopely muchy deepjoy manifold.

Taxi

2011-05-14T18:06:00.000+01:00

Taxi had so many firsts, but for me it holds one of the most grotesque sitcom characters of all time, Louie De Palma, played brilliantly by Danny De Vito. He was underhand, deceitful, repulsive, and above all funny.
Taxi was a 'gang' sitcom focusing on the workers at a New York taxi company. Largely set in the garage depot, the ensemble were the drivers, the boss and the mechanic. The mechanic, Latka Gravas was played by Andy Kaufman, most of the cast reunited to play themselves in the film Man On The Moon, where Jim Carrey portrayed Kauffman in his somewhat fictionalised life story.
The series ran for 5 seasons from 1978-1983, 114 episodes. As well as being a springboard for many of its stars including Christopher Lloyd, Marilu Henner, Judd Hirsch, Tony Danza et al, the series also led to other successful US sitcoms.
James Burrows who directed 75 episodes along with episode producers and writers, brothers Glen & Les Charles went on to create Cheers and then Frasier.
Glenn Caron who also wrote on the show went on to create Moonlighting. Another writer Sam Simon helped with the creation of The Simpsons.
A story about a possible Taxi reunion movie seems to have been circulating, but looks more like a case of someone asking Danny DeVito if he thought that some day it may seem like it might possibly be almost a good idea, rather than anyone actually doing anything about it.
Anyway the theme to Taxi seemed to wrong foot the audience from the very start, "Angela" was not originally meant to be the theme, but incidental music to an episode involving Alex and an overweight female called Angela, anyway here is the Bob James penned theme, followed by a Kaufman/DeVito quick scene.

Some Like It Hot

2011-05-14T16:53:00.000+01:00

Some Like It Hot seems on paper as though it shouldn't really work, there's just too much in it, gangsters, romance, cross dressing, farce, songs, the various strands that make up the film are woven together so well by director Billy Wilder that this is often hailed as one of the greatest films of all time.
It was released in 1959 and due to issues with how the two main characters' make-up looked was released in black and white. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon together with Wilder's directing bring out the better of Marilyn Monroe's screen performances.
Whilst Jack Lemmon and Billy Wilder received Oscar nominations, the movie itself did not and it was overshadowed by the multi award winning Ben Hur at the 1960 Academy Awards. Ben Hur wasn't as funny.
Apart from being the sum of all its parts (this is exhaustive research folks!) the film has probably the most well known closing line of all time, delivered by the fabulous Joe E. Brown, "well, nobody's perfect". If you haven't seen this great film, go see it, I will tempt you some more with the movie trailer.

Al Read

2011-05-07T21:42:00.001+01:00

Al Read was directly responsible for the early success of Shirley Bassey and indirectly responsible for the success of Coronation Street. Whatever your opinion of either of these British institutions it shouldn’t affect your judgement of one of Britain’s greatest radio stars.

Born in 1909, his radio career didn’t start until 1950. His early showbusiness ambitions were tempered by his desire to run his sausage business. He was born into a family of meat processors, his grandfather was the first in the UK to pack meat in tins. Despite the ups and downs of the business Al had made it successful by the time he was breaking into radio. So much so that he asked that he only made one show a month.

His career is reported to have begun when he delivered what was no more than a party piece at a business dinner he was hosting for his customers at The Queen’s Hotel, Manchester. The story goes that watching this performance from just outside the room was BBC radio producer Bowker Andrews, who immediately asked Read to perform the sketch on the BBC radio show ‘Variety Fanfare’. The success of that performance led to a series of his own. At the height of its success the show attracted 20 million listeners.

His shows were just himself and a microphone, he played men, women, children, dogs, whatever the sketch called for. They were simple observations of life in the North West of England. He was born in Salford and lived in and around the area all his life (he did end up in Yorkshire, but I won’t hold that against him!). He was a one man Coronation Street ten years before it existed, the first time that ‘real’ northern voices were heard regularly on the radio. Where LS Lowry painted the pictures of Northern life, Al Read acted them out. His characters and catchphrases have echoes throughout sketch shows down the years, The Fast Show and Little Britain spring to mind. He is said to have influenced Bob Newhart when he gave an impromptu performance of his Bus Driver sketch that was the frame for Newhart’s sketch of the same name.

