View source for Six Charlies in Search of an Author

{{italictitle}}
{{Infobox Goon Show episode
| title          =
| series         = [[The Goon Show]]
| image          = 
| image_alt      = 
| caption        = 
| series_no      = 7
| episode        = 13
| writer         = *[[Spike Milligan]]
*[[Larry Stephens]]
| based_on       = ''[[w:Six Characters in Search of an Author|Six Characters in Search of an Author]]''
| presenter      = [[Wallace Greenslade]]
| producer       = [[Pat Dixon]]
| music          = *Orchestra: [[Wally Stott]]
*Geldray: ''[[w:When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)|When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)]]''
*Ellington: ''[[w:From the Bottom of My Heart (Chuck Willis song)|From the Bottom of My Heart]]''
| production     = [[The Goon Show recording numbers#TLO|TLO]] 19238
| recording_date = {{Start date|1956|12|23|df=y}}
| airdate        = {{Start date|1956|12|26|df=y}}
| length         = {{duration|m=30|s=42}}
| guests         = 
| prev           = [[Operation Christmas Duff]]
| next           = [[Emperor of the Universe]]
| season_article = [[The Goon Show series 7]]
| episode_list   = 
| CD_volume      = [[The Goon Show CDs|—]]
| Compendium     = [[The Goon Show Compendiums#Vol5|5]]
}}
"'''Six Charlies in Search of An Author'''" is an episode of the British radio comedy, ''[[The Goon Show]]''.  It was thirteenth episode of the seventh series.

The title is a parody of the play ''[[w:Six Characters in Search of an Author|Six Characters in Search of an Author]]'', by [[w:Luigi Pirandello|Luigi Pirandello]].  While the plot revolves around the common scenario of [[Neddie Seagoon]] being blackmailed by [[Hercules Grytpype-Thynne]] and [[Count Jim Moriarty]]. The characters refer to places and times as chapters or pages, the author appears in the story and the characters themselves can edit the plot.

==Show creation==
A pre-recording session took place at The Camden Theatre at 1pm on Sunday {{Date|1956-12-23}} (DLO 19237/A). The recording for transmission was created at 9pm on the same Sunday {{Date|1956-12-23}}, at [[w:KOKO (music venue)|The Camden Theatre]], Camden Town, London.

The first [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] broadcast was on the following Wednesday at 8.30pm on {{Date|1956-12-26}}, its ratings were 2.3 million.

The show was repeated:
*Monday 8pm, {{Date|1956-12-31}}, on the [[BBC Light Programme|Light Programme]] to 3.4 million listeners.
*Thursday 8.30pm, {{Date|1957-04-25}} on the [[BBC Home Service|Home Service]] to 1.1 million listeners.
*Monday 11pm, {{Date|1992-11-09}} on the [[BBC Radio 4|Radio 4]].

==Transcription Service Synopsis==
Have you read Jim Spriggs' immortal book, Six Charlies in Search of an Author? It is doubtful indeed whether Jim Spriggs himself has read it for the whole epic is written by the characters themselves. As chapter after chapter of this gripping story unfolds, it seems quite clear that the 'Charlies' will never find their author. In the last page, however, Jim Spriggs regains control of his characters and, as with any good book, there is a happy ending.

==Plot==
The plot is that of a book being written by [[The Goon Show cast members and characters#Spriggs|Adolphus "Jim" Spriggs]]. Grytpype-Thynne blackmails Neddie with a  'compromising set of [[w:X-ray|X-ray]] photographs'. Neddie decides to pawn himself at [[Henry Crun]]'s [[w:Pawnbroker|pawnshop]] to pay for the photograph; however, he cannot leave the pawnshop safe until redeemed.

Neddie uses the ten pounds to redeem himself, but then has nothing to pay off his blackmailers.  He discovers that [[Major Bloodnok]] has the photographs in a safe.  Bloodnok does not have the combination. At this point, the characters begin to alter the book with a [[w:typewriter|typewriter]], and everything they write comes true. Neddie forces Bloodnok to work by describing him working. Bloodnok retaliates by doing the same. [[Bluebottle]] is written in by the author to help them. He has some "silent explosive".

Neddie and Bloodnok are surprised by [[Count Jim Moriarty|Moriarty]] and [[Hercules Grytpype-Thynne|Grytpype-Thynne]] by holding them at gunpoint, The criminal pair had played a recording of an explosion "''written in without the author's knowledge''".  Neddie disarms Moriarty by writing in an empty gun, but Grytpype-Thynne writes in an escape down the [[w:Amazon River|Amazon]] with the photographs. Jim Spriggs, the author, appears and demands that they stop interfering with his book. Bloodnok sends him away by writing "…the author turned and left the room!"

Bluebottle, playing with the typewriter, imagines an attack by "Black Claw and his Chinese pirates", ruining their pursuit of the villains.  Reaching the banks of the river, they encounter [[Henry Crun and Minnie Bannister|Henry Crun]], who tells them "Someone gave [[Minnie Bannister|Min]] a typewriter and here I am!"  Appealing to the author, they get a happy ending written for them as Neddie marries his fiancée Gladys Minkwater, but Bluebottle writes that Gladys deserts Neddie for him.

==Unscripted moments==
When Neddie encounters Grytpype-Thynne for the first time, he asks the "bone specialist", "What do you want?"

:Grytpype-Thynne  : "Bones."
:Neddie   : [gulps] "I haven't got any."
:Grytpype-Thynne  : "Nonsense, you fall ''down'' without them."
:Neddie   : "You'd fall down without ''them''!"
:Grytpype-Thynne  : "''You'd'' fall down without them!"
:Sellers (giggling) : "Take your choice!" (both giggle)

==Music==
*The BBC Radio Orchestra was conducted by [[Wally Stott]]
*[[Max Geldray]] plays ''[[w:When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)|When the Red, Red Robin (Comes Bob, Bob, Bobbin' Along)]]'' {{small|([[w:Harry M. Woods|Harry Woods]])}}
*[[Ray Ellington|The Ray Ellington Quartet]] plays ''[[w:From the Bottom of My Heart (Chuck Willis song)|From the Bottom of My Heart]]'' {{small|([[w:Chuck Willis|Chuck Willis]])}}

==Technical==
Originally recorded on [[The Goon Show recording numbers#TLO|TLO 19238]] (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at [[w:Broadcasting House|Broadcasting House]]).

The TLO 19238 master tape survived until 1970, when it was erased in the [[BBC Transcription Services|TS]] purge, and the version of the show finally included on [[The Goon Show Compendiums#Vol12|The Goon Show Compendium Vol 12]] was compiled from a copy of a commercial master tape and the [[Original Issues - The Goon Show|TGS]] disc.<ref>{{Cite AV media notes |title=[[The Goon Show Compendiums#Vol12|The Goon Show Compendium Vol 12]] |first=Ted |last=Kendall | author-link=Ted Kendall |date=2018 |page=18|type=Booklet 2 |publisher=BBC Worldwide|ISBN=978-1-7852-9449-5}}</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Goons|state=collapsed}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Six Charlies in Search of an Author}}
[[Category:The Goon Show episodes]]
[[Category:Adaptations of works by Luigi Pirandello]]
[[Category:Ted Kendall restored Goon Show episodes]]
[[Category:Goon Shows produced by Pat Dixon]]
[[Category:Goon Shows co-written by Larry Stephens]]
[[Category:Goon Shows announced by Wallace Greenslade]]