The Goon Show series 3: Difference between revisions
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==Wales and Harry== | ==Wales and Harry== | ||
[[File:Welsh rarebit.JPG|thumb|right|Oh! Not that sort of Welsh Rarebit?]] | |||
On Monday 22 December, Harry recorded the Christmas Day edition of [[Welsh Rarebit (radio programme)|Welsh Rarebit]] for the Welsh Light Programme. The festive edition of ''The Goon Show'' was moved to 9.30pm on the Friday Boxing Day, clearing the evening of Tuesday 23 for a broadcast of [[w:Messiah (Handel)|Handel’s Messiah]] on the Home Service. However, on the Friday the Welsh Home Service scheduled the quiz ''Pawb Yn Ei Dro'' while listeners in Scotland heard the discussion ''A Matter of Opinion'' instead of the Goons. On Sunday 28 December, the Light Programme moved ''The Goon Show'' to 10am and the slot previously filled by ''With Heart and Voice'', placing abridged film soundtracks at the vacated 4.30pm slot; in the morning schedule, listening figures fell to around two million. Recording on ''Educating Archie'' resumed on Sunday 28 December, with ''The Goon Show'' back at the Piccadilly for recording from 9.30pm. Spike was still absent and the script – which reused the skit on [[The Archers (The Goon Show)|The Archers]] from a [[w:Fortnight|fortnight]] earlier – was revised around him; ‘Moriarty Milligan’ was said to be sick, leaving his cohort Giuseppe (Peter) to get Handsome Harry into another scrape. | On Monday 22 December, Harry recorded the Christmas Day edition of [[Welsh Rarebit (radio programme)|Welsh Rarebit]] for the Welsh Light Programme. The festive edition of ''The Goon Show'' was moved to 9.30pm on the Friday Boxing Day, clearing the evening of Tuesday 23 for a broadcast of [[w:Messiah (Handel)|Handel’s Messiah]] on the Home Service. However, on the Friday the Welsh Home Service scheduled the quiz ''Pawb Yn Ei Dro'' while listeners in Scotland heard the discussion ''A Matter of Opinion'' instead of the Goons. On Sunday 28 December, the Light Programme moved ''The Goon Show'' to 10am and the slot previously filled by ''With Heart and Voice'', placing abridged film soundtracks at the vacated 4.30pm slot; in the morning schedule, listening figures fell to around two million. Recording on ''Educating Archie'' resumed on Sunday 28 December, with ''The Goon Show'' back at the Piccadilly for recording from 9.30pm. Spike was still absent and the script – which reused the skit on [[The Archers (The Goon Show)|The Archers]] from a [[w:Fortnight|fortnight]] earlier – was revised around him; ‘Moriarty Milligan’ was said to be sick, leaving his cohort Giuseppe (Peter) to get Handsome Harry into another scrape. | ||
Revision as of 21:38, 3 November 2022
While preparing to take over as producer of The Goon Show for its third season, Peter Eton was informed on Monday 21 July that the next run would not be taken by the General Overseas Service. The show’s editor Jimmy Grafton also informed BBC TV that in the wake of the attempt to bring Goon humour to television in the form of Goonreel at the start of July, three of the show’s stars – Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan and Peter Sellers – would be available for ‘another “Goon” show any time in October’ but did not yet know about the commitments of the fourth team member, Michael Bentine.
During the summer break, Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens – the writers of The Goon Show – contributed to Forces All Star Bill which was to be produced by former Goons producer Dennis Main Wilson for the Light Programme. Along with the team’s friend Eric Sykes, Larry also started to write for veteran entertainer Jimmy James. Meanwhile Harry featured on BBC radio shows such as Seaside Variety, Force All Star Bill and Summer Showtime, while Peter could be heard on Music Hall. Spike recorded an edition of Arthur’s Inn for Peter Eton, and he and Larry then ended up scripting two editions of the show to help Peter out when problems arose with other writers.
Bentine's reluctance
On Thursday 31 July, Peter Sellers and harmonica player Max Geldray were offered contracts for twelve editions of The Goon Show to be recorded at the Paris Cinema from Sunday 9 November for transmission from Tuesday 11 November; an option on a further twelve had to be taken by Monday 5 January 1953. Spike and Harry were similarly approached on Friday 8 August; the same day, Harry was also contracted to return for a run of his other Home Service comedy series Educating Archie during September and October. In mid-June 1952, Peter and his wife Anne had moved into a flat in Highgate on Shepherd’s Hill, with Spike as their lodger. When another flat became available in the same building, Spike took it as a home for his new wife June who was then pregnant and on her way back from Australia. Eventually Max Geldray and vocalist Ray Ellington of the Ray Ellington Quartet would also live in adjacent buildings. But writing, performing and preparing a home had placed Spike under great strain… While a firm commission for the first twelve scripts of the new run of The Goon Show was issued to Larry and Spike on Thursday 4 September, the following day the BBC Head of Variety Michael Standing sent a letter which indicated that there was a fundamental change for the show looming. The recipient was Michael Bentine, then appearing at Southampton’s Gaumont Theatre. ‘I am very distressed to hear that for certain reasons – which I gather are largely personal – you are at present unwilling to take part in the revival of “The Goon Show” this autumn.’ The Variety chief indicated that while he would not force the performer to change his mind: ‘I should represent to you my own view that if is a great pity to break up a team which has produced such successful results […] If you […] think that it would useful to have a talk with me I shall be very glad to see you.’
