CHAMPAGNE sparkling translucently. Cigar smoke mingling with a merry babble of conversation. Ripples of laughter.

Three key characters from Crossroads were relaxing over lunch—Noele Gordon, elegant and sophisticated; polished Brian Kent, and enchanting Jane Rossington.

The meal was over and I talked to them about Crossroads, a vital, ambitious series that looks like becoming as much a part of British television life as Coronation Street.

Crossroads … a highly organised routine by a 100-strong production team and a seven-day week for actors to transmit a daily serial.

Crossroads … set around the lives of two sisters, Meg Richardson, who runs a motel, and Kitty Jarvis, proprietress of a general store. And also the human, compelling stories of travellers who stop at Crossroads Motel, deep in the Midlands, where invariably their lives entangled with those of the main regular characters.

Noele Gordon, who plays Meg Richardson, widowed owner of the motel. After eight years and more than 2,000 shows for ITV, you’d think Noele would be blasé about any new series.

But she told me: “Life is dreadfully hectic again now, but I love it. I try to make Meg Richardson forthright and honest. But with a sense of humour. I try to imagine how I would feel if I were a visitor to the Crossroads motel. I know how I would like to be treated.”

In the series, Meg has been widowed for three years. Naturally, she leans on her lively daughter, Jill, who nurses ideas about heading for London to work on a magazine.

The rich aroma of black coffee wafted across the restaurant as 21-year-old Jane Rossington, the Sutton Coldfield girl who plays Jill, motel receptionist and secretary, told me: “You might say I am accustomed to working in a serial. I had a spell in Emergency—Ward 10.

“But it’s very different working in a five days a week programme. Hard work. Very hard. But it’s lovely to be working so near home.”

Beryl Johnstone, who plays Kitty Jarvis, Meg’s sister and proprietress of a local general store, joined us, requesting a light for a small cigar — she has given up smoking cigarettes.

“This is my television debut,” she told me. “And I’m so glad this series is set in the Midlands. I’ve lived and worked here for 25 years.”

“In fact, we’ve frequently worked together,” chipped in her television husband, Brian Kent. Now, as Dick Jarvis, he is an ex-public school man who cannot readily slot into a steady job. In the series he is in partnership with Victor Amos (Anthony Howard) in a car-hire business. Most of his endeavours end in failure; the hire business looks decidedly shaky.

Other regular members of the series drifted over to exchange views. Like Meg’s son. Sandy, played by 18-year-old Roger Tonge, one-time G.P.O. clerk. “Big break for me,” he said, seriously. “Lucky I don’t look much older than the 15-year-old character I’m playing.”

Anthony Morton, who plays Carlos, the motel chef, evidently had appreciated someone else’s cooking. In the series he’s happy-go-lucky, occasionally temperamental, and at times warring with Meg Richardson.

“But I don’t have time to be temperamental in real life,” he said. “In a hectic series like this, we all depend on teamwork.”

Peggy Aitchison, who plays Mrs. Violet Blundell, the daily help, engaged in deep conversation with Christine, the motel waitress. Both are experienced actresses. Peggy has been on the stage 13 years, both in rep and in television.

Alex Marshall, who plays Christine, is 26, from Smethwick, married with a six-year-old son and has also done rep, television and documentary work.

There, too, was the other regular member of the motel staff, Philip Winter, played by six-footer Malcolm Young. In the series, he’s rather the mystery man, a deserter from the Army who works as a sort of general help. He is another actor who has worked extensively in the Midlands.

I also met David Fennell, 20, who plays Brian Jarvis, son of Kitty and Dick Jarvis, who works in a drawing office. David worked as a fashion photographer and even tried his hand a bullfighting before turning to drama. He has worked in a film of the life of Shakespeare and in a teenage pop show.

He presented his “fiancee,” Janice Gifford, a helper in the general store, played by 21-year-old Carolyn Lyster, from Cheshire, and veteran Shakesperean actor George Skillan, the Jarvis lodger Owen Webb.

Harry Shiels, cheerful Birmingham-born actor who plays Harry Leggett, landlord of the nearby “Crown” and unofficial “father confessor” of the neighbourhood, grinned when he told me: “Well at least I’m not doing pantomime this year.

“I used to play opposite the late Vic Oliver in ‘Old King Cole.’ Did it eight times with him.” Main feature that former Navy man Harry likes about Crossroads is the opportunity to live at home.

One by one, the regulars of the series slipped out of the restaurant.

I collected my notes thinking that the signposts at the Crossroads pointed very definitely to success.

CROSSROADS IN VIEW

The Midlands. A place of spreading industrialisation, progress. Crossroads, ITV’s new daily serial, draws out the colour and dimension of this new world. And playing one of the leading parts is Noele Gordon. The programme, by its own day-to-day nature, is an immense challenge to any actor or actress. But Noele, who plays a widowed mother of a young family who also owns a motel, is used to long, strenuous, successful runs. Many will remember her in “Brigadoon,” which ran for over a thousand performances.

The post Make a date at the Crossroads appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

‘I LIKE him a good deal more now than I did when we started!’ John Slater talking about Tom Stone, the character he has played in Z Cars. The programme reaches its two hundredth episode this week.

‘It takes you a good thirty or forty episodes to get really settled with a character, but after that the rest come very easily!’ Stone, John Slater thinks, is basically a kind-hearted man who has had to impose the nastier side of police-work almost reluctantly on his own character. ‘Of course, he’s changed over the years and having three different bosses has helped.’

Hudson (John Barry) was a great warm bull of a man so Stone had to be hard and sour. Then there was Todd (Joss Ackland) who was harder and sourer than Stone could ever be so the character started to warm a bit. Now, there’s Witty (John Woodvine), a dour man with a very dry sense of humour, and this has allowed Stone’s own cockney sense of humour to come out a bit. He sets up the gags for Witty’s telling dry smile. ‘Takes me back to my five years at the Whitehall as Brian Rix’s feed…’

For an actor who has always been renowned for his versatility, appearing in a popular long-running series like Z Cars could have been a risk. ‘Long runs don’t really worry me – at the start of my career I did lots of Ealing comedies, then went into the Shaw Festival, then up to Stratford-on-Avon to play Bottom and Iago, then to the Whitehall for five years, so I don’t think a few years in Z Cars will affect my career that much.’

He began his career when he was eight with appearances as mid-shipman and drummer boys in amateur productions of Gilbert and Sullivan. From the age of fourteen onwards he acted with left-wing theatre groups like The Workers’ Circle and the Unity Theatre. ‘Not that I was particularly politically committed – if the Young Conservatives had had as good a theatre group I would just as likely have joined that!’

Actors, he thinks, should not involve themselves in politics. He added, tongue in cheek, ‘Nor should they be expected to support their families, nor be given the vote, nor pay income tax. Everyone else makes a transition between the ages of about eleven and fourteen, from playing “make-believe” to being self-conscious and responsible. Actors never really grow up.’

John has one regret – that he doesn’t have the time any more to write and tell his own stories on television. ‘I keep promising myself that I will start writing again, but somehow I never quite get round to it.’

The post ‘Tom Stone is not the man he was’ appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

From Television Stars 1966, published by Purnell

But to a husband such a wife could be a problem, as we see when we watch that very funny series “Bewitched”, in which Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, the lovable witch, and Dick York as her constantly perplexed husband, Darrin, sort out their domestic problems.

For Samantha the problem is to try and behave normally without calling on her magical powers to make things easier. For Darrin, the problem is trying to stop his wife from utilizing her powers of witchcraft to solve difficult situations, especially when she is egged on by her witch of a mother, Endora, played by Agnes Moorhead.

The result is escapist entertainment with the accent on comedy.

Elizabeth Montgomery plays her unbelievable role in such a way that she has us almost believing that housewife witches really do exist! And so we are left slightly bewitched, slightly bothered and slightly bewildered!

Elizabeth’s real-life husband is Bill Asher, the director of “Bewitched”. Says Bill, “The reason she’s so good is that Elizabeth has no witchy side, and the whole thing with Samantha is not to be a witch—it’s a past she’d like to cover up. They are two totally different people, so much so that when we’re working I always call her Samantha, and, funnily enough, I’ve never called her Samantha at home. If that ever happened, I think she’d hit me over the head!”

Says Elizabeth on the subject of witches, “They’re not much different from ordinary beings, except that they have certain powers and they live longer.”

How old is Samantha?

“I don’t really know,” says Elizabeth, “but she once chided her mother for producing an old picture Samantha was in. It was dated 1689! Mother herself hasn’t given her age. But she did say once, ‘I’ll remember that if I live to be 1,000 — and I have’.”

The daughter of actor Robert Montgomery, Elizabeth studied at the New York Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has appeared in numerous television shows and films. Her role of Samantha has endeared her to millions of TV fans, from the youngest to the oldest.

A mother herself, she understands why the show is so popular with children. It is basically a kind of fantasy in which anything can happen, and usually does.

With that twitch of the nose she can transport herself to anywhere in the world. She can make dreams come true.

As the bewitched husband in the show, Dick York represents the normal human being, who would never believe the things Samantha does unless he sees them with his own eyes, as he does.

Dick was married in 1952 to a girl he met when they were both acting in a radio show in Chicago.

They now have three daughters, Kimberly, Amanda and Stacie, and two sons, Christopher and Matthew.

“Luckily for me,” smiles Dick, “nothing unusual happens when my wife twitches her nose!”

He has also made feature films and appeared in other TV series. He has been in the theatrical profession most of his life.

The post Bewitched by a witch appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

It was while working on the series that Bill Simpson met a young actress who eventually became his wife — Mary Miller. They were married in July, 1965, in Scotland. Bill’s co-star, Andrew Cruickshank gave the bride away.

Barbara Mullen, who plays Janet, their housekeeper, in the series also attended the wedding. Such is the happy atmosphere which exists in a show like “Dr. Finlay’s Casebook”.

Bill Simpson was born in Ayr on September 11, 1931, and was brought up mainly in Dunure, a tiny fishing village which has been used as a location for one of the “Finlay” episodes.

Always keen on acting, he left a job as an insurance clerk to enrol at the Glasgow Drama College. So that he could pay his way through college, he took on a job as a cashier in Butlin’s Holiday Camp at Ayr during the summer. After joining a repertory company in Edinburgh he was later offered work as announcer and newsreader on Scottish Television. He intended to stay for six months to earn enough money to buy some clothes, but he stayed for two years. After joining the Citizens’ Theatre Company in Glasgow he decided he would try his luck in London. One of his earlier jobs in London was playing the part of a man who stole a bottle of milk in “Z Cars”.

It was while he was rehearsing this part that an offer came his way to test for the part of Dr. Finlay. He had an audition on a Friday and was told he would hear the result of it on Monday.

“I think that was the longest weekend I’d ever spent in my life,” he says. “But the wait was well worth it when I heard that I’d got the part.”

He admits that when he went along to the audition he did not realise he would be auditioning for the leading role of Dr. Finlay.

Today he is a major TV star. Like Dick Chamberlain and Vince Edwards, those other docs, he has also made discs. He recorded his first in 1964 — an ‘oldie’ called “I Love You for Sentimental Reasons”. He did not actually sing on the record, but recited in his warm Scottish brogue.

There must be many millions of people who have wished their own doctors looked like these favourite TV docs!

The post Why are TV Docs so popular? appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

The whole fantastic, furious, frantic life of 007. It’s all there on Sunday in The Incredible World of James Bond which examines on the screen, the Bond women, Bond clothes. Bond enemies, Bond gadgets, the Bond way of life. Two authors, who take a very special view of Ian Fleming’s creation, explain themselves here. The first is

MAX CAULFIELD

who has seen, virtually from the inside, the rise of Bond — though he is still less than enthusiastic…

PEOPLE don’t believe me when I tell them I’m one of the few men in the world who knows what it’s like to be Goldfinger. But three times in my life I’ve run up against James Bond — and three times I’ve been worsted.

I first met the man 14 years ago.

He was a tall, slender, finely-drawn aristocrat with impeccable manners. He was calling himself Ian Fleming.

“Read your book,” said Bond-Fleming. “Thought it jolly fine.”

“I hear you’ve one coming out shortly,” I said.

“Oh, just a thriller,” said Bond-Fleming carelessly. “Not serious stuff like yours. ‘Casino Royale’.”

“Humph,” I said, no longer impressed. “Good title, anyway.”

“Sort of hobby,” said Bond-Fleming, slightly embarrassed I thought. He had been Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence during the war and was now foreign editor of a quality Sunday newspaper.

“A change from the boring business of newspapers?” I suggested.

“That’s about it,” said Bond-Fleming. “Don’t suppose it’ll do much. But you never know.”

It was a long time before I read a Bond book. Thrillers bore me — and the Bond saga proved no exception. I thought Bond a cardboard character and the plots had holes as big as chasms.

But at least I formed some definite ideas about Bond — he would be very similar to Bond-Fleming himself in education, intelligence and background.

So when I met a gentle American called Broccoli in a Soho restaurant one lunchtime, I believed myself to be an expert on Bond (Broccoli and his partner Saltzman had just bought the film rights to the Bond books).

Cubby Broccoli spread several portraits of almost unknown actors on the table and I looked to see if I could pick a Bond. A dead loss. They all seemed stereotypes to me.

“Well, we’re not absolutely sure about this one yet,” conceded Cubby, showing me a picture of a square-faced actor. “But he’s the most promising and I think we’ll settle.”

“Wrong!” I yelled. “Absolutely wrong! He’s no more like James Bond than I am. Who is he, anyway?”

“Chap called Sean Connery,” said Cubby.

Broccoli and Saltzman are now millionaires. I, of course, am not.

Six months or so later I called on Bond-Connery at his Hampstead flat. I don’t think any of the Bond films had been released — but if they had, they hadn’t registered their present impact.

He’d been born and bred in an Edinburgh cold-water tenement. He’d run a milk-round at 17. He’d been discharged from the Navy with ulcers. He’d then been a lorry driver, coffin-polisher, beach life guard and footballer.

I couldn’t help but admire the big likeable chap for the way he had fought his way to success. Yet, in my opinion, he still remained unlike James Bond.

The story of how Bond-Connery became an actor was an incredible tale.

He was in London to take part in weight-lifting championships when a friend told him: “They’re looking for extras for ‘South Pacific’. Why don’t you have a go?”

At this time Bond-Connery’s total acting experience certainly wouldn’t have filled a cocoa tin. Once, he’d been allowed to carry a spear during Anna Neagle’s “Victoria Regina.”

But when the “South Pacific” producer asked him. “What have you done?” Bond-Connery didn’t have to lie — just manipulate the truth a little.

“Oh. my last appearance was with Anna Neagle in Scotland”, he said, failing to add that it was also his first. He got the job, and was away.

The sheer audacity of Bond-Connery took my breath away and I suddenly realised that he was, indeed, just the right man for the part.

Once again I’d been wrong about James Bond.

…Then there is

KINGSLEY AMIS

who is a declared fan – with reservations

TO most people, James Bond means Sean Connery, and “The Adventures of 007” means the Saltzman-Broccoli films, those huge, expensive, powerful, ridiculous fantasies of sex, violence, gadgetry and high living.

To me, though, Bond is a character in fiction, and the films will never take the place of the Ian Fleming novels.

Connery is a limited, but competent actor, and particularly in the latest, “Thunderball”, he moves and walks with a kind of graceful power that is a delight to watch.

It is his face and voice that are wrong — wrong for the Bond of the books, who is a quieter, colder, more polished and urbane sort of person altogether.

Similarly with the films themselves. I enjoy them all right, but they have come to offer less and less in the way of any serious story or plot, more and more clowning, high jinks, reliance on gimmickry. Bond has become the Superman of the comics.

It’s great fun when at the beginning of “Thunderball” he escapes from a bunch of bad men by strapping on his U.S. Army one-man jet-pack and sailing over the wall. But this kind of thing, which goes on happening all through the film, means that tension, danger, real thrills have disappeared. In case of trouble, just press the button.

I would guess that “Thunderball” will be the last of the record-breaking Bond movies. The public knows that laughs are not too hard to come by, but thrills, genuine thrills, are a much tougher proposition, and so that much more to be sought after when they do turn up.

The next screen adventures to make large headlines will be adventures that really thrill and grip.

In the meantime, it’s back to the books for me. There, the world of James Bond is more vivid, varied and exciting.

Fleming knew that the villain who can successfully pretend not to be a villain is the most dangerous of all.

There is a lot more in the novels. Brilliantly organised action writing about ordeals and escapes that call for quick thinking and ingenuity on Bond’s part, not just toughness.

Set-pieces about gambling and ski-ing and swimming and fast driving which convince even somebody like me (who hates them all in reality) that they are wonderful. Nature-descriptions that leave colour-film lagging behind.

And, of course, girls. It would be hard to think of anyone better qualified physically than Ursula Andress to play Honeychile in “Dr. No.”

But even she — because of the way the screenplay was written — had no chance to convey the emotional qualities of that character as she is portrayed in the novel: tough but tender, vulnerable but trusting, childish but intelligent and resourceful. There is more of the same in the other books.

