The Goon Show series 4
Good evening, listeners. Workers' Playtime tonight comes to you from a Head and Foot Mangling factory at Bill Gates. Among the artists are those three sons of fun, fresh from their triumphant Palladium failure, Sellers, Secombe and Milligan in… The Goon Show!
The fourth series starts
In January 1954, recording on the fourth series of The Goon Show continued as before with tapings in Studio I of the Aeolian Hall from 9pm to 9.45pm on Sundays. Earlier the same day, Harry Secombe was making his regular appearances in Educating Archie, the BBC Light Programme built around ventriloquist Peter Brough and his schoolboy dummy Archie Andrews which was produced by Roy Speer and written by Spike Milligan's friend Eric Sykes.
In the shows being recorded at 4pm at the Paris Theatre, Harry's main role was as the latest of Archie's hopeless tutors, Dr Harold Secombe. A series of gags about Educating Archie appeared at the start of the script to be recorded on Sunday 10 January but were cut prior to transmission. The script by Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens was a pastiche of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 Gothic novella Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and was one of the last episodes to showcase Harry as the lead under the name of 'Fearless Harry Secombe'. The fictional Secombe was still attended to by his factotum Frothpump (Peter Sellers imitating the actor George Sanders) and the story featured other familiar figures to the show such as the elderly Henry Crun and his equally ancient lady friend Miss Minnie Bannister, the ridiculously stupid Eccles (who now often said he was 'havin' a good time), the idiotic northerner Bass (a character who was appearing less frequently), the dubious Bloodnok (here in the role of a police commissioner), the pathetic youth Bluebottle (who was now exploiting catchphrases like ‘I heard you call me, my Captain’, ‘You rotten swine’ and talked of being ‘deaded’). and the ineffectual dimwit Fred Bogg.
Harmonica player Max Geldray - who had the first music spot which divided up the three act format of The Goon Show – was continuing to broadcast elsewhere, featuring on Midday Music-Hall from the Home Service on Monday 11 January. Concurrent with the ongoing series, Harry Secombe was appearing in the pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk at the Dudley Hippodrome. Harry chatted to the Midland Home Service magazine programme What Goes On about his stay in the region on Wednesday 13 and this was aired on Friday 15, a few hours before the broadcast of The Goon Show recorded the previous weekend. The Goons were now placed in a slightly later slot at 9.45pm rather than 9.30pm to allow for a new current affairs show, At Home and Abroad, to be aired before it; as with other recent editions. the Goons were not heard in Northern Ireland where an orchestral music show was scheduled in their place.As usual the Home Service attracted just under two million listeners on the Friday evening, with around a million catching the 8.45am repeat the next morning in the new slot created since the Light Programme's decision to drop the series from December 1953. Meanwhile, Peter Sellers continued to feature in the Home Service comedy series Ray's A Laugh playing numerous supporting characters for the star Ted Ray; these shows aired live from the Paris Theatre on Thursday evenings with a Light Programme repeat on the Friday evening. Peter could also be heard on record on the edition of the Home Service's Variety Matinee on Saturday afternoon.
Larry gone, Spike's late
In early November 1953, Larry Stephens had announced that he would stop being a writer on The Goon Show when the Light Programme stopped running repeats in December; the lack of a rerun meant that his fee would drop. in addition to which he had been going through a bad patch in his working relationship with Spike and had been drinking heavily. Producer Peter Eton had been deeply concerned, discussing with his superior, Head of Variety Pat Hillyard, if Spike was up to writing a weekly show alone. While Larry's name still appeared on some of the paperwork for the next script to be recorded on Sunday 17 January, it was subsequently removed and the straight-through narrative was entirely the work of Spike. The role of Harry Secombe as the hero was now being restructured for Neddie Seagoon as the Seagoon family increasingly took centre-stage in the series' bizarre adventures.
