The Goon Show series 8
‘This is the BBC Home Service. We present the new all-leather Goon Show’
The Goon Show, series eight was a series of 26 shows aired between 30 September 1957 and 24 March 1958.
Due to various reasons this series had four writers and three different producers. In addition to Spike Milligan, the writers were Larry Stephens, John Antrobus and Maurice Wiltshire. The producers were Charles Chilton, Roy Speer and Tom Ronald.
The shows were all broadcast on Mondays, with the shows' recordings made the previous Sunday.
Stressful and disliking two-show tapings
The seventh series of The Goon Show had been a stressful one for the series' main writer, Spike Milligan. Not only was producing one half-hour of ground-breaking comedy script a week immensely demanding, but on several occasions he'd been required to double his output to accommodate special editions or do a double-recording to cover the absence of one of his co-performers – Harry Secombe or Peter Sellers – so that they could work on other projects. Spike had complained regularly about this practice of twin tapings which he felt – and indeed the BBC agreed – affected the quality of performance on the second show of the evening. Furthermore, he was keen to reduce the length of each series, and so for the forthcoming 1957/58 run had suggested recording only sixteen shows and starting at Christmas rather than in the autumn.
Unfortunately, the BBC had other plans. The Home Service wanted a full 26-edition run of such a popular show to start in September as usual and run through to the spring. Furthermore, an appetite for the series from overseas stations such as CBC's Trans-Canada service meant that, since February 1957, there had been moves afoot to have 14 earlier scripts updated and re-recorded. Various scheduling issues meant that Spike's co-writer Larry Stephens was unavailable to undertake this work over the summer, and so instead of a planned series of recording sessions purely for the BBC Transcription Service prior to the new series, it was decreed that these shows for overseas listeners would be recorded on a fortnightly basis, doubling up on recordings with the new scripts written by Spike for transmission on the Home Service.
Pat wanted to leave
By summer 1957, producer Pat Dixon was keen to leave The Goon Show; he had been unwell - and in fact had cancer - and was also tired of acting as an intermediary between the cautious BBC and the free-thinking Spike who had been coming to blows over the issue of censorship. When a special non-audience show - The Reason Why- was scheduled for recording during Pat's summer holiday, the producer saw this as an ideal opportunity to suggest that Jacques Brown - the producer who would deputise for him on The Reason Why – should take over from him when the full series recordings resumed in September. As such it was agreed that Pat would produce the first seven shows through to mid-November and then hand over to Jacques. However, when in late July it was decided that The Goon Show would air on Mondays rather than Thursdays, Pat pointed out that this would preclude his involvement; his work on Michael Bentine's series Round the Bend would not allow him to edit the Sunday recording of The Goon Show ready for broadcast within 24 hours.
On Friday 16 August, Jim Davidson – the Assistant Head of Light Entertainment – appointed Roy Speer as the new producer of The Goon Show; Roy had given Peter Sellers his first major break on radio and had produced series such as Happy Go Lucky and the successful Educating Archie, which had previously featured Harry Secombe. The new series of The Goon Show was to start recording at the Camden Theatre from Sunday 29 September and Roy planned that the double recordings would commence on alternate weeks from Sunday 6 October; the Transcription recording would be taped from 8.30pm, followed directly by the Home Service edition at 9.15pm.
Over the summer, Peter Sellers had been interviewed on In Town Tonight on 24 August, and since his ITV contract was'about to expire in September, the BBC Television service was keen to book him for numerous projects during the autumn and winter. By the end of August, Spike Milligan had made appearances on BBC TV's Six-Five Special and Early to Braden, and Harry Secombe – who had been on tour with his successful Palladium revue Rackin' the Town - made further appearances on ATV's Sunday Night at the London Palladium from 15 September. Peter was also still enjoying success with his Parlophone single Any Old Iron, which entered the charts again during September and October, and on 20 September was to co-host Salute to Showbusiness on ITV. Since the previous series, the BBC had also decided to prune down the number of television newsreaders appearing in vision, and regular Goons announcer Wallace Greenslade was retired to focus on radio only.