If all I say is true, Fleming was no ordinary cloak-and-dagger author. No indeed. People who wonder and argue about the cult of Bond and of spy stories in general, who talk about the effect of the cold war on the contemporary consciousness, miss the obvious explanation.

The man who created the world of James Bond was one of the great popular writers of this century.

The post BOND: from man to superman appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

One of the biggest changes compared to last year is the broadcasters. Having already waved goodbye to TWW a tad earlier, at the end of July 1968 ABC and Rediffusion were ushered out to form Thames Television and ATV also left London. In their places, Harlech entered Wales and the West, ATV took over the Midlands for seven days instead of five, and Granada similarly increased its days in the North West. With the North having been divided in two, Yorkshire came into, er, Yorkshire, and London was shared between Thames and the new London Weekend Television. I really love that the weekend split now begins on a Friday evening at 7pm. It seems appropriate as most people feel geared up for the weekend at that time. I’m sure LWT were keen on this too, as it meant they broadcast for three evenings a week instead of just two.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from ATV, Border, Thames and LWT.

17th June
The Miracle of Bali ‘Night’
BBC-2

I last watched David Attenborough in 1961. Since then he’s been to Australia and down the Zambezi river in Africa. But mostly, he’s been quite busy being the Controller of BBC-2 and this year becomes Director of Programmes at the BBC.

I don’t know much about Bali so was looking forward to this documentary. If you’re one of the lucky people watching in colour this evening, you’re in for a real treat. Tonight’s episode shows numerous rituals and ceremonies, many of which use magnificent costumes and decorations. You do have to be incredibly fortunate though as in 1968 only 75,000 colour television licences were sold. The price of both the sets and the licence must have put plenty off; a monochrome licence cost £6 [£105 in 2018, allowing for inflation] compared to £11 [£190] for a colour one.

We first see a funeral and though this might seem odd, we are told that it is a celebration in Bali. They are lavish and I was shocked to be told that corpses may lie in shallow graves for years while families save up for the funeral. We are also shown two young girls being put into a trance so that gods may come and possess them. Probably the strangest event is two men becoming possessed by pigs. This is only performed in some of the most remote villages. With straw and other materials tied to them, they shuffle around on hands and feet. Men in a trance like this can “possess superhuman strength” and this is demonstrated when it comes to undo the trance, with several men being needed to hold the ‘pigs’ down.

18th June
ATV Today
ATV

This short feature marks the two millionth Mini being rolled off the production line at the British Leyland factory at Longbridge in Birmingham. The Mini had revolutionised the small car market and sales galloped ahead as various stars from The Beatles to Twiggy were seen with them. Sir Alec Issigonis, who designed the Mini, is interviewed about his thinking behind the Mini as well as his thoughts for the future. He seems sceptical about a car smaller than the Mini but admits they are looking into it. The Italian Job was released a few weeks ago and the Mini is one of the stars . This must have had an impact as just two years later the original Mini would achieve its greatest ever sales at 318,475.

It Takes a Thief ‘The Galloping Skin Game’
Thames

Having never heard of this programme before, I decided to watch it based purely on its intriguing title. Robert Wagner plays Al, a former thief now employed by the government to put his skills to more positive uses. In this episode he’s been asked to make sure some important papers don’t get into the wrong hands. But as he finds himself dealing with a fellow criminal, he needs a cover so also steals a necklace.

The titles are wonderful. They are full of images of luxury like casinos, of Al smooching with women, foreign locations – it’s very James Bond and I’d even say our rebellious Al is slightly cooler than 007. Al is a likeable, witty character and I warmed to him right away. He has an uneasy relationship with his superior, who holds the threat of sending Al back to prison over his head and these comments filled in a nice bit of background for this new viewer.

Nick Grobbo is the fence Al finds himself crossing and he is played with utterly charming villainy by Ricardo Montalban, whose slight accent can be traced to his birthplace of Mexico. He has a beautiful voice and I could listen to him speak for hours. His henchman, Willy, is played by Richard Kiel, who must have conquered a line in such parts as this is a more refined role than that I saw him playing in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in 1968. He wears a suit and generally acts more dignified while Nick makes threats against Al’s body.

I really liked It Takes a Thief and upon looking him up, I’m delighted to discover that Montalban appears as Nick in another episode. I will definitely be watching another and hoping to discover a little more about Al’s past.

19th June
On the Buses
Border

I had seen an episode of LWT’s On the Buses before but I didn’t remember being too keen. I didn’t dislike it but I didn’t instantly love it either. I did, however, quite like this episode. There were a lot of characters to meet but as they could pretty much all be classed as Stan’s mother, aunt or something-in-law, I didn’t need to keep up with them.

It’s the visit of Stan’s aunt, accompanied by her enormous dog, that upsets the house’s sleeping arrangements, leading to Stan attempting to share a bed with his brother-in-law, Arthur. With his freezing feet, he is less than ideal company.

There are plenty of things that make this episode of its time. Auntie’s conversation with Stan’s mother stands out most though. Auntie is enquiring about Stan’s lack of a girlfriend and says, “He’s not gonna turn out like Uncle Herbert?” and when Stan’s mother explains this with a limp wrist it makes it quite clear. They never used to talk about this uncle – “But it’s alright now ’cause it’s legal.” But it isn’t alright, is it? Auntie could have asked, “Is he a bit…?” yet she wants reassurance that Stan isn’t. It’s ok perhaps, so long as it isn’t one of us. Their tones show that it isn’t. The fact that she won’t just come right out and say, “Is Stan by any chance one of those homosexuals?” shows that it really isn’t ok. But in all honesty, this is not what interests me about these programmes because it’s exactly what I expect from the period. Just like Arthur expecting the women to have his liver on the table when he gets in from work, I find it more remarkable that liver has definitely fallen out of favour as an evening meal.

21st June
Candid Caine: A Self Portrait of Michael Caine
LWT

Michael Caine is someone I associate with London’s swinging sixties. David Bailey’s photographs of him are the first thing that come to mind and they epitomise cool as far as I’m concerned. With rising stars like Caine, having a regional accent would no longer be seen as such a disadvantage for actors. His profile has grown considerably by 1969 due to the success of films like Zulu, Alfie and the Harry Palmer films. The timing of this documentary is unlikely to be a mere coincidence because, as referenced above, his latest film, The Italian Job, came out a few weeks ago.

The documentary follows Caine around, visiting some old haunts as well as seeing him just relax with some friends over a game of snooker. Part of it has a ‘look how far he’s come’ feel as we cut from the outside of his childhood terraced house to his current home, filled with artwork. He certainly conveys his appreciation of what he’s earned.

In between this, Caine chats about various topics and he’s happy to move beyond just himself and his films. He compares cockneys with African Americans and black people in Britain. It’s incredibly strange to him use the word ‘negroes’. Mostly, I cringe at how old-fashioned it sounds being spoken so casually. It’s impossible to date exactly when words became unacceptable and my only reference for this is Richard Burton’s diaries. In October 1968 he writes ‘Sammy Davis Jun. told me […] that it was no longer considered kosher or ‘in’ to call Negroes Negroes but blacks’.

Caine talks about how black people often have jobs like bus conductors or lavatory attendants and comments “Well, those are all the jobs that everybody’s father I knew did.” It was interesting as he compared the way both groups had been oppressed (by the Klu Klux Klan and the aristocracy respectively), told that this was the best they deserved, and was clearly something he felt strongly about.

22nd June
Department S ‘The Mysterious Man in the Flying Machine’
LWT

I had seen an episode of Department S spinoff Jason King, so was curious to see how this would compare. It’s far less over the top and camp than the later series, which I’d found great fun, though I enjoyed this too.

A man is shot on a plane that is revealed to be a mock-up, with tape-recorded sounds being played out. He escapes and Department S are called in to investigate. I found this episode intriguing and quite gripping but by the end I felt like I’d missed something as I wasn’t sure what the plot’s conclusion was supposed to be. Nonetheless, Peter Wyngarde alone is enough to bring me back for more.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

UNKNOWN How – This children’s series shows you how to do all sorts of different things. For instance, this week you can learn how to lie on a bed of nails. I have dim memories of the revived version of this programme, titled How 2.

MISSING The Bruce Forsyth Show – Every episode from this year’s series is missing. Just billed as Bruce Forsyth in this week’s issue of TVTimes, I believe you can never have enough Brucie and would love to see some of his show. This week’s guest is Sid James, which is all the more enticing. In fact, I’m keen on all the guests this series as they include Ronnie Corbett, Cilla Black, Edward Woodward and Harry Secombe.

MISSING Opportunity Knocks! – It seems absurd that so little of this long-running talent show exists, especially as many later stars appeared on it. Hughie Greene is the presenter and his name has appeared several times in the schedules across the last few years so I would like to see some of his work.

MISSING The Gnomes of Dulwich – I’ve seen Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd in an episode of Hugh and I Spy and enjoyed them. Several of their comedy programmes are missing so it would be great to see any more. This sitcom is written by Jimmy Perry, best known for penning Dad’s Army.

MISSING An Enemy of the State ‘Point of No Return’ – The BBC really got their use of this series before it was wiped. This is its first broadcast on BBC One after being transmitted on BBC Two three times previously. They were clearly sometimes struggling to make proper use of their newer channel as at one point the same episode was being shown on Saturday and Sunday nights each week. ‘Harry Sutton, about to fly to Russia to install one of his firm’s computers in a top-secret steel plant, is trapped into getting information for a man called Hendersort.’ As I like all things espionage-related, this series sounds fantastic.

The post Back in time for TV: 17-22 June 1969 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from Rediffusion, ATV Midlands and Granada.

4th June
Custer ‘Under Fire’
Rediffusion

It’s quite something to get through life without realising that the man’s name was not General Custard, but I was most grateful that I found out before I ever had to say it out loud. This follows Custer and his men just after the American Civil War. We left most of the Western series behind a while ago but while this is similar and has the stereotypical Indians as the bad guys, it’s military theme does make it stand out from other series.

Custer is to be lured to an Indian called Crazy Horse in exchange for land with gold on it. There is also a large gun that Crazy Horse wants destroyed so that his men won’t be mown down when they attack. A couple of Custer’s men are kidnapped and it all builds to a huge climax of everyone fighting it out. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this compared to some of the other Westerns and may well go back for more.

5th June
Mission: Impossible ‘Fakeout’
Rediffusion

The titles for this show are fantastic. That theme tune is great and a fuse is burning down across the screen, always almost running out before we cut to another clip. It perfectly suits the show.

Our team consists of two men and a woman and their mission this week is to get a drug dealer out of his current country and into one that the US has an extradition treaty with. Lloyd Bridges plays Poltroni and I really enjoyed him as this up-himself, nasty man. If you didn’t know he was the villain of the piece already, you would want him to be.

Dan, Cinnamon and Barney work well as a team, with each having their task to take care of, though it’s clear that Dan is the leader of the group. They use that trusty foil that had fooled our hero in The Baron; the fake diversion signs. They eventually manage to get Poltroni over the border entirely voluntarily before he is immediately arrested.

No – That’s Me Over Here!
Rediffusion

This is the only episode from the first two series of No – That’s Me Over Here! that still exists so I feel rather lucky that it’s fallen during the week of my visit to 1968. The Two Ronnies was some of the first comedy I discovered through UK Gold so I feel I know this programme’s lead, Ronnie Corbett, rather well. I’ve never been particularly enamoured with his later sitcom, Sorry! (did Corbett have a thing for sitcom titles ending in exclamation marks?!), but I actually quite liked his NTMOH! character.

There’s a ‘don’t mention the war’ feel about this episode as Ronnie has invited his boss, Mr Robinson, over, hoping to win some work brownie points, only to discover his wife has also invited her German teacher. Ronnie tells Mr Robinson that Jurgen is Austrian and spends the evening trying to steer the topic away from Germany.

The ingrained culture of smoking is demonstrated when Mr Robinson offers round his cigarettes and despite the fact that Mrs Corbett doesn’t smoke, Mr Robinson and Jurgen don’t hesitate to light up. Ronnie can’t make up his mind whether or not he does want one.

“What a terrible habit this is!” remarks Mr Robinson. “Yes,” Mrs Corbett politely agrees. “I was going to give it up at one stage but I’ve been smoking solidly ever since ’19.” And that’s that. Mr Robinson has been a committed smoker for nearly fifty years so he may as well keep at it. The Royal College of Physicians released their Smoking and Health report in 1962, showing the link between smoking and lung cancer, as well as other diseases. Despite this, Mr Robinson was typical as changes were slow and in the late 1960s over 50% of men and 40% of women smoked. I love old cigarette adverts and though by 1968 they had been banned from television, TVTimes still features several in print each week. Smoking is such a regular thing at this time and I’ve become very used to seeing it. If programmes ever leave it out, it tends to feel conspicuous by its absence.

Ronnie Corbett’s character is also called Ronnie Corbett. Characters having the same name as the actors is a trait that seems to persist in sitcoms. Tony Hancock springs to mind, Fred and Thora from Meet the Wife back in 1964, Hugh and Terry in Hugh and I/Hugh and I Spy, and Sid in Bless this House. More modern shows are not exempt with Lee in Not Going Out and Miranda in, er, Miranda. I find it a little strange and I wonder if performers who considered themselves actors first, rather than comedians, became more reluctant to use their own names for characters.

While I enjoyed NTMOH!, there aren’t many big laughs. I certainly wouldn’t call it a lost gem but it is nice to see some pre-1970s’ Ronnie Corbett in a substantial role.

6th June
Pogles’ Wood
BBC One

It’s time for another visit to Watch with Mother. I had been wondering for some time what a Pogle was so was delighted to discover they are in fact little people that live in the woods and live off the land. Mr Pogle does not give the best first impression, dragging his wife out of bed, demanding his breakfast. He brings home a bean that grows a magic plant that can make bean plants appear. It all began to feel a tad surreal when the plant started playing the violin while Mr and Mrs Pogle danced around the garden. I enjoyed this little story a lot and quite fancy going back for some more. As the credits rolled, I clocked the name of Oliver Postgate, who would go on to create The Clangers and Bagpuss.

Midlands News
ATV Midlands

David Ennals is being interviewed about immigration issues. At the time, Ennals was Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department and on a tour of various areas. While his constituency was Dover, he had been born and brought up in the West Midlands. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act had been passed in March, after many in Britain had panicked about immigration levels when lots of Kenyan Asians began fleeing persecution. At one point, all Commonwealth subjects had the right to come to Britain. Ennals talks reasonably about integration and his comments on equal opportunities make him sound very modern.

7th June
Nice Time
Granada

This should be the very first episode of Nice Time but the missing episode gods have not been kind this week so instead I’m watching one from later in the year. The feature in TVTimes had intrigued me, billing the show as a mixture of all sorts of random bits, which is exactly what it turned out to be.

Each section is very short so my attention was always satisfied. Among the things featured was a saw orchestra, Richard Burton’s brother, a woman playing a tune on bicycle spokes, an interview with a window cleaner about the saucy things he’d encountered, spot the real vicar, and a dodgem car race featuring Stirling Moss.

Members of the public were asked what they saw in a naked woman/man. The blokes were fairly open about what they saw, with some giving very specific descriptions and one answering simply, “Everything.” Some of the women were more coy, turning away from the interviewer, blushing. Others had no hesitation in answering, “Sex” or “His John Willy!”. The TVTimes tells us that Nice Time ‘sets out simply to entertain’ and, greatly helped by host Kenny Everett, who I wasn’t all that familiar with, I think it achieves that perfectly.

8th June
Dee Time
BBC One

Only two complete editions of Dee Time exist so I’m watching one from a little later in the year. I immensely enjoyed this chat show hosted by Simon Dee (real name Cyril Nicholas Henty-Dodd). It was very laid back and cool. It was such a sharp contrast to the Henry Moore interview I watched back in 1960.

I’ve been listening to the Top 20 for the weeks of my time travelling and have been surprised by just how much of it I have not enjoyed. Apart from a handful of artists, a lot of it all sounds the same to me. Yet by 1967 things seem to have turned a corner and in 1968 there is more stuff to my taste appearing. From this edition I thought The Equals (currently at no. 20 with Baby Come Back) were brilliant. It suits the youthful style of the show that they sound more modern. We’ve lost much of that sound from earlier years – as far as I’m concerned it’s time for Adam Faith and Cliff to move over so we can say hello to the likes of The Equals and The Rolling Stones.

Neither of the guests’ names were familiar to me but the face of Lionel Jeffries was. He was there to promote his latest film, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He talked about the success of other musical films of recent years like Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music, hoping Chitty could also do well. It all seemed slightly sad with the knowledge that the heyday of musicals at the box office were numbered. Yet I loved Chitty as a kid so enjoyed hearing Lionel’s experience of filming it. His children were in the studio and I was amazed when I looked him up that though he plays a grandfather in Chitty, he was only 42 at the time.

The show’s coolness continues into the end credits as Simon Dee exits the studios and drives off in an open top E-Type Jaguar, a young lady sat beside him.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. ‘The Hong Kong Shilling Affair’
BBC One

Most of the episodes of U.N.C.L.E. that I’ve seen have been from this first season so I’ve no problem with us remaining stuck in black and white – the rest of the population still is too. This is the second time this episode has been shown and, bizarrely, it’s scheduled for another repeat next month as well.

