Ill Met by Goonlight
| "Ill Met by Goonlight" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 7 Episode: 23 |
| Written by | Spike Milligan |
| Based on | Ill Met by Moonlight |
| Announcer | Wallace Greenslade |
| Produced by | Pat Dixon |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | TLO 24461 |
| First broadcast | 14 March 1957 |
| Running time | 31:03 |
Ill Met by Goonlight is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the twenty-third show in the seventh series.
A pre-recording session took place Sunday 10 February 1957, 5pm. at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London (DLO 28461/B). The recording for transmission was created later that same Sunday, also at The Camden, at 9pm (TLO 28461).
The first Home Service broadcast was the following Thursday at 8.30pm 14 March 1957, its ratings were 1.9 million.
The show was repeated:
- Wednesday 8pm, 18 March 1957, on the Light Programme to 3.0 million listeners.
- Friday 12.00 noon, 11 September 1983 on Radio 4 in Smash of the Day (as Ill Met by Goon light [sic]).
Transcription Service Synopsis
Here is a tale of adventure to fire anyone's imagination! The scene is set in Crete in 1942, where Lieutenant Seagoon is on a daring mission to capture General von Gutern. His mission cannot fail, for he is armed with the latest and most deadly secret weapon - an army sock filled with luke-warm spaghetti. But unfortunately anything can happen in a Goon Show – and it does.
Music
- The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
- Max Geldray plays Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Harold Arlen (music) / Ted Koehler (lyrics))
- The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Basin Street Blues (Spencer Williams)
Technical
Originally recorded on TLO 24461 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). The TLO 24461 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 a domestic recording of the original transmission .[1]
Show Notes
- Ill Met by Goonlight, a script written by Spike alone which sent up the newly released wartime movie Ill Met by Moonlight starring Dirk Bogarde and based on a true commando mission to capture a German general in Crete.
- This show required the sound effect of a sackful of spaghetti being flung at someone, and – striving for authenticity – Spike couldn't capture exactly the noise he wanted. In desperation, he asked the BBC canteen to cook him some spaghetti, took his sock off, poured the spaghetti in, took it down to the studio and recorded it… only to find it still didn't sound right.
- The show also saw the debut of a character referred to as Cyril based on a Jewish impresario acquaintance of Peter's (‘I seen 'im! I seen 'im!’).
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2012). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 6 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 13. ISBN 978-1408-468548.