In mid-September, a problem emerged with Roy Speer's arrival on the series. The availability of Peter Brough - the star of Educating Archie – meant that until early November this other show would have to record on a Sunday; as such, Roy could not also supervise The Goon Show as well. The temporary replacement for the first four or five shows proposed by Jim Davidson was Charles Chilton (‘one of our senior and most able producers’) who was famous for his science-fiction serial Journey into Space. Charles was also an old friend of Spike's from some of the performer's earliest broadcasts and had previously deputised on The Goon Show for producer Peter Eton during March 1953. The cast were also contracted for the fourteen additional Transcription shows on Wednesday 18 September.
However, in mid-September Harry Secombe was stricken with Asian flu and bronchitis, losing his voice. He was advised to stop work for a fortnight by his doctor. Charles Chilton telephoned Spike in the French Riviera where he was on holiday, and as a replacement for the first recording Spike suggested Dick Emery who had previously stood in for himself during shows in 1952/3 and had worked along with Peter and Spike on the 1955 cinema short The Case of the Mukkinese Battle-Horn. Around the same time, Peter requested to be released for one of the proposed BBC TV broadcasts on 24 November, and Spike was asked if he was amenable to having no recording on 24 November, but double recordings for the three weeks prior to this. Spike's reply to Charles on 26 September looked ominous: ‘I am an inspired writer and my works are not "dictatable" as such. I cannot do the 24th November script until I am inspired - I cannot form any idea at present - because I am uninspired! Yours inspiredly!’
Recording for the new shows initially took place at 9.15pm on Sundays at the Camden Theatre, with Spon recorded on 29 September and Dick Emery playing 'Emery-type Seagoon'. Spike's script was barbed with jokes at the expense of the Conservative government under Harold Macmillan, which had been voted in in January, while other topical references added shortly before recording included Moriarty's comments on the Wolfenden Report which had recommended the legalisation of homosexuality when published on 4 September. Spike's new scripts were also increasingly fragmented and free-formed; the concluding joke of Spon was that there was no ending, with this fact pointed out by Wallace Greenslade. Spon kicked off the new series the following evening at 8 .30pm on the Home Service. The show was promoted in the Radio Times by a piece in the ‘Round and About’ section of the magazine which explained how Dick was standing in for Harry. The ‘usual mad mixture of logic and lunacy’ was promised, while the text explained that ‘Spike, in his time, has worked as a van boy, draughtsman, and musician, but tells us that he dislikes scriptwriting most of all.’
During October, Decca released their first two singles with the Goons combined on an EP entitled The Goons (DFE 6396) and with a picture sleeve depicting strange cartoons from Rex Marston. Peter made an appearance on BBC TV's The Billy Cotton Band Show on Thursday 3 October, the same night that the Light Programme repeats of The Goon Show commenced at 9pm. However, the situation regarding Peter's November television appearance looked bleak; on 4 October, Head of Variety Pat Hillyard informed Television Light Entertainment that' since Spike would not commit himself to producing extra scripts, they could not take the risk of releasing Peter. Then, in an extra treat for Goon fans, the 1954 non-audience special The Starlings received a Light Programme repeat at 6.30pm on Sunday 6 October.
Starting the second week, the Transcription Service re-make - in this case The Mummified Priest - was recorded at 8.30pm immediately before the new episode, The Junk Affair. This new script saw Spike being rejoined by his old co-writer Larry Stephens who had been working regularly on the series since early 1956 and had been associated with the show since its earliest days in 1951. The scripts continued to feature comments from Harry of ‘round the back for the old brandy’ prior to the musical numbers; this was because although there was a ban on alcohol in the studio, Harry and the cast smuggled bottles of milk laced with brandy in for the Sunday recordings. Also back was the character of Little Jim and his catchphrase ‘He's fallen in the water’, which Spike had introduced in the previous series; similarly, Seagoon still suffered from duck's disease. An ad-lib from Greenslade also made reference to the Russian 'Satellite Moon' – i.e. the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 - which had been successfully launched two days earlier.
