The String Robberies
From The Goon Show Depository
| "The String Robberies" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 8 Episode: 16 |
| Written by | Spike Milligan |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Tom Ronald |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 46344 |
| First broadcast | 13 January 1958 |
| Running time | 29:57 |
| Guest appearance | |
| George Chisholm | |
Show Notes
- Spike submitted his script for The String Robberies some days prior to recording, only to have somebody – probably Tom Ronald – append the note: ‘Really. This is too much. Does Spike think we could possibly pass this? Has not the time arrived for a straight talk?’ It was clear that Tom did not have a future with The Goon Show and on Friday 10 January, Jim Davidson – the Assistant Head of Light Entertainment (Sound) – wrote to Charles Chilton, indicating that from the following week he would again become the series' producer, either until the end of the series or when Roy Speer returned from sick leave.
- Two editions of The Goon Show were taped on Sunday 12January. The first was a remake of The Mustard and Cress Shortage for Transcription Services, followed by The String Robberies for the Home Service.
- George Chisholm, the jovial Scots trombonist with Wally Stott's orchestra, was given a speaking part in this show.
- This edition also saw the introduction of ad-libbed choruses of 'Morning' from the elderly characters of Minnie Bannister and Henry Crun, while characters such as Little Jim (‘He's fallen in the water!’), Jim Spriggs (‘Hello Jim!’) and the recently created Indian duo of Mr Lalkaka and Mr Banajee all continued to appear; this last pair were scripted to use genuine Indian phrases which Spike recalled from his days growing up in Poona and which the author would explain in his stage directions (e.g. 'Eck Dum … (For the foul minded this means "At once").
- Tom Ronald made various cuts to Spike's script, removing a couple of gags about defecation and having ‘Minger Lane’ changed to ‘Fairy Cake Lane’.
- Spike's temper was not improved when he heard the edited version of The String Robberies broadcast that night. ‘Despite an agreement on what was to be in and what was to be out, when The Goon Show came out nearly all of what was agreed to leave in had been cut out,’ he raged to Jim Davidson on Tuesday 14, citing the omission of one innocent gag; when informed by Willium that there was a house outside to see him, Seagoon had asked, ‘House? Male or female?’ to which Willium replied, ‘I couldn't tell, it had the blinds drawn, mate.’ The writer was particularly incensed as this joke had already been cleared as having no ‘crude implications’. Later the same day, Spike wrote again to Jim, explaining that ‘a show needs a certain type of producer to bring its fullness to an audience… Pat Dixon is the only person up there who knows what The Goon Show is about. He was instrumental in putting it on the air, he thinks the same type of humour, and he has a touch of the rebel, all of which create the ideal climate… Tom Ronald's atrocious cutting of the show which is tantamount to complete amateurism… If Pat won't produce the show, I assure you it could go through without a producer, and with just Roy Speer's secretary, Doreen Mills, in attendance.’