To get ahead with the series, Larry and Spike were asked to deliver the first two scripts by Monday 29 September, the next three by Monday 27 October and their sixth by Friday 7 November. However, there was an element of negotiation to be taken into account as the writers indicated that The Goon Show writing process was demanding. ‘It is a fast, high-pressure [series] containing probably more gags per minute than any other show on air; and writing it is very hard work,’ wrote Larry on Wednesday 17 September as he noted that the scripts now needed to be longer than before (‘it is now to be a three-spot show with just two musical items’). The BBC agreed to an increase in payment for the scripts; Larry was also being asked to develop a new sitcom for Tony Hancock called Vacant Lot. Meanwhile, Michael Standing wrote to Michael Bentine again on Wednesday 17 to say that he was sorry to have missed his phone call the previous week: "It seems that you have firmly made up your mind against taking part in the revival of “The Goons", and though I do not myself agree with the rightness of the decision I respect your feelings, and will pursue the matter no further."
A rushed birth
The film Down Among the Z Men, shot by the Goons earlier in the year, was registered by the British Board of Film Classification on Wednesday 24 September and was on release by the start of October. Back on Educating Archie from Sunday 14 September, Harry released his first commercial recording – Here in My Heart backed with Faith Can Move Mountains – as a 78rpm disc from HMV on Thursday 16 October. Still appearing in variety, Peter and Harry were united for a week at the Hippodrome Theatre in Dudley from Monday 20 October and featured as part of the venue’s fourteenth birthday celebrations on that week’s Around the Halls from the Light Programme on Tuesday 21. Peter had been busy on tour in recent weeks, and had been heard on the BBC’s Star Show. On Thursday 23 October, it was decided that the seventh show – provisionally scheduled for Tuesday 23 December – would be replaced by a 45-minute ‘Goons Melodrama’ which would air on the Home Service at 8.15pm on Boxing Day. Rumours that Harry would be leaving Educating Archie to rejoin The Goon Show featured in the Daily Express on Friday 24 October. However, the BBC quickly had second thoughts regarding this notion and rearranged production to allow Harry to feature in both series. Peter and Spike appeared together on Don’t Spare the Horses, a BBC TV variety show hosted by comedy legend Jimmy James on Saturday 1 November; Harry had also been booked for other editions in this series’ run. That night, life changed for Spike. June went into labour as Don’t Spare the Horses was going out, and with the help of the family’s friend Graham Stark she was rushed to the Royal Northern Hospital where Laura Milligan was born in the early hours of Sunday 2 November. Within hours of getting home with Laura, June suffered a bout of post-natal fever and had to leave the baby in Spike’s hands. A full-time nurse from New Zealand was assigned to assist the family, with Spike sleeping on the sofa and trying to write scripts around tending to his new daughter. Then Laura fell ill when she was given the wrong strength of milk mixture, Spike having followed the helpful but erroneous advice of the couple in the flat above. As Spike struggled to cope with all these different demands for his attention, the nurse became convinced that his wild-eyed appearance was the side effect of alcoholism…
With the first recording of the new series looming on Sunday 9 November, Peter Eton invited Michael Bentine along to the performance. Michael wrote to the incoming producer on Sunday 2 to comment that he would probably be away in Dorset that weekend: ‘However I do, most sincerely wish you and the boys every success and a really terrific series […] Larry dropped in and suggested a guest appearance later in the series, which was very nice of you all, but I do feel that, “Professionally”, a break must be a break, though, of course I hope that our friendship will continue for many years to come […] I honestly do feel that the “Goons” have a much better balance with three comics and a straight man […] and that the foregoing series did show a decided overbalancing of comedy […] with the addition of the extra one.’ Michael promised to ‘eagerly listen’ to the finished show.
We're getting the band back together
‘We have been asked […] to write a brief article for an obscure journal called … er … the “Wireless Advertiser”, or the “Marconi Time”, or the “Crystal-Set Observer”. I forget which,’ Spike told the Radio Times as he and Larry described the creation of The Goon Show in the issue of Friday 7 November. The piece Three Men in a Whirl heralded the ‘third run’ of The Goon Show which was due to arrive the following Tuesday, now without Michael Bentine whom it was indicated had dropped out to allow him to spend more time with his family alongside his six-day-a-week variety work. The new series was previewed with discussion about Harry’s character of Fred Bogg in the confessional I Was a Male Fan-Dancer and also Fred of the Islands, one of the new sketches under the heading of Adapted from the Classics. Peter was due to be back as Major Bloodnok, Henry Crun, Ernie Splutmuscle, Flowerdew, Colonel Slocombe and the Honourable Terence Blatt, plus poet and tragedian Mr William McGoonagle (another character whose name would change spelling wildly during the show’s run). Spike would be on board as Eccles and Abdul. While Max Geldray and the Ray Ellington Quartet were also back, Stanley Black and the Dance Orchestra were now busy on Educating Archie; in their place came a new orchestra directed by musical arranger Wally Stott. The series was now produced by Peter Eton, ‘better known as Sid Walpurgis’ (a name used on the second of the new scripts). The cast of The Goon Show came together again on Saturday 9 November. The previous evening, Peter had recorded a trial episode for a reformatted version of Ray’s a Laugh. Harry had been appearing on All Star Bill for Dennis Main Wilson in early November, and both that series and Variety Fanfare had been giving broadcasting time to Max Geldray. The Ray Ellington Quartet had been appearing at the Café de Paris in London and featured on BBC TV’s Toppers About Town from the venue on Friday 31 October. Recordings for the new series were arranged carefully around those for Educating Archie; it was originally intended that both would be recorded at the Paris Cinema, Educating Archie at 8.30pm and then The Goon Show at 9pm. In fact, work was rescheduled to the Aeolian Hall, so after rehearsals for the Goons at Aeolian 2 from 6pm, Harry departed for the Paris to rehearse Educating Archie while the music numbers were rehearsed from 6.30pm. Harry then returned in time to rehearse The Goon Show in Aeolian 1 from 7.30pm, but departed at 8.10pm to record Educating Archie… with the doors of Aeolian 2 opening at 9pm to admit the audience with Harry back for the 9.30pm recording. The BBC indicated to the press that Harry’s engagement on The Goon Show was the reason that he would no longer have a ‘song spot’ in Educating Archie; this element had also been dropped from The Goon Show.