Pre-warned is forearmed
Meanwhile, Spike was again unhappy with the treatment of his scripts, writing to Charles Chilton and asking, ‘I wonder in future if any cuts decided upon by the hierarchy could be given to me before the actual day of the broadcast. By cuts, I mean censorings, cuttings out, etc. You see the structure of the show is sometimes so balanced that censorship of just a few lines could destroy the balance of the whole thing, and it takes some time and thought to restore a duplicate which is as strong. If you could give me forty-eight hours notice of any of these cuts, I, for my part, will try and get the scripts to you every Monday.’ Charles made arrangements to keep Spike appraised of censored portions of script by phone. Peter appeared on Chelsea at Nine on Tuesday 8 October, Spike did another Six-Five Special on Saturday 12, and then on Sunday 13, the recording of The Burning Embassy saw the introduction of Neddie Seagoon's speaking trumpet (a megaphone) which would become a frequently employed prop from now on; this was also the first of several shows in which Seagoon would comment on his grandmother keeping a duck farm in Kent. Spike's reference as Yakamoto to ‘European Flu’ was an ad-lib connected with the Asian flu pandemic which had been sweeping the world. Another ad-lib came when Peter – as Major Denis Bloodnok – deviated from the scripted line of ‘I feel no pain’ and remarked ‘I don't know who you are sir, or where you've come from, but you've done me a power of good’; this was the punchline to a completely unbroadcastable joke about a man with piles and same-gender intercourse, but the audience reaction was so strong that it became a new catchphrase for the disreputable military character. Bloodnok also acquired a new batman in the form of Singhiz Thingz (named Abdul in the script). Getting the sound of timber wolves attacking Bloodnok, Eccles and Seagoon during the episode caused problems for Spike as he commented in Books and Art: ‘You'd think the BBC could cope with that. They're supposed to have the greatest record library in the world. But d'you know what happened the other day! I wanted the sound of wolves howling and I was told that the BBC couldn't help. We finished up by doing the howling ourselves.’
On Monday 14 October, the Goons recorded a topical new single for Decca; entitled A Russian Love Song, this was inspired by the launch of Sputnik 1, which – as a product of the Soviet Union – was of deep concern to the western world. Peter's second child, Sarah, was born on Wednesday 16 October, and the next day it was confirmed that Roy Speer would be able to take over recordings on the series from 3 November. Meanwhile in the ‘Points from the Post’ section of the Radio Times, Mrs J.E. Richardson of Derby wrote, ‘Some listeners may be interested to hear that whilst tuned into The Goon Show the other evening I knitted a spon. I am so delighted with the result that I hereby give incomplete destructions for the original handfleeced spon. Materials required are: two Spiked Milligans, size 8.30, with knots in one, and a wavelength of wool-gatherers' floss, network three. Tension is for half an hour on Mondays and Thursdays, and the size will fit anyone from nine years to ninety.’
A BBC Audience Research Report on Spon was prepared on 17 October. Presenting the views of 358 members of the Listening Panel, the audience size was found to be above average, but the appreciation index for the edition was well below that of recent editions. ‘Can it be that Secombe's absence has killed the show?’ asked a ‘Schoolmaster’ indicating disappointment from many of those interviewed who detected a ‘lack of sparkle’ and felt that Dick Emery had not fitted in well. Sadly it seemed that many former fans were drifting away from the show finding it ‘muddled’ or ‘confusing’. By contrast, there was a hard core of devotees tuning in, with the ‘Wife of a Woodwork Teacher’ declaring that this was ‘A good start to a new series of one of my favourite comedy shows.’ Eccles and Bluebottle were nominated as the favourite characters by many listeners. Although not noted in the report, the new series' ratings were generally down on the previous year as the expanding medium of television continued to erode radio's audience base.
Along with Mount Everest (a.k.a. The Greatest Mountain in the World), The Great Regent's Park Swim was taped on Sunday 20 October. From this show for the next few weeks, Bloodnok would sometimes be heard to sing a bizarre song to a waltz tempo, starting with The Curry and Rice Waltz. Topical humour in the script included comments about BBC planners flying to Europe in conjunction with Eurovision, which the Corporation had joined for the first time the previous March. A Russian Love Song was then rush-released by Decca along with the previously shelved Whistle Your Cares Away- recorded back in March - on Monday 21 October. Despite the topicality, as with the last Decca release, the Goons failed to chart.