The artistes behind both the show's musical spots - Max Geldray and the Ray Ellington Quartet - featured in the edition of the Light Programme's On the Beat broadcast on Tuesday 19 January. A couple of days later, there was concern about Spike's late delivery of scripts, with Peter Eton writing to Dorothy L Ross of BBC Copyright that ‘the deadline for delivery of “Goon” scripts to my office is Wednesday evening, no later than 5.30 […] I suggest you say that if, in future, the entire script does not reoch my office by this time, it will not be accepted’. With Larry having dropped out, Spike was now attempting to write new scripts on alternate weeks. As such, the show recorded on Sunday 24 January was assembled from two earlier editions. The first act was the documentary-style collection of gags entitled The History of Communications which had first appeared in the seventh edition of Crazy People in 1951, while the remainder was the narrative adventure piece The Siege of Khartoum which had occupied the final two acts of the eighteenth show in the third series in 1953. Major Bloodnok's rematch with the Mardi [sic] in Sudan of 1884 was now embellished by ad-libs from Peter Sellers about Hollywood film star Marilyn Monroe and also impromptu impersonations of Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
Harry Secombe was offered a further six editions of Educating Archie through to mid-March on Monday 25 January, and Peter Sellers featured on the Home Service's Workers' Playtime from St Giles Hospital in Camberwell on Tuesday 26. The transmission of the hastily assembled script of old Goon items was publicised in the Radio Times by a photograph of Max Geldray alongside the Friday night listings.
Again, gags about Educating Archie were removed from the start of Spike's next new script - a crime pastiche about the exploits of the Kippered Herring Gang pursued by ace detective Hercules Seagoon - before recording on Sunday 31 January. Seagoon made reference to 'the Big Five', ministers representing China, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States, while announcer Wallace 'Bill' Greenslade mentioned Val Parnell, the manager of the London Palladium. Bill also noted that the Goons were trying to win a National Radio Award, the ceremony sponsored by the Daily Mail being held that night at the Scala Theatre and broadcast on the Light Programme. (As it turned out, the 'Most Entertaining Programme' award was shared between the comedy show Take It From Here and the rural soap The Archers.) For the first of several occasions, the villain of the piece was ultimately unmasked as Bluebottle.
Old scripts are an issue
Sunday 7 February saw another hastily assembled script of old items being recorded, comprising an opening 'documentary' sketch from the second show of the 1952 series and then a pair of adventure items which had featured in the fifth edition of the third series; some of the topical references were now even more dated, such as the material about BBC radio hero Dick Barton - Special Agent which had gone off-air in 1951. The enforced use of old scripts was becoming an issue, and on Tuesday 9, Dorothy Ross indicated that as far as BBC Copyright was concerned, Larry Stephens had broken the terms of his contract and his agent at Kavanagh Productions Ltd - which also represented Spike Milligan and Eric Sykes - needed to be informed.
Peter Sellers featured in Show Band Show on the London Light Programme on Monday 8 February and could be heard again on Friday 12 on Midday Music-Hall. The following week's instalment of The Goon Show was promoted in the Radio Times by a short item in the Both Sides of the Microphone section entitled Greenslade and the Goons, in which a short biography of the show's announcer was given, along with comments about the 'flying saucer' hoax which The Goon Show had involved him in a few months earlier.
Spike's new script for the recording on Sunday 14 February - The Case of the Vanishing Room - was another contemporary crime spoof featuring the North Country character of Inspector Albert Seagoon. This show was scheduled in its new slot of 8.30pm on Monday - the day after recording- as a replacement for the comedic discussion We Beg to Differ while Peter Jones' new vehicle Talk About Jones took over on Fridays. The Case of the Vanishing Room was not taken by all the regions on Monday 15; Scotland had the discussion In the Country while the Midlands had boxing coverage and Northern Ireland aired a folk song programme. The networked Saturday morning repeat continued as before.
Max Geldray spent the week from Monday 15 February on the bill of the Chiswick Empire. That Sunday, Spike had provided another new script which told the tale of the Great Ink Drought of 1902, in which the financial wizard Sir Bernard 'Midas' Seagoon was the main character. This show attracted a considerable audience of three million when aired on Monday 22 to the whole Home Service.