Napoleon and Illya are after a rare shilling, as are this week’s baddies. Among them is Richard Kiel, best known for playing Jaws, the man with steel teeth, in two 1970s’ James Bond films. As he would then, he’s playing a henchman, doing the dirty work for the episode’s main villain, Cleveland. Keil’s huge height (over seven foot) dwarfs everyone around him and his imposing physique was deemed sufficient enough menace that he has no conversations in either of the Bond films he appears in. As a result, I was delighted to get to hear him actually speak in this episode and my enjoyment never ceased throughout it. Being portrayed as not just big but powerful too, I winced when, having trapped him in a net, Kiel’s character, Merry, picks up Napoleon and thwacks him against a wall.

Unable to get hold of the shilling, Cleveland decides to auction off a trussed up Napoleon Solo on the basis that, “Each and every one of us in this room is sufficiently skilled, I venture to suggest, in the arts that are necessary to make him talk freely. So, I offer you one body ready for interrogation. Shall we begin the bidding at one hundred thousand dollars?” I thought that was a neat idea and it also tells us just what a bunch of scoundrels all these finely dressed people really are. Cleveland is a villain who’s been to charm school and sometimes I think I prefer these well-turned out baddies. Real rapscallions don’t all look like complete rogues after all.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

MISSING The Best of Twice a Fortnight Show – This comedy compilation of the Twice a Fortnight Show has credits including Graeme Green, Bill Oddie, Eric Idle and Barry Cryer.

UNKNOWN Professional Wrestling – You can find two lots of wrestling on this week – the first on Saturday as part of World of Sport and the second late on Wednesday night. As a kid I watched the odd bit of WWF/WWE but I have never seen British wrestling. I know it was immensely popular on television at this time so am curious to see some.

UNAVAILABLE Hunter ‘The Kauffmann File’ – John Hunter was apparently Australia’s answer to James Bond. In the last two years we’ve seen The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Mission: Impossible, I Spy, and the revived Danger Man who were all arguably ushered in as part of the 1960s’ spy bandwagon. The titles depict drinking, action and women, saying of John Hunter, ‘He is part commando, part detective, part spy.’ I’ve not seen much Australian television and while this programme seems more low budget than others, I would still love to see this take on the spy genre.

The post Back in time for TV: 4-8 June 1968 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Nice Time, a light, fluffy, different TV series starting on Friday at 7 p.m. might well take up my last suggestion and exploit it even further.

It is that sort of show. The idea is to try to get people to rid themselves of their inhibitions.

Preposterous requests from viewers are welcome. You do not have to carry them through personally. The programme will send out one of the team or invite members of the public to the studio to do your stunts.

Nice Time, which sets out simply to entertain, includes the latest let-your hair-down brand of goonery, presented by master hoaxer Jonathan Routh, disc jockey Kenny Everett and Australian born Germaine Greer, who lectures in English at Warwick University.

There is no message behind the series. The intention is to be funny, but not malicious. A call has already gone out for musical saw players and amateur ventriloquists willing to take part in a choir of ventriloquists’ dummies.

Programme Editor John Birt, a 23-year-old Oxford graduate from Liverpool, who devised the show, said: “We have no ulterior motives. We are not trying to send people up.

“We simply feel that this is a natural extension of the way comedy is going. We want viewers to enjoy themselves — hence the title of the show.” The opening item in Friday’s show, “Bye, Bye Blues”, is played by a band of musical spoon players,

“We shall start the show each week with a musical item of this kind,” said Andrew Mayer, 24-year-old former President of the Cambridge Footlights Club, who wrote part of the first programme.

Then comes an attempt at “Documentary Comedy”, from Jonathan Routh. In a film item you will see him stop a woman in a London street and make a bid for her left shoe.

When the show advertised for men who looked like George Brown, 11 doubles presented themselves at the studios. The result is the George Brown Glee Singers, whose attempt to sing “There’ll Always Be An England” in Friday’s show is quite calamitous.

In Nice Time the items come fast and furious — 20 in the space of half-an-hour.

Anything that is different comes into the Nice Time categorv. Scenes you have loved will be another weekly feature of this show.

There are so many TV highlights viewers would like to see again. Like the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, Fred Astaire singing and dancing in the film “Top Hat”, a film montage of buildings being demolished…

This week’s request spot features Coronation Street‘s Elsie Tanner getting mad and getting married.

The studio audience will be invited to join in the fun. Said John Birt: “We thought it would be a nice touch to send two bikini-clad girls around the audience distributing Nice Time rock.”

Germaine Greer said she would rather not explain what Nice Time was all about. “If you overstate it or over-explain it you have lost it,” she said. “People have got to get the feeling of this show themselves.”

Jonathan Routh is convinced the public will play ball. “I might go into the centre of Manchester and challenge a city gent to a game of marbles for £1. And I am convinced he would play me,” said Jonathan.

John Birt added: “We want to give viewers a lift. To show them things that normally they would never see on TV in all their lives.”

• George Brown (1914-1985) was MP for Belper 1945-1970 and was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the time of this article.
• John Birt (born 1944) was Director of Programmes at London Weekend Television in the 1980s and a controversial Director-General of the BBC 1992-2000
• Jonathan Routh (1927-2008) was presenter of ABC Weekend TV’s Candid Camera.
• Dr Germaine Greer (born 1939) is a controversial public intellectual and author of the feminist polemic The Female Eunuch.
• Kenny Everett, born Maurice James Christopher Cole (1944-1995) needs no introduction.
• We’ve not been able to trace what became of Andrew Mayer as most online guides appear to conflate him with other writers of the same name.

The post Come on – let yourself go appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

I extended this time travel trip to one week and one day so I could arrive early to catch an edition of my regional news.

18th May
ATV Today
ATV Midlands

Today the Midlands’ local news programme is taking us around Birmingham’s Wholesale Markets. It’s an early start for the reporter who begins in a local caff. It’s all toast, tea and fags. We see one old fellow taking a couple of jugs out and back across to the impressive Smithfield Market building. Inside, you can see the names of all the traders over their pitches. Interviewees play over footage of the going-ons of the markets. They really make Birmingham sound fantastic. Fish caught in Torquay the day before can be in Birmingham before the shops have opened in Torquay. In fact, fish come to Birmingham from various countries and the punters rate the quality. In a time before motorways became so widespread, this seems quite an impressive feat for the Midlands.

There’s also affection for the jovial atmosphere of the place, with one young man commenting, “I love working down here – it’s fantastic. I wouldn’t work anywhere else now.” The interviewees are a mixed bunch as some have local accents while others are much more RP. It’s great to hear them as though regional accents are becoming more common, the Midlands still feels underrepresented. It would have been nice to see what they all looked like but there isn’t the time on this short seven minute feature.

19th May
The Avengers ‘Room Without a View’
Rediffusion

The first half of series 5 has recently finished so Rediffusion has decided to repeat random episodes from series 4, although next week they will take a break for the Ice Skating World Professional Championships. While I had seen the odd episode, the True Entertainment channel’s decision to show ABC’s The Avengers from the beginning last year gave me the chance to become properly acquainted with the show. I grew fond of the charming, beautifully dressed Steed and the arse-kicking Cathy Gale. I’ve only seen as far as series 3 though, making this a step forward for me.

I hope 1960s’ audiences were able to appreciate the switch from videotape to film because for me it’s a huge difference compared to the earlier series. Not only is the picture better but the sound is clearer – I had had to strain, often struggling to hear some of the speech before.

The plot has people being kidnapped and brainwashed, believing they are somewhere in Manchuria. In fact, it’s a tape player and a couple of oriental guards through the back of a wardrobe in a London hotel. Steed plays the part of a food critic wonderfully, mentioning that a meal was ruined by the use of salted instead of unsalted butter. Mrs Peel is far too efficient a receptionist though and draws suspicion, resulting in her being gassed and waking up in ‘Manchuria’. When Steed discovers the false back to the wardrobe, he soon finds her cell but first must wrestle the two guards.

I described both the guards as ‘oriental’ because who knows what the one is supposed to be. 1960s’ television has shown me some dodgy make-up and blacked-up characters but this is the absolute champion. With a name like Romo Gorrara, the actor may not be of British heritage but he is definitely a white man and whatever they have done to his eyes does nothing to convince me otherwise. The production team were clearly struggling to find enough stuntmen because putting Gorrara next to Anthony Chinn, who is actually half-Chinese, makes it look all the more terrible.

20th May
George and the Dragon
ABC

I’ve seen ATV’s George before during my first visit to 1968. In this episode George and Dragon argue over the evening’s entertainment with George dismissing Dragon’s old fashioned records. Dragon protectively says they were her mother’s and she loves them. In a tussle, George tries to wrench them from her and they smash on the floor. There’s an audible intake of breath from the audience who were clearly as pained as this viewer. Dragon announces she’s leaving and we next see her at a bus station cafe.

A truck driver attempts to chat her up, only for each male member of the household to appear – George, Ralph the gardener, and their employer, John le Mesurier. The truck driver is astonished that she isn’t married to any of them and is increasingly impressed. As they convince Dragon to come home, he realises he doesn’t stand a chance so steps away and wishes her well.

21st May
I Spy ‘Bridge of Spies’
ABC

Unlike The Saint and other shows, I Spy doesn’t need to put a caption up at the beginning of the episode to tell us we’re in Venice because they’ve actually gone and filmed there it seems. The locations in this episode look fantastic. We are actually proper abroad! It’s so nice to spend some time out of a studio set for a change and they are such beautiful locations. The show really makes the most of them.

Kelly and Scott are a couple of agents playing at being tourists. Kelly is a tennis player, giving the pair reason to travel to various place but in this episode all their spy contacts keep dropping dead before they can speak to them. They struggle to figure out how the enemy is staying one step ahead. Well, maybe Kelly should have spent less time shagging tour guides who make deception plans with lines like, “I will combine high-level socialism with a low cut dress.”

I won’t skip mentioning the one thing that I Spy does, which is that Scott is black, played by Bill Cosby. It’s wonderful that it does go unremarked with no bearing on anything in the episode because the 1960s is not a great time to be black in the US. Only next month will the US Supreme Court will decide that state laws forbidding interracial marriage are invalid. Yet here he is in a starring role! Scott is very much Kelly’s equal and they’re genuine partners. They get on well and I enjoyed watching them together onscreen.

22nd May
Trumpton
BBC One

A lot of things about Trumpton seem familiar; the theme, the animation-style, Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Grub. Yet I have no memories of watching Trumpton as a child and a crawl through BBC Genome says it was last repeated several years before my birth. In fact, the only source I can pinpoint for a definite contribution to my familiarity with any of Trumptonshire is Life on Mars. The BBC drama about a police officer trapped in the early 1970s promoted its second series with its lead characters of Sam Tyler and Gene Hunt in Trumptonshire form.

I thought Trumpton was terrific, something I hadn’t expected to find myself writing about a fairly simple young children’s programme. But it’s just so lovely. It reminds me of other children’s shows like Noddy, Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank Engine, which also exist in their own pleasant little towns. I want to get to know the townsfolk. I love that the carpenter is called Chippy. I love that the town has its own rag and bone man. This episode revolved around an old rocking horse that was going to be burned but the carpenter’s son rushed around to save it as he had hidden his savings inside. What a wonderful small drama for the day.

The Invaders ‘Moonshot’
ATV Midlands

Granada are also screening this show tonight, though they are a few episodes behind ATV Midlands. I’d been looking forward to The Invaders for some time as the TVTimes’ synopses always make it sound fantastic and several people had recommended the show to me. Aliens have invaded Earth but as they can shape shift to look like humans, hardly anyone knows about them. David Vincent saw them arrive though and attempts to thwart the threat, struggling to get people to believe him. In this episode, the invaders have infiltrated the space programme, replacing an astronaut with a copy. This was so tense, so exciting – it was just so brilliant. I will definitely be watching more.

24th May
The Baron ‘Countdown’
Granada

While I try to avoid repeating myself across the years, I’d been impressed enough with 1966’s episode of The Baron to want to come back for more, crossing the border into Granadaland after finding it in their schedule for this week. Both ATV London and ATV Midlands have finished their runs of The Baron, broadcasting the episodes in different orders after the first episode. For ATV London, this was the final episode, while ATV Midlands put it as the penultimate one. Granada have placed it as episode 22 out of 30. None of this actually matters as most episodes of ITC programmes stand completely independently and it’s rare to find any continuity woven in.

It was a strong start for me as the guest stars caption appeared with Edward Woodward and Philip Locke. Over the last couple of years I’ve become a big fan of Callan, the spy drama starring Woodward, and haven’t seen him in much else so I was looking forward to his appearance. This episode of The Baron was filmed shortly after he had finished an episode of Armchair Theatre, ‘A Magnum for Schneider’, that was also the pilot for Callan. Philip Locke’s name was also familiar to me, as he appears in the James Bond film Thunderball as a henchman who ‘got the point’ of a spear gun.

The Baron is on his way to meet a man called White who has some information for him. After he falls for the classic fake diversion trick, he’s trapped in a tunnel and gets kidnapped. In a marvellous twist on convention, it’s his female companion, Cordelia, who has to come to his rescue. Philip Locke as Compton poses as the Baron to go meet White but our hero turns up and smacks Compton, giving White the chance to make a run for it. Unfortunately White cops it anyway and the police tell the Baron that he had recently been working for Arkin Morley. The Baron knows Morley, who is a filmmaker as well as a fellow antique dealer. “Morley’s about the largest antique dealer in Europe, isn’t he?” says Codelia. “Yes and about the crookedest.” replies the Baron, which turns out to be a somewhat slanderous statement as the policeman says Morley has never been convicted of anything.

The Baron heads off to see Morley and I find it incredibly strange to hear Woodward (who’s taken 27 minutes to turn up) being so well-spoken. Throughout the episode, when he’s spouting particular venom, the refinement slips for a moment to reveal a much dirtier character beneath. Morley and Mannering exchange some banter and Morley gives away that this is all about a valuable sword, which previously fetched a quarter of a million dollars.

Everything starts to move a lot faster as the Baron and Cordelia head off to a house in search of the sword, but Morley and Compton have followed them. It feels like they have cheated a little by turning up with guns. They lock the Baron and Cordelia up for a bit. Yet it all goes terribly wrong for Morley after he asks Compton to shoot Mannering. Despite having a perfectly clean line of sight with his victim cornered, for reasons we will never know Compton decides to walk within a foot of the Baron, who takes the opportunity to knock the gun away. Morley legs it.

Steve Forrest has several inches on Edward Woodward and once the latter’s poorly-aimed bullets run out, it isn’t looking good. “I’m taking you in,” Mannering tells Morley, though I’m not entirely sure what for. Morley has committed unlawful imprisonment and attempted murder, but the Baron has no evidence of any of this. Also, the Baron knocked Compton about a fair bit before leaving his body on the floor underneath a large stone coffin lid so he could easily be up for manslaughter himself. I’d started to quite like Morley, who has far more witty lines than Mannering and had been a rather cool, cold villain. This last section of the episode has flown by and while I’m enjoying The Baron, I don’t find John Mannering a particularly compelling character – there just isn’t much to him. So far, it’s the plots and the guest cast that are bringing the quality to this show.

25th May
Danger Man ‘The Outcast’
ATV Midlands

I last saw Danger Man back in 1962 and like then this is a repeat from two years earlier. Though I have seen a number of the 25 minute episodes, this was my first of the later 50 minute ones. I’ve enjoyed the half-hour episodes because the action moves so quickly, yet there are some episodes where I’ve felt the plot would benefit from being drawn out. There is a new title sequence too but I really don’t like the music. The other change is that someone has stolen John Drake’s American accent. Maybe he had just spent too long away.

Drake heads off to Spain to befriend a sailor who has gone AWOL from Gibraltar. He is suspected of murdering a WREN who gave away signals intelligence. The sailor, Leo, is played by Bernard Bresslaw and oh gosh he’s just so lovely that I can’t believe he’s done it. Drake pretends to be a slightly dodgy character who is planning to leave for South America, that favourite lawless land so beloved by Nazis and criminals the world over at this time. To show just how awful he is, Drake stages a shooting so that Leo believes he’s murdered a guard. Leo is absolutely horrified but it works as Drake uses it as leverage to get Leo to confess. When Leo finds out who Drake really is, he confronts him with a gun. It soon becomes clear he won’t use it though and it’s rather a sad, pitiful ending.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

MISSING Those Two Fellers – After several years of writing for other people, Dick Hills and Sid Green have their own series with different guest stars each week. Two comedians they have written plenty for over the last few years are Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, who are among the guests this week. Only one series was made and no complete episodes exist.

UNKNOWN Wheelbase – The world of motoring. This episode explores how to manage abroad with the limits of taking currency out of the country, which at the time was capped at £50. While not an insignificant sum, after travel and hotel costs, it probably didn’t leave holidaymakers with a great deal of spending money.

MISSING The Likely Lads ‘Friends and Neighbour’ – Although several episodes of The Likely Lads do exist, this repeat isn’t one of them, making it your last ever chance to see it. I first met Terry and Bob through the radio adaptations of the sequel series, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, before moving on to the same TV series. I’d love to get to know the earlier incarnations of the lads.