Also on Monday 21, Roy Speer informed his superiors that he was ‘ready, willing and able’ to assume responsibility for The Goon Show with immediate effect now that Educating Archie had completed. ‘Thank you for the able manner in which you have dealt with the initiation of the new series.’ wrote Jim Davidson to Charles the following day. On Wednesday 23, the outgoing producer rearranged the recording schedule of the dual tapings; the Transcription Service remake would be taped in the afternoon at 5.15pm, after which the cast would rehearse the Home Service programme from 6.15pm to record at 9.15pm, allowing a rest between shows and a fresh audience. Spike responded: ‘I am agreeable… [this] makes a lot of difference’. However, he voiced his issues with the grams operators playing in sound effects and music who seemed to be ill-prepared for the run-throughs. Spike offered to visit the sound team on the Saturday to discuss effects in advance and added, ‘There is nothing so distracting as to be running through the script quite happily, and to be held up by a missing door knock, etc. I would like to inform you that I am writing to Sir Ian Jacob [the BBC's Director General] telling him that power ought to be given to provide an extra man on grams, as I find that I dare not write any more effects in than I do because poor old grams would be incapable of dealing with them.'
Wednesday 23 found Spike featuring on the London Light Programme's evening show Johnny Come Lately. ‘A life-size platinum replica of Spike Milligan with a hole in the head for carrying umbrellas.’ Harry replied when asked what he would like for Christmas by the Daily Mirror on 24 October, the same day that the Light Programme repeat of The Great Regent's Park Swim was promoted in the Radio Times with a picture of the three Goons around a microphone.
Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead
Treasure in Tower (aka The Treasure in the Tower) was recorded on Sunday 27 October and was one of the stronger shows of the run, with a complex chronological element adding to a plot inspired by another of the many bizarre newspaper cuttings which Spike was collecting in a file for inspiration. Charles Chilton signed off on the series with a show which concluded with Wallace Greenslade commenting ‘It's all in the mind you know’ prior to the new closing title music, Ding Dong the Witch is Dead written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz and which replaced the usual sign-off melody, Lucky Strike.
Roy Speer took over fully as producer on Monday 28 October, and received his first missive from Spike within days: ‘I find at the end of the show that the great hurried delivery of the credits is a farce. Nobody quite hears what the man is saying. It is all done over the orchestra blowing its brains out, and it is also anti-climactic, …After all, the show is over and done with, everybody knows who it was. If they don't by then, they aren't interested… If there must be credit given, let it be done by the continuity announcer from his little cubicle somewhere in Portland Place.’ Responding on Thursday 31, Roy assured the writer, ‘I am the new boy’ and noted that he would make no changes to the show without discussing them with Spike in person. On Wednesday 30, Roy also received data from the Audience Research department which indicated that the appreciation index for the show had taken an upswing since the low figure registered by Spon. Correspondence regarding Spon continued in the Radio Times on 1 November. ‘I am afraid that Mrs Richardson's knitted spon is a forgery. A skein of Peter Sellers is the only satisfactory ingredient for spinning a spon. A spon made from Spiked Milligans, although pleasing to the earhole, can cause a terrible milled-edged mischief.’ noted Count Fifty of Lancing, Sussex, while Señor Knees McSpon Jnr, near Leeds, added, ‘Your correspondent is to be congratulated on her fine achievement. I feel, however, that it is my duty to convey a friendly warning to your readers. While but a few cases of screaming naggers have been known to result from observation of such a spon as your correspondent describes, another form of this disease (Naggis amanuensis), which has such symptoms as an uncontrollable urge to write to Radio Times, has been known to arise from prolonged scrutiny.’
Along with 10 Downing Street Stolen (a.k.a. The Missing Ten Downing Street), The Space Age - again inspired by the news of Sputnik - was taped on Sunday 3 November. This instalment went down well with the Home Service when broadcast on 4 November, and Jim Davidson wrote to Roy, ‘I am very happy to pass on favourable comments… Would you be good enough to extend congratulations to all concerned, and to yourself a special ‘thank you’.’ During the first week of November, Spike was ill and his wife June contacted Roy Speer to assure him that Larry Stephens could pen the next script on his own while Spike recovered to make the recording. To add to the producer's problems, Roy was becoming concerned about the issue of brandy consumption by the cast during recordings…
The River Kwai suggestion
On Thursday 7 November, a suggestion of Spike's for a non-audience show akin to The Reason Why was sent to Pat Dixon; this was for ‘A semi-satirical adaptation of the film Bridge on the River Kwai to be done in a possible high dramatic key, with absolute factual sound effects and linking music, to last half an hour.’ The popular wartime film about British POWs in Burma had been released in October, and Spike suggested that its star - Alec Guinness - could reprise his role of Lt Colonel Nicholson from the movie alongside himself, Peter, Harry and Valentine Dyall. Spike had already written half the script, felt that he could complete the rest in ten days and eagerly asked when Pat could get such a project placed for production. Next day. Pat passed the notion on to his superiors, explaining that Spike had wanted him as producer rather than Roy, and adding ‘For obvious reasons I don't very much want to do this, but the idea is probably a good one… The only thing I urge is that we give Milligan a fairly quick answer; because he is inclined to be impatient with the Corporation as a whole and its leisurely manner of doing things.’