A three act structure
The new three-act structure was established with Max performing the first number and Ray and his quartet the second. Opening ‘No 1 (Third series)’ was a sketch about Peter Eton which featured Spike’s Miss Bannister character as Eton’s secretary, Miss Flangebox, in the opening sequence. The middle section of the show was an adventure which focused on the characters of Fred Bogg, Major Bloodnok and Eccles, while the final third returned to the magazine format with Peter’s Splutmuscle character now referred to as Horsefern Walkboot and Harry doing a upper crust officer voice referred to as ‘Splenders’. The show ended with a fake trailer, supposedly promoting the subsequent edition.
The following week, Harry joined Michael at the Croydon Empire, while Peter recorded a production called Foursome at the Paris on Monday 10. The Goon Show returned to its usual Home Service slot of 9.30pm on a Tuesday on 11 November – a slot which had recently been filled by Leave it to Me with Cicely Courtneidge. The debut edition attracted an audience of around two million, much the same as for the previous run.
On Thursday 13 November, Harry was formally contracted by producer Roy Speer on Educating Archie through to the end of November. Repeats of The Goon Show on the Light Programme were now placed at 4.30pm on Sundays from 16 November, effectively replacing the serial The Regent starring Wilfred Pickles. The Light Programme reruns again attracted larger audiences than the Home Service; around five million listeners tuned in, giving a generally larger reach than the previous run. The second show of the series, recorded that evening, saw the return of the useless hero ‘Handsome’ Harry Secombe who after some initial chat with Andrew Timothy was now generally directed into some nefarious activity in which he would come off worse by an international crook and con man called Moriarty, played by Spike. This script also introduced Odium, Crun’s butler who spoke rubbish courtesy of Spike, and again saw Harry involved with one of the Sellers’ family … for which Peter used his ‘[George] Sanders’ voice. A single narrative spanned the second and third parts of the show, and in this Bloodnok worked with Burke, the name assigned to Harry’s ‘Splenders’ character.
Harry, Peter and Spike joined impressionist Janet Brown for a week in The Goon Show on stage at the Alma Theatre in Luton from Monday 17 November. The following weekend, Spike informed the BBC that he desperately needed the Corporation to arrange with the GPO to have a phone installed at his Highview flat so that he could be in communication regarding scripts. In the third show – recorded on Sunday 23 – Handsome Harry, directed by Moriarty, got mixed up with Inspector Delysius Sellers of Scotland Yard, a trend which would continue each week as he tangled with a different Sellers family member. Harry’s Miss Wilmington character made a final appearance, and Eccles featured prominently in a spoof of Gone with the Wind.
Booked for further editions of Educating Archie, Harry spent the week of Monday 24 November at the Shepherds Bush Empire, while Max was heard on Worker’s Playtime from a Manchester power station on Thursday 27. On Friday 28, Peter was also booked for a new run of Ray’s a Laugh which would be broadcast live from the Paris Cinema from New Year’s Day. Driving down to London from Leeds on Saturday 29 November, Max was involved in an accident at Alconbury when his car somersaulted on an icy road. Badly bruised on his mouth, nose and leg, Max managed to attend the recording the next day. This show featured The Saga of HMS Aldgate narrated by Peter as William McGoonigle – a figure inspired by the nineteenth-century Scottish weaver and actor William McGonagall whose famously bad poetry had been a source of amusement to Spike and Peter in their correspondence over the summer. The first week of December found a recovered Max on stage at the Wood Green Empire while Ray and his quartet began an engagement at the Locarno Dance Hall in Streatham; Ray’s recording of Feet Up with the Stargazers was released by Decca (F10023) that week and briefly charted. Harry spent the week at the Blackpool Palace.
Initial reactions
A Listener Research Report for the opening episode of the run was circulated by the Audience Research Department on Tuesday 2 December. 326 questionnaires were summarised, indicating that the series gained a marginally larger audience than Leave It to Me, and although the appreciation index was lower than the previous year at only 51, regular listeners had given it a notable rating of 71. ‘One Man’s Meat is Another Man’s Poison’ noted the report; the ‘Anti-Goon’ section of the audience felt it was ‘childish, noisy, infantile rubbish’ but even enthusiasts felt it was ‘patchy’ and ‘less amusingly slick’ than previous years. Peter and Harry were considered the ‘shining lights’ of the cast while the only items mentioned as ‘rather poor’ were the numbers from Max and Ray.
Spike and a potato knife
At the start of December, the strain became too much for Spike. He was exhausted from writing and performing, June had been in terrible pain with a breast abscess, and Laura had been ill from shortly after her birth. In addition, Peter Eton was asking for early delivery on scripts, and Peter Sellers wanted to drop by at all hours to discuss ideas with his friend. Spike began to hallucinate. Taking a potato knife, he made his way to Peter’s flat, later explaining: ‘I was so mad that I thought that if I killed Peter it would all come right. I think I just wanted them to lock me up. I was totally demented. Poor Peter hadn’t done anything.’