As success grew Al had to decide between sausages or showbiz, eventually showbiz won. He had successful stage and variety shows and appeared in pantomime, the show “You’ll be Lucky” introduced Shirley Bassey to the West End theatre goers, her first big break. His only downfall was television, it’s most likely that he just wasn’t given the right vehicle. The TV series I have seen is essentially the radio show with Al stood centre screen doing all the voices, for some reason they recreated sets to signify where he was (when he was a policeman it was set in a police station, etc), yet the set was just a backdrop and nothing was added to it. If anything the ‘live’ feel took away the pictures that we paint in our minds when listening to the radio shows.

The radio shows that exist now are mainly re recordings made by Al Read in the mid 70s, the original broadcasts were wiped.

His influence on Coronation Street was acknowledged in the programme with the character of Fred Elliott as portrayed by John Savident, Fred came into the programme as a sausage maker who was prone to repeat phrases by using “I say”, one of Al Read’s many catchphrases. There were other notable repeated phrases “Such is life”, “right monkey” (well before the Johnny Vegas ads!), “you’ll be lucky”, there were various other bits that weren't quite catchphrases that were oft repeated "dad, daad", "j...j....just a minute", they probably don't do much written down, but here's some brought to life..

Al Read, March 3rd 1909-September 9th 1987

The Queen Mother

2011-05-04T23:24:00.000+01:00

The Queen Mother wasn't renowned for her comedy, in fact most people can barely remember ever hearing her talk, this led to the inspired comedy voice on Spitting Image. Spitting Image used caricature latex puppets to perform satirical sketches about them. The series ran between 1984 and 1996. The Queen Mother was mostly voiced by Steve Nallon and the inspired part was using the voice of actress Beryl Reid, a Birmingham actress, the sketches generally increased the popularity of the Queen Mum who is said to have had a sense of humour and is reputed to have been prone to doing the odd Ali G impression around the Royal dinner table.

Anyway here's a couple of sketches

Porridge

2011-05-04T00:23:00.000+01:00


Fletcher and Mr. Mackay.

Most sitcoms have a structure that ties the characters to a place or relationship that is largely inescapable. The comedy of Steptoe & Son is largely in the son’s inability to escape his father. In Fawlty Towers it is Basil & Sybil’s inability to escape each other or the hotel that is at the heart of the comedy.

If the ‘inescapable’ part is a prison then you have the foundations for a great sitcom. Whilst there isn’t a ‘but’ or ‘yet’ after that part, a sitcom set in a prison doesn’t look on paper as though it is going to be a laugh a minute. The audience needs to like some part of the central character or at least sympathise with them, if your central character is an habitual criminal you have to write it well and get the right actor to play it for it to be a good show.

In Porridge, we see just that, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais write a great character that Ronnie Barker brings to life in a believable manner. There’s a balance between not feeling too much sympathy for his plight in prison and liking the character’s ability to fight the ‘system’.

Not only is there Barker as Norman Stanley Fletcher but also a great supporting cast: Richard Beckinsale as the young Lenny Godber, Fulton MacKay as the stern prison officer Mr. MacKay and Brian Wilde as the soft touch prison officer Mr. Barroclough. Then some guest spots, David Jason as the old lag Blanco and Peter Vaughan as the prison’s top dog “Genial” Harry Grout, both appeared in only 3 of the 20 episodes, yet they made a big impact on the series as a whole, especially Peter Vaughan, who despite a long and prestigious acting career says the part of “Grouty” is one he tends to get most remembered for.

The series started as an episode of a series of Ronnie Barker one off comedies, Seven of One, “Prisoner and Escort” was the second episode of the series, the first episode went on to be the other famous Barker sitcom, “Open All Hours”. In “Prisoner and Escort”, Fletcher was on his way to start his 5 year prison sentence at Slade prison, a sentence that begins in episode one of “Porridge”.

Each episode begins with a voice over as judge saying “Norman Stanley Fletcher, you have pleaded guilty to the charges brought by this court, and it is now my duty to pass sentence. You are an habitual criminal, who accepts arrest as an occupational hazard, and presumably accepts imprisonment in the same casual manner. We therefore feel constrained to commit you to the maximum term allowed for these offences — you will go to prison for five years”. Barker is on record as saying that his doing the voice over himself was his only regret of the series. I had always assumed that the voice was Barker mimicking the judge to his fellow prisoners and actually set the tone of the episodes. Obviously I read too much into it!

Porridge’s 20 episodes were between 1974 and 1977, “Prisoner and Escort” first aired in 1973.