MISSING Armchair Thriller ‘The Snares of Death’ – The details given in TVTimes about this episode, starring Alfred Burke, are tantalising. An undertaker’s business is struggling and he ponders what can be done about it. He ‘thinks he has solved his troubles but the plan takes a macabre twist’. There are some colour promo photos with Burke posing over a coffin. His slightly offbeat expressions intrigue me even more.

The post Back in time for TV: 18-25 May 1967 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Off the screen Irene, a former vaudeville star, is quite unlike her screen character. “It’s fun being two people,” she declares.

Buddy Ebsen, who plays Jed Clampett, cuts a striking figure when he sheds his make-up, for, like Irene, he too spends a long time in the make-up chair each day. In his early days Buddy was a noted dancer. “My father used to own a dancing school, but I used to think dancing was cissy stuff.” He went to the University of Florida and Rollins College to take a pre-medical course. Then suddenly he changed his mind about dancing. He went to New York and won his first Broadway stage role in the 1928 Ziegfeld production, “Whoopee”. Hollywood later beckoned, and Buddy made a big success in several films. He has also written songs, starred in cabaret, and played straight dramatic parts. He is married and has five children.

Beautiful young Donna Douglas, as Elly May, says her screen image is very much like the girl she used to be as a kid. Very much the tomboy, Donna won several beauty contests, which opened the way to television. Famous producer Hal Wallis changed her name from Doris Smith and signed her for a film with Dean Martin called Career. It was an apt title, for Donna found herself with a movie career of her own.

She adores animals, and has as much affection for them as she shows in the series. She also likes to read books on philosophy and religion. She keeps fit by practising yoga.

Rugged Max Baer, who plays Jethro, wanted to become a professional boxer like his famous father, a former world heavyweight champion. His father, however, advised him that one fighter in the family was enough. He encouraged him instead to be a lawyer or an engineer. Max, born December 4, 1937, showed sporting prowess at school in athletics, football, baseball and basketball. He also won a Junior Open Golf Championship two years in a row. He first became interested in dramatics at school. After six months in the Air Force, he decided to make the trip to Hollywood to carve out an acting career. He worked for two weeks in a meat-packing plant before being discovered by actress Pamela Duncan. Then he appeared in many TV shows. Finally came the big break in “The Beverly Hillbillies”.

This talented foursome have made the series, with its simple, off-beat humour, a remarkable success.

The post The Beverley Hillbillies appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

His leading characters are puppets, but so realistic are they that names like Mike Mercury, Steve Zodiac, Troy Tempest, Jeff Tracy and his sons, Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John, together with Lady Penelope, have become as famous as those of many human stars.

Anderson produces his spectacular shows on the lines of a full-length feature production, and the result is slick, polished entertainment.

From Television Stars 1966, published by Purnell

He and his wife, Sylvia, have brought stature to the TV puppet on a scale difficult to believe possible. Their films enjoy a tremendous popularity, not only on our screen but also in America.

His recent “Thunderbirds” was sold to America for over a million pounds.

In a film studio in Slough, formerly a disused factory and now a well-equipped studios, the Anderson puppet characters come to life. They play their parts on a miniature set in which the scenery is generally no higher than four feet. Everything is about one-third of normal size, which of course necessitates the making of almost everything that appears on the set—furniture and fittings, jewellery, crockery, guns, lamps, and so on.

Each episode of “Thunderbirds”, which runs for an hour on screen, takes about one month to film. The problems are of course numerous, and sometimes far more intricate than those which face makers of feature films.

As Gerry Anderson says, to produce science-fiction for television is just about the most gruelling thing he can think of. But he is a man with plenty of patience, and the rewards he has reaped have proved well worth the effort.

His company, A.P. Films Ltd., started in 1958 with the production of puppet pictures in an old mansion near the River Thames at Maidenhead. Four people were concerned: Gerry Anderson, Reg Hill, John Read (the lighting cameraman), and a fair-haired Londoner who has since become Mrs. Gerry Anderson. Sylvia Anderson also speaks many of the parts and is the voice of Lady Penelope in “Thunderbirds”.

From their modest beginnings, the company has become a massive organisation. Their phenomenal success story is the result of imagination, gruelling hard work, and determination to succeed.

They started with £500, but today they are worth millions.

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This week my ITV programmes are coming from ABC and Anglia.

5th May
The Fugitive ‘Landscape with Running Figures Part 1’
ABC

I loved 1965’s episode of The Fugitive so couldn’t wait to watch another one. The UK have now reached the third series and the title sequence is a little different. Unlike the previous episode I watched, Dr Richard Kimble is very much on his own for this one. The police get on to him after he accidentally signs out of his job using his real name. It might sound like a rookie mistake, but Kimble is presented as a man who is simply very tired. Working long, late shifts combined with the constant pressure from being on the run has exhausted him. He actually has few lines, yet David Janssen’s acting conveys a great deal.

Lieutenant Gerard is the guy tracking Kimble down and this time his wife is with him. She is incredibly fed up of either being left alone or accompanying Gerard as he moves around the country at the drop of a hat to follow up any leads on Kimble. This is understandable and I had a lot of sympathy for Mrs Gerard. She decides to sneak off and leave him, getting a bus out of town. After some hitchhiking, Kimble ends up on the same bus. When the bus crashes in the middle of nowhere, Mrs Gerard is injured and unconscious. Kimble ends up being the one reluctantly convinced to take her to the nearest town.

This was an interesting episode and I find Kimble such a compelling character. I would never have expected the series to look at the Lieutenant’s personal life. He could just have been a generic cop, but it’s wonderful for him to have more personality and a proper background.

6th May
The Man in Room 17 ‘The Catacombs’
Anglia

Rather confusingly, there are two men in what I presume is Room 17. It has been brought to their attention that a young disgraced academic, Alan Haynes, has returned to Istanbul, enlisted to help hunt for early Christian relics in the catacombs. They are suspicious of his motives and have someone disguised as a priest keep an eye on things. Haynes is actually trying to be a decent chap again, desperate to return to academia, but his girlfriend and his financier are planning to do him over.

Between all the action in Istanbul, we repeatedly cut back to the men in Room 17 so they can have some banter and direct the operation. They look like civil servants and one of them moans about how long it takes to get a line to the Middle East so I presume they are based in London. It seems bizarre to have your central characters office-based. They didn’t seem to do a lot and the story could probably have been reworked without them. Mostly, they just provide exposition. However, I never found their scenes dull and enjoyed the whole episode. I thought the character of Haynes was particularly well done and I would be intrigued to see how the men in Room 17 are used in other episodes.

7th May
Dr Who ‘Don’t Shoot the Pianist’
BBC-1

This is episode two of the story that has come to be known as ‘The Gunfighters’. While I’ve since discovered this is something of a ‘marmite’ story for fans, I remember loving ‘The Gunfighters’ when I first watched it so I was looking forward to it. The Doctor, Steven and Dodo find themselves in the Wild West. There is another doctor in town, Doc Holliday, and several people want him dead. However, they don’t know what he looks like and Doc Holliday takes the chance to let them mistake the Doctor for Doc Holliday.

There’s a lot of singing in this story and the episode begins with Steven and Dodo being forced to sing in the saloon. I am astounded Steven hasn’t already been shot for the shirt he’s wearing. It’s absolutely ghastly. The recurring song throughout is ‘The Ballad of the Last Chance Saloon’ and many people have said how much it grates. I never watched the whole story arc in one go and I think that, one episode at a time, it isn’t really that bad. For a programme that usually lacks much incidental music, it makes a change.

If you can cope with ‘The Ballad…’, the only other thing to get over is that there isn’t a single genuine American accent among the cast. The cowboy impersonations are all of varying quality, with the best undoubtedly coming from Canadian Shane Rimmer, whose voice would be familiar to many viewers from Thunderbirds where he voiced Scott Tracey. There are dodgy accents aplenty in 1960s’ television. Half the fun sometimes is trying to guess whether someone is playing German or Russian, and it seems that anyone can put on a bit of make up to play a generic Arab. Just how convinced the contemporary audiences were, I can only guess. However, as I noticed during my time travel through earlier years, there were a lot of Westerns on telly and while the volume had decreased by 1966, they are still being shown regularly. A decent proportion of 1966’s viewers were used to hearing cowboys so knew what they should sound like.

I can look past this though because ‘The Gunfighters’ is not an entirely serious story. There’s more comedy written in than in most Dr Who stories and the plot is a lot of fun. It’s the best way to approach the story as while the viewers were used to seeing Westerns on telly and at the pictures, being surrounded by this many shoot-outs has never been the Doctor’s thing. The man himself sums this up in ‘Don’t Shoot the Pianist’ when he says, ‘People keep giving me guns and I do wish they wouldn’t!’.

8th May
The Baron ‘Epitaph for a Hero’
Anglia

I was curious about The Baron because, as with Man in a Suitcase, it was a single series ITC show that I knew nothing about and I have come to hold ITC to high standards. Another similarity turned out to be that both shows have an American lead. I still haven’t quite figured out who John Mannering is and I certainly haven’t worked out how he came by his nickname. In this episode, he goes to the funeral of a former army colleague, only to later discover he’s still alive. Mannering is forced into helping to commit a jewel theft.

Our hero seems to work for some sort of intelligence agency and had support from them throughout this episode, although that became something of a hindrance when one young lady got caught and she was used to blackmail him. Never mind – that’s what young ladies are generally there for in. It struck me as odd though as most of the ITC leads I have watched work alone and get minimal back-up; John Drake (Danger Man) , Simon Templar (The Saint), McGill (Man in a Suitcase) and Number Six (The Prisoner) usually have to get on with everything themselves. If they do employ assistance, it’s from one-off characters each episode. Yet this does seem to change later on. The Champions is a proper team affair, Marty (Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased)) helps Jeff as much as a ghost can, and The Persuaders! brings together a wonderfully well-suited duo. Having more than one regular character does create a different dynamic and The Baron predates all three of these so I’d be curious to see more of how the series explores this.

Horizon ‘Man in Space’
BBC-2

Many children dream of becoming astronauts and the 1960s much have been an incredibly exciting time as humanity regularly completed many ‘firsts’ in space travel. Though technology has advanced considerably and there are no doubt many things done differently, I was still fascinated by this documentary. Have you ever wondered how astronauts rehydrate their food? How exactly do you pee in space? All this and more was answered when the BBC sent a journalist to interview astronauts in Texas.

9th May
Blue Peter
BBC-1

This episode is from January but aside from being wished a happy new year, I’m sure it makes little difference. As a young child, I found Blue Peter dull yet ended up finding it more interesting as I got older.

As the familiar music plays out, one of the presenters, Valerie, is demonstrating a Spirograph. For me, this is an incredibly commonplace toy. Surely everyone knows what they are? Yet the Spirograph only came out in 1965. Perhaps its appearance on Blue Peter helped as soon it was flying off the shelves (you can pick up original versions for pence on a well-known auction site) and, in 1967, it would be named Toy of the Year.

In the studio today is John Riding, who took the smallest ever boat across the Atlantic. The 12-foot boat is there too so we can see the scale. John tells Chris all about the journey, including shooting at various vicious mammals to keep them at bay.

The most unexpected part of the programme was a hand-drawn, narrated Black Beauty serial. Helpfully, Chris fills us in on the story so far, which was excellent for me because I had no previous knowledge of Black Beauty. This went on for what seemed like a while and was probably the longest segment in the programme, yet I really enjoyed it. It was also a good way of breaking up what seems to be a very studio-bound show.

We end today with a section on animals in need of adoption, with cute pictures included. There is an update on a cat, Holly, who was posted through a letterbox with ten shillings and a note attached, asking to find her a home. You can stop saying ‘aw!’ though as she’s got a new big family. However, there is now Shep, who has grown into a massive three-foot-tall dog. There is no covering up here, with Chris telling all those children watching that if lovely Shep doesn’t get a home, “I’m afraid he’ll have to be destroyed.”

11th May
Call My Bluff
BBC-2

This is a 1965 edition of the programme. What I like most about the format of Call My Bluff is that you can play along at home. The format is simple enough: one team give three definitions of a word and the opposing team have to guess which is correct. If they get it right, they get a point, if the other team successfully fool them, then they get one instead. It’s easy enough to pick up and was even easier for me because the modern series of Would I Lie To You? runs a similar format.

Among the more random things I liked from the show was the sound effect when the word generator whirred and the CRACK when it finished. I’m fairly certain the CRACK-type sound was later used in Dr. Who ‘The Mind Robber’ when a superhero from the future, the Karkus, appears.

The host, Robin Ray, introduced the team captains but I didn’t know him, either of them, nor any of their guests, but was delighted that upon looking them up there were a couple described as ‘raconteurs’. I liked Alan Melville best, finding his humour rather dry at times.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

MISSING Marriage Lines ‘Home Market’. This sitcom has reached its fifth series by 1966. The original premise saw Richard Briers and Prunella Scales star as a newly married couple and while the first and third series both exist, outside of those only a single episode from the final fifth series exists.

MISSING Redcap ‘The Moneylenders’ – John Thaw stars as a military police investigator in this drama series. Most of it does actually exist and the few episodes I’ve seen have explored some interesting cases – it’s just my bad luck that this week’s episode is one of those that’s missing.

UNAVAILABLE The Eamonn Andrews Show – This is the oldest episode to exist with footage and a very short clip of the opening is available. This episode includes a celebration of ten years of ABC in the North. Eamonn Andrews’ name is frequently among the TV listings and I enjoyed his easy, relaxed style in the clip so it would be wonderful to see more of him.

UNAVAILABLE From Inner Space – Five men are on an isolated radar base and have been there for months. Julian Glover is among them. ‘Boredom turns them inwards and backwards’.

The post Back in time for TV: 5-11 May 1966 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

This week my 1965 ITV programmes are coming from Westward and ATV Midlands.

28th April
The Fugitive ‘Somebody to Remember’
Westward

For reasons I forget, we watched the film version of The Fugitive in RE at school. Having spotted it in the schedules, I’d been intrigued what the television version would be like. I gathered from the synopses that they follow the same plot of a man falsely convicted of murdering his wife, escaping and going on the run, planning to try to catch the real killer and thus clear his name. I love shows that neatly explain their premise to viewers in the opening titles (The Prisoner being one of the best examples) and The Fugitive does just that, showing how Dr Richard Kimble escaped with a voice over filling in the rest.

In this episode, Kimble is working in a warehouse. His Greek boss discovers he is dying and, revealing that he has always known who Kimble really is, concocts a plan. They will trick the police, making them believe Kimble has escaped to Greece under his boss’s name. But really, Kimble will still be in the US and so he will have some time to get a few more steps ahead of the police. Unfortunately, someone else has also found out who Kimble is and the police are soon in town.

The episode is tense as the plan so very nearly works and it all builds to an exciting climax, with the police pursuing Kimble and his boss from the airport. Those opening titles ensure we have firm belief in Kimble’s innocence and I was willing him on to get away!

Stingray ‘A Nut For Marineville’
Westward

I haven’t seen ATV/ITC’s Stingray before and it must have some of the most thrilling opening titles of any television programme. A voice tells us to “Stand by for action!” and then something explodes out of the sea. Our characters and the Stingray ship are introduced and then we are told that “Anything can happen in the next half hour.” Anything? Like what? I don’t know but we’ve had a crash zoom, Stingray has just fired into the ocean, then leapt into the air, some planes have soared overhead and a giant fish has been blown up. I’m firmly convinced that anything really could happen.

Some baddie aliens have got a ship they believe is indestructible. I’m not sure what their long-term plan is but I’m just going to assume it’s to take over the Earth. That seems to be standard. The aliens’ design includes silver faces, high foreheads and what I can only describe as face fins – I love it. They also have some cracking evil dialogue. One admits of their plan, “Yes it’s crazy,” but then adds, in a lovely cheery tone, “Crazy enough to succeed!”

29th April
The Saint ‘Marcia’
Westward

With the third series recently finished, Westward are repeating the second series of ITC’s The Saint, which has numerous single word episode titles including, ‘Judith’, ‘Teresa’, ‘Iris’, ‘Luella’ and ‘Sophia’. Have you spotted the theme? Marcia herself doesn’t make an appearance in the episode. After having acid thrown in her face, the film actress committed suicide and now an unknown, Claire Avery, has been brought in to replace her in a film. Claire starts getting threatening letters, saying that unless she pays up, she’ll face the same fate as Marcia.

This isn’t the only Saint episode to be set in a film studio and I always think it must have made it easy for them to source props. Simon Templar himself features relatively little in this episode, with the focus given over to the rest of the cast much of the time. The only one I recognised among them was Johnny Briggs, who plays the third assistant director. By the time of this repeat he was a regular in No Hiding Place and in the next decade would join Coronation Street for a thirty year stint as Mike Baldwin.

Gideon’s Way ‘To Catch a Tiger’
ATV Midlands

Thanks to the magic of time travel, I’m able to watch Westward and ATV Midlands at the same time tonight. I’ve only seen one episode of ITC’s Gideon’s Way before and it didn’t particularly impress me but I head in open-minded.