Spike was hospitalized for a few weeks in Muswell Hill. Strait-jacketed and in isolation, within days he wanted to be back at work writing The Goon Show – which he saw as his only means of supporting his wife and daughter. His therapists however wanted him to rest and he was given sedatives, with the doctors and nurses taking pencils away from him to enforce rest. Harry agreed to take over some of the Milligan household’s bills until he could write again. At this point, Larry Stephens was also unwell, and so the Christmas special was partly written by Jimmy Grafton. The Grade organisation had now had an offer from Bernard Delfont for Peter Sellers to star in a comic revue which would take him out of town from Monday 16 March 1953, and his availability was checked with the Corporation to whom he was ‘on first call’ until the end of March. At this point, Peter was contracted to the end of January on Ray’s a Laugh (with an option on six more) and The Goon Show (with an option of twelve more). On Friday 5 December, the BBC indicated that it was likely that the option would be exercised for both shows, although this would only cause a problem with the live Thursday broadcasts of Ray’s a Laugh.
Harry recorded two editions of Educating Archie on the afternoon of Sunday 7 December before joining Peter to handle The Goon Show at 9.30pm at the different venue of Piccadilly 1. Although that week Moriarty had actually been referred to as ‘Moriarty Milligan’ in the opening Handsome Harry sequence, the part was now taken by Peter as he and Harry divided Spike’s roles up between them, depending on which characters were featured in the scene. Because of his ill-health, the BBC cancelled Spike’s performing contract through to the end of January 1953.
Despite Spike’s health, on Wednesday 10 December, the Home Service indicated that an extension on The Goon Show was desirable – if the scripts were available – but the Light Programme could not offer a repeat slot other than 10am on Sundays after Christmas. The same day, Ray’s a Laugh was extended beyond January for Peter. The script for the recording of Sunday 14 – the middle part of which was a spoof of the Light Programme’s rural soap opera The Archers with Peter taking on the rustic Spruntly character – was restructured without the need for Spike. The following day, Max began a week at the West Bromwich Plaza. Although Spike was in hospital, the trade press continued to indicate that he would be working in variety, such as a booking at the Palace in Chelsea from Monday 15 December and also the Robin Hood ‘Goons pantomime’ special which was announced in The Stage on Thursday 18 December. The cast for this festive special also included Carole Carr from Down Among the Z Men. By now, June Milligan had recovered and took baby Laura to Muswell Hill to see her father; sometimes Spike was glad to see them, and on other days he would refuse to have them near him.
"Perhaps not quite as good as usual"
The Listener Research Report on the third show, summarising 261 questionnaires, was available from Tuesday 16 December. The audience size was growing and appreciation remained average, with the summary noting that the ‘anti-Goon’ panel members were no longer tuning in with more positive responses to questions such as ‘Do you usually like this kind of humour?’ The usual split in the audience was still apparent, with the enthusiasts still feeling that this show was ‘perhaps not quite as good as usual’. Harry and Peter were most often singled out as ‘the outstanding artists’.
The Home Service scheduled The Goon Show through to the end of March on Wednesday 17 December, indicating that contracts would be issued for seven more shows with an option of six more beyond that. On Thursday 18, Peter broadcast from Rhymney in Worker’s Playtime on the Welsh Home Service, and also featured on Talent Theatre from Newbridge for the same channel the following day. He had also been due to record The Santa Claus Show for Dennis Main Wilson at the Garrick Theatre on Sunday 21, but this Boxing Day programme was changed at the last moment and he dropped out. Instead, Peter joined Harry and Carole for the recording of the ‘Goons Melodrama’ Robin Hood at the Paris with the extended 75-minute recording commencing at 9.15pm. Deputising for Spike was the Goons’ friend Dick Emery, called in by Peter Eton. Although trained as an operatic performer before the war, Dick had also been part of the RAF Gang Show, developing a solo act with numerous appearances on Variety Bandbox, Music-Hall, Happy-Go-Lucky and Variety Ahoy!.
Wales and Harry
On Monday 22 December, Harry recorded the Christmas Day edition of Welsh Rarebit for the Welsh Light Programme. The festive edition of The Goon Show was moved to 9.30pm on the Friday Boxing Day, clearing the evening of Tuesday 23 for a broadcast of Handel’s Messiah on the Home Service. However, on the Friday the Welsh Home Service scheduled the quiz Pawb Yn Ei Dro while listeners in Scotland heard the discussion A Matter of Opinion instead of the Goons. On Sunday 28 December, the Light Programme moved The Goon Show to 10am and the slot previously filled by With Heart and Voice, placing abridged film soundtracks at the vacated 4.30pm slot; in the morning schedule, listening figures fell to around two million. Recording on Educating Archie resumed on Sunday 28 December, with The Goon Show back at the Piccadilly for recording from 9.30pm. Spike was still absent and the script – which reused the skit on The Archers from a fortnight earlier – was revised around him; ‘Moriarty Milligan’ was said to be sick, leaving his cohort Giuseppe (Peter) to get Handsome Harry into another scrape.
On Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 December, the BBC issued artiste contracts for a further eight editions of The Goon Show to be recorded at the Paris from 1 February to 22 March, with an option on six additional shows to be taken by Tuesday 31 March. A brief Listener Research Report on the fourth show of the run summarised 310 questionnaires on Monday 29, showing little change from the previous audience responses in which some said ‘they missed Michael Bentine’ and most enjoyed the ‘genuinely lunatic’ style of wit. Harry took part in Pocket Variety in Swansea on Tuesday 30; he was then appearing in the city as Miffins in the panto Puss in Boots at the Empire Theatre. New ‘Goons’ announced the Daily Mail on New Year’s Eve, breaking the story that Spike would be absent from the radio series for the next few editions: ‘His place will be taken by Graham Stark and Dick Emery on alternate weeks’. The same day, the BBC wrote to Larry Stephens about the change in payments because of Spike’s illness and the increased workload on himself and Jimmy, adding: ‘The producer asks me to emphasise the importance of letting us have the scripts in sufficient time for them to be able to be used for broadcasting. This means in practice that if we are able to accept the scripts we must have them in the producer’s office without fail by the mid-day of the Wednesday so that they can be ready for recording on the following Sunday.’