Rarely amongst British sitcoms, Porridge was given a sequel, “Going Straight”. This ran for 6 episodes in 1978 and won a BAFTA for best sitcom, it isn’t remembered as fondly as Porridge and the change in situation didn’t help the comedy. However it was potentially going to continue, the sad early death of Richard Beckinsale in 1979 brought an end to any plans for more.

Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais gave an uncredited aid to the script of the 1983 James Bond film, Never Say Never Again. In Sean Connery's Bond's medical in the film it isn't a coincidence that there are similarities to the scene in episode 1 of Porridge, Clement and La Frenais wrote them both.

As with a lot of 70s British sitcoms, there was a movie spin off released in 1979, unlike a lot of the sitcom movies, it was quite good!
Barker played Fletcher once more in a mock documentary broadcast in 2003.
I'll leave you with a bit of Fletcher and MacKay

The Odd Couple

2011-04-29T14:49:00.001+01:00

This entry refers to the play and movie and not the subsequent TV series.
Neil Simon wrote the play after his brother Danny had made attempts at writing it but never made it past page 15.
Danny Simon had recently divorced and started to live with the also recently divorced theatrical agent Roy Gerber. Their life together formed the basis to what eventually became The Odd Couple, Neil Simon more polarising the two leads.
Neil Simon had wanted to cast Walter Matthau as Oscar after seeing his portrayal of Nathan Detroit in a Broadway production of Guys & Dolls. It would be the first of many appearances for Matthau in a Neil Simon work.
Matthau actually thought the role of Oscar was too close to him and wanted to play Felix as this would be more of an acting challenge. Neil Simon wrote in his autobiography "Rewrites" that he told Matthau to "act in someone else's play. Do Oscar in mine".
With Art Carney cast as Felix, The Odd Couple was a Broadway hit in 1965 and continues to be produced in amateur and professional productions around the world. It wasn't without its initial hiccoughs though and the third act had to be rewritten several times, even after press night, where the reviews were favourable, but many commented on a need for a stronger third act, which was soon written.
The success of the play (Simon's third) gave rise to the 1968 film, with Walter Matthau reprising his Oscar role and Jack Lemmon in the Felix part. This was Matthau and Lemmon's second starring film together, following the 1966 Fortune Cookie, it is said that had Matthau not won an Oscar for The Fortune Cookie at the previous year's Academy Awards he would have won one for The Odd Couple.
The screenplay was adapted by Simon and apart from adding some extra locations (the entire play being set in Oscar's apartment) the script remains largely the same as the play.
The simple basis of the story has led to many spin-offs and rewrites, the TV series with Jack Klugman (who first played the part on Broadway immediately after Matthau) amd Tony Randall, an African-American TV series, a cartoon (The Oddball Couple) and a female version of the play. Matthau and Lemmon also reprised their roles for The Odd Couple 2 in 1998.
So here is the original theatrical trailer, I hope if you haven't yet seen this fabulous movie you will now seek it out and even better catch a local production, I'm sure it will be appearing at a theatre near you some day soon.

Bob Newhart

2011-04-28T22:43:00.000+01:00

Bob Newhart went from being an accountant to having the first number 1 album (in the US) by a comedian, the sales of the 1960 released record helped to save the then struggling Warner Brothers Records. The album also reached number 2 in the UK. He is the only comedian to win "Best New Artist" at the Grammy awards.
He will probably remain best known for his solo sketches, notably "Introducing Tobacco To Civilization" and "The Driving Instructor'". The similarities between these and the British comedian Al Read may not be coincidental. In his autobiography, "It's All In The Book" the British radio comedian mentions that on a trip to the US, he was introduced to Newhart and performed his "Bus Driver" routine for him, which became the framework for his own sketch of the same name. He also claimed that 'The Driving Instructor' was an Americanized version of his 'Teaching The Wife to Drive' sketch.
Whatever the origins, these and other sketches have been loved and listened to by millions and remain classic pieces of comedy.
Newhart was born George Robert Newhart on September 5th 1929, he has had fairly regular guest and starring appearances on TV since 1960. The Bob Newhart Show and Newhart ran for more than 300 episodes between them, the first between 1972 and 1978, the latter 1982-1990.
He is a talk show afficionado having been a guest on pretty much every US talk show and was a regular stand-in host on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

 Newhart
Newhart also made regular appearances on the long running Dean Martin Show, here playing Dean's wife!

