The Goon Show series 7
‘This is the BBC Home Service. Here is the result of last night's big fight Patrick O'Donovan, labourer of no fixed address: six months. Michael O'Bolligan: fined five pounds. And now, at eight stone seven pounds, in transparent shorts, The Goon Show.’
Let's start with a delay
Still at the cutting edge of comedy, The Goon Show - starring Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan - was due to return for a new series on the BBC Home Service in mid-September 1956. However, busy on five other radio shows per week during the summer, producer Pat Dixon asked if the start of the new series could be deferred by a month from its planned start date to allow him a much deserved holiday. This semiment seemed to be echoed by the show's main writer Spike Milligan who at the time was also attempting co write a 'TV Goon Series' for the BBC. In early July 1956, it was agreed that recording would be delayed by two weeks to start at the end of September, and by the end of the month, Pat Dixon's predecessor Peter Eron (who was now working for commercial television) indicated that he would be 'willing and available' to return and produce the first two editions of the series while his successor was on leave.
At the start of August, the General Overseas Service asked for a special edition of The Goon Show to be heard by British forces in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean Areas as well as by the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition. BBC Head of Television Light Entertainment, Ronnie Waldman, was also keen to snap up Harry for a television series as soon as his show, Rocking the Town, at the London Palladium closed in mid-December; Harry's successful show was referred to by characters such as Bloodnok, Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty in later Goon Shows. In the meantime, the recording dates for the twenty new editions of The Goon Show were confirmed with the cast as starting on Sunday 30 September with Home Service broadcasts the following Thursday at 8.30pm.There had been an option to extend this run by six more shows, and this was exercised by the BBC on Wednesday 29 August.
The Ying Tong Song
Recorded by the Goons in August, was released by Decca on Monday 10 September and sold like hotcakes, reaching third position in the charts by the end of the month. Spike returned from an Italian holiday to appear in his next TV series, Son of Fred, alongside Peter Sellers, harmonica player Max Geld ray (a mainstay of The Goon Show) and frequent Goon guest Valentine Dyall - although for this he remained atAssociated-Rediffusion. During September, Spike also joined fellow writer Eric Sykes to record another Goon-related single, but this time for George Martin at Parlophone. As Eccles, Spike sang a cover version of the David Whitfield hit, My September Love. while in the persona of Moriarty he performed the original piece, You Gotto Go Oww!, based on his new catchphrase introduced during August in the remake of China Story. Also featured were the Alberts, an oddball music trio who appeared on Son of Fred. Harry too was soon in the music papers again when his recording of Verdi's La donna e mobile was released by Phillips.
In the run-up to the new series of The Goon Show, the relationship between Spike and the BBC was again stormy; he was in dispute over the extension of the series by six shows, there was confusion over the billing of Larry Stephens as Spike's co-writer, and Peter Eton felt the first script, The Nasty Affair at the Burami Oasis, was 'too bitty'. This opening story was partly inspired by the current Suez Crisis, in which British interests and the economy were threatened when Colonel Nasser of Egypt took control of the Suez Canal in July 1956, causing the British government to consider the deployment of military force. During the recording, reference was made to the fact that the show's vocalist Ray Ellington was now married to actress Anita West, and Spike gave his first rendition of By the Dustbins of Rome, a send-up of By the Fountains of Rome which had recently charted for both Edmund Hockridge and David Hughes.
The return of The Goon Show (replacing Twenty Questions) was highlighted in the Radio Times with a strange cartoon from the pen of Peter Kneebone alongside its listing, and a half-page item elsewhere in the magazine entitled Wanted! - The Goons, which offered surreal information on Spike ('Has numerous convictions, e.g. that the world is flat, that iron ships won't float), Peter ('to give him his incorrect name, Sir Grimbald Crab) and Harry ('studied drawing under Professor OJ Pules-Bladdock QC and also under water). Spike also went on BBC TV on the evening that the new series aired, featuring as a guest on Highlight.