The Red Fort was taped on Sunday 10 November, and saw the introduction of two Indian gentlemen played by Spike and Peter - Mr Lalkaka (scripted as 'Abdul') and Mr Lakhajee - who were instantly popular with the audience because of the duo's excessive ad-libbing. In terms of correspondence, Roy Speer received some letters provoked by Spon which he described as 'adult in content' and also heard from listener Brian 0. Rider of Addlesham, who was puzzled by the last two shows and also Greenslade's now-regular phrase ‘It's all in the mind you know.’ A couple of weeks later, Roy replied, ‘I always find it rather difficult to explain to enquirers exactly what is meant by many of Spike Milligan's phrases - it is usually, I think, a question of what interpretation each individual listener cares to place on anything Spike Milligan writes.’
Meanwhile, on 12 November the BBC revealed that it would only play an edited version of A Russian Love Song since ‘It is against our policy to broadcast impersonations of Sir Winston Churchill's voice.’ Next day, Pat Hillyard contacted Pat Dixon about Spike's Bridge on the River Kwai spoof, indicating that the Programme Planners felt ‘a programme of this nature would cause considerable offence, particularly to those who were closely connected with events in the Far East, and on these grounds, I am afraid, the idea would not be acceptable.’ Pat passed this verdict back to Spike… who took the news, that his half-written script was unwanted, very badly.
Around the back for no brandy, huh?
An Audience Research Report summarising the views of 352 listeners on Treasure in Tower was compiled on Friday 15 November. The comments this time were far more promising: ‘the peak of sound entertainment’ observed a ‘Chemist’, although there were still some suggestions that the series had ‘deteriorated somewhat, becoming over-complicated and stereotyped’. The clever plot for the episode was particularly admired; ‘the switching from 1600 to 1957 exploited the use of sound radio to the full. An excellent half-hour of madness,’ enthused a 'Printer' while there was considerable praise for the main cast. The Red Fort was reviewed by The Critics - i.e. J. W. Lambert, Stephen Potter, Margaret Lane, Stephen Bone and Freda Bruce Lockhart - on the BBC Home Service at lunchtime on Sunday 17 November, shortly before the next recording session which comprised a remake of The Giant Bombardon plus The Missing Battleship. Editing The Missing Battleship was a nightmare for Roy. The script had been largely written by Larry Stephens and had run to 25 pages rather than the usual 19 or 20; as such, the recorded programme ran twelve minutes too long. Even after removing various scenes set in the House of Commons and of Seagoon reading the Life of Captain Kidd, the adventure was still over-length. Sadly Roy took the decision to completely remove Max Geldray's harmonica performance during the afternoon, in ready for the evening broadcast. Unfortunately neither Roy nor his secretary Evelyn were able to contact Max to warn him before transmission. Roy was then taken ill for a couple of days, and it was not until Thursday that he was able to write an apologetic letter to Max. The brandy issue also rumbled on, with Con Mahoney – another Assistant Head of Light Entertainment - writing to the absent Roy on Tuesday 19 and noting that a ‘previous producer’ had assured him that this practice had stopped: ‘I can only suggest that you tell your cast in a friendly and understandable fashion the Corporation's attitude towards the conduct that is causing us this bother.’