On New Year’s Day, The Stage carried the announcement: ‘PETER SELLERS wishes all his friends a Happy New Year. Thanks to Arnold Fringe, Harold Vest, The Arloo Tour, The Flunge Circuit, and Fern Muleboot for their continued guidance in the face of overwhelming odds […] Personal Management: The Hon. Terence Blatt.’ The same day, Peter resumed his live broadcasts of Ray’s a Laugh from the Paris Cinema.
Despite the joint credits, Larry wrote the whole of the script recorded on Sunday 4 January which had been tailored to include Dick Emery, to the extent that it opened with Peter warning Dick not to take over any of his characters and Harry talking about Educating Archie (which he had recorded earlier that day). The same day, CF Meehan – the Assistant Head of Variety – wrote to both Spike and Larry concerning script delivery: ‘It has been reported to me by Mr Peter Eton that despite his constant requests for early delivery your scripts for the above production continue to arrive late – in some cases not until the morning of the pre-recording […] In the circumstances, I must ask you to deliver scripts to the producer not later than Thursday of each week and I trust you will not fail.’
"High spirits of these awful people"
The fifth edition of the series – the first without Spike – was the subject of the next Listener Research Report on Wednesday 7, with the 296 questionnaires giving an appreciation index of 67, the highest for the series so far. A few listeners felt this edition was ‘not so funny as usual’ although ‘the Wife of a Tax Officer’ commented ‘I find the high spirits of these awful people very infectious. I have to listen because my schoolboy son insists on turning on the radio against my wishes, but many times I chuckle into my knitting – to my own undoing.’ Other comments included a ‘Housewife’ who found the toothpaste mining tale ‘quite good’ while a ‘Doctor’s Wife’ said ‘I’d like Michael Bentine back’, a ‘Retired Civil Servant’ found it ‘a rather queer kind of tonic’, a ‘Gas Carboniser Foreman’ felt ‘the crazy team are now really in top gear’ and a ‘Salesman’ declared it to be ‘an excellent tonic for me every week’.
After a few months on the series, Peter Eton sent Michael Standing a memo headed The Goon Show – Final Options on Thursday 8 January, advising that they should talk if the series was to be extended beyond the end of March. ‘This third series has never really had a chance to settle down, and I certainly have not had the opportunity of putting my theories into practice’ he wrote, noting that there had been problems on the first five shows with him being new as producer, Wally Stott coming in as conductor, lost read-throughs because the studio was needed for Home at Eight and Harry’s commitments to Educating Archie. While the orchestra had now settled down, his problem had been that Spike and Larry had not been on speaking terms: ‘Spike was already showing signs of mental strain and Larry was proudly boasting that he was drinking more than four bottles of rum a week’. Following the loss of Spike, scripts became ‘scissors and paste’ jobs. The producer had seen Spike who had patched up his quarrel with Larry and was hoping to be back at the end of January, and Larry promised to be ‘his old sober self’. With the disputes which Peter Sellers had with both Spike and Jimmy also resolved, Peter Eton indicated that ‘by March, the “Goon Show” should be back in its old form.’
Harry’s option for six more editions of Educating Archie to early February was taken up on Thursday 8 January. Graham Stark – then a regular in All-Star Bill – joined the cast for the recording on Sunday 11 February, taking on the mantle of Crun’s assistant Scrongleshot (reprising his ‘Prince Charming’ voice from the 1951 Cinderella panto), while Peter resumed the role of Moriarty in the opening sequence and Harry’s gallery of characters now included the Scot McNab. Spike was now slowly contributing more to the scripts again, although the majority was still by Larry.
The Goons, a bit of a pantomime
Comments from 93 questionnaires about the Robin Hood special were summarised by Audience Research on Wednesday 14 January. The Goons were ‘considered an excellent and very versatile team whose timing is particularly good’ and the only criticism of them was that they were ‘too noisy’. Some listeners had admitted that they did not usually tune in for the Goons but did so because the edition had been announced as a pantomime and the reception to the festive edition had been generally very good with ‘a retired teacher’ commenting ‘they were so obviously sincere in their efforts to please’.
The Goon Show moved to the King’s Theatre at Hammersmith for the recording on Sunday 18 January, with recordings still at 9.30pm; in addition to Dick Emery, this week the cast were also joined by Wallace Greenslade who again deputised for Andrew Timothy at short notice. The following week, Max continued his tour with the Four Aces Dance Band at the Chiswick Empire, while on Tuesday 20 Peter was contracted for Ray’s a Laugh through to the end of March. Despite Peter Eton’s concerns, on Thursday 22 January, the Home Service confirmed their requirement for another six shows, while Harry was also offered a contract for the next series of Educating Archie which would start recording on Sunday 17 May; Harry was also announced as being one of the stars of George and Alfred Black’s summer show The Show of Shows at the Blackpool Opera House.
Spike Milligan’s illness was addressed in the Both Sides of the Microphone section of the Radio Times on Friday 23 January. ‘We are glad to learn that Spike is now making a good recovery and hopes to rejoin the show at the end of next month,’ noted the publication, reiterating that Dick and Graham would continue to alternate as Spike’s deputy. His ‘enforced illness’ had been lightened by a cutting from a national newspaper which inadvertently paid tribute to the Goons in a Court Report: ‘He was sent to an approved school at Bristol five years ago for three years, but goon [sic] conduct got him out in twenty-one months.’
The amended credits at the end of the show recorded on Sunday 25 January suggested that the script had been written solely by Larry; Graham was back for this show as Bloodnok’s batman Captain Scrongleshot. The same day, Michael Bentine was contracted for his first post-Goon BBC series, featuring on Come to Charlee! with Charlie Chester for producer Leslie Bridgmont from the end of February. Max appeared at the Middlesbrough Empire the following week, while in London there was concern about a venue for the extended run of The Goon Show with Aeolian 1 being the only option available for Sunday 22 February. In fact, The Goon Show returned to the Aeolian that weekend when Dick joined the cast to record on Sunday 1 March; this script saw the second part of a Western focusing on Crun at Dead Man’s Gulch which had begun a couple of weeks earlier.
