Who is Pink Oboe?

"Who is Pink Oboe?"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 9 Episode: 11
Written by	Spike Milligan
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	John Browell
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) Ellington: Run Joe
Recording Number	TLO 75177
First broadcast	12 January 1959 (1959-01-12)
Running time	29:54
Guest appearances
Kenneth Connor Valentine Dyall Graham Stark Jack Train John Snagge (pre-recorded) No Peter Sellers

The Seagoon Memoirs is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the eleventh show in the ninth series.

Three pre-recording sessions took place at three locations:

• Wednesday 10 December 1958, 4.15pm. Aeolian Hall Studio 2 (DLO 71859)
• Saturday 13 December 1958, 4.15pm, The Paris (DW 71274)
• Sunday 14 December 1958, 4pm, The Camden Theatre (DLO 72138/A)

The recording for transmission was created at 8pm on Sunday 14 December 1958, at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London (TLO 72138).

The first Home Service broadcast was the next day at 8.30pm on Monday 15 December 1958, its ratings were 1.1 million.

The show was repeated:

• Wednesday 9.31pm, 17 December 1958, on the Light Programme to 2.3 million listeners.
• Friday 9.30pm, 6 March 1964 on the Home Service in Vintage Goons, to 0.5 million listeners.
• Friday 9.30pm, 20 August 1965 on the Home Service in Let's Laugh Again, to 0.2 million listeners (the broadcast was affected by a fault on the reproduction equipment).

Script Book Synopsis

Written especially for Wagnerians (1st July - 31st June: Your month will be full of dramatic tension and harmony), this episode recounts how the German spy Levingrin and the original designs of the Union Jack, the Union Jim, and the Union Dick, were tracked down by our coward Neddie Seagoon. His off-tune interpretation of 'La da die, dum die dum, lum da die dum' provides access to vital information concerning the disguise of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra as a Bavarian cabbage patch. Set in circa 1914, with inside leg 42, nostalgia reverberates throughout this enchanting story. Readers will recall bitterly such unashamed pleasures as Penelope, spam sandwiches, Bloodnok's dirigibles and a set of priceless cuspidors. Sub-titles by Edie Ciano of Bromley.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing) (Duke Ellington (music) / Irving Mills (lyrics))
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Run Joe (Joe Willoughby / Louis Jourdan / Walt Merrick)

Pre-show drama

An opera recording at the Camden on Sunday 11 January meant the show moved to an afternoon recording at the Paris. Shortly before rehearsals, John Browell was informed that Peter had lost his voice. 'I had a couple of hours to find four well-known actors to fill all the parts he left vacant. This was the period when, for convenience, he was partially resident in a hired ambulance,' the producer recalled in 1973. Valentine Dyall had appeared in previous editions of The Goon Show and took on the role of Grytpype Thynne in a bizarre rendition of the duet Miserere from Verdi's Il trovatore which became part of Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better from Annie Get Your Gun. Material with Bloodnok visiting the Windmill was cut, and the remainder of Bloodnok's material was rewritten for the similar military character of Colonel Chinstrip played by Jack Train who had originated in the wartime comedy ITMA and previously guested in one of the 1957 episodes, The Shifting Sands. A Henry Crun/Minnie Bannister sequence was rewritten for the Irish couple of Mr and Mrs O' Toole, the former played by Peter's old friend Graham Stark who had deputised for Spike in several Goon Shows during 1953; Graham also took on dialogue originally written for Bluebottle, although the bulk of this was deleted from the climax of the script. Kenneth Connor, who had worked on some of Spike and Peter's television shows joined the team to play Willium (with his own version of the "mate" voice) and his Sidney Mincing character from Ray's A Laugh. John Snagge also pre-recorded another announcement. Again, BBC continuity declined to use the scripted announcement 'Spike Milligan [is appearing] in A Birthday Suit at Pudsey Baths.'

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 75177 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). This master tape survived intact in TS and has been used for the version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 10.

Transcript

Who is Pink Oboe? (transcript)