Back in November 1953, Spike and Eric had approached producer Pat Dixon suggesting that they could write six to eight non-audience comedy shows for broadcast in Autumn 1954, a notion which the Assistant Head of Variety, CF Meehan, had agreed to. Pat Hillyard was informed by his assistant on Thursday 25 February that according to Peter Eton the senior announcer John Snagge had agreed that the Home Service would pay for a half-hour non-audience Goons programme to be recorded at the end of the current series. ‘I gather this request for a non-audience trial was made to Snagge by Milligan - should it not have been passed through you, the usual channel for such requests?’ asked CF Meehan.
Also on Thursday 25, Harry was issued with a contract for two further editions of The Goon Show to be recorded on Sunday 29 March and Sunday 4 April, with an option on two more beyond that; similar contracts were issued to the rest of the cast the next day. Spike's singing Webster Smogpule character - a spoof of vocalist Webster Booth - made a return appearance in his next script, The Greatest Mountain in the World, recorded on Sunday 28 February. The script saw an early variant of the nonsense phrase 'Ying Tong Tiddle I Po' inspired by the name of Spike's old army pal Harry Edgington which would become closely associated with the Goons in the coming years. The adventure itself was another tale based around the conquest of Mount Everest by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay.
A man inspired
Peter Eton explained the situation behind the non-audience show discussion between Spike Milligan and John Snagge in a memo dated Monday 1 February. At an informal meeting between the pair a while earlier at Broadcasting House (with Eton present}, the senior announcer had congratulated Spike on The Goon Show being a success for the Home Service. Spike then explained that he wanted to do a non-audience show, which John indicated the Home Service would be sure to carry. Peter Eton reported that this had thrilled Spike ‘because for the first time in his writing career he has had personal contact with and encouragement from the high-ups in broadcasting […] As a result of this little social, Milligan has turned in two of the best scripts he has ever written and is now writing like a man inspired.’
It had now been decided to extend The Goon Show by a further two weeks with recordings on Sundays 11 and 18 April; Harry Secombe was offered a contract on Monday 1 February, with similar offers to the others on Thursday 4. The Home Service was now also planning ahead and requested a new series to debut at the end of September. The non-audience show was also given the go-ahead to be recorded and broadcast over the summer break.
Max Geldray guested on the Home Service's Variety Playhouse on Saturday 6 March and joined his colleagues for The Goon Show on Sunday 7. This new script about the theft of mustard and cress from British Rail sandwiches featured references to Variety Playhouse host Vic Oliver; the television game show promoter Maurice Winnick; bandleader Billy Cotton of The Billy Cotton Band Show; Marilyn Monroe's new husband, baseball whizz Joe DiMaggio: and American movie star Alan Ladd … while the closing continuity announcements started to get increasingly silly from this point. In addition to the new scripts for the series, Spike was asked to provide an additional three-minute script featuring the Goons which could feature in a special broadcast co celebrate the hundredth boat race between Oxford and Cambridge, scheduled for Friday 2 April.
Ellington, the hero
On the night of Friday 12 March, Ray Ellington was on hand to give first aid to David Ormsby-Gore, the Tory MP for Oswestry, when his car overturned near Fenny Stratford in Buckinghamshire (as reported in the press the following day). That Sunday, the cast recorded one of Spike's increasingly sophisticated scripts, an espionage thriller about a Russian time machine. Bluebottle started to bemoan that his pause for audience applause was met with ‘not a sausage’, Major Bloodnok's first name was now redefined as Dennis (given in the script as 'D Bloodnok'}, there were references to American Senator Joseph McCarthy (then investigating ‘Un-American Activities’ in the US Army), popular entertainer Charlie Chester, the German film star Marlene Dietrich and TV cookery expert Philip Harben, host of The Man in the Kitchen. The show signed off a recap in the style of the Light Programme soap Mrs Dale's Diary.