Advanced humour required
Harry gave a serious singing performance at the Royal Variety Show on Monday 18 November, and this would be referred to in the script for the next show, The Policy. In early October, Spike had publicly suggested that experimental programmes on BBC TV could be attempted between 11pm and midnight, and on 22 November, Head of Light Entertainment Ronnie Waldman agreed that, from the new year, Peter Sellers, Bernard Braden and Alan Melville would all be allowed to tinker with new forms of humour on the channel. Having just quit ITV following poor response to Yes, It's the Cathode-Ray Tube Show!, Peter commented, ‘Nobody is using television properly at the moment. I have no doubt that the thing of the future on TV will become forms of advanced humour.’
The Goon Show featured on the cover of the Radio Times for the issue of 24-30 November, with Spike, Harry and Peter forming 'A Giggle of Goons' while studying a script around a piano; Monday's scheduled broadcast of The Policy was emphasised in the listings by a further photo of the trio. In the next issue, the earlier coverage on The Critics prompted more correspondence for the BBC listings magazine as Reginald Gamble of London wrote ‘Having listened to The Critics on The Goon Show I am more than ever confident that the Goons could make a better job of The Critics. May I take the liberty of suggesting that the Goons make it the theme of a future programme. What, what, what, what, WHAT!!?’
The spoof of H. Rider Haggard's 1895 adventure novel King Solomon's Mines was taped at 9pm on Sunday I December following the afternoon recording of the new version of The Kippered Herring Gang. Peter and Harry joined Eric Sykes and many others at The Lord's Taverners' Ball shown on BBC TV on Monday 2 December; the same day, Spike became a father again with the birth of another daughter, Sile. On Saturday 7, Harry was the subject of The Secombe Saga on BBC TV at 8pm. Spike then did not take a credit on the next show – The Stolen Postman – recorded on Sunday 8; although sharing a credit on the script, the broadcast was attributed solely to Larry Stephens.
The Duchess of York entirely understands
During the following week, Peter was one of a trio of crazy scientists at a Water Rats charity event at the Victoria Palace on Tuesday 10, and was then due to join Spike for an appearance on Six-Five Special on Saturday 14; however, Peter became ‘indisposed’, and Spike – unhappy with a lack of rehearsal on the programme - cancelled his planned appearance in the Christmas edition of the music show. Peter was however available the next day to tape an appearance on Educating Archie for New Year's Day at the Camden. The dual recording for The Goon Show on Sunday 15 had been relocated to the Paris Studios on Regent Street, with the remake of The Vanishing Room and then The Great British Revolution taped back to back from 8.30pm; the tunes played by both Max Geldray and the Ray Ellington Quartet in The Great British Revolution were composed by Spike's old army pal, Harry Edgington, while for one week the end theme was once again Lucky Strike (with Spike's script indicating that the closing music should be the ‘Old one from last year if possible’). The studio move and schedule change was to accommodate a rather special audience. The Duchess of Kent was in attendance along with her daughter, Princess Alexandra. This made news in the press and was excellent publicity for the show since the Duchess loved the recording. However, Spike was less than happy with the way events turned out since the presence of royalty had been kept a secret from the cast. ‘As a result of mis-information, I was grossly ill-dressed for the occasion, and I had already made an important dinner engagement for immediately after the show. Consequently I had to walk out at a most inopportune moment,’ wrote a furious Spike to Pat Hillyard on Monday 30 December, ‘PS: Don't bother to reply.’ Just before Christmas, Pat did drop the writer a line, passing on a message from the Duchess' private secretary indicating that she enjoyed the show, had received his letter and ‘entirely understood’.
Overwork, overwork and worse
The last recording before Christmas comprised The Plasticine Man on Sunday 22; again, this edition caused editing problems for Roy and meant that the whole of the number by the Ray Ellington Quartet was removed from the show. Described as a 'Christmas Edition' in the Radio Times, the billing for this broadcast was embellished by a cartoon depicting Peter as a turkey, Harry as a pudding and Spike as a jolly Santa. However, the Sunday Graphic painted a very different picture of Spike in its edition of 22 December; it revealed that Spike had just spent three days lying in a dark room at home, totally incommunicado and with his doctor commenting, ’Overwork. Overwork. Complete rest now, or something worse later.’ He also seemed bitter towards Peter Sellers, noting 'He has changed a great deal. Now everything he does is part of his war against the human race.'
