The Call of the West

"The Call of the West"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 9 Episode: 12
Written by	Spike Milligan
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	John Browell
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square Ellington: You Had Better Know It
Recording Number	TLO 76074
First broadcast	20 January 1959 (1959-01-20)
Running time	32:26

The Call of the West is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the twelfth show in the ninth series.

Two pre-recording sessions took place at two locations:

• Wednesday 14 January 1959, 3pm/4.15pm. Aeolian Hall Studio 2 (TLO & C/DLO 75756)
• Sunday 18 January 1959, 4pm, The Camden Theatre (DLO 76074/A)

The recording for transmission was created at 8pm on Sunday 18 January 1959, at The Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London.

The first Home Service broadcast was the next day at 8.30pm on Monday 20 January 1959, its ratings were 0.8 million.

The show was repeated:

• Wednesday 9.31pm, 21 January 1959, on the Light Programme to 2.3 million listeners.
• Thursday 7.30pm, 25 February 1960 on the Home Service (replacing The Gold Plate Robbery), to 0.5 million listeners.
• Saturday 10.15pm, 28 January 1978 on the Radio 4 in Smash of the Day.
• Monday 11pm, 12 October 1992 on the Radio 4 in The Goons.

Transcription Service Synopsis

"It is 1867 and, dead on time, the harbour of Boston is a hive of inactivity as English immigrants bring their shattered bank accounts to the New World." That is how Spike Milligan sets the scene for the start of an adventurous journey by wagon train across the rolling plains of the Wild West. You will hear how Lieutenant Hern of the United States Cavalry came to the rescue of the stricken wagon train in time to foil the dastardly plan of the Indians.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Manning Sherwin (music) / Eric Maschwitz (lyrics))
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays You Had Better Know It (Billy Strayhorn / Duke Ellington)

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 76074 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).

Originally recorded on TLO 76074, this master tape no longer exists, but it was lucky that this masterpiece among Goon Shows exists not only as TGS and POTG master tapes, but in the nearly complete and unedited B copy of the TS line recording. which emerged from a private collection in 1990. These, together with domestic recordings of the original transmission, result in a composite version of some 33 minutes in length, including a nearly complete performance of the playout, Bohemia After Dark. Some technical problems are present on the TS line tape, which also happens to be the best sounding copy. Kendall used this tape as the basis of the restored version of the show, and he corrected the technical faults as far as was possible.

Script

The Call of the West (transcript)

Note

Spike's doctors indicated that he was suffering from anxiety neurosis; it was unclear if he would be in a fit state to record The Call of the West (a spoof of the Western Gunsmoke featuring Marshall Matt Dillon which, as Gun Law (Gunsmoke was renamed for the UK), had aired on ITV since December 1955) on Sunday 18 and he certainly would not be able to write a script for the following week. John Browell made arrangements to have a reserve performer standing by for Sunday and also to see if Larry Stephens could furnish another script.