Flanagan and Allen

2022-08-28T01:52:20Z

71.214.203.43: /* Selected list of Flanagan and Allen songs */

{{Short description|British singing and comedy double act}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Flanagan and Allen
| image =
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| background = group_or_band
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| origin = [[United Kingdom]]
| genre = [[Comedy music]]
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| label =
| associated_acts = [[Florrie Forde]], [[Val Parnell]], [[Marcel Varnel]]
| website = 
| current_members =
| past_members = [[Bud Flanagan]] and [[Chesney Allen]]
| module =
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}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
'''Flanagan and Allen''' were a British singing and comedy [[double act]] most active during the 1930s and 1940s. Its members were [[Bud Flanagan]] (1896 – 1968, born Chaim Weintrop) and [[Chesney Allen]] (1894–1982).<ref name="Larkin50">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|year=2002|edition=Third|isbn=1-85227-937-0|page=140/1}}</ref> They were first paired in a [[Florrie Forde]] revue, and were booked by [[Val Parnell]] to appear at the [[Holborn Empire]] in 1929.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.turnipnet.com/crazygang/gang.htm|title=''Flanagan and Allen'' (The Crazy Gang)|website=Turnipnet.com|access-date=15 November 2007}}</ref>

==Career==
As [[music hall]] comedians, they would often feature a mixture of comedy and music in their act; this led to a successful recording career as a duo and roles in film and television.<ref name="Larkin50"/> Just prior to and throughout the [[World War II|Second World War]] they appeared in several films helmed by [[Marcel Varnel]] and [[John Baxter (director)|John Baxter]]. Flanagan and Allen were both also members of [[Crazy Gang (comedy group)|the Crazy Gang]] and worked with that team for many years concurrently with their double-act career.<ref name="Larkin50"/>

Flanagan and Allen's songs featured the same, usually gentle, humour for which the duo were known in their live performances, and during the Second World War they reflected the experiences of ordinary people during wartime. Songs such as "[[We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line]]" mocked the German defences ([[Siegfried Line]]), while others including "Miss You" sang of missing one's sweetheart during enforced absences. Other songs, such as their most famous, "[[Underneath the Arches (song)|Underneath the Arches]]" (which Flanagan co-wrote with [[Reg Connelly]]),<ref name="Larkin50"/> and the song "[[The Umbrella Man (song)|Umbrella Man]]" (which was used in many [[Merrie Melodies]] and [[Looney Tunes]] cartoons), had universal themes such as friendship. The music was usually melodic, following a binary verse, verse chorus structure, with a small [[British dance band|dance band]] or orchestra providing the accompaniment. The vocals were distinctive because, while Flanagan was at least a competent singer and sang the melody lines, Allen used an almost spoken delivery to provide the harmonies and bass line. The duo appeared at the [[London Palladium]] at the first [[Royal Variety Performance]] in 1932.<ref name="Larkin50"/>

The recordings of Flanagan and Allen and the duo are still impersonated by professionals and amateurs. Royal Variety Performances have sometimes featured people 'doing a Flanagan and Allen', notably [[Roy Hudd]] and [[Christopher Timothy]],<ref name="Larkin50"/> [[Bernie Winters]] and [[Leslie Crowther]]. In 1980, the latter two featured in a one-off musical drama called ''Bud & Ches'', about the duo produced by [[Associated Television|ATV]] for the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV network]]. Allen himself appeared in 1980 with [[Billy Dainty]] playing the Bud Flanagan part.

In 1971, the later comedy team [[Morecambe and Wise]], who often expressed their admiration for Flanagan and Allen, recorded a tribute album, ''Morecambe and Wise Sing Flanagan and Allen'' (Phillips 6382 095), in which they performed some of the earlier team's more best known songs in their own style, without attempting to imitate the originals.

Flanagan sang the main theme song, "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr. Hitler?" for the 1968–1977 [[BBC Television]] comedy ''[[Dad's Army]]'', a show about the wartime [[Home Guard (United Kingdom)|Home Guard]].<ref name="Larkin50"/>

Flanagan and Allen's song "[[Run Rabbit Run]]" had a surprising revival in 2016–17, featuring prominently in two films: ''[[Get Out]]'' and ''[[Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (film)|Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.thehorrorhoneys.com/2017/03/weekly-honey-jam-run-rabbit-run.html |title=The Horror Honeys: Weekly Honey Jam - 'Run Rabbit Run' |access-date=18 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180718055400/http://www.thehorrorhoneys.com/2017/03/weekly-honey-jam-run-rabbit-run.html |archive-date=18 July 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Selected list of Flanagan and Allen songs==
* "[[Run Rabbit Run|Run Rabbit, Run]]"
* "[[Underneath the Arches (song)|Underneath the Arches]]"
* "[[Where the Arches Used To Be]]"
* "[[We're Going to Hang out the Washing on the Siegfried Line]]"
* "[[The Umbrella Man (song)|The Umbrella Man]]"
* "[[Shine on Harvest Moon]]"
* "[[Miss You (1929 song)|Miss You]]"
* "[[Are You Havin' Any Fun?]]"
* "[[I Don't Want to Walk Without You]]"
* "[[The Galloping Major (song)|The Galloping Major]]"
* “[[What More Can I Say]]”

==Selected filmography==
* ''[[A Fire Has Been Arranged]]'' (1934)<ref>David R. Sutton – ''A Chorus of Raspberries: British Film Comedy 1929–1939'', 2000, p. 137; "Flanagan and Allen, the most famous of the three duos, had graduated from bargain-basement shorts such as The Bailiffs (1933) (a pretty rudimentary film of an old Fred Karno routine) and The Dreamers (1934), to features such as A Fire Has .."</ref>
* ''[[Underneath the Arches (film)|Underneath the Arches]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Alf's Button Afloat]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Gasbags]]'' (1940)
* ''[[We'll Smile Again]]'' (1942)
* ''[[Theatre Royal (film)|Theatre Royal]]'' (1943)
* ''[[Here Comes the Sun (film)|Here Comes the Sun]]'' (1946)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|name=Bud Flanagan|0281012}}
* {{IMDb name|name=Chesney Allen|0020366}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:British comedy musical groups]]
[[Category:British comedy duos]]

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Flanagan and Allen