Harry taped a Christmas greeting for hospital patients on Monday 23 December, and this was broadcast on Boxing Day on the Northern Home Service show Record Recovery. 'Those friends of Royalty, the Goons' then recorded African Incident - and a remake of The Ink Shortage - on Sunday 29 December, with actress Cécile Chevreau appearing at short notice in the new episode, taking on the scripted role of 'Native Girl' intended for Peter. Spike's script was in fact the spoof of The Bridge on the River Kwai which had been previously rejected for production as a 'non-audience' show. The closing theme music changed again for one week to the march Alte Kameraden (Old Comrades) written in 1889 by Carl Teike. However, over Christmas Roy Speer had been taken very ill and taping had in fact been supervised by Tom Ronald, a senior BBC variety and comedy producer but – alas – one with little empathy for the Goonish sense of humour. The plan was that Tom would now remain as producer on the series for the rest of its run, even although he was due to take over as the producer on Hancock's Half Hour. ‘Tom Ronald will be in charge as producer, but for reasons of expediency we are leaving the administration with Doreen [Davies], Roy's secretary, as a natural course,’ explained Jim Davidson to Spike on 3 January 1958 as he noted that the Corporation did not yet know the severity of Roy's illness, ‘I know I can depend upon your goodwill and co-operation.’
Thursday 2 January saw the cinema releases of both Davy starring Harry Secombe and The Naked Truth showcasing Peter Sellers' versatility with character voices. Meanwhile, Doreen M. Davies started to hold the fort; her first missive to Larry and Spike was to inform them that Peter Sellers had been given a ‘rest day’ on 26 January which meant that two recordings would have to be made for the Home Service on 19 January. Because of this, Larry and Spike were now splitting their efforts and writing separately. Spike's reply to Doreen was frosty: ‘It does not overcome the difficulty about which I spoke to you on the telephone … You told me that Miss Lipscombe [of Variety Booking] had told you I had been informed of the necessity to write the extra script for this week. This is absolute rubbish. If she means informed by Peter Sellers, this is also rubbish … If this is considered a business agreement by the BBC, I concede their system needs a drastic overhaul. The Corporation made a colossal cock-up of the Transcriptions, and seem perfectly willing to go on doing so.’
On Sunday 5, the cast recorded The Thing on the Mountain which had been written by Larry in association with Maurice Wiltshire, a former Daily Mail journalist who had been writing revues and eagerly submitting scripts to the BBC since 1947. In the afternoon, Harry recorded an appearance for Follow the Stars - broadcast on the Light Programme that evening- and also Saturday Night on the Ught to be aired next weekend. Monday 6 J anuary then saw Tom Ronald confronted by more scheduling problems when the Camden Studio was to be unavailable during early February; this would also affect Peter's 'rest day' and the Transcription Service shows. Things looked uncertain for the series as I 958 arrived. The unfortunate circumstances dictating the continual changes in producer, the issues over censorship and the nightmarish recording schedules were taking their toll on the show's keystone: Spike Milligan. Interviewing Spike in the December 1957 issue of Books and Art, Philip Oakes noted that ‘This year, Milligan continued with the Goon Show only at the insistence of the BBC. And next year may see its demise’ with Spike explaining, ‘The point is that it must continue to be experimental. And the support for the kinds of experiments that I want to make simply isn't there.’
The above was researched and written by Andrew Pixley
Episodes
Music
Throughout the series The BBC Dance Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott. Additionally, Stott wrote most of the incidental orchestral music for the shows.
