The Mystery of the Monkey's Paw

"The Mystery of the Monkey's Paw"
The Goon Show episode
Episode no.	Series 3 Episode 17
Written by	Spike Milligan Larry Stephens
Presented by	Andrew Timothy
Produced by	Peter Eton
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: For Me and My Gal Ellington: Ain't Misbehavin' / It's a Sin to Tell a Lie
Editing by	Jimmy Grafton
Production code	SLO 23540
Original air date	1 March 1953 (1953-03-01)
Running time	29 mins 51 secs
Guest appearance
Dick Emery

The Mystery of the Monkey's Paw (aka Show 59) is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the seventeenth show in the third series. The show was recorded at 9.30pm on Sunday 22 February 1953 The recording took place at Aeolian I, 135–137 New Bond Street, London.

The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Tuesday 3 March 1953 at 9.30pm. It reached a peak listenership of 2.6m. Its first repeat on the Light Programme at 1.45pm on Sunday 8 March 1953 increased the peak listernship to 5.5m.

Sketches

• The Monkey's Paw: In which Moriarty has forged French currency which he needs Harry to take to France by yacht from Dover.
• The Quest for Brigadier Winchmold: A recounting of the expedition of 1940 in which Mr Crun and his nephew Lord Hanjunk search for the missing Brigadier Fernos Winchmold in M'Gaga territory at the heart of the Brazilian jungle.

Music

• Max Geldray plays For Me and My Gal (George W. Meyer / Edgar Leslie / E. Ray Goetz)
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Ain't Misbehavin' (Fats Waller / Harry Brooks / Andy Razaf) and It's a Sin to Tell a Lie (Billy Mayhew)

Technical

Originally recorded on SLO 23540 (33⅓ rpm, coarse-groove 16" disk recorded at Broadcasting House).

The quality of this recording, except for a three-minute head clog, is remarkably good in the context, although some 'boxiness' indicates that it was recorded through a microphone.