The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton)

From The Goon Show Depository

"The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton)"
The Goon Show episode
Head-Shaver-RT.jpg
Episode: no.Series: 5
Episode: 4
Written bySpike Milligan
AnnouncerWallace Greenslade
Produced byPeter Eton
Music
Recording
Number
TLO 64443
First broadcast19 October 1954 (1954-10-19)
Running time31:01
Episode Order
← Previous
"The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler (of Bexhill-on-Sea)"
Next →
"The Affair of the Lone Banana"
The Goon Show series 5
List of episodes

The Phantom Head Shaver (of Brighton) is an episode of The Goon Show. It is the fourth episode of the fifth series. It was aired for the first time on the BBC Home Service on Tuesday 19 October 1954 at 8.30pm to a peak listenership of 2.3m radio listeners. It was recorded the previous Sunday, 17 October 1954 at The Paris Cinema, 12 Lower Regent Street in central London.

Repeats
Day Date Time Ratings Station Show
Friday 22 October 1954 12.25pm / 12.30pm 1.5m Home Service
Friday 13 May 1955 7.30pm 4.1m Light Programme
Friday 14 March 1975 10.30pm 0.9m Radio 4 in Encore the Goons

Story

During the hot summer of 1898 Mr and Mrs Nugent Dirt were just one of many honeymooning couples enjoying the bracing air of Brighton. The, one torrid night, like a bolt from the blue the Phantom Head Shaver struck and Mr Dirt woke up — bald! Prunella, his wife, summoned him for concealing his baldness from her during their courtship and the great QC Hairy Seagoon was briefed for the defence. But no sooner had he arrived on the scene than the Phantom struck again! This time the victim was Mr Seagoon. As the court case dragged on the Phantom struck again and again — 50 times — until Brighton became a city of terror. The military flund a cordon around the district leaving only one exit at Haywards Heath and it was there, in a lonely railwayman's hut, that Hairy Seagoon finally comes to grips with the dreaded 'Shaver'.

Music

Technical

Originally recorded on TLO 64443 (tape at 15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House).[1]

Ted Kendall's Restoration

The tape survived in TS and was used as the source of the POTG (Pick of the Goons TS re-issue). The cuts were, for the most part, preserved and restored in 1986. The remaining cuts and extra material came from a 7½ ips dub of the TLO (15 ips ¼" tape recorded at Broadcasting House) made before editing. This tape demonstrates, contrary to popular belief, at this stage at least, that the Goons were a very disciplined set of performers. There were only 3 cuts in the whole half-hour performance.[2]

References

  1. ^ Kendall, Ted (2007). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 1 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-4056-7800-1.
  2. ^ Kendall, Ted (2007). The Goon Show Compendium Vol 1 (Booklet 2). BBC Worldwide. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-4056-7800-1.