| Episode # | Show | Artist | Song(s) | Writer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spon | Max Geldray | It Happened in Monterey | Mabel Wayne Billy Rose |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Sonny Boy | Al Jolson BG De Sylva Lew Brown Ray Henderson | ||
| 2 | The Junk Affair | Max Geldray | Paper Moon | Harold Arlen Yip Harburg Billy Rose |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Don't Burn Me Up | Weisman Laskoff | ||
| 3 | The Burning Embassy | Max Geldray | This Can't be Love | Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | I've Got a Rose Between My Toes | Lou Carter | ||
| 4 | The Great Regent's Park Swim | Max Geldray | No One Ever Tells You | Carroll Coates Hub Atwood |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Swaller-tail | Barry Kay | ||
| 5 | The Treasure in the Tower | Max Geldray | Nice Work If You Can Get It | George Gershwin Ira Gershwin |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | How Will I Know? | Norvis Baxter | ||
| (TS reissue version) The Ray Ellington Quartet from Ill Met by Goonlight |
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea | Harold Arlen Ted Koehler | ||
| 6 | The Space Age | Max Geldray | Limehouse Blues | Douglas Furber (lyrics) Philip Braham (music) |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Satin Doll | Duke Ellington Peter Strayhorn Johnny Mercer | ||
| 7 | The Red Fort | Max Geldray | Sonny Boy | Ray Henderson Buddy G. DeSylva Lew Brown |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Will You Still Be Mine? | Tom Adair Matt Dennis | ||
| 8 | The Missing Battleship | Max Geldray | His song was recorded, but was edited out due to the show running extremely long.[3] | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Up Above My Head (There's Music in the Air) | Sister Rosetta Tharpe Marie Knight | ||
| 9 | The Policy | Max Geldray | Button Up Your Overcoat | Ray Henderson Buddy G. DeSylva Lew Brown |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | You'd Better Know It | Duke Ellington Peter Strayhorn | ||
| 10 | King Solomon's Mines | Max Geldray | Lady of Spain | Robert Hargreaves Tolchard Evans Stanley J. Damerell Henry J. Tilsley |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Route 66 | Bobby Troup | ||
| 11 | The Stolen Postman | Max Geldray | There'll Never Be Another You | Harry Warren Mack Gordon |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Top Hat, White Tie and Tails | Irving Berlin | ||
| 12 | The Great British Revolution | Max Geldray | Tune for Ann | Harry A Edgington |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Fascinatin' Thing | Harry A Edgington | ||
| 13 | The Plasticine Man | Max Geldray | The Duke's Joke | Alan Clare |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| TS version: The Ray Ellington Quartet |
Jack the Bear | Duke Ellington | ||
| 14 | African Incident | Max Geldray | Don't Get Around Much Anymore | Arthur Johnston (music) Johnny Burke (lyrics) |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Jack the Bear | Duke Ellington | ||
| 15 | The Thing on the Mountain | Max Geldray | My Heart Stood Still | Richard Rodgers Lorenz Hart |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Long Black Nylons | Don Raye Sonny Burke | ||
| 16 | The String Robberies | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 17 | The Moriarty Murder Mystery | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 18 | The Curse of Frankenstein | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 19 | The White Neddie Trade | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 20 | Ten Snowballs that Shook the World | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 21 | The Man Who Never Was | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 22 | World War One (a.k.a. !) | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 23 | The Spon Plague | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 24 | Tiddleywinks | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 25 | The Evils of Bushey Spon | Max Geldray | — | — |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | — | — | ||
| 26 | The Great Statue Debate | Max Geldray | Paper Moon | Harold Arlen (music) Yip Harburg (lyrics) Billy Rose (lyrics) |
| The Ray Ellington Quartet | Lady Mac | Duke Ellington Billy Strayhorn |
Sigs and playouts
For the first four shows, the signature tune is Ray Ellington's Lucky Strike, but the fifth show introduces Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead, a Harold Arlen number from the film The Wizard of Oz. These tunes, with their solo opportunities for some of the crack session men in the band, including E.O. Pogson (reeds), George Chisholm (trombone) Judd Proctor (guitar) and Dick Katz (piano), were frequently long enough to run the programme to length on its own. Crazy Rhythm appears as playout in the third show. The fourteenth show introduces another tune which would endure to the end of the Goon Shows run, the march Old Comrades (Alte Kameraden), written around the turn of the century by Karl Teike. Where the original signature tune and/or playout exist, they have been used. Where passages are missing or obscured by announcements or technical faults, complete versions have been reconstructed using the available material.[4]
References
- ^ a b Pixley, Andrew; Kendall, Ted (2012). The Goon Show Compendium Volume Seven (Series 8 – Part 1) (CD). AudioGO Ltd. booklet 1, pp. 9, 11; booklet 2, p. 6. ISBN 978-1445-891330.
- ^ Pixley, Andrew; Kendall, Ted (2012). The Goon Show Compendium Volume Eight (Series 8 – Part 2) (CD). AudioGO Ltd. booklet 1, p. 4. ISBN 978-1445-825601.
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2012). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 7 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-4458-9133-0.
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2012). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 7 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 11. ISBN 978-1-4458-9133-0.
