Show 1
| "Show 1" | |
|---|---|
| The Goon Show episode | |
| Episode: no. | Series: 1 Episode: 1 |
| Written by | Spike Milligan |
| Announcer | Andrew Timothy |
| Produced by | Dennis Main Wilson |
| Music |
|
| Recording Number | SLO 90260 |
| First broadcast | 28 May 1951 |
Recording: Sunday 27 May 1951, 5.30pm, Aeolian I. SLO 90260. First Home Service Broadcast: Monday 28 May 1951, 6.45pm [London only]. Ratings: 0.7 million. AI: 54. Sketches: Jones explains how he got this series on radio; The Story of the BRM with racing driver Captain Pureheart; Dick Barton – Special Agent trapped in a gas-filled sewer; The Quest for Tutankhamen! with Sir Harold Porridge and Harold Vest; 1951: The Festival of Britain! saluting Britain. Music: The Stargazers perform Let Yourself Go (Irving Berlin); The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Keep off the Grass (Don Raye/Gene de Paul); Max Geldray plays I Can’t Give You Anything but Love (Jimmy McHugh); The Stargazers perform Honey, I Love You But (Conrad).
The first series shows didn't have episode names per se, but for ease of reference using the show number is to differentiate them.
At this point in time the show was called Crazy People.
Show 1 is an episode from The Goon Show (Crazy People). It is the first show in the first series. The show was recorded at 5.30pm on Sunday 27 May 1951 The recording took place at Aeolian I, 135–137 New Bond Street, London.
The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Monday 28 May 1951 at 6.45pm (in London only). It reached a peak listenership of 0.7m. The show did not have a repeat schedule.
Sketches
- Handsome Harry Secombe (pursues Lo Hing Ding): Handsome Harry is tasked to help Inspector Thud find a kidnapper.
- Triumphs of Engineering: Captain Pureheart builds the Suez Canal but then explains how he doesn't want his canal filled with water.
- Broadcasting in 1999: The crew look into the future to see what has happened to various popular shows.
- Major Bloodnok's Quest for the Abominable Snowman: The Major gets out of jail and gets to take charge of the new weather stations on Mount Everest.
Music
- Harry Secombe sings Longing for You.
- The Stargazers sing I Never Was Loved by Anyone Else
- Max Geldray plays Three Little Words (Isham Jones (music) / Gus Khan (lyrics))
- The Ray Ellington Quartet plays Boum! (Isham Jones (music) / Gus Khan (lyrics))
Technical
Originally recorded on SLO 1768 (33⅓ rpm, coarse-groove 16" disk recorded at Broadcasting House).
One of two shows copied, in the 1970s, from paper tape held by Spike Milligan. This is obviously recorded through a microphone, as a woman's voice can be heard protesting that she has "pressed the button". This may have been Anne Hayes, then Mrs Sellers, as it was known that Sellers' possessed a Soundmirror tape recorder that used paper tape. Buzzy hum and distortion are rife here… [1]
References
- ^ Kendall, Ted (2017). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 13 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 27. ISBN 9781785298776.