Repeats of the series appeared on the following Monday evening at 8pm on the Light Programme, and Valentine Dyall guested on the second episode, Drums Along the Mersey (the title of which was inspired by the 1936 western novel Drums Along the Mohawk, released as a film in 1939); this show revealed that Neddie Seagoon suffered from Ducks' Disease - the curse of the Seagoons - and even had a mention of former Goon Michael Bemtine who had left the series in 1952. While Spike's wranglings over the six extra scripts continued, Pat Dixon returned from leave to helm the recording of The Nadger Plague on Sunday 14 October. By now, a character called Spriggs - latterly Jim Spriggs - was coming more to prominence, and always calling everyone 'Jim'. Peter Sellers first performed a rather wobbly piano solo for this show which would be repeated in subsequent editions, and Moriarty - previously called Fred, but now more usually referred to as Jim - started to receive bizarre introductions from his cohort, Hercules Grytpype-Thynne.
In addition to the General Overseas Service special, another extra edition which would not be heard by domestic listeners was soon in the production schedule, with the Transcription Service requesting a Christmas edition for the Canadian station CBC to be taped in early December. Spike then fell ill and was forced to miss the recording of The MacReekie Rising of '74 on Sunday 21 October. Although standard BBC policy was that 'if as the result of illness an artist cannot appear he should not be paid', the Home Service indicated that Spike should still be due his full fee. Peter and Harry were also paid an additional amount for covering their absent colleague's roles as Eccles, Moriarty and Minnie, while trombonist George Chisholm, from the show's orchestra, had been given some dialogue on the night as well.
We are delighted to have a new series of 20 Goon programmes, we should be equally delighted to have 26, so perhaps in due course you could let Pat Dixon know if you can possibly write 6 more,' Head ofVariety Pat Hillyard wrote to Spike on 22 October, noting that last year they had filled the schedules with repeats saying, 'but you, yourself, I know are against doing this- and so are we.' By late October, the two additional Christmas shows - for Transcription Services and General Overseas Service - were scheduled to be recorded in double-recordings with standard editions of The Goon Show on Sunday 2 and Sunday 9 December. Following this, Harry would not be available in early January, necessitating the cancellation of sessions at the Camden on Sunday 6 and 13 January, and so another pair of double recordings on Sunday 23 and 30 December. The three stars were contracted for the GOS recording on Wednesday 24, the same day that Pat Dixon sent a memo marked 'URGENT' to Pat Hillyard, telling him that he had just received the script for The Spectre of Tintagel - inspired by Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur - that morning and had discovered that Spike had written 'a substantial part' for Valentine Dyall which the funding could not cover. As such Pat Dixon needed an extra guest fee to be sanctioned, and was aware that the same thing had happened during his absence on Drums Along the Mersey. 'I have written to Milligan to tell him that he simply must seek permission for the inclusion of extras before he commits us to them in terms of a completed script.' explained the producer, to which Jim Davidson, the Assistant Head of Variecy, noted, ‘jobs for the boys’.
Spike, Harry and Peter were contracted for the Transcription Service Special on Thursday 25 October, the day that The MacReekie Rising of '74 was broadcast, promoted in the Radio Times by a photo of guitarist Judd Proctor, pianist Dick Katz. bass player Kenneth Spang and vocalist Ray Ellington - alias the Ray Ellington Quartet. The Spectre of Tintagel was recorded with a recovered Spike on Sunday 28 October, and then Spike was the guest of Roy Plomley on Desert Island Dcs, recorded on Wednesday 31 October for a planned transmission on Monday 5 November. 'For reasons best known to myself, I should like to have Peter Eaton [ [sic]] back on the show.' ran an unexpected missive to Pat Hillyard from Spike on Thursday I November, 'Please reply as soon as possible, as I am most anxious to settle this matter.' Pat Hillyard replied simply the next day, 'It is quite out of the question that we should change the Producer of The Goon Show.'
