The Missing Boa Constrictor
| "The Missing Boa Constrictor" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 7 Episode: 1 |
| Written by | |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Peter Eton |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 52769 |
| First broadcast | 21 March 1957 |
| Running time | 30:12 |
SHOW 7/25: The Missing Boa Constrictor (CD 5,Track 11)
Pre-Recording: Sunday 17 March 1957, 5pm, Camden. DLO 27105.
Recording: Sunday 17 March 1957, 9pm, Camden.TLO 24999.
first Home Service Broadcast: Thursday 21 March 1957, 8.30pm. Ratings: 1.5 million. RI: 68.
Repeats: Monday 25 March 1957, 8pm, 3.8 million [Light Programme].
Transcription Service Synopsis: It is rather difficult to see quite how a boa constrictor fits into this story, since it is all about the building of a new inner ring road for the City of Birmingham. Nevertheless, the snake has coiled itself in and out of the plot. Perhaps the simplest thing to do would be to listen to the programme!
Music: Max Geldray plays /loo-Oah (Billy Stritjhom); The Ray Blington Quartet pt.r,s The \.'.tJter Meloo Song (Bill Eustrom).
The Missing Boa Constrictor is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the fifteenth 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
It is rather difficult to see quite how a boa constrictor fits into this story, since it is all about the building of a new inner ring road for the City of Birmingham. Nevertheless, the snake has coiled itself in and out of the plot. Perhaps the simplest thing to do would be to listen to the programme!
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 72138 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).
The TLO 72138 master 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 master tape and domestic recordings of both the original transmission and the 1964 repeat.[1]
Show Notes
The Missing Boa Constrictor drew upon two topical news items. First of all, there had been a stormy reaction to the start of work on Birmingham's inner ring road scheme on Friday 8 March. Secondly, a six foot boa constrictor called Bertie had escaped from a pet shop in London on Wednesday 13 March.
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2012). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 6 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 13. ISBN 978-1408-468548.