The Music Box

2011-04-26T09:42:00.000+01:00

On IMDB Dinah only made one movie, appearing as Susie The Mule in "The Music Box", also in this movie were Charlie Hall and Billy Gilbert, oh and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

The Music Box is the wondrous 1932 Oscar winning short film.

Produced by Hal Roach, written by H.M. (Beanie) Walker and directed by James Parrott.

If it had been a Friends' episode it may have been called "The one with the piano and the stairs".

To digress, I was just trying to imagine Laurel & Hardy in Friends, it wouldn't be too difficult to equate Joey or Phoebe (the dumb ones) to Stan and maybe Ross or Monica (the equally dumb, but think they're the clever ones) to Ollie. Some of the comedy crosses over and the process of making both has some similarities, yet even ten years after they were first shown, some of the humour in Friends seems dated. The Music Box is still making kids of all ages laugh 80 years on. Here is the full movie.

Stan Laurel

2011-04-25T17:37:00.000+01:00

Stan Laurel was born Arthur Stanley Jefferson in Ulverston, Lancashire, England on 16 June 1890. He was born into a theatrical family, his dad AJ was a theatre impresario, writer and performer who wasn’t keen on his young son entering the business. Stan had other ideas. When he was 14, Stan would sneak out against his father’s knowledge and perform, when his dad later found out rather than get angry he encouraged his son, believing an entertainment career to be inevitable for his son.

By 1910 he was touring theatres across the UK with Fred Karno’s Comedians he found himself sharing a room and understudying Charlie Chaplin. Soon the Karno troupe went on a tour of the US. As the ship sailed into New York, Chaplin proudly proclaimed that he was coming to take over, Stan was a little more reserved! The pantomime skills of the English performers ensured steady business. Despite the success Stan was refused a pay rise and returned home and toured a sketch he had written himself, “The Rum’uns From Rome”. He returned to the US again with Karno’s (and his pay rise) in 1912.

When Chaplin was signed by Mack Sennett to make pictures, Stan had an opportunity to take the lead with Karno. This wasn’t so successful and the troupe separated with Stan doing various performances, including imitating Chaplin’s tramp character. Soon he formed the Stan Jefferson Trio with Alice and Baldwin Cooke. This act came to a close when Stan teamed up with an on (and off) stage partner Mae Dahlberg. After talking about the name Stan Jefferson having 13 letters, they looked for a new name, a picture of a Roman general with a laurel leaf on his head gave Mae the idea and soon ‘Stan and Mae Laurel’ was the name of the act.

Soon after Stan ended up working in films and at Universal he made some short films under the name “Hickory Hiram”. In 1917 or 1918 (depending where you get your info!) Stan made a film for “Broncho Billy” Anderson, Lucky Dog, a short film that would have been long forgotten were it not for the appearance of Oliver Hardy in it.

For the next few years Stan toured and made films, by 1923 he was working for Hal Roach studios amongst others. His tempestuous relationship with Mae seems to have hampered his early film career. It wasn’t until Mae returned to Australia that things started to pick up again for him. By August 1926 Stan was married to his first wife Lois and in a longer contract with the Roach studios.

Stan soon found a happier lot being a writer/director than an actor, preferring a creative role. Amongst those he directed were Oliver Hardy, when an accident that sounds as though it was lifted from a later L&H movie (Hardy scalded himself with some hot gravy whilst cooking) prevented Hardy from filming, there was only Stan available to fill in. Stan would have been happy to slip back into directing/writing but other people had seen a marked improvement in Stan’s return to acting and Roach offered him a pay rise to do more.

The teaming of Laurel & Hardy has been claimed by several people, Hal Roach especially, but most give the credit to Leo McCarey and by 1927 the two had made their first proper movie together as a double act.

The Laurel & Hardy years will feature in another entry.

Oliver Hardy made a few post Laurel & Hardy films without his partner, Stan did not. He did oversee the production of some musical westerns and would offer advice to passing comics (Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Danny Kaye, were amongst regular visitors in his later years), but remained loyal to his screen partner.
Stan had four wives, five marriages and eight wedding ceremonies (presumably he liked cake!).

Stan died on February 23 1965.

A plaque above his grave reads:

Stan Laurel. A Master of Comedy. His genius in the art of humor brought gladness to the world he loved.