A BBC Audience Research Report on The Greatest Mountain in the World was assembled on Tuesday 16 March and summarised the feelings of 412 of the Listening Panel; this noted that 'the majority of the listeners in this sample are still "havin' a good time" with the Goons'. Eccles ('that loveable cretin was still the most popular character along with Bluebottle, and the confused cross-talk of Crun and Miss Bannister was highlighted as 'the height of "Goonery"'. The sound effects were also applauded, with some listeners fooled by the false start to the programme and a few not enjoying the current format ‘preferring separate sketches’. The character of Moriarty, Spike's French criminal, had also been missed in recent editions. While a minority could not grasp the humour, the general verdict was positive and confirmed that the series was going from strength to strength.
Around now, Harry Secombe took on the role of Barizel, an arts student in the film drama Trilby and Svengali which was shooting at Nettlefold Studios in Walton-on-Thames; he had been approached by the movie's author/director Noel Langley. Peter, Harry and Spike were booked to take part in The Hundredth Boat Race from the Home Service on Friday 19 March. Peter was also about to make another film, a comedy about a science-fiction movie made at an army camp called Orders are Orders; Peter was to play Private Goffin in the piece which was to be shot at Beaconsfield Studios.
A new venue
On Sunday 21 March, Mr Ros and Mr Ray - featuring Ray Ellington - came off the Light Programme at the end of its run and in the evening the Goons recorded at a new venue - the Camden Theatre on Camden High Street. Opened in December 1900, the former West End theatre and cinema had been used for broadcasting by the BBC from 1945. The show recorded that evening was solely written by Larry Stephens and was a western entitled Drain, which pastiched the movie Shane that had opened in London in September 1953. Peter Sellers played Wild Bill Moretoncock in the manner of comedy performer Robert Moreton (a former Goon associate), while Spike adopted the manner of American movie legend WC Fields as the Judge and references were made to BBC TV continuity announcer Sylvia Peters.
Drain seemed to worry the BBC and the following morning there were indications that the recording - with the exception of the music spots - would be shelved. The numbers by Max and Ray were to be transplanted into the existing recording of the second show of the series originally aired on Friday 9 October 1953, or alternatively that show could simply be repeated without edits. Ultimately, the Larry Stephens script aired as scheduled on Monday 22, going out earlier than usual at 7.30pm to make way for a live London Philharmonic Orchestra concert; the same day, Harry Secombe resumed his variety appearances.
As a performer, Spike was now offered a chance to join the cast of Paradise Street, a new Light Programme series developed for Max Bygraves and written by Eric Sykes. He was offered a contract to record a pilot on Sunday 4 April by producer Roy Speer on Wednesday 24 March, and the following day was booked for four more shows to be taped weekly from Sunday 18 April to air from Tuesday 27 April.
The edition of The Goon Show recorded at the earlier time of 7pm on Sunday 28 March was another Everest-inspired tale. It included early mentions of the strange product Footo (the Wonder Boot Exploder) as well as David Niven in the romantic comedy film The Moon is Blue, which had opened in January. Minnie Bannister was now an old flame of Dennis Bloodnok's ('the darling of Ropers Light Horse). Ray Ellington and his Quartet would be unavailable for the last three recordings of the year, so they also taped a performance of Any Old Iron to be edited into the following week's show. The mountain adventure aired back in the usual 8.30pm slot on Monday 29 March. However, the Home Service had now dropped the Saturday morning repeat and replaced The Goon Show with various music programmes. Max Geldray opened at the Cardiff New Theatre on Monday 29 March, and on Wednesday 31 Peter Sellers recorded Me and My Shadows, a Light Programme series showcasing impressionists, at the Aeolian.
It's a boy!