A woman is killed after a car accident and uses her dying breath to say that John Borgman murdered his wife. Soon afterwards we see John Borgman sacking an employee, Samuels, who has been fiddling the books so he can afford to care for his sick wife. The old guy goes home, poisons his wife and shoots himself. Borgman has another wife now and a mistress in his secretary. His new wife is suspicious and convinced he’s having an affair. The married couple aren’t getting on well and Borgman is horrible to her throughout the episode. Gideon has looked into the first wife’s death and discovered she had an enormous amount of morphine in her. I become desperate for Borgman to be the killer, especially after he viciously calls his current wife a “fat, drunken slut”. He is (hooray!) and following a tense courtroom scene in which one of the coppers nearly cracks under the pressure of Borgman’s top solicitor, the evidence wins through.

Gideon’s Way reminds me a lot of No Hiding Place. This episode even has a similar opening to the No Hiding Place I watched in 1961 – there too a police investigation begins because someone has reported suspicions about a man murdering his wife. Both focus more on the guest cast than the recurring characters and while I enjoy this novelty, it does mean needing consistently good casting throughout the series. When there is a weaker episode in terms of casting or plotting, you don’t have the leads there to carry the episode and I worry that it would be hard to maintain that consistency. The other similarity is that they are both very slow. As much as I have enjoyed the episodes of No Hiding Place I’ve seen, there is no way I would use it or Gideon’s Way to introduce someone to 1960s’ television. Even for me, the pace is only just about still acceptable.

30th April
Burke’s Law ‘Who Killed Cop Robin?’
Westward

Captain Amos Burke is the ladies man of the Los Angeles Police Department. His vast personal wealth probably helps in this but he is also a rather suave fellow. We see little of this tonight though as he shows a more severe side while hunting down the killer of his old mentor. If my years of watching police shows have taught me anything, it’s that no one likes a cop killer and appropriately Burke takes no messing around from the suspects tonight. We get a fantastic fight in a warehouse so they can take full advantage of the potential of toppling boxes. They are a lot cheaper than smashed glass and furniture.

1st May
Dr Who ‘The Dimensions of Time’
BBC-1

This is episode two of the serial that has come to be known as ‘The Space Museum’. I don’t remember this story very well but once I’m watching, bits come back to me. The Doctor has dumped his granddaughter by now and picked up another young girl, Vicki. Along with Ian and Barbara, they land on a planet with a museum containing all sorts of things from other worlds. From the dialogue in this episode, we learn that the travellers have seen themselves as exhibits in this museum. They must find a way to change things and avoid that happening.

Despite the serious nature of this problem, the episode manages its lighter moments. The Doctor hides inside a Dalek casing, which is also a good reminder that the Daleks are not the machines but the aliens that usually inhabit them. The Doctor also tricks a machine designed to display images of his thoughts. The Doctor simply imagines ridiculous things instead.

One of the things I have come to love about Dr Who’s early years is its sheer ambition. They have a tiny studio space to work with but decide to present an entire museum. We’re over a year into the show now and this is the first story that actually uses time travel as part of the plot – it has always just been a way of getting somewhere before.

2nd May
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Westward

Electricity pulses and the camera pulls back to reveal a man strapped to a chair with electrodes on his head. He’s being brainwashed but we can’t be sure who by because they are simply a booming voice, insisting he pledge allegiance. It was such a gripping opening. The brainwashed man (David Hedison) is captain of a nuclear submarine and upon return to it, begins sabotaging the mission. He’s been told he’ll be watched because he’s not the only one onboard who has pledged allegiance to the organisation. This was so intriguing and the submarine sets are fantastic. I’m left still wondering who the mysterious villains really are.

3rd May
Tales of the Riverbank
BBC-1

This short programme from the Watch with Mother strand was wonderfully laid back and relaxing. It features real animals, with the story narrated by a voice over. Hammy, a hamster, is new in town and meets Roderick, a rat, who takes him on a boat trip. They also meet some ducks. I was impressed by the animal actions and, to enable me to sleep easy, will assume they were all treated well.

4th May
Association Football
BBC-1

Liverpool are playing Inter-Milan in semi-final of the European Cup, which was eventually replaced by the UEFA Champions League. While European football gets prime time live screenings in the present day, I feel sorry for 1965’s viewers who get a mere half hour of highlights. Liverpool won 3-1 in this home match, but would lose in the second leg and Inter-Milan eventually went on to be the tournament’s victors.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

MISSING Public Eye ‘Have It on the House’ – ‘Hired to track down a military man who has duped a woman out of £700, Marker’s instinct tells him he’s being taken for a fool – but conning an expert can prove dangerous.’ I adore Frank Marker in Public Eye. He’s such a wonderful down-trodden character. This is the final episode of the programme’s first series.

MISSING The Bed-Sit Girl ‘The Last Half Inch’ – This Sheila Hancock sitcom follows a young woman dreaming of something more – oh aren’t we all? I don’t know of any earlier sitcoms with a woman as the main lead and every episode of this is missing.

MISSING Orlando ‘Humpty Dumpty’- Remember Crane from 1963? This is a spin-off starring Crane’s friend. While Crane’s survival rate of two episodes (out of 39) is poor, at four (out of 76) Orlando’s isn’t much better. Crane was shown later in the schedules but Orlando was specifically styled as a children’s serial and as a result gets an early evening slot.

The post Back in time for TV: 28 April-4 May 1965 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

From the ATV Television Show Book 1962

The television camera has done much to dispense with the need for teasing approaches of this kind. For as the weekly fare of wrestling bouts, broadcast from centres all over Britain, has become more and more a regular Saturday afternoon viewing habit, so the uninitiated spectator, sitting in the comfort of his own sitting-room, has come to learn that this is not just an exhibition of brute force, accompanied by grunts and groans, but, in fact, is a highly specialised business, where an above average degree of physical fitness, a fleetness of foot, a good eye — not forgetting a definite hint of showmanship — are essential ingredients in the making of a good wrestler.

Nothing is more revealing than the television camera. Let a wrestler fall below the standards now expected of him by the armchair enthusiast and he is quick to receive the derision of the millions who, nowadays, watch every wrestling programme which is televised.

And by far the greatest majority of these viewers are women.

Why should this be so?

ATV producers who supervise the transmission of many of these broadcasts admit to being mystified by the appeal of this type of programme to women.

One has tentatively ventured the reason as being ‘because they like seeing these great torsoes throwing each other around.’ Others lack his temerity in offering an explanation and keep quiet.

But there is no denying the appeal — as the large mail addressed to ATV when an exciting bout is cut off in mid-stream testifies. Here again, the majority of the letter writers are women.

As the sport has grown in appeal, so it has thrown up its characters — and its specialists. Commentators Kent Walton and Peter Cockburn, from their seats at the ringsides, Saturday after Saturday, must now be regarded as among the most knowledgeable of wrestling followers in this country. While they describe the action in the ring, pin-pointing by name the holds and the falls, so they also have at hand the expert assistance of such exponents from the world of wrestling itself as Ian Campbell and Tony Mancini, both of whom can provide for the viewer more technical reading of a bout as it takes place.

Campbell and Mancini know wrestling intimately from the inside. Both have been seen by television viewers in action in the ring. Mancini, with his panther-like grace and speed of striking; the bulky, bearded Campbell, using his tremendous strength and his Scottish canniness to mislead and antagonise his opponent — and, not infrequently, the spectators who are watching him!

But it is the regular, top-of-the bill names who have now moved into that select company known as ‘TV personalities’.

Befitting their emergence as popular television favourites, wrestlers of today bring a touch of colour and the suggestion of distant lands in their names, in their flamboyant dressing-gowns, in their peculiarly personal preparations in their corners as they limber up before coming out for the first time to meet an opponent.

Such colourful personalities include the Mohawk Indian, Billy Two Rivers; the West African witch doctor Massanbula; Antonio Mantoro, who hails from Valencia, in Spain; a Sheffield miner who fights under the pseudonym of Young Vulcan; Togo, a 16-stone wrestler from Japan, and Mike Narino, who brings to his wrestling the dash and fire expected of someone born in sunny Italy.

All have become firm favourites with television viewers. Some have gained their following by their sportsmanship and by the expert manner in which they handle themselves — and their opponents — in the ring. Others cut a fine figure, muscles rippling, the embodiment of supreme physical fitness, as they circle an opponent, waiting to get to grips with him.

Such a wresler is Dennis Mitchell from Bradford. With his fair hair crew-cut, and always sporting spotless white trunks, he attracts probably the greatest fan mail of any wrestler who appears regularly in televised wrestling matches.

Peculiarities of dress and style in the ring have become the wrestler’s trade mark. Big Joe Cornelius has very definite views, for instance, on the colour of the tights he wears when fighting. His choice is always black. But his real trade mark is a striking gold lame dressing-gown. He would not dream of appearing in a ring, prior to his introduction to the crowd, unless he was wearing it.

But the brilliance of Cornelius’s pre-fight apparel fades before the feathered head-dress and painted robes and regalia worn by Billy Two Rivers when he strides down the aisle towards the ring, heralded, as always, by a fanfare.

Ducking through the ropes, he performs a few shuffling steps taken from an Indian war-dance. Part of a war-dance is also to be found in one facet of his wrestling technique. And it is invariably followed by the ‘Tomahawk’, a chopping hand blow, usually adminstered as his opponent rebounds from a throw on to the ropes of the ring.

Togo brings the quiet dignity of the East to his ringcraft. This Tokyo-born exponent of Karate (the science of fighting with hands, without using weapons) has endeared himself to wrestling enthusiasts by his habit of bowing to the crowd after every fall, whether taken by him, or scored by him. He repeats the bow at the end of every fight — again irrespective of whether he has won or lost.

And these fighters are not without their academic distinctions. If Mike Marino, with his ability to speak five languages, once thought he had the edge — linguistically — over his fellow wrestlers, he had to bow to the coloured American, Ray Apollon, who can speak seven languages and has a science degree from a Paris university to boot!

Billy Howes is a demolition expert in his home town of Bristol. His hobby is breeding bull mastiffs. But Hungarian Tibor Szakas must have thought him more like a terrier when they clashed in one of the most memorable meetings to be staged in Wembley Town Hall, the setting for some of the best afternoons of wrestling seen on television.

Wembley has the reputation of disliking someone who should, in fact, be one of her favourite wrestling sons. He is Jackie Pallo, dubbed this year ‘Mr. TV’. He is always assured of a barrage of catcalls and shouts of disapproval when he climbs in through the ropes at a Wembley Town Hall promotion.

In fairness to the fair-haired Jackie it must be recorded that in Huddersfield, over a hundred miles from home, he is very popular with the crowds.

If Pallo is the man they dislike at Wembley, then the man ‘they love to hate’ everywhere is short-cropped Mick McManus, the welterweight, who delights in infuriating his opponents and spectators alike with his feints, concealed handshakes and strutting, arrogant postures, while he shouts defiance at everyone — in the ring and outside it.

Who among those who watch television wrestling as a regular habit can forget the classic meeting of Pallo and McManus on the afternoon of this year’s F.A. Cup Final.

For weeks the two had been snapping at each other, anxious to meet in the ring, each determined to lower the others colours, once and for all.

The bout was indeed a needle match. From the first bell both wrestlers gave everything they had. No quarter was asked; none was given. Every trick of the book was produced; every hold tried and found to be wanting. When the final bell went both men were out on their feet. The result: a drawn bout — and the money side-stake went unclaimed.

This fight had everything the wrestling fan wants: excitement, thrills, technical ability, skill and showmanship. If you are a devout follower of wrestling no more need be said.

The post Wrestling appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from Rediffusion and ATV London.

14th April
Meet the Wife ‘The Bed’
BBC Television

We start the week with a prime time repeat. First shown as part of Comedy Playhouse a few months ago, Meet the Wife has got a series. Thora and Fred are a middle aged couple who like to bicker but nonetheless love each other very much and Thora decides that after twenty five years of marriage, they need a new bed. I absolutely loved this programme. The two leads are marvellous and they need to be as, apart from scenes with a bed salesman, they are the sole speaking characters. I found the scenes in the bed shop interesting as both Thora and Fred are extremely reluctant to lie down on the beds in the middle of the shop. They both seem embarrassed by the idea. Fred in particular is initially perfectly willing to buy a bed without having tried it out. To me, testing a new, expensive mattress while in a shop seems completely reasonable yet the salesman has to coax them both into it.

From their conversation throughout the episode, we discover Fred is a plumber. He also likes a drink and a flutter. He had a big win recently and Thora believes he’s blown it all but later discovers he’s bought her a new dressing gown for their anniversary. No children are mentioned and they wouldn’t be the only married sitcom couple without any. I would like to see more of Thora and Fred.

16th April
Petticoat Junction
Rediffusion, London

This US sitcom was astoundingly twee. A family run a hotel near a small town. I am rather sceptical about how much trade they get. Herbie, who works in a nearby store, gets called up for his military service. The ladies from the hotel are encouraging but another local lad predicts he will be quite useless. He’s right. Herbie is let go because he just isn’t up to scratch. He’s ashamed so a plan is put in place to make it appear he’s been invalided out after committing some heroic deeds. It is all so sweet, old fashioned and nice, and frankly it makes me sick.

17th April
The Dick Van Dyke Show ‘One Angry Man’
BBC Television

I know Dick Van Dyke because I imagine it’s quite unusual to reach adulthood without seeing Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang broadcast over a bank holiday. Dick did not feature too heavily in this episode, which was a shame because I would have liked to have seen more of him. Nonetheless, I was impressed with this comedy. The plot was secondary for me as the writing was strong enough. I’d certainly watch more episodes.

18th April
The Telegoons ‘The Underwater Mountain’
BBC Television

I should be watching ‘The Dreaded Batter Pudding Hurler of Bexhill-on-Sea’ but technical difficulties mean I am instead watching last week’s episode. This is a television adaption of the highly successful radio series of The Goon Show. I have listened to several episodes of the radio series so the voices are all familiar to me, along with several of the characters, who are here presented in puppet form.

The Goon Show always conjures up images of magnificent worlds so seeing these absurd realities come to life, even in puppet-form, is fantastic. In this episode, Seagoon wants to climb a mountain that is taller than Mount Everest. After attempting to build one and then being unable to work out how to flip Mount Everest on its side, it is suggested there is already a mountain taller than Mount Everest. The only snag is it’s underwater. Seagoon sets off looking for it, asking for help along the way. “Hello, is Pearl in?” “No, I’m her mother.” “Of course! You must be Mother of Pearl!” The Telegoons was so much fun.

Dr. Who ‘The Velvet Web’
BBC Television

It feels like I have been in the 1960s for ages before Dr. Who has come along. I have seen all of 1960s’ Dr. Who because a few years ago I decided to watch them all in broadcast order. It’s an interesting way of watching a long-running show develop. Prior to this, I hadn’t seen many episodes from the show’s first few years and I haven’t revisited them since. This also makes it the first series I’ve encountered during my time travels that I actually know quite well already.

This is the second episode of a serial that has come to be known as ‘The Keys of Marinus’. The Doctor and his companions have been tasked with travelling to collect numerous keys, the exact purpose of which I forget. In this episode, they find themselves in a place where they are provided with the finest things, including food and clothes. While historian Barbara reclines and the Doctor’s granddaughter, Susan, orders a bespoke dress, my favourite former schoolteacher-turned-action-man Ian is suspicious. How can all this be free? There must be some true cost.

When they are sleeping, a woman comes around and places discs on their foreheads but Barbara’s falls off. When she wakes, the others have been devouring food and drink from beautiful cutlery. But when the camera becomes Barbara’s point of view, she can see that it’s actually all rubbish. The water is murky, the cups are old and battered, while Susan’s dress is rags.

I thought this fake world with a perception filter was a marvellous idea. It also gives the character of Barbara the opportunity to be centre stage. The episode ends with Susan moving on to the location for next week’s episode, ‘The Screaming Jungle’. I am quite happy to leave Susan there screaming because the character’s regular whining does my head in.

The Morecambe and Wise Show
ATV London

I tune in briefly to catch The Beatles performing on the show, both musically and comedically, though poor Ringo doesn’t get to join in on the latter. This was actually recorded by ATV back in December but anyone who was worried that the band were a passing fad could relax – they were number one in the charts both when the programme was recorded and when it was broadcast, with She Loves You and Can’t Buy Me Love respectively. Among the songs they performed on the show was I Want to Hold Your Hand, which is currently (just) in the top 50.

Aside from Christmas specials, I haven’t seen a lot of Morecambe and Wise and it has all been from later years. I was not aware they had been on television this early so it was a treat to see them both looking so young. It’s nice to know the ‘short, fat, hairy legs’ joke stretched back so far.

20th April
BBC Two

Tonight is the first night of broadcasting on the first new television channel for nine years: BBC Two. To say it was disappointing would be something of a catastrophic understatement. It was a disaster and I was treated to about ten minutes of it. What was ‘it’? An enormous electrical failure prevented any programmes being transmitted so viewers were left with a gentleman, Gerald Priestland, reading out the news. Occasionally he is interrupted by a telephone call but it all comes to nothing.