While Max played at the Leicester Palace on Monday 2, the BBC learnt that Harry Secombe had been offered a chance to host thirteen variety programmes on the commercial rival Radio Luxembourg from April to June; the Corporation noted that Harry was under an exclusivity contract which would prevent him taking up this offer until Tuesday 5 May. On Tuesday 3, concerned Variety Booking Manager Patrick Newman noted that the BBC would not want Harry ‘to run parallel on Commercial Radio at any time when he is in one, let alone two, of our major shows.’ There was a worry that Harry might exhaust himself with this workload…
Peter was present at the Trocadero Restaurant in London to celebrate twenty-five years of the Windmill Theatre, as screened by BBC TV on Wednesday 4 February. On Friday 6, the cast of The Goon Show were offered contracts for another six editions to be recorded from 29 March to 3 May. Ray was now appearing at the Locarno Ballroom in Leeds for an extended booking, with Max squeezing in an appearance on Variety Matinee on the Home Service on Saturday 7. On Sunday 8 February, the Light Programme relocated The Goon Show to the afternoon slot of 2.15pm in place of America in Song, leaving the 10am slot to a new run of Surprise Party from Paris; the Goons’ ratings shot up to almost seven million. Actor Valentine Dyall – then rebuilding his acting career after the end of his famous radio chiller Appointment with Fear – was the guest artiste in the recording at 9.30pm back at King’s that evening. Having worked with Spike on the earlier series Bumblethorpe, Valentine featured prominently in The Tragedy of Oxley Towers which occupied the last two thirds of the programme, generally the standard format of the scripts at this point. The same day, Harry also recorded the final show in the current run of Educating Archie.
Spike still struggling
Spike had returned home, but was still in mental pain and felt more isolated than ever. June was shaken by her husband’s breakdown, and also felt isolated – with her parents in Australia – and upset that her husband was driven by his writing rather than being focused on family life with her and Laura. To inspire Spike’s writing, Peter Eton gave him the works of the sixteenth-century French satirist François Rabelais to read. Both Spike and Larry asked Peter if there was any chance of repeats of The Goon Show on the Home Service as with the previous run. The Goon Show was reviewed in the On the Air section of The Stage on Thursday 12 February, with the critic noting that the show’s ‘inspired lunacy […] amid the realms of complete fantasy, has also found approbation among the higher-browed commentators’. The series was ‘an acquired taste, demanding more attention than many listeners would accord their loudspeakers’ but was felt to be ‘unrivalled on the air’.
Peter and Graham were in the cast for recording of Jimmy Grafton’s Sing a Song of London produced by Dennis Main Wilson on Saturday 14; this aired on the Light the following Wednesday. The next day, The Goon Show repeat on the Light moved back to its new regular slot of 1.45pm, forcing Educating Archie down to 4pm and retaining its audience of around six million. That evening’s recording at King’s saw a reworking of The Story of Civilization from the sixth edition of Crazy People.
Peter's oopsie
Max appeared at the Hackney Empire the following week, and was also heard alongside Ray and Graham on Tuesday’s edition of Forces All-Star Bill produced by Dennis Main Wilson. Meanwhile, an issue with the Handsome Harry sketch of the eleventh show had arisen; a scripted line of dialogue for Peter had referred to an address on ‘Charlton Street’, but Peter had changed this on broadcast… and now the BBC feared that if this was a real address an action could be taken against them. Also on Tuesday 17 February, the BBC agreed to cover the costs of Harry travelling back to London from Swansea for Sunday recordings through to mid-March. The next day, Peter was offered a contract for thirteen editions of Ray’s a Laugh through to the end of June.
On Thursday 19, Spike was contracted to appear in four editions of The Goon Show from Sunday 1 March. The series returned to the Aeolian for recording on Sunday 22 with a show which introduced a new character for Harry, Lord Hanjunk, a nephew of Crun’s.
Originally booked for four shows, Dick Emery was contracted for the recording of Sunday 1 March although he would not ultimately take part in the programme. Spike returned to the series with this show which was performed back at King’s. The next day, Peter Eton wrote to Harry at the Empire Theatre in Swansea, noting that Harry had been late for rehearsals on Sunday, not arriving until 4.40pm. The producer had said nothing at the time, but now felt that Harry could have arrived earlier. Going on leave for the next two weeks and leaving the recordings in the charge of producer Charles Chilton who was ‘struggling with the monumental difficulties in this fantastically, ridiculously, crazy show’, Peter asked Harry if he could arrive at 3.30pm. With the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II set for Tuesday 2 June, on Tuesday 3 June the Home Service approved the notion of a 40-minute special of The Goon Show to air during Coronation Week at 7pm on Wednesday 3. At the same time, Larry Stephens was pursuing an increase in writing fees for the extended series with the BBC, indicating that he had the backing of Peter Eton.
Peter Sellers featured in Worker’s Playtime from Maidstone on Tuesday 3 and was also booked up for the thirteen-week season of Show Time at the Southsea South Parade Pier from Thursday 25 June. Charles Chilton supervised the recording on Sunday 8, and although it was initially planned that he would be credited on the show, the revised closing credits named Peter Eton as the producer. Wallace Greenslade again deputised for Andrew Timothy as announcer. Despite Spike’s return, Peter continued to perform Moriarty in the opening Handsome Harry sequences, while Harry made his last appearance as the ‘Splenders’ character of Carstairs and Major Bloodnok came up against the Mardi.
