The Telephone
| "The Telephone" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 7 Episode: 11 |
| Written by | |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Pat Dixon |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 52769 |
| First broadcast | 13 December 1956 |
| Running time | 29:53 |
The Telephone is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the eleventh show in the seventh series.
A pre-recording session took place on Sunday 9 December 1956 at 1.15pm. Aeolian Hall Studio 1 (DLO 19660 (In the Mood played on piano by Peter Sellers)). The recording for transmission was made the same Sunday at 9pm also at the Aeolian.
The first Home Service broadcast was the following Thursday at 8.30pm on 13 December 1956, its ratings were 1.9 million. The show was repeated on Monday, 17 December 1958 at 8pm, on the Light Programme to 4.1 million listeners.
BBC Audiobooks' Synopsis
In this 'daring sex drama', a sensual, pleasure-loving devil wants a phone: Henry Albert Sebastopol Queen Victoria Crun. The job of installing it falls to Neddie, who arrives at Crun's house only to find out that he's moved to 17a Africa. And odd numbers are on the other side of the continent. At least, Seagoon will have two suntanned veterans of the safari to escort him - Bluebottle and Eccles …
Music
- The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
- Max Geldray plays Ain't Misbehavin' (Harry Brooks / Fats Waller / Andy Razal)
- The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Singing the Blues (Melvin Endsley)
Technical
Originally recorded on TLO 17963 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). This tape no longer exists, and the master tape of the TGS issue was destroyed in 1963. The recording of the show appearing on Compendium 5 needed to be compiled from the TGS disc and a domestic recording of the original transmission.[1]
Note
In this show Sellers developed a new character using the voice adopted by Kenneth Connor for the role of Sidney Mincing in Ray's a Laugh.
Reviewing The Telephone in The Listener, critic JC Trewin commented, ‘The Goons, usually hovering on the frontier [of extravagance], can be very funny, or they can blast a joke into splinters. For most of the way, I think, this one comes off according to plan.’
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2011). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 5 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 13. ISBN 978-1408-427286.