Among the interesting things to note is the large number two in the studio. I hope this was used as an ident because I think it’s beautiful. The first item on the news is that a bus conductress has made an apology and been reinstated, after previously being dismissed for “calling Pakistani passengers filthy wogs”. Well. The slur is bleeped out on the version I saw but it was an eye-opener into the reality of the age. The Scottish church are against commercial sport on Sundays, which made me wonder just when it became more common. The church reckon “serious thought and reading” are more suitable activities. Construction workers on the new Nottingham University building celebrated the near-completion with free beer before it was decided they were a little too “light-hearted” to continue work in the afternoon.

Finally, Gerald refers to BBC One and BBC Two as “channel one” and “channel two” and this seems strange and so very wrong.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

MISSING This Is Your Life: Dominique Pire – I vaguely remember my parents watching the later incarnation of This Is Your Life, presented by Michael Aspel, but otherwise I’ve seen little. To help keep the episode’s ‘victim’ a secret, the series was broadcast live and as a result most of it is missing. This version is presented by Eamonn Andrews. It would soon take a five-year break before returning on ITV. A look over the people featured in the episodes that do exist reveals few names I know, but I’m even more intrigued by the odd military title. I had thought the show only featured celebrities but this revealed to me that other, perhaps less well-known, noteworthy figures were also included.

UNKNOWN The Budget/Budget Day – Allotted a decent chunk of the afternoon on both BBC and ITV, these live broadcasts are presumed missing. Yet it would be a fascinating insight into the state of the country as well as a look at 1964’s idea of instant analysis. Also, after over a decade in power, the Conservatives would lose the October 1964 General Election to Labour, so I’d be curious to see how, with hindsight, they made some wrong moves here.

UNKNOWN Top marks to Rediffusion for the scheduling triumph of Exploring the Universe – ‘When scientists reach the moon, they may discover the answer to man’s oldest puzzle – the creation of the universe’ followed by Last Programme ‘Why I Believe: The Existential View of Christianity’.

UNAVAILABLE The Villains – All three series of this Granada drama exist. Producer Harry Kershaw described the series: “Our stories will be slanted towards criminal lives rather than crimes. We are, in fact, interested in the part of a criminal’s day when he isn’t engaged in his particular profession.”

An episode from the second series, broadcast later in 1964, was the first Granada drama to be recorded entirely on location, on videotape. From the little I have found out, the series also seems to have emphasised regionalism in its episodes, fostered by writers like Peter Eckersley. He wrote this week’s episode and, along with several other writers of The Villains, also wrote for Coronation Street at the time – Eckersley wrote the episode I watched in 1963. He went on to briefly produce the series too before becoming Head of Drama at Granada. As far as I’m concerned, The Villains has outstanding credentials so I’m hoping it will get a release one day.

The post Back in time for TV: 14-20 April 1964 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

My ITV programmes for 1963 are coming from ATV and ABC.
 

1st April
Fireball XL5 ‘Spy in Space’
ATV Midlands

We’ve moved on from Gerry Anderson’s earlier series, Four Feather Falls, and the puppets of Fireball XL5 do have moving eyes, even if they don’t blink. it makes a big difference as they’re considerably less frightening. Fireball XL5 follows Steve Zodiac, scientist Venus, the Professor and Robert the Robot as they travel through space, facing off against various villains. Since first discovering the series a few years ago, I have found it great fun. The various alien worlds and space stations provide plenty of opportunities for superb model work – including blowing them up. The theme tune is also brilliant.

2nd April
Crane
ATV Midlands

Crane is a cafe bar owner/smuggler based in Casablanca. This series is one of the huge victims of wiping and as a result I’m having to watch an episode from 1965 – one of only a couple to exist. Tonight should actually be the opening episode so we’ll just to have to hope and imagine it was as good as this one. It’s the only episode of anything from my time travels that I have actually seen before.

Crane is offered a job smuggling corn flour and is highly suspicious that he is being duped into smuggling drugs. The plot takes numerous turns and Crane can’t be sure who to trust. One person the audience is sure he shouldn’t trust is Peter Bowles, who plays one of the episode’s baddies. I have seen him play a couple of other dodgy characters in drama series and I think he does an excellent job at portraying charming, posh villainy. Crane also comes up against the local police chief, with whom he has an ongoing strained relationship. I suppose this is something of an occupational hazard for a smuggler.

Among the highlights of Crane is the location filming, which surprised me as it can’t have been cheap. Something as simple as footage of boats that are clearly in the water – not simply half-constructed in a studio – feels momentous compared to many other series. It really helps to give the series a sense of place.

3rd April
Coronation Street
ATV Midlands

It’s one year and one week since I last visited Wetherfield. The main event tonight is Christine breaking off her engagement with Frank Barlow. Last I knew, he was still married to Mrs Barlow but presumably she has passed away. I don’t know what drew Frank and Christine together but it doesn’t appear to be much as Frank talks of them giving it a go and hoping their love will grow. Not unreasonably, Christine wants to actually be in love on her wedding day, something that her uncle thinks is absurd. She should take what she’s got offered. Overall, it’s a moving episode as there are no slanging matches, no big fights. It’s just rather sad. To liven things up, the episode ends with Elsie getting a visit from the landlord’s man who gives her threats of the bailiffs if she doesn’t pay the rent. We’ve learned that the landlord has been neglecting numerous housing complaints in Coronation Street and presumably Elsie is withholding payment in protest. She’s a tough one though and the threats don’t scare her. She tells him to bring it on.

4th April
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour ‘Don’t Look Behind You’
ATV Midlands

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this programme and it seems that Hitchcock’s contribution is simply that of a presenter, with presentation bookending the programme. Some research shows he did direct a small number of episodes but really, he’s here for the undoubted prestige his name brings to the series. I don’t have all that much experience of anthology series but I find it intriguing to see what can be done with a single play. This one is a psychological thriller and there is a killer about. The tension built up during the episode and I was drawn in as more than one of the characters began acting suspiciously. It seems unfair to call this a play as it hardly seems theatre-like. There are numerous sets and some of them are huge.

5th April
Supercar ‘High Tension’
ATV Midlands

It’s puppet time again. Supercar is about a supercar and this week a villain decides to try to obtain it, demanding the vehicle as ransom for a kidnap. Said villain has the wonderful moniker of Master Spy. He is foiled as the good guys trick him because Supercar can be controlled remotely. I’m not quite as taken with this as some of the other puppet series but may still explore more.

7th April
Maverick ‘Triple Indemnity’
ATV London

I last watched Maverick back in 1960 and really liked the lead, Brett. But I was confused when I began this episode and there was no sign of him. Instead, our lead for this episode is Bart and the dialogue later revealed to me that he is Brett’s brother. It turns out they vary who appears in each episode and occasionally team up, which I would now love to see. I soon warmed to Bart too, who wins a game of cards but has his winnings stolen back by a guy who then tries to drive him out of the town he owns most of. Bart eventually teams up with the guy’s own mother to outwit him.

Space Patrol ‘The Swamps of Jupiter’
ABC

Tonight is the very first episode of this new puppet series. This isn’t actually a Gerry Anderson produced series and there are a couple of notable things that set it apart. There is a great lack of incidental music and the series doesn’t open with a distinctive theme. It’s all rather quiet with subtle drum beats and electronic noises, making the opening seem rather ominous. A voice-over explains what Space Patrol is; a combination of men from Earth, Mars and Venus, keeping space safe. We meet some characters and combined with the music I am quite freaked out for a while because, like our old friends from Four Feather Falls, they don’t blink or move their bloody eyes. It’s like going backwards. The sole exception to this is a brief appearance from one female Venusian, who bats her long lashes. The Venusians have high-pitched voices and I didn’t initially realise that one was a male – I just thought this Venusian had short hair.

The plot for this story sees a Space Patrol team sent off to try to contact some scientists on Jupiter, who ceased communications two months ago. This seems a considerably long time to wait before mounting a rescue mission, especially when we then discover it takes several weeks for a team to reach Jupiter from the Space Patrol station. The team consist of Captain Dart, an Earthling, Slim, a Venusian, and Husky, a Martian. On Jupiter, the Captain and Husky discover some invaders have killed all of the scientists. They are also slaughtering the local population, bird-like creatures called Loomi, for their furs, which contain properties that enable them to stay warm. It’s actually a pretty grim thought that someone would be wearing a fur that still contains the warmth of a dead animal. Overall, this is pretty heavy stuff for a children’s programme! To top it off, the two baddies this week come from Mars and in a blatant piece of racism, we discover that all Martians look virtually identical.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

UNKNOWN Overkill: Part 1: The Balance of Fear – looking at nuclear weapons, including ‘the precarious balance of terror under which we all live, and at possible ways in which this balance could be upset’. I would be very interested in the tone of a programme that casually drops ‘ terror under which we all live’ into a description., especially as the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred only six months before.

UNKNOWN Sooty: Sooty in the Garden – I’ve had difficultly establishing the archival status of this particular episode and though it’s a mixed bag of which episodes of the show exist, there is a decent amount. I grew up with the later incarnation of the programme, Sooty & Co., which was presented by Matthew Corbett, son of the original writer and presenter, Harry Corbett. I’ve seen a Christmas episode of the original show and still find watching Sooty and Sweep great fun.

UNKNOWN Keep It Clean – I can’t find anything about this programme, which went out late on a Friday on ATV Midlands, yet the title has intrigued that one tiny mucky corner of my mind.

UNAVAILABLE Comedy Playhouse: A Clerical Error – Galton and Simpson, John Le Mesurier and Yootha Joyce. Yes please.

The post Back in time for TV: 1-7 April 1963 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

1962

We have one of those lovely years where Sunday here is Sunday there etc. It’s nice when the days of the week match up.

This week all my ITV programmes are coming from ATV. I’ll be in the Midlands all week before finishing up in London for Saturday night. First though, I’ve been lucky/unfortunate enough to embark on a trip abroad.

18th March
Grand Prix Eurovision 1962
NTS (Nederlandse Televisie Stichting – Dutch Television Foundation)

I have never watched the Eurovision Song Contest. Modern talent contests hold little appeal for me and, even though the ESC seems different, the cries of ‘but Terry Wogan!’ and ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ have never managed to convince me. I’ve seen clips. It’s been enough.

The entire presentation was in French – CLT in Luxembourg were the hosts – although BBC viewers had commentary from David Jacobs. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the BBC and was stuck with the Dutch commentary. I was able to identify some words throughout the programme and take a good guess at others but most of it remained a complete mystery.

1962’s Eurovision was a much more static affair than its modern-day version. One of the acts decided to take a comedic turn and ran about the stage and among the orchestra, which proved a nightmare for the cameras, whose operators must have been grateful no one else wanted to do this. Every act was accompanied by an orchestra and a different conductor each time, so I presume they represent the country as well as the singers.

I’d hoped some of the artists might be familiar but even the UK’s entry of Ronnie Caroll with Ring-a-ding Girl didn’t ring any bells (sorry). I did get an interesting surprise when the German act appeared. I did a couple of years of German evening classes and I realised that our teacher had played us this song. This made it one of the only songs where I actually knew what half the lyrics meant.

While initially intrigued, my interest began to wane about 50 minutes in. There seemed to be a good 20 minutes afterwards that consisted solely of the voting results coming through, with a giant scoreboard getting updated. I was ready to fall asleep. To top it all, France won and I thought their song was rubbish.

19th March
Bonanza ‘Vengeance’
ATV Midlands

I managed to avoid the prolific Westerns during 1961 but knew it was inevitable I would encounter them again. This is the second season of Bonanza and I am really surprised to discover that the UK is only about five weeks behind the US run.

It was, well, Western-y. A fellow got shot so his brother decided to try and shoot the fellow who shot him, whose family decided they would probably have to shoot the brother. This seemed less action-driven, with plenty of high emotions and animated discussion.

I realised I had no idea when most Westerns are set and my general stab in the dark has been ‘before widespread US car ownership’. They all dress as cowboys and ride horses. As far as I’m concerned, a 20th-century cowboy probably doesn’t look that different to a 19th-century one.

20th March
Cannonball ‘Shock’
ATV Midlands

This late 1950s’ series is among several repeats this week. Two truckers are asked to give a lift to a guy who they quickly guess is related to the boss. Their passenger is also an alcoholic. They aren’t keen on him but when they encounter a traffic accident, it’s clear the alcoholic is also a doctor.

My medical knowledge is minimal yet I became sceptical about the programme’s realism when the doctor snapped a man’s rib, cut him open, reached a hand in and started pumping the heart. All of this is slightly out of shot, saving the production team the need to show any bloody improvised surgery and saving me from having to endure it. We are supposed to buy that the doctor managed to keep this manual heart-pumping up for over an hour until the ambulance arrived (for a fellow who he had initially pronounced dead) and then, inspired to believe in himself again, would be allowed to return to practicing medicine. Time to get firmly back to reality.

21st March
Coronation Street
ATV Midlands

I am an occasional viewer of Granada’s modern-day Coronation Street. Ever since the show’s 50th anniversary in 2010 when ITV repeated the first episode, I have wanted to see more of the show’s early years. Marvellously, a selection of episodes from each year of the show’s history has been released on DVD. Having watched Coronation Street‘s first few weeks from 1960, I am familiar with most of the characters from tonight’s episode.

Jack Walker has been faking an illness and his wife Annie, The Rovers’ landlady, has found him out. Ena Sharples (my favourite character) declares laundrettes are for lazy people but does then decide to go along to one with Minnie and Martha. I love the dialogue between them here and Coronation Street‘s humour is one of the main reasons I enjoy the programme. The three ladies agree to go to the pictures that evening but Ena never shows up and the other two are annoyed that she has stood them up. The final shot shows us Ena, collapsed on the floor.

British Actors’ Equity Association had been staging a strike since November while trying to negotiate better pay with the ITV companies. The result was an increasingly limited number of new programmes and existing ones, including Emergency – Ward 10 and The Avengers, had their production affected so started to drop out of the schedules. Several months in, the effects are evident in this week’s schedule, which contains numerous US imports and repeats.

However, Coronation Street fared rather well. Although some actors only had short-term contracts and therefore quickly disappeared from the programme, several of the regulars were on long-term contracts so remained onscreen throughout the strike. This did limit the storylines but a little over a year after it started, Coronation Street was consistently featuring in the top ten programmes each week.

22nd March
Midland Montage
ATV Midlands

As far as I can gather, this local programme consisted of various film clips that covered local stuff for local people. I was delighted to find that a clip from this day’s episode was available from the BFI. Our young interviewer begins by interviewing various Irish people, sat on a plane, about to head back home. There is a nurse who came over to train and others who miss family. We then go to see various English people being interviewed. The Irish people were asked how they found England, Birmingham and the English, so likewise the Brummies are asked what they think of the Irish.

You get the feeling the reporter is hoping for a bit of variety, quite possibly a touch of controversy. Unfortunately for him, there isn’t that much from the Irish, who speak positively or just don’t find that much to say.

Reporter: “How do you think Ireland differs from England?”

Irish lady: “Well not much really.”

There was one young lady whose contribution was presumably cut because after the following exchange:

Reporter: “Why are you going back?”

Young lady: “Because I hate it so much over here.”

Nothing is expanded it on and we move on. She did state that she had been living in Coventry so perhaps that was deemed sufficient explanation.

The Midlanders give more of a mixed response.

Man: “I’ve got three mates that are Irish. Alright if they don’t have too much beer.”

One young man with half a tub of Brylcreem in his hair reckons most of the Irish are alright but says:

“The thing I do object to is the way they come to this country to scrounge on us. But I wouldn’t, like, class them all as one. But there are a few that I think ought to be taken back to Ireland where they came from.”

A middle-aged fellow believes sending all the Irish home would be barmy.

“I think Birmingham would come to a standstill.”

Immigration is not a modern political phenomenon but in among the influx from Commonwealth countries like Jamaica, India, Pakistan and, later, Uganda around this time, I think the Irish sometimes get overlooked. The fact this film was made, and that it references another one, demonstrates that Irish immigration to England was considered an important issue. The English people interviewed certainly all have opinions about it and so would the viewers – few as they may be at 11.05 at night.

24th March
Danger Man ‘The Lonely Chair’
ATV London

I’ve seen a number of episodes from Danger Man‘s first series so it is nice to end the week on familiar turf. This episode was first broadcast in October 1960 so it appears it is now getting a late night repeat. Tonight John Drake is assisting a man whose daughter has been kidnapped. The man uses a wheelchair and Drake impersonates him when it is time to meet the kidnappers. Patrick Troughton makes a late appearance as the head villain, using what seems to be his standard foreign accent voice. It is suitably vague enough to possibly hail from a number of countries. I rather like these half-hour episodes because the plot moves so fast. There is no time for your attention to drift else you are likely to miss something.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

There wasn’t much that grabbed me in the listings this week, although there was one programme that intrigued me.

UNKNOWN
Your Life in their Hands: Depression – ‘More than 5,000 suicides in Great Britain each year – Depression causes a large number of them. Can these tragedies be prevented?; Can depression be cured? From St. Thomas’s Hospital, London’.