Educating Archie concluded its broadcast for the season on Thursday 1 April. Anne Sellers gave birth to the couple's first son, Michael, on Friday 2 April… the same day that Peter joined Harry and Spike at the Langham for the Goons' live contribution to The Hundredth Boat Race. The main script, written by producer John Bridges, followed the towpath exploits of Jimmy Edwards and Dick Bentley (the stars of Take it From Here) as they encountered various guests… all of whom were crammed into a cartoon publicising the programme in the Radio Times (Harry wore a top hat, Peter sported a checked cap and Spike was depicted in diving goggles). While the Welsh, West and Scottish Home Services had their own shows, the rest of the network heard the broadcast from 7.45pm to 8.30pm. Jimmy Edwards bumped into his old friend Major Bloodnock [sic] who was with his friends Captain the Lord Hairy Seagoon and Eccles (who had found Dick Bentley's empty wallet); the trio had come to see the Grand National and believed that the horses were still running despite the course being flooded…
A tale of the hunt for strange acts for Bogg and Crun's circus was recorded at the Camden on Sunday 4 April, complete with references to comedian Arthur English (a fellow guest in The Hundredth Boat Race) and the Home Service's music programme Henry Hall's Guest Night. The show aired on Monday 5, and on Tuesday 6 Peter Sellers took on the many roles of characters at a gramophone record shop on the Home Service's Sellers at Your Service programme. Spike had also recorded the trial episode of Paradise Street on Sunday 4 but it had been decided not to air this, with regular tapings starting at the Paris Cinema on Sunday 18 and transmitted from Tuesday 20. Meanwhile, the Ray Ellington Quartet recorded two more musical inserts to complete the series on Thursday 8 April, and Peter's edition of Me and My Shadows aired on the evening of Friday 9 April.
Twice nightly with Bentine
The penultimate recording of The Goon Show's current series found the team back at the Playhouse Theatre on Northumberland Avenue on Sunday 11 April. Spike's crime story saw the smuggler 'Fingers' Secombe involved in a bank robbery along with Moriarty and also the 'Sanders' character (who would soon become Grytpype-Thynne, Moriarty's usual cohort). The Light Programme sitcom Life With the Lyons was mocked, and the team's frustration about being restricted to the Home Service (with its smaller audience than the Light Programme) was also made clear in dialogue from 'Sanders'. During the following week, it was announced that The Goon Show was to be staged twice nightly at the Odeon in Southend from the first week of May, with the bill including Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers alongside their former Goon colleague Michael Bentine.
Sunday 18 April saw Spike recording Paradise Street at the Paris at 3.45pm and then joining the cast of The Goon Show at the Playhouse for the 9pm taping of The Siege of Fort Knight. With Max Geldray performing the usual playout number of Crazy Rhythm in his spot for this show, the series concluded with the orchestra's rendition of Walter Donaldson's You're Driving Me Crazy after the closing signature tune. The Goon Show concluded its successful run on Easter Monday (apart from Northern Ireland), with the 8.30pm slot then taken by the nostalgic variety show Follow On.
From Monday 19 April, Harry Secombe was appearing at the Hackney Empire. Paradise Street began broadcasting on Tuesday 20 April with Spike recording a new edition every Sunday afternoon. Max guested on the Light Programme's Variety Fanfare on Thursday 29 April and the following week was on the bill at the Forum Cinema in Kentish Town, while from Monday 3 May audiences at the Southend Odeon could see Harry, Peter and Michael live on Stage. Delayed repeats of the last four editions of The Goon Show were also scheduled by the Home Service at 1.10pm on Mondays from 3 May as a replacement for reruns of the nostalgia show These Radio Times.
By now, Spike and Eric - who shared an office - were collaborating on an experimental cross-over between their respective series: The Goon Show and Educating Archie (both of which featured Harry Secombe). This was planned as a special to be recorded while both shows were off-air over the summer and would use the Goon trio plus Hattie Jacques from Peter Brough's supporting cast in a strange tale which would see Archie Andrews encountering various Goon characters. Hattie also appeared alongside Harry on the musical story Brass for Brass which had been written by his agent and former Goons script editor, James Grafton; this one-off aired on BBC TV on Monday 10 May. Meanwhile, Spike dropped out of Paradise Street at short notice and did not attend the recording on Sunday 9 May.