The President's Protocol - an adventure about a Latin American revolution - was recorded on Sunday 4 November, but by the following day the Home Service was already concerned about the programme because of the situation in Hungary where a revolution against the Soviet government had erupted in late October.At the very least, Pat Dixon was informed that the title of the show would have to be changed, and the Corporation would need to listen to the edited programme before deciding if it was suitable for transmission. Meanwhile, the correspondence from Spike about Pat Dixon continued, with the Goon writing co Pat Hillyard on Monday 5, When I asked you for a change af producer, it was nat because of any personal feeling, it was purely in the interests of the show. However, as it is out of the question, os you soy- then the show must suffer os o result' Regarding the earlier request for six more shows. Spike added, 'I should be delighted lO write six more shows, provided that the producer of the show is changed for that six. Otherwise it is quire our of the question that I can write six more Goan $haws.' The final edition of Son of Fred was broadcast on Monday S November, with the series dropped after eight of its planned sixteen broadcasts. Meanwhile the international situation in Hungary forced the Queen to cancel her attendance at the Royal Command Performance - in which Harry was featured - while an extended news bulletin cancelled Spike's Desert Island Discs. It was soon clear that The President's Protocol was entirely inappropriate for broadcast, and so a popular show from the previous series, The Greenslade Story, was substituted. Retitled The Sleeping Prince, the unbroadcast episode was shelved until later in the run. The Great Bank Robbery was recorded on Sunday 11 November, and Spike was now engaged in discussions with Ronnie Waldman about a BBC television project, suggesting 'a ludicrous documentary' on musical history to feature cartoons.outdoor filming and stock film.The comedian added, 'I must be able to produce how I feel it should be produced, and to have with me a producer who will believe from the start that I'm "God"/' The script for the seafaring saga Personal Narrative, recorded on Sunday 18 November, made use of material from the final show of the third series from May 1953. Spike ad-libbed his own version of the popular song I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm during recording, and made an early appearance as a rather nervous junior officer - a character who would reappear in later shows.The following week in The Mystery of the Fake Neddie Seagoons, Sea.goon was also reminded that he was not on the commercial television channel ITV now, having featured on Sunday Night at the London Palladium recently. The following week saw Peter Sellers flying to Canada for a television appearance and then stopping off in New York before returning for the double recording. In the meantime, Ronnie Waldman agreed to Spike's requests over his TV project, 'except the possibility of the Producer believing you are "God"!' Yau Gotta Go Oww! was released by Parlophone at the very end of November 1956, and Spike plugged this release in forthcoming editions of The Goon Show.The first of the double recordings for the Goons took place on Sunday 2 December. The first show, Robin Hood, was the Christmas special made for Transcription Services and was effectively a rewrite of Ye Bandit of Sherwood Forest, the Yuletide edition from two years earlier. which in turn had drawn upon a Christmas show from 1952. Joining the cast for this recording were Valentine Dyall and also comedy actor Dennis Price. Following this came the next show for Home Service listeners, What's My Une?, a send up of the popular TV panel game which had debuted in July 195 I and in which guests had to determine a profession from a contestant's mime; the show also made reference to ATV's The 64,000 Question game show which began in May 1956 and offered a big cash prize of 64,000 shillings, with its format adapted from a popular American series, The $64,000 Question.A broadcast of Puccini's opera La Baheme from the Royal Opera House on Thursday 6 December meant that What's My Line? was aired on Wednesday, rather than Thursday. evening by the Home Service. The next double Goon recording on Sunday 9 December kicked off with Operation Christmas Duff, the GOS special recorded for the Middle East Forces and personnel at Base ·o· in Antarctica. The Home Service recording was then The Telephone, in which Peter Sellers developed a new character using the voice adopted by Kenneth Connor for the role of Sidney Mincing in Rays a Laugh. Next day, Spike's deferred edition of Desert Island Discs was aired on the Home Service.That evening, Peter and Spike featured in Off the Record.a BBC TV programme broadcast live from Riverside Studios in which they were introduced by Jack Payne and mimed to The Ying Tong Song. Back to single recordings, the previously unknown diary entries of seventeenth century naval administrator Samuel Pepys formed the basis of The Flea, recorded on Sunday 16.As the end of 1956 drew near, The Goon Show continued to be deeply appreciated by the millions of listeners who tuned into the BBC Home Service and Light Programme. Reviewing The Telephone in The Listener, critic JC Trewin commented, 'The Goons, usually hovering on the frontier [of extravagance], can be very funny, or they can blast a joke into splinters. For most of the way, I think, this one. comes off according to plan.'
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.
- ^ "The Goon Show: Volume 34". Retrieved 24 May 2019.