Your Life in their Hands normally looked at surgery so this seems like a rather different type of episode. The ‘more than 5,000’ statistic is interesting as, in over fifty years, suicide statistics haven’t varied all that dramatically – in 2016 5,965 committed suicide. I know that suicide was not talked about as much so I was surprised to see this in the listings. This episode would certainly make good viewing, particularly as suicide had been decriminalised less than a year earlier.

Don’t suffer in silence. Talk to someone. Free resources are available via the NHS.

The post Back in time for TV: 18-24 March 1962 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

1961

I’ve found a few things I know this week but most of the schedule is still alien to me.

This week my ITV programmes are coming from ATV Midlands.

4th March
Perry Mason ‘The Case of the Restless Redhead’
BBC Television

IMDB lists this as the first episode of Perry Mason but the BBC have actually been showing the US series for several weeks. Our eponymous lead is a law attorney investigator and this week his client is a woman falsely accused of murder. The plot for this is not overly complex but I felt like I was missing bits until everything all came out in the courtroom near the end. I feel that Perry Mason needs a sidekick so he can explain what his line of thought is during some of the investigation. He has a wife who could take this role but she doesn’t have much to do and we don’t see her away from their home.

I was struck by the huge cars in this. They don’t scream ‘Sixties’ to me so much as they shout ‘America’ – and as this went out in the US four years earlier, that seems more suited. Even considering that though Mason is an attorney, it seems like such affluence, which I just don’t associate with the UK at this time. Some of the blokes in this are huge – both in height and shoulder width. It all speaks of a population well-fed and doing well.

5th March
Elsa the Lioness
BBC Television

This documentary follows Elsa, a lion who was orphaned as a cub. She was raised by humans, George and Joy, who trained her so she could be released back into the wild. The story would become well-known in the film Born Free. Elsa has had cubs of her own and in the documentary we see her visiting Joy and George in Kenya. While she is completely at ease with the humans, her cubs are not and one acts rather protectively.

David Attenborough narrates this and we see him briefly at the start. I’ve previously watched a few episodes of his Zoo Quest series, which began in the 1950s. It’s interesting to see and hear a younger version of someone that you feel you know so well. Attenborough’s voice sounds different yet it is still instantly recognisable.

6th March
Picture Book
BBC Television

The Watch with Mother strand for very young children ran for many years with a different programme each day of the week. Today is Monday so we’re watching Picture Book, although as I’m limited by available choice, this episode is from 1963.

I have written before about how I became familiar with the Watch with Mother programmes. Initially, I didn’t actually remember Picture Book – the title certainly didn’t ring any bells from my childhood. However, with the appearance of a little nodding wooden sausage dog, something tinkled. Then when the lady started making paper lanterns I knew I had seen this before.

I was pleasantly surprised when we got a cartoon, even if it was incredibly basic. Bizzy Lizzy is a small girl with short blonde hair, who wears a dress with a flower on it. When she touches the flower, she can have up to four wishes. She asks for curly hair, then for longer hair, even longer hair and soon it won’t stop growing. She wishes for it to stop but she’s wished too much and it all disappears. I am aware Bizzy Lizzy got her own programme a few years later so I’d be curious to see what that was like.

7th March
The Perry Como Music Hall
BBC Television

The BBC are showing another US programme with a man called Perry. I managed to find an episode from almost a year earlier. In the US, it’s called Perry Como’s Kraft Music Hall because Kraft is the sponsor and therefore their adverts suddenly appear throughout the show. The BBC would obviously have taken these out but it gave me an interesting look at why people didn’t want British television advertising to be like the US. There is no clear cut of ‘we’re going to take a short ad break’ or even a title card – it just cuts straight into another Kraft product.

The words ‘Music Hall’ should probably have set my alarm bells off that this was not going to be my thing but I decided to give it a go anyway. An hour of singing and dancing and everything sounded a bit samey to me. The redeeming factor for me was that the host, Perry Como, was excellent. He had a great voice and was wonderfully charismatic. It feels like a big Saturday night entertainment show, yet the 1961 audience is getting it on a Tuesday.

8th March
Saber of London
ATV Midlands

The title made me think sabre-tooth tigers so I was sure this would be an exciting show. The title is also a confusing point as my research shows that the programme has several. Our central character is a detective called Mark Saber and over on TWW, at roughly the same time, they are showing Mark Saber. It may well have been the same episode or possibly not. It doesn’t matter because I don’t know which episode ATV are showing either – I’ve found a random one, first broadcast in the US in 1957.

A man is found dead, from what appears to be a heart attack but Saber eventually figures out that he was in fact murdered with a poisoned dart after a phone call. It seemed so utterly ludicrous that someone could have rigged a telephone to fire a poisoned dart that it kept me watching purely to find out what really happened.

10th March
No Hiding Place ‘The Widower’
ATV Midlands

It wouldn’t matter who I was getting my ITV programmes from tonight because all of them are showing Rediffusion’s No Hiding Place. Over eight years, 236 episodes were made but only 25 exist now, making it something of a minor miracle that this week’s episode happens to be one of them. I’d seen two others in the last couple of years and loved them both so I had high hopes for this.

After a neighbour reports that she believes a man murdered his wife, the police decide to investigate. We will gloss over this first most unrealistic of circumstances because there are enough to come. The police focus on tracking down the husband and it seems he’s got various names and various wives. They keep dropping down dead from heart attacks.

The police manage to speak to a doctor, who describes the man, then adds that he ‘had a thing about tobacco smoke’. The way he says it implies that this is very strange. I’m not particularly trusting of 1961 doctors after this programme though. This doctor offers the policeman a cigarette, a different doctor advises someone to ‘have a good stiff whisky and relax’ but later refuses to accept a chocolate liqueur because he’s driving.

It emerges that the bigamist is killing people with nicotine. In You Only Live Twice, Blofeld allows 007 to light up and says, ‘it won’t be the nicotine that kills you, Mr Bond’. This always irritates me because the nicotine in cigarettes doesn’t kill you – you don’t ingest enough of it. However, pure nicotine is much more lethal and our man here has been poisoning his wives. He’s been putting it in chocolates and then directly on their skin. Despite managing to get away with murder and maintain multiple identities (one of his wives believes he’s a spy, allowing him to apparently disappear for months at a time without questions!), for reasons never explained, our bigamist/poisoner/amateur tobacco grower keeps a list in his desk drawer of all his wives and the dates he married them. Presumably, he had found it difficult to keep track of all the anniversaries.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

UNAVAILABLE Danger Is My Business – ‘A film series telling the story of people whose work involves physical danger. Major ‘Robby’ Robinson of the U.S.A.F. leads a team of supersonic acrobats known as the ‘Thunderbirds’.’ Well this just sounds incredibly cool.

UNKNOWN Rooms in View: 2: The Kitchen – Kenneth Horne is among the people discussing kitchen planning and what equipment to buy. I’m mostly intrigued as to what items would be deemed essential in a 1961 kitchen.

UNKNOWN On the Spot – The Daily Mail is offering £7,500 to whoever best demonstrates that they deserve it for their business. This listing caught my eye as among the judges is a Mrs John Profumo, also known as actress Valerie Hobson. About four months later, her husband would meet Christine Keeler and set the wheels in motion for one of British politics greatest ever scandals.

MISSING Knight Errant Limited – Only a couple of episodes of this exist and I’ve seen it under various titles: Knight Errant ’59, Knight Errant ’60 or just Knight Errant. A young man sets up a detective agency, displaying the advertisement: ‘Knight Errant ’59. Quests undertaken, dragons defeated, damsels rescued. Anything, anywhere, for anyone, so long as it helps. Fees according to means.’

The post Back in time for TV: 4-10 March 1961 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Peyton Place is superimposed over 76 acres of 20th Century-Fox studios in Los Angeles. Yet, the whole world, it would seem, is looking in on Peyton Place.

What a tricky town it is. You may have been distracted, or gone away and missed the latest developments, then wondered what was happening.

No need. You pick up the thread as if you’ve never been away. Why? Has nothing happened? Of course it has. Plenty, if it isn’t apparent to you it’s because the people who determine the destinies of Peyton Place had planned it this way.

“The pace of life in Peyton Place,” says executive producer Paul Monash, “has been specially evolved to make you think, if you’ve been away, that you haven’t missed a thing. Yet in reality you have missed plenty. How else could we make our audience, millions of people on five continents, want to stay with us?” A Rolls-Royce has just pulled up outside the office of The Clarion, the town’s newspaper, and the chauffeur is helping old Martin Peyton through the slush on the pavement. It’s spring 1968.

What is happening in episode 418 is a secret no one in Peyton Place is allowed to reveal.

Anyone breathing it to a friend in a bar may be fired. At the time one leading figure was about to leave Peyton Place, an actor was written out of the series for revealing the plot to a newspaper friend.

American television viewers who go to Britain gained prestige by telling friends what will happen in Peyton Place in months to come. After all they are episodes ahead of the Peyton Place episodes in Britain — but British TV viewers in turn are ahead of viewers in other places. The tale is unfolding in 32 countries to reach such faraway spots as Thailand and Korea, El Salvador and Guatemala, Australia and New Zealand.

The only continent that has yet to become aware of the intrigues in Peyton Place is Africa — if you leave out the United Arab Republic.

Let’s admit it to Mr. Monash. A lot has happened in this town of his. It all began with Rodney Harrington being tricked into marrying Betty Anderson.

Eventually, she ran off to the big town and then their marriage was annulled. Meanwhile Rodney was really in love with Allison, only he didn’t know it. His father was having an affair with Betty’s mother, and in the state prison Elliot Carson, innocently convicted of the murder of his wife Elizabeth, was defying the parole board. Remember..? “We unfolded the story step by step,” says Monash. “We’ve had no masterplan. If you had asked me a year ago I wouldn’t have been able to pinpoint the events of today. A lot just happened.

“Other events could have gone this way, or that way, and we spent sleepless nights and argued for days until I knew where to go from there.”

Monash, who earns £100,000 a year [£1.8m in 2018, allowing for inflation], has been close to quitting his job so many times, he doesn’t remember the number of real life crises that shook Peyton Place

“Originally, Constance was to kill Elliot Carson, the father of her illegitimate child, when he returned to Peyton Place, but I was able to prevent that and now they’re a happy if troubled couple…

“Sometimes you set down a course of events because you are out to please a certain audience. And we know our audience.

“Then there are times when our actors refuse to accept a turn of events in Peyton Place and we have to go along with that. It is not healthy to lose principals. May they be happy and live forever…” So far, Monash has “lost” only one regular in Britain, Leigh Taylor-Young, so that as casualties go Peyton Place‘s mortality is very low indeed. Meanwhile, at least three dozen actors and actresses to hold major parts for as long as a year have come and gone.

This traffic of featured players is necessary to keep the story exciting, and nothing accomplishes that better than new faces. But Monash admits that he is never sure that a new face, added to the cast for a limited period, may not catch on and become a valuable acquisition. Young Pat Morrow, who plays Rita, is a case in point.

“We thought we’d keep her around for three months or so,” Monash reflects. “As you know, she’s still with us, and Peyton Place would never be the same without her.”

They never thought of following author Grace Metalious’ format, though, and if today the only similarity between the original book and the series is the title, then it’s by design, not by accident.

“I thought they had gone much too far in taking the pepper out of Peyton Place,” was the way Barbara Parkins (Betty in the series) put it not long ago. “They didn’t let me and my husband have love scenes for fear it would offend our viewers.”

To keep her happy, producer Everett Chambers, let Barbara do a love scene with her “husband” in one episode.

But Betty is the one protesting. Most of the rest of the cast are fond of Peyton Place. “I call ours a family show,” says Dr. Michael Rossi — Ed Nelson, a father of six, including four little girls.

“I know not everybody will agree with me. but this is what I believe in.” Nelson is another who has caused quite a few script revisions, granted because of his definite value to the series.

“As TV stars go,” Monash says happily, “our 11 regulars are a strong team.”

It would seem that time has proved him right because the regulars now before the cameras are the same as those appearing on British screens this week.

Most of these 11 were in the “pilot” show which was filmed on Peyton Place‘s £370,000 [£7.5m] exterior set in September 1963.

Surviving almost 400 half-hour episodes over four-odd years these Peyton Place “regulars” have found themselves a “home” they may hate to leave if and when the series ends.

Allison Mackenzie’s haircutting rebellion was an incident which had international hairstyle reverberations and was the one occasion when television pointed up a strange inter-dependence of Peyton Place‘s make-believe and the outside world of reality.

“Mia,” actor Ed Nelson said, “was very much on edge during several preceding weeks and we all felt something was going to happen.

“By then she was very much at odds with the character. She had outgrown it, and was fighting it.”

What triggered the “rebellion” was the studio keeping people late the night of Frank Sinatra’s birthday party. Mia was to attend.

“She cut her hair while in her dressing room,” Nelson said. “I must hand it to Monash. His reaction to the news that Allison had lost her Alice in Wonderland hair was to order a scene in which Allison comes to the hospital to test Dr. Rossi’s reaction to an impulsive act of self-disfiguration. We were handed a new page of script and within two hours of Mia cutting her hair we were shooting a different scene.”

One member of the company commented: “When we told the boss he said: ’Great, let’s see the script.’ He was cool as a cucumber. He then improvised the psychological reasons why Allison would cut her hair which largely paralleled Mia Farrow’s own reasons.

“He felt that, in fact, she was partly reflecting what was happening to the character in the story.”

This incident pointed out the basic truth that each and all of the characters populating Peyton Place had been gradually changing, some growing older and wiser, others “evolving”.

“The people who determine our destinies have deliberately left us a lot of elbow room so we may move around within our characters,” actor Jim Douglas (Steven Cord) said.

They’ve all “evolved”. “As Elliot Carson,” says actor Tim O’Connor, “I began as the embittered convict seeking to find the truth about the crime I was not guilty of, and to find the real murderer.

“From this I moved on to a love affair, a second love, in a sense, for Constance. I married, I became a very involved father and all that, yet essentially I’ve been playing the same character — a man quick to anger and essentially fair. A man who has a strong sense of justice.

“The reason I became the editor of the town’s newspaper? They were very careful to give me something to do in the story. I couldn’t just be there. My sense of justice was what determined my job. Suddenly, we arrived at the conclusion that I could be nothing else…”

Possibly, the Harrington boys “evolved” even more over the years but then, as Ryan O’Neal said: “We were like all young boys growing up. Only comic book characters never change.” Rodney was originally the spoiled rich young boy with some good instincts who has gradually grown into a young man determined to make it on his own.

Norman went through a greater change. He started as a sensitive young companion of Allison, something of a bookworm, and he is now a young man in the throes of a marriage to a girl who has more troubles than she should have.

“It is true,” says Barbara Parkins, “that I often feel as though I am Betty Cord. And if the things that have happened to her have not happened to me in real life—well, they could, or they might yet.”

Betty Anderson (as she was) is another character who has “evolved” over the year, but so has Barbara Parkins.

The leeway that the producers have given their characters, never dotting all the “i’s” and crossing all the “t’s,“ allows for the dramatic explosion that has to take place to keep Peyton Place what it is.

“I have the feeling,” said Dorothy Malone, “that as often as not they translate the drama in our personal lives into events in Peyton Place. It is we who offer them material.”

Miss Malone has had some stormy encounters in real life with ex-husband Jacques Bergerac. Monash denies that he has made a point of it. But then, the last episode of the series has yet to be written.

In fact, the writing team is about three months ahead of the events taking place in Peyton Place, the writers continually exploring new possibilities. But viewer reaction cannot be taken into consideration since American viewers are seven months behind the writers.

“It’s very complicated,” actor Chris Connelly said. “They know what’s going on, but they won’t tell us.

“In the beginning we had a pool, guessing how certain things would turn out, such as, I remember, Rodney’s trial. I lost. Nowadays we sort of take things for granted. Do as we are told. At least I do.”

The Peyton Place stars’ cars are as motley as they themselves. Dorothy Malone has a black Cadillac. Barbara Parkins owns a green Jaguar, Ryan O’Neal’s is a powder-blue Mercedes Benz. Chris Connelly’s is a red Corvette, usually parked next to Pat Morrow’s silver Corvette. Tim O’Connor’s black Porsche is tucked away in a corner, as is Ed Nelson’s white Mustang. Which, occasionally, is joined by another “loner,” George Macready’s silver grey Humber.

Some of them are “loners” because this is their nature. Jim Douglas, for instance, makes a point of always lunching alone at a small table in the studio restaurant, very much the brooding Steven Cord.

George Macready, alias Martin Peyton, is never around until he is needed on the set — he is in his portable dressing room, as often as not, having a cup of tea he prepares himself.

But Ed Nelson plays chess with members of the crew. Chris Connelly spends all his free time pottering around his car.

At lunch time. Ed Nelson entertains visitors from Pomona where he lives, or a couple of his kids, while Pat Morrow usually joins the Harrington boys for lunch.

Dorothy Malone drives home to lunch to be with her two little girls. She lives 10 minutes away from the studio.

None has become a millionaire, but Dorothy Malone is extremely well off, having had a steady job since the series began.

So is Ed Nelson. So is George Macready, and so are the show’s “youngsters” — Ryan O’Neal, Chris Connelly and Barbara Parkins.