On Monday 9 March, Roy Speer noted that it was desirable to make six more editions of Educating Archie, recording one on Sunday 5 April and two on Sunday 12 April. The second of the two shows on Sunday 12 would share the audience with The Goon Show, indicating that this could take place at King’s so that they could use Wally Stott’s band… and so avoid Harry having to dash between studios.
Peter tuned like an XK120
Peter’s agent Denis Selinger wrote to the BBC on Tuesday 10 March indicating that for ‘health reasons’ his client would like a holiday prior to his Southsea season and asked if Peter could be released from his contract on the last three editions of Ray’s a Laugh. Patrick Newman responded the next day, saying that the BBC were wary that although Peter had been contracted to them for two years, he was exhausting himself with late-night cabaret. The same day, Peter wrote to Patrick asking for his first holiday in three years, pleading to go to the South of France for a fortnight from Monday 4 May: ‘My nerves are tuned up like an XK120 and I feel that if I do not get a holiday soon I shall have a nervous breakdown.’
Wary of the fragile nature of Spike’s health, on Wednesday 11 March the Variety Department pondered if Peter Eton could get one pre-recorded edition of The Goon Show in the can’ in case the writers became ‘unavailable’. That weekend, Harry concluded his run in Puss in Boots and attended the Sunday recording at King’s which was supervised by Charles Chilton; by now, Spike had taken over Harry’s Carstairs character. Back from leave, on Monday 16, Peter Eton asked his superiors if the June special should be written about the Coronation itself, while Max began a week at the Hulme Hippodrome. The following day, the recording of The Goon Show was discussed with reference to transferring it to King’s to accommodate Dennis Main Wilson’s variety show The Pleasure Boat. However, the show was then assigned back to Aeolian 1 – much to the irritation of Peter Eton who indicated that his team had only just settled in at King’s and would now be uprooted for the last four shows. ‘It does seem a great pity to disturb it, when after all the script, cast, engineering and studio trouble, the programme has at last found a haven of rest,’ he wrote. Meanwhile, George Inns – the producer of Ray’s a Laugh – indicated that he was prepared to release Peter from his series, knowing that if he refused the performer would simply get a doctor’s certificate which would prevent him working.
Scottish Home Service did not take the nineteenth show of the run on Tuesday 17 March, airing the Celtic party Welcome to Spring in its place. The next day, Peter Eton was informed that the special should be ‘a normal type of show with 2 extra sketches, one of which may well contain a slight Coronation skit – but please be careful of the material’. The last editions of the series were commissioned on Friday 20, with the BBC informing Larry that the writing fee would not be increased because of his late delivery, but that the situation could be reviewed in the autumn.
Peter appeared at the Nuffield Centre on Friday 20 while Ray’s run in Leeds concluded that weekend. The Sunday recording saw the main narrative of the week spoofing Ewen Montagu’s memoir The Man Who Never Was which recounted the wartime disinformation scheme Operation Mincemeat and had been serialised during February 1953 in the Sunday Express. Spike and Larry’s version now named Harry’s main character as Lord Hairy Seagoon, with the ‘Hairy Seagoon’ alias sticking in place of ‘Harry Secombe’. Peter’s Splutmuscle character also appeared, but now claimed that he was a bluebottle. The week of Monday 23 found Harry with the Educating Archie cast at the Glasgow Empire and Max at the Chatham Empire. That week, Peter recorded an appearance for Ted and Kitty’s Easter Outing (a Ray’s a Laugh special) for broadcast on Monday 6 April. By now, he had withdrawn his request for a holiday during May… because he had been offered a chance to appear at the Palladium. Patrick Newman wrote to Denis Selinger about this on Wednesday 25, explaining that the BBC was well aware of how Peter found himself so tired that he needed a vacation from BBC contract work, but was apparently free for work at the Palladium…
The Queen is dead, long live the Queen
As it transpired, the Sunday recording of The Goon Show was not broadcast as planned. During Tuesday 24 March, Queen Mary died and the output of the Home Service was devoted to sombre orchestral music for the evening. This now placed the series in advance of transmission, and on Friday 27 Peter Eton planned ahead, confirming that the performance on Sunday 12 April would be at 8.30pm back at the Aeolian. Although the previous show had not aired, the next one was recorded at King’s as usual on Sunday 29 – albeit with no fixed transmission date. This script was somewhat rushed, drawing upon sketches from early editions of the previous series and substituting Pureheart with Crun in a tale about the Suez Canal. Earlier that day, the scheduled repeat of The Goon Show had again been pre-empted by the funeral of Queen Mary which was carried on all stations. On Monday 30, Harry took part in the Home Service’s Merry-Go-Round from Cardiff and was also offered a contract for six more editions of Educating Archie to be recorded at the Paris from Sunday 17 May. Max spent the week playing at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and the resumed Tuesday night broadcast of The Goon Show was scheduled five minutes later than usual to make way for a Party Political Broadcast by Anthony Eden, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; this show was not taken by the Midlands Home Service which aired Midlands Miscellany. The next day, Peter was ‘Guest of the Week’ on the Light Programme’s Woman’s Hour.
A day of mourning gets them ahead of the game...
On Tuesday 2 April, the cast of The Goon Show were informed that the period of national mourning meant that they were now a show in hand – as such, the problematic recording scheduled for Sunday 12 April was being cancelled, but they would be paid anyway. Spike was also offered a contract to appear in six more editions through to the start of May.
The name ‘Bluebottle’ was again used for the boy quartermain who maintained the ship’s log in the final section of the show recorded at King’s on Sunday 5 April. On the Moss Empire circuit, Harry was on stage at Sunderland while Max spent the next week at Edinburgh. On Tuesday, the Midlands Home Service again opted out of Tuesday’s broadcast in favour of the play Maguire, and the following day Larry opened negotiations over a fee for the Coronation special, assuring the BBC: ‘Now that Mr Milligan is well again, the scripts will be on time.’