While the Goons were off the air, Peter Eton produced a second series of the Jack Warner/ Kathleen Harrison sitcom Meet the Huggetts which he had launched in July 1953; this returned to the Light Programme on Thursday 13 May and was scheduled to run to the end of August, shortly before the new run of The Goon Show. Thursday 13 also saw the cast being offered contracts to record the special Archie in Goonland at the Playhouse Theatre on Sunday 16 May; this would be helmed by Educating Archie producer Roy Speer. Spike again dropped out of Paradise Street and for the recording at 3.45pm on Sunday 16 May was deputised by Peter Sellers. He and Peter were then joined by Harry, Peter Brough, Hattie Jacques and Wallace Greenslade at the Playhouse for the 8pm taping of Archie in Goonland. The script featured Harry in his usual role of Dr Harold Secombe and Hattie as Miss Dinglebody In a tale in which Peter and Archie spotted a mouse in their home and called in a rodent exterminator (Peter Sellers as radio adventurer Dick Barton). Learning that London was being undermined by the burrowing rodents. Archie - the smallest - was sent down the mouse hole to locate Mouse Headquarters… encountering Bloodnock [sic], his batman Eccles, mouse catcher Bluebottle and pied piper saxophone player Mr Crun with Minnie. In keeping with Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. this was supposedly a dream of Archie's… until mice did attack Big Ben when he woke up.
A Goon Wants to be Serious
Harry joined the bill at the Leeds Empire from Monday 17, and on Tuesday 18, Peter Sellers was formally booked as Spike's replacement on Paradise Street for shows recorded through to Sunday 11 July, while the Ray Ellington Quartet's summer season with vocalist Marion Ryan kicked off at the Spa Ballroom in Torquay. The delayed repeats of The Goon Show on the Home Service concluded with The Siege at Fort Knight [sic] on Monday 24, after which the slot was given over to the independent adventure series The Scarlet Pimpernel. Monday 24 also saw Peter guesting on the Light Programme's Show Band Show and a piece about Harry in the Daily Mirror; entitled A Goon Wants To Be Serious. This found Harry telling Clifford Davis ‘I can't be a goon for ever. That's why I'm branching out into films and plays. I was delighted to have a straight part in the TV play Brass for Brass’. His role in the film now titled Trilby (and later to be released as Svengali) was also noted.
Peter was on the air again on Tuesday 25 May broadcasting from Brighton in Workers' Playtime and on Saturday 29 recorded an edition of Home and Away for the Home Service. while the same day Harry featured in BBC TV's Variety Parade. On Sunday 30, Harry featured alongside the Goons' old cohort Alfred Marks on The Forces Show on the Light Programme, and the next day was also heard on Show Band Show. From Monday 31, Peter and Max could be seen on the same bill as Michael Bentine at the Peterborough Embassy, part of a tour planned by the Moss Empire Group for various members of the Goons. Meanwhile, the Ray Ellington Quartet continued their Mecca Dancing Summer Tour at the Ilford Palais.
On Thursday 3 June, Roy Speer suggested a new vehicle for Harry to Pat Hillyard; this show would be along the lines of the Frankie Howerd Goes East series which he and Eric Sykes had worked on in 1952, where the comedian had toured Mediterranean Services RAF bases. The notion was that Harry could do the same in the Middle East and Germany in early 1955 with co-operation from the War Office. Scheduled for broadcast at 9.45pm on Friday 11 June, Archie in Goonland was promoted in the Radio Times by the short article Archie Meets the Goons, which explained how the two series would be 'merged'; the programme billing was accompanied by a photo of Archie with the Goons and the caption ‘Spot the Dummy’. Sunday 6 June found Harry recording a guest appearance on Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise's Light Programme show You're Only Young Once in Manchester. The following week, Max was at the Brixton Empress with Peter at the Doncaster Gaumont; Peter's edition of Home and Away aired on the Tuesday evening, with Harry heard on You're Only Young Once on Thursday.
Immediate payment!
