Cinderella (s01)

"Cinderella (s01)"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 1 Episode: Special: Cinderella
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens Jimmy Grafton
Announcer	Andrew Timothy
Produced by	Dennis Main Wilson
Music	Stanley Black and the Dance Orchestra Harry Secombe: Be My Love The Stargazers: My Heart Cries For You Marie Benson and the Stargazers: I Don’t Want a World' Ellington: That’s My Gir]
Recording Number	SLO 95143
First broadcast	26 September 1951 (1951-09-26)
Guest appearances
Lizbeth Webb, Graham Stark

Cinderella is an end of series Christmas pantomime special episode from The Goon Show (Crazy People).

The show was had a pre-recording session at 1.15pm on Sunday 16 December 1951. The recording took place at Aeolian I, 135–137 New Bond Street, London. This was followed the same day, and at the same location for the main show recording session carried out at 8pm that evening.

The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Wednesday 26 December 1951 at 8pm (except Wales and Northern Ireland). It reached a peak listenership of 1.8m.

The show starred Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Michael Bentine, Spike Milligan, with guests Lizbeth Webb and Graham Stark. Musical duties were served by the Stargazers, Max Geldray, the Ray Ellington Quartet with Stanley Black and the Dance Orchestra. The show was produced by Dennis Main Wilson, and was announced by an uncredited Andrew Timothy.

BBC Audio Synopsis

Based on actual documents from the files and the dustbins of the FBI, the torrid drama unfolds on Christmas Eve as the King decrees that every aligebbebble spinster will attend a Royal Ball in order that the Prince may choose a bride. But there is no way that Cinderella can attend when her Ugly Sisters keep her hard at work cooking the dinner, stewing the prunes, peeling the spuds, dibbing the dobber, nashering the nasher and zibbling the zobber. However, help is on hand in the form of Montague Mouse and his friends…

Music

• Lizbeth Webb and The Stargazers sang Dream Lover (Victor L Schertzinger/Clifford Grey)
• The Ray Ellington Quartet played The Baron, The Butler and The Bobbajee (Jimmy Grafton)
• Harry Secombe sang Be My Love (Vincent Youmans)
• Harry Secombe, Lizbeth Webb and the Stargazers performed Wunderbar (Cole Porter)

Show Trivia

• At the start of December, Harry, Peter and the Stargazers took part in a pantomime for servicemen recorded by Leslie Bridgmont for the Forces Broadcast Service at the Nuffield Centre, which led to The Goon Show Pantomime.
• The Goons’ own Boxing Day panto was then announced as Goonderella in The Stage on Thursday 6 December.
• Harry would be Buttons, Peter would play the Baron, Spike would team up with Graham Stark as the Ugly Sisters, and actress/singer Lizbeth Webb would be Cinderella herself.
• The festive show itself was a single plot spoofing the much-loved fairy tale, and allowed for a number of music spots including items for both Harry and Lizbeth. Peter played Baron Bloodnok and Splutmuscle, Graham was the prince, Michael was fairy godmother Captain Osric Pureheart, Peter and Spike were Pureheart’s assistants Flowerdew and Spalding, and Spike also voiced the prince’s elderly mother using the character of Miss Bannister whom he had developed in Bumblethorpe. Jimmy Grafton also contributed a parody of Johnny Mercer’s The Waiter, The Porter and the Upstairs Maid which was performed by Peter and Spike with the Ray Ellington Quartet.
• Max Geldray was given a few lines of dialogue… and demonstrated that acting was not one of his strengths!
• Promoting the Christmas special, the Radio Times claimed that ‘there was a conspiracy by writers and cast to call their show Goonderella, but this was firmly resisted’. The small article noted that it was now eight months since the Variety Department ‘essayed a bold experiment […] There have been no regrets […] there is room on the air for at least one show of this kind - and three weeks after Cinderella, the “Goons” reappear in their new 1952 series.

Technical

A pre-recording was made of the show on DLO 1505, then the main show was recorded on SLO 99928 (33⅓ rpm, coarse-groove 16" disk recorded at Broadcasting House).