With the recording for Sunday 12 cancelled, the cast had a weekend off, after which the Ray Ellington Quartet opened for several weeks at the Plaza in Manchester while Peter’s ‘Disk Toppers’ impersonation act spent the week at the Chiswick Empire. The Home Service broadcast for Tuesday 14 April set a new record at over four million listeners, subsequently reducing to just over two million for the rest of the run.
Substituting Crun for Pureheart
Recording on The Goon Show resumed on Sunday 19 April at the earlier time of 8.30pm at Aeolian 1 with a script which again relied heavily on reusing material from the start of the previous series, substituting Crun for Pureheart. Harry spent the following week at the Finsbury Empire while on Wednesday 22, Peter recorded the Home Service’s Top Flight at RAF Bircham Newton for broadcast on Tuesday 28. From Thursday 23, the cast was offered contracts to record the special edition of The Goon Show at the Playhouse Theatre from 5pm on Monday 1 June.
Harry and Myra Secombe’s second child, Andrew, was born on Sunday 26 April, the same day that the Goons recorded Handsome Harry’s involvement with the investigation into ‘subversive activities’ in American information agencies in Europe initiated by Senator McCarthy, and also Lord Hairy Seagoon’s assault on Mount Everest inspired by the latest attempt by a British expedition to climb the world’s highest peak.
Peter appeared with his wife Anne and Graham Stark on BBC TV’s Music-Hall on Saturday 2 May, with the final recording for The Goon Show at the Aeolian the following night. Harry appeared that week at the Metropolitan Theatre on the Edgware Road and – to the BBC’s annoyance – had to cancel an appearance on the Light Programme’s Show Band Show on Thursday 7 at short notice because of work on a new film project in which he was reunited with Michael Bentine who also co-wrote the screenplay. Forces’ Sweetheart was shot at Nettlefold Studios for director Maclean Rogers and Edwin J Fancey’s company. Graham Stark also featured in a tale of mistaken identity when singer Judy James was pursued by three suitors – including Harry as Private Llewellyn and Michael as Flight-Lieutenant John Robinson – all using the name ‘John Robinson’.
The Goon Show finished its Home Service run (disrupted at 9.41pm by a transmitter fault for Northern Ireland listeners) on Tuesday 5 to be replaced by the return of In All Directions, a non-audience comedy featuring Peter Ustinov and Peter Jones; when the Light Programme repeats concluded on Sunday 10, the slot was effectively taken by Educating Archie. The following week, Peter Sellers opened for a fortnight at the Palladium while Max Geldray’s tour took him to the Plymouth Palace and then the Liverpool Pavilion.
Wary of the issues which had plagued the last run of The Goon Show, CF Meehan suggested to Peter Eton on Friday 15 May that before work began on the next series in the autumn they should commission six scripts to have written in advance with payment on delivery.
Nothing would give me greater pleasure
Harry Secombe started recording the new series of Educating Archie at the Paris on Sunday 17 May and spent the next week at the Chiswick Empire. The week after, Max was at the Candie Gardens in Guernsey. Peter Eton wrote to him on Friday 29 concerning the Coronation Week special, noting that because Max was unable to make the weekday recording on Monday 1 June he would not be able to take part in the broadcast. There was also no possibility of pre-recording his number to insert during transmission because of the cost of hiring the orchestra. As such, Max was engaged at the Portsmouth Royal on Monday 1 at the same time as Graham Stark joined Peter, Harry, Spike and the Ray Ellington Quartet for the 40-minute special at the Playhouse Theatre. The show meandered from fake news coverage with lampoons of Winston Churchill and senior BBC figures through to a narrative in which Crun and his nephew Lord Hairy Seagoon mounted an expedition to Africa to ensure that a remote tribe did not miss out on the celebrations because of a breakdown with their radio. This broadcast was not aired by the Welsh Home Service which scheduled Llwybr y Mynydd instead. On Friday 5 June, Larry Stephens wrote to the BBC to inform them that he and Spike would not take on a month’s work offered on Star Bill: ‘Mr Milligan has to take a holiday out of London for health reasons.’ On Wednesday 10, Peter Eton wrote to Spike to explain that the Light Programme had allowed him to commission further scripts for The Goon Show in advance: ‘The position is that from now onwards, any script or part of a script which you would like to write for the new series will be paid for immediately you send it in. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to receive the first script from you in a few days’ time, and from then onward, if I receive a script every 10 days I should be in a delirium of delight.’
SERIES 3 and Coronation Special
A recorded programme featuring Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan [1-4, 17-25], Dick Emery [7, 9, 11, 13, 15], Carole Carr [7], Graham Stark [10,12, 14, 16, Special] with guest artist Valentine Dyall [14] and the voice of Ray Ellington with the Ray Ellington Quartet, and Max Geldray [except Special].
The Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott Script was written by Spike Milligan [1-6, 8-25], Larry Stephens [1-6, 8-25] and Jimmy Grafton (as ‘Thomas Alcock & William Bull’) [7], edited by Jimmy Grafton [1-6, 8-24]. Announcer: Andrew Timothy [1-17,19-24], Wallace Greenslade [18, 25] The programme was produced by Peter Eton [Charles Chilton supervised the recordings for 18-19, uncredited]
Programme research and booklet notes by Andrew Pixley
Notes
The programme titles given to this series – where available – are as written on the BBC Archive copies after production and are often grammatically challenging! The shows generally consisted of two or three different sketches separated by musical items. Sketch titles announced on-air are presented in italics based on the available scripts, and it should be noted that spellings of character names varied from script to script.