Peter Eton was now attempting to arrange the new series of The Goon Show. On Thursday 10 June, he wrote to Spike and informed him that from now on any script which he submitted would be paid for immediately. The following day, the producer informed his superiors that The Goon Show would have to continue being recorded on Sundays due to the availability of Harry Secombe who already had variety bookings from September to December and was then committed to a pantomime in Coventry. Peter Eton noted that Harry was the most popular of the core trio, adding that Ray and Max also had bookings but were less essential. While he was unable co contact Peter Sellers - who was out on tour - he was sure that Spike would be the only artiste free for a weekday recording.
Archie in Goonland was broadcast to a Home Service audience of just over a million at 9.45pm on Friday 11 June; it was then repeated to a larger audience of over three million at 7.30pm the following Thursday. During the week, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine appeared at the Finsbury Park Empire and Peter recorded another appearance at short notice on Home and Away on Friday 18. Harry could then be heard on Show Band Show on Monday 21.
Thursday 23 June saw the Home Service asking if the non-audience Goon special could be made available for transmission on Monday 2 August. The same day an Audience Research Report was made available, delivering the views of 313 listeners on the recent special. The appreciation index of 61 was below the averages for both The Goon Show (66) and Educating Archie (63) with the general feeling that it had ‘an overwhelmingly Goonish flavour’. Keen devotees of Archie Andrews felt that he ‘restrained the Goons from perpetrating some of their weirdest extravagances’ while a Civil Servant lamented: ‘Archie was murdered by the cast of radio's worst programme.’ However, Goon fans enjoyed the show ‘even when they regarded Educating Archie with distaste.’ However, a sizeable group felt that the Goons were not at their best and believed that the broadcast was ‘dreadfully marred by the ventriloquist’. The conclusion was that ‘there were not infrequent complaints […] that the mixture was not so successful as either of the component parts.’ That week's issue of the Radio Times included a missive from Robert EC Tedd of Ansty, Leicester in Letters from Listeners, writing: ‘my hope [is] that this production will not be the forerunner of a new series [as} the two groups of characters depicted in the original programmes are completely incompatible.’ The correspondent preferred the ‘Goons pursuing their adventures with their characteristic disregard of all the laws of nature’ as opposed to being restricted by Mr Andrews' ‘more logical and mundane life.’
Saturday 26 June saw Harry appearing on BBC TV's Three's a Crowd while Max could be heard again on Variety Playhouse prior to spending a week at the Glasgow Empire. Peter meanwhile was appearing at the Bradford Alhambra and on Tuesday 29 could be heard on Home and Away. The same day, he was offered a contract for six editions of a new Light Programme seaside musical sitcom called Happy Holiday which was to be recorded at the Garrick Theatre on Sundays from 11 July for broadcasting the following Wednesday. The show, co-written by Jimmy Grafton, was conceived as a vehicle for comedy actor Dennis Price and produced by Dennis Main Wilson, the original producer of The Goon Show, and Peter was to play the Mayor of Littleton-on-Sea. There was also consideration given to expanding the one-off Sellers at Your Service as a Home Service series for Saturday evenings. but this was quickly abandoned as Pat Hillyard was concerned about the performer's over-use. Meanwhile, thirteen new editions of The Goon Show were booked by the Home Service with an option on a further thirteen beyond this on Thursday 1 July; the series would air at 8.30pm on Tuesdays.
Programme notes, episode notes and cast biographies researched and written by Andrew Pixley
The shows
Cast: Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, with Max Geldray and The Ray Ellington Quartet, conducted by Wally Stott.
Announcers: Andrew Timothy (Episodes 1–5) and Wallace Greenslade (Episodes 6–30, plus specials)
Episodes 1–20 were broadcast on Fridays; episodes 21–30 on Mondays.[1]
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.
Note
- ^ Booklet 2 that comes with Compendium 14 states that the song "It Had to Be You" is written by "John Lindsay". This is incorrect, as the song is written by the team of Isham Jones and Gus Kahn[2]
References
- ^ Wilmut & Grafton 1981, p. 120.
- ^ "It Had to Be You (song)". Retrieved 2022-10-09.