I’d like to say this was written by some literary giant or a comedy friend but it appears to have been written by a bloke who worked at the cemetery.

A statue of Stan is in Dockwray Square, North Shields where he spent his younger years.
A statue of Stan & Ollie is in Ulverston.
The Laurel & Hardy museum is also in that wonderful town.

Here's a clip from The South Bank Show about Stan's centenary birthday celebrations in Ulverston in 1990, I believe if you look hard enough I'm in it somewhere!

and a bit of classic Stan from the film Fra Diavolo

The King Of Comedy

2011-04-24T16:22:00.000+01:00

Starring Robert De Niro, Sandra Bernhard and Jerry Lewis and directed by Martin Scorsese. This is often looked at as a DeNiro/Scorsese movie, which it obviously is, but that overlooks a great script by Paul D. Zimmerman, an apparently prolific scriptwriter yet The King Of Comedy was the only one of his ever made.

Ahead of its time the film portrays what a wannabe performer will do to gain celebrity. DeNiro's character, Rupert Pupkin is a stand up comedian who's performances haven't yet made it past his bedroom. He goes to extreme measures to get to perform on Jerry Langford's (Lewis) show.
Upon its release the film was more successful in the UK than in the US. Zimmerman won a BAFTA award for the screenplay. The British Academy also nominated the film for awards in best actor, supporting actor and director, it never received any Oscar nominations.

It isn't a laugh a minute film and despite having 'comedy' in the title it isn't really a comedy film. What it is, is one of the best films featuring stand-up comedy. DeNiro is said to have performed at and watched some smaller comedy gigs to get his performance right.

Hopefully I've not used any spoilers in this entry and you can now go and find a DVD or download to watch, here's the original trailer

Jimmy James

2011-04-23T17:37:00.002+01:00

Jimmy James on the left with long time foil Eli Woods.

Being born in Stockton on Tees in 1892 puts James as a contemporary of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel yet James remained in the UK where his stage, radio and even film output led to him having legendary status.

His stage career started as a singer rather than a comic, it wasn't until 1925 that he ventured into comedy.

His first comedy break came when he replaced Jimmy Basso (no idea!) and his rate of pay increased by 50% from £8/week to £12, his next step up came when he replaced a young Max Miller who had insisted on an extra £2/week and been turned down.

By the 1940s he was more established as a comedian and introduced 2 stooges to his act, characters named Hutton Conyers and Bretton (later Eli) Woods. These 2 characters were usually played by members of James' family, his nephew Jack Casey was the long time Eli, Hutton Conyers was played by others including James' son Jimmy Casey (later a BBC light entertainment executive) and Roy Castle.

James' performance style had some similarities to Jack Benny using pauses for increased comic effect. Despite being a teetotaller James was often portraying a drunk to great comic effect, James' drunk was always oblivious to his insobriety and his attempts to conduct himself in a sober manner was the source of the comedy.

James' main vice was gambling and he was notorious for mishandling money and was declared bankrupt three times. His love of horse racing was such that he would often arrange gigs to coincide with race meetings in the area.

In the book Look Back With Laughter TV producer Mike Craig writes of James' unique stage style "he smoked a cigarette in a way I've never seen a cigarette smoked before or since. He waved it about in the air as though his right arm was being worked by a puppeteer."

In his act James was the everyman, his foils represented the known and the unknown, both of whom were idiots. His infamous "box sketch' can be seen further down, a classic sketch representative of James' style and unique voice. Whilst James had frameworks for his set piece sketches there were no scripts and the sketches changed and evolved with every audience. The style of conversation between James and his foils has often been imitated, notably between Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, Morecambe was a big fan and freely admitted to using James' material "as a tribute and because it is very funny, but mainly because it's very funny".

James also made some movies for Mancunian Studios, notably playing the husband of Norman Evans' over the top female character in Over The Garden Wall, a strange film that had few highlights, the notable ones were scenes featuring Jimmy.

He was also very successful on radio, with many series to his name. TV didn't quite do him justice, an early sitcom attempt being with Bernard Bresslaw as the young boxer to James' manager. TV sitcom wasn't the ideal place for a man who was not used to learning lines, more at home with having a rough outline and seeing where that took him, always ready to adlib, unusually this was how films were made at Mancunian Studios and why that was a better environment for him.

and the 'drunk sketch' recreated in Over The Garden Wall

&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;and an &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;

and here's an earlier version of The Box sketch