The Sale of Manhattan

"The Sale of Manhattan"
The Goon Show episode
Episode: no.	Series: 6 Episode: 11
Written by	Spike Milligan
Announcer	Wallace Greenslade
Produced by	Peter Eton
Music	Orchestra: Wally Stott Geldray: Baia Ellington: I Love to Ride
Recording Number	TLO 91637
First broadcast	29 November 1955 (1955-11-29)
Running time	32:08

The Sale of Manhattan (a.k.a. The Lost Colony) is an episode from The Goon Show. It is the eleventh show in the sixth series. The show was recorded at 9pm on Sunday 20 November 1955. The recording took place at the Camden Theatre, Camden Town, London.

The first British public broadcast was on the Home Service on Tuesday 29 November 1955 at 8.30pm. It reached a peak listenership of 3.4m.

The show's first repeat was two weeks later at 7.30pm, Saturday 3 December 1955, on the Light Programme. It was listened to by 2.3 million.

Script Synopsis

Shortly after the makers of 'Lurgi', the American All Purpose leaf, offered a purse of 20,000 dollars to the first person to cross the Atlantic in a leaky canoe, two international part-time dustmen, Brigadier T. St. J. Grytpype-Thynne and Count Fred Moriarty Esq., suddenly discover the long lost deeds proving that New York belongs to Neddie Seagoon. A mysterious Count Jim Pills Esq. succeeds in persuading Neddie to cross the Atlantic in a leaky canoe to claim this fragment of the Americas as his own. The programme also explains the significance of ritual saxophone playing at Medicine Hut during the first phase of the November moon.

Music

• The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by Wally Stott
• Max Geldray plays Baia (Ary Barroso)
• The Ray Ellington Quartet plays I Love to Ride (Campbell)

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 91637 (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House). This tape no longer exists, and the version included on Compendium Vol 3 was compiled from the TGS master tape, the POTG master tape and a domestic tape recording.