The Africa Ship Canal
| "The Africa Ship Canal" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 7 Episode: 1 |
| Written by | |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Peter Eton |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 24413 |
| First broadcast | 29 March 1954 |
| Running time | 30:29 |
SHOW 7/23: Africa Ship Canal (CD 4,Track 11) Pre-Recording: Sunday 3 March 1957, 5pm, Camden. DLO 24413/A (Crest of a Wave). Recording:Sunday 3 March 1957, 9pm,Camden.TLO 24413. First Home Service Broadcast:Thursday 7 March 1957,8.30pm. Ratings: 1.9 million. Repeats: Monday 11 March 1957, 8pm, 1.9 million (Light Programme];Thursday 9 May 1957, 8.30pm, I.I million [Home Service]. Transcription Servle Synopsis: A new canal is to be built across Africa - for aeroplanes! But once again, Moriarty and Grytpype-Thynne are determined to defy authority, in the shape of Neddie Seagoon, the Engineer-in-Charge.Their plan is simple.They will bury the canal.and restore the Moriarty Zeppelin Service to full schedule again. Whether they succeed can be heard in this edition of The Goon Show. Music: Max Geldray plays Once in Love with Amy (Frank Loesser);The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Wrop Your Troubles in Drums (George Shearing).
The Africa Ship Canal is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the twenty-second show in the seventh series.
A pre-recording session took place Sunday 17 February 1957, 5pm. at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London (DLO 25010). The recording for transmission was created later that same Sunday, also at The Camden, at 9pm (TLO 22507).
The first Home Service broadcast was the following Thursday at 8.30pm 3 January 1957, its ratings were 2.6 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).
Transcription Service Synopsis
'To open the scene, take a knife and cut along the dotted line. Inside you will find the Great North Road in an icy blizzard.' This is how Spike Milligan describes the setting for the start of the latest unexpurgated edition of Seagoon's memoirs. Listeners can, in fact, buy a copy (in a plain sealed envelope) at any local Second Class Slipper Bath.
Music
- The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
- Max Geldray plays I Kiss Your Little Hand, Madame (Ralph Erwin (music) / Fritz Rotter (lyrics))
- The Ray Ellington Quartet plays The Late Late Show (Murray Berlin (music) / Roy Alfred (lyrics))
Technical
Originally recorded on TLO 24413 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). This tape no longer exists, and the version of the show included on The Goon Show Compendium Vol 6 was compiled from the TGS disc, the POTG tape and a domestic recording of the original transmission.[1]
The ending of the original transmission was unusual, in that the credits were read, not over music, but over the menacing sound of an advancing crowd. Recordings of the original transmission fade into continuity as Greenslade finishes speaking. TS added a clean version of Lucky Strike for the TGS issue, and used the end credits from 7/24 for the POTG issue – the POTG versions of these two shows were mastered on the same day.
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2012). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 6 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 13. ISBN 978-1408-468548.