Their salaries are another of Peyton Place‘s well-guarded secrets, but it is known that originally Miss Malone was getting the only high salary, a reported £650 a week. [£11,520]

Today, it is said that the total star salary is £7,000 a week. [£124,100]

To be sure, they are worked hard, and the money does not come easily.

Two episodes are filmed every week, each taking up four concentrated days of shooting with the actors expected to report to work knowing their dialogue. Since television does not allow for fluffing of lines, the Peyton Place regulars spend their evenings at home cramming.

No more than two takes a scene are allowed and anyone who causes a slowdown may expect to confront Mr. Monash or Mr. Chambers after horns and he had better have a good explanation.

Monash readily admits that one additional reason why his regulars have remained regulars is that all are quick at studying. In other words, they’re pros.

At the breakneck pace of life in Peyton Place — it is essential that filming proceeds at a lively clip.

As a rule, two companies work simultaneously, each headed by its own director, one occupying the well-used town square set while the other is at work on one of the five sound stages.

Occasionally, the regulars have worked for both directors on the same day. Nothing is allowed to come in the way of production, with ‘Life goes on in Peyton Place‘ having become as much of a maxim as the famous “The show must go on.”

When Dorothy Malone became very ill, she was replaced by actress Lola Albright and audiences were expected to accept the temporary replacement without protest. They did.

Until the spring of 1967 the regulars worked with less than a fortnight’s annual holiday.

A change of policy — from three half-hour episodes in America to two a week — gave the regulars their first solid vacation — three months.

It didn’t affect Barbara Parkins, though. She spent her holiday doing “Valley of the Dolls” on a different 20th Century-Fox sound stage.

Not that she minded that. An ambitious girl, Barbara hopes that a movie career may free her to do bigger and better things.

“The only way for me to be written out of Peyton Place,” she says, “is to prove to my bosses that I can do better for them in movies.”

She adds that she will “feel lost” for a while but that one is never a star unless one switches to movies. And she is resolved to be a star.

Not as outspoken, the two Harrington boys are also looking forward to a chance at movie stardom, convinced, though, that Peyton Place was the best thing that could have happened to them: the acting world’s best drama school.

Monash readily and happily concurs: “Anyone who’s gone through the Peyton Place mill has won himself the rank of colonel.” Most recently, agents have begun sustained campaigns on behalf of their clients, usually experienced actors, to get them stints in Peyton Place.

Old-timer Dan Duryea’s proudest day came when not long ago he was allowed to join the Peyton Place gang as Ida Jack’s long-lost husband.

Beautiful Gena Rowland followed in the footsteps of Lee Grant. Today, the line of applicants, all excellent actors more than willing to work in Peyton Place, if necessary at a financial sacrifice, forms to the right.

Significantly, regulars and non-regulars have formed a tightly-knit actors’ family that is as concerned with what will happen in Peyton Place tomorrow as the most avid viewer.

Peyton Place has brought about only one personal involvement — Ryan O’Neal marrying Leigh Taylor-Young whom he met in the series.

“They finish work and go home,” is the way publicity woman Doris Kaler sees things in Peyton Place. “Each in his own direction.”

To be sure, all Peyton Place regulars with the exception of Barbara Parkins, Pat Morrow and Chris Connelly are married, with families of their own.

They, then, are the people of Peyton Place. Count them off, the two producers, one story editor, four writers, four directors, the eleven regulars, and some 60 members of the Peyton Place crew.

Between them, one must admit, they’ve caused quite a global stir.

The post Peyton Place… 76 acres of real life appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

At the other end of the line was Welsliman Stanley Baker. “Have you heard this terrible news?” asked Harry. “We must do something to help, we must get all show business to do something.”

The newscast hadn’t even finished… but the idea for a wonderful show had been born. The Heart of Show Business had started beating.

Something had to be done. Stanley agreed. He knew Aberfan well; his home is in Ferndale, hardly 10 miles away. Secombe’s family are from Treharris, five miles from Aberfan. A third friend, Welshman Donald Houston, was brought in. He was at his family home in Tonypandy, six miles away, at the time of the tragedy.

And that original idea has grown into a scheme to help school children all over Wales with educational grants until beyond the year 2000.

“It was simply an emotional reaction,” said Harry. “And it probably hit all three of us simultaneously. We’re Welshmen, see. This tragedy was our tragedy. We all felt it. We knew we had to help in the best way we could—through show business.”

On Sunday you can see exactly how in The Heart of Show Business.

But between that original, highly-charged moment, when the programme was born, until Sunday, there’s an incredible story of panic, laughs, unexpected setbacks, success and abounding warmth.

This week I have been piecing that story together.

Three days after the Aberfan disaster, the three met in Harry’s dressing room at the London Palladium to work out the first details. They talked and planned as Harry rushed in and out between stage-calls. This dressing room became the nerve-centre of the operation over the next seven weeks.

Originally, a charity stage show was planned. It seemed the best and most practical idea. Stanley phoned impresario Bernard Delfont to ask for a theatre. Back came the reply: “Why not a television show? We can arrange for you to use Elstree Studios.”

Television — better still. More money, bigger audience, greater benefit for Aberfan. The heartbeat was growing stronger.

An organising committee was formed: Harry Secombe, Stanley Baker, Donald Houston, Bernard Delfont, Eddie Jarrett a booker with the Grade Organisation, and scriptwriter Jimmy Grafton. Their next step was contacting artists.

Days of earnest work. The response was overwhelming. “It seemed that everyone wanted to do something,” said Donald.

Meetings in Harry’s dressing room became nightly events. Working out running order for artists, planning a blueprint for the show.

For this is not a normal show. No set times for filming or rehearsing. The stars had to work in their own time, simply popping into Elstree at the first spare weekend moment they could find — production work on the usual ITV programmes was in full swing during the week.

Harry, Stanley and Donald spent their weekends at Elstree; acting as hosts, helping with production, doing any odd job.

The response from the stars was incredible.

★ Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton flew in from Rome.

★ Sammy Davis Jr. stayed over specially after the Royal Variety Performance.

★ Shirley Bassey, in from Las Vegas, felt “she ought to be in the show.”

★ Tommy Steele wanted to sing his number from the top of a Welsh mountain… until the production problems were pointed out!

★ Frankie Vaughan almost held up his cabaret performance at the Talk of the Town recording his contribution.

★ Virtually every choir in Wales asked to appear. The Pendyrus was drawn from a hat. Then an overnight coach, after many of the miners in the choir came straight off shift at the coal-face.

★ Fifteen leading actors and actresses, many appearing in different productions all over the West End of London, managed to get together TWICE to perfect a long excerpt from “Under Milk Wood.”

★ Peter Sellers flew in TWICE from Rome to be in an old Goon Show routine with Harry and Spike Milligan.

Twice?

Yes, the first weekend he arrived, Harry went down with food poisoning after eating fried seaweed for breakfast! (Seems that it is officially called Lava Bread, and it is a Welsh delicacy.) He couldn’t appear, there was absolutely no chance of doing the sketch without him. So back to Rome went Peter… and back he flew to Elstree the next weekend.

All these stars paid their own fares.

It wasn’t simply production problems. It still had to be arranged where the money was going. It is hoped, with American sales, to raise well over £100,000.

Stanley Baker went to Aberfan, four days after the disaster, to talk the show over with the Mayor of Merthyr.

Originally, the plan was to build a new youth centre with the cash. Then the Mayor’s own fund grew to such monumental proportions that a scheme for a new youth centre was included in his fund. The Welsh three had to re-think…

Now a committee is to be formed to administer the money as educational grants to children all over Wales. Thanks to investments, the scheme will go on in perpetuity.

Harry Secombe said: “The money will simply be to help Welsh kids get on. In education, in the arts, in acting.”

Exact terms of reference still haven’t been completed; they don’t know how much money they are going to raise. It will be done properly; everyone has his heart in this scheme.

The show has been made in colour. That meant double production problems. Every sequence was filmed in black and white, then colour.

The care, effort and enthusiasm that has gone into the show is fantastic. Stage-hands and make-up girls, everyone mucked in, and was prepared to work hours’ overtime. Just to get it right.

This, truly, is The Heart of Show Business.

The post The Heart of Show Business appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Though not planned, I found myself watching a number of 1960s’ shows and there are some I have come to really love. Inspired by the now-defunct TV Minus 50 blog, I spent a month in 1968 and, having thoroughly enjoyed it, decided to spend a lot more time in the decade.

I’m spending a week with each year’s telly – this week, that year. As I don’t possess an actual time machine, there are a few limits on what is available for me to watch – I may not always get to see the exact episode from that day – but, hopefully, there should be something watchable every day.

1960

A lot of the programmes I’m familiar with are from the latter half of the decade. After putting a schedule together from this week’s listings, I realise just how much of a step into the dark this is as I have never seen any of the shows before. How exciting!

This week all of my ITV programmes are coming from Granada and ABC.

18th February
Ivanhoe
Granada

Roger Moore plays a medieval knight doing all the good things knights do. For instance, in this episode, he is escorting a stroppy Irish princess. Having seen a few episodes of The Adventures of Robin Hood, it felt like similar territory watching Sir Ivanhoe gallivanting on horseback in between sword showmanship with bad guys. There seems to be a bit more location work seen in Ivanhoe, whilst the episodes of Robin Hood I have seen are very studio-bound. This occupies a similar teatime slot and I can see the appeal because I find them both great fun. The villains are wonderfully pantomime-style and you are guaranteed action every episode.

19th February
The Four Just Men ‘The Battle of the Bridge’
Granada

It works out nicely that Granada has given me the very first episode this week. Four men who first met during World War Two are brought back together when their former commanding officer dies and leaves them some money, which is to be used to fight injustice. This episode is a flashback to their wartime mission together. Nazis, resistance, fire fights and a bridge being blown up – this was quite something and it is an awful lot to put into the first episode of a series. This is filmic yet they pull it off in a half hour television programme.

The Lone Ranger ‘Bad Medicine’
BBC Television

There are loads of Westerns on this week – at least one most days. The Lone Ranger was action-packed from the start as it opens with two brothers robbing a bank. Our eponymous hero soon sets out after them. Shoot-outs, horse pursuits and a bit of climatic tension all helped to make this gripping. 1960 must have been fantastic if you loved Westerns and clearly quite tiresome if not. I haven’t seen many Westerns and though I enjoyed this, I have the feeling it could all get a bit samey by the end of the week.

20th February
77 Sunset Strip ‘Vicious Circle’
ABC

I would class this as a detective drama, I suppose. A young man is kidnapped and, after the ransom is paid, his father isn’t interested in going to the police, believing it will cause more trouble for him. The son ends up engaging our leads, two private detectives. They are partly assisted by a young lad, who at one point begins combing his hair in the middle of a gun fight. He is clearly meant to be a cool, modern guy but considering a wounded man lay bleeding nearby, I thought this one action made him look a prick. The show is certainly slightly more glamorous than everything else I am watching this week.

21st February
Maverick ‘The Cats of Paradise’
ABC

It’s another Western, although this one was not what I expected. This episode involved a cat lady, theft, murders, and several people who all wanted the Sheriff dead. I quickly warmed to our lead, Brett Maverick (James Garner), who after being fleeced by the cat lady, finds the Sheriff gunning for him. There was not a great deal of fighting and the episode had a fairly light-hearted tone, with Brett providing most of the quips. Maybe I can get on with these Westerns after all.

Face to Face
BBC Television

This week, John Freeman interviews Henry Moore. The name seemed familiar and the description told me Moore was a sculptor but otherwise I knew nothing about him. I have little interest in art yet decided to give this show a go, in part because I’m watching a fair bit of ITV this week. This was actually an interesting look at an interview from that time. After some establishing shots of the room, the camera never left Moore. It was odd to never cut away to the interviewer. I was left wondering if production teams assumed the audience had no interest in the journalist so it would be best to keep the focus on the interviewee. Modern interview programmes tend to be ‘chat shows’ and it is much more of a two-way conversation. The interviewer can make a lot of difference to what we get out of someone. I think I would like to see something in between the two. This was intense, detailed and definitely highbrow.

22nd February
Wagon Train ‘The Tracey Sadler Story’
Granada

It’s a day ending in Y so there is another Western on. After enjoying Maverick so much I had high hopes but Wagon Train left me a little flat. A woman is seeking to get her son back, who was taken from her when she was wrongfully sent to prison for 12 years. It was heavy and emotional and soppy. The one thing I can say is that these Westerns do all seem to vary more than I expected.

23rd February
William Tell
Granada

I knew little about William Tell before watching this. Basically just that he was Swiss and I thought he was sort of like Robin Hood. In the titles, he shoots an apple off a lad’s head with a bow and arrow. He’s in some sort of resistance and sends his mate to get a letter containing a list of names that must not get into the wrong hands. This does not prove easy. It gets hidden in a shoe that turns out to belong to the Lamberger, the big baddie – literally, the fellow is huge. One of the soldiers was played by Derren Nesbitt, whose voice I recognised under his mountains of armour.

24th February
Highway Patrol ‘Detour to Death’
Granada

I felt the title adequately described this programme as in it contains police officers patrolling the highways. The ‘highway’ bit tells us we are in the US so I expected high-speed pursuits with the baddies shooting back at the cops. No such luck. This episode saw the bad guys setting up road blocks with detour signs, then robbing the drivers at knife point. Yet it has to be one of the dullest cop shows I have ever watched. The action just seemed to be so slow, which is never ideal but especially not when it’s only a half hour show. Aside from one fight – and I use the word loosely because it was more of a struggle – there was very little action. The cops must clearly be the regular characters in this but any distinctive character was lacking. I just couldn’t find anything decent to cling to and the programme dragged.

What you could have won – missing and unavailable

Here are some of the listings that intrigued me but I was unable to watch this week.

UNAVAILABLE Spy-Catcher – ‘A series of true stories of the search for spies in wartime based on the experiences of Lt.-Col. Oreste Pinto.’ There were four series of this and, oddly, a couple of radio series were also made and its broadcast overlapped with that of the third series.

UNAVAILABLE Glencannon – I’ve been able to find out little about this sitcom following merchant sailors, which makes me ponder whether it has ever had a repeat. Every episode exists but has never had a release.

MISSING Studio Two – ‘An ABC Advertising Magazine’ this programme invites you to join them for ‘lively shopping information’. I have heard about these advertising shows and would be keen to see one as they were banned within a few years.

UNKNOWN No Passport – ‘Richard Dimbleby suggests a holiday that needs No Passport. A journey to The English Lakes with David Dimbleby and Jonathan Dimbleby. The second of four films to help you choose your holiday.’ Who would pass up the opportunity to see the Dimbleby clan on holiday?

The post Back in time for TV: 18-24 February 1960 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

I’ve been doing this for a couple of years now. Although I was already interested in a few programmes, an enormous influence on me delving into more was the blog TV Minus 50, run by @hellothisisivan. For over two years, TV Minus 50 followed this week’s TV, 50 years ago. It gave me a look at some shows I knew and piqued my interest in several others. I also always enjoyed Ivan’s commentary and since the blog has finished, I have often continued looking back at this week’s TV 50 years ago.

However, I’ve rarely actually watched it that very week. But now. Have spreadsheet. Will watch. For a month at least. I have kept track of my first week in 1968 here so let’s crank up the time machine…

Conveniently, 15 January is a Monday in 2018 and in 1968. We will keep the same days of the week until the end of February when it all falls apart because 1968 was a leap year and 2018 is not.

Monday 15 January

Lunchtime viewing on BBC One brings us Watch with Mother and today is Monday so it’s Andy Pandy. Filmed in the 1950s, Andy Pandy was repeated for years in the Watch with Mother strand. Like several other children’s programmes, by the time all the episodes had been shown the kids watching them had grown up and a new generation had appeared in front of the screen so they could be shown all over again.

These repeats had long since ceased by the time I first peered into the box in our living room. However, I am actually familiar with Andy Pandy because we were lent a Watch with Mother compilation video. Just how this managed to tear us away from Spider-Man or X-Men cartoons, I cannot say, but that video was watched repeatedly.

Unlike several other young children’s programmes from that era, Andy Pandy is lacking a DVD release. If they can manage it for Muffin the bleedin’ Mule and Torchy the Terrifying Battery Boy, dear old Andy certainly deserves one.

It means I am confined to what YouTube offers so today I found Andy Pandy in the garden, playing on his swing. ‘Do you have a swing in your garden?’ I do not but I do occasionally like to go on the one at the park. Teddy arrived and pushed Andy on the swing. Then the narrator didn’t know what Teddy was doing BUT I DID. He was marching because he wanted to do his marching song. Looby Lou appeared in her pram and though Andy and Teddy pushed her, she refused to move or do anything until they had both gone. She clearly wanted all our attention for herself. Soon it was time to go home. Looby Lou disappeared and Andy and Teddy climbed inside the picnic basket.

My revisit to Andy, Teddy and Looby Lou was wonderfully relaxing. There is something about the slow pace of children’s programming that I rather enjoy. The narrator is Maria Bird and I found her voice familiar and comforting. I don’t want to say it looked cheap but my god they got their money’s worth out of this with the years of repeats.

Early evening now and it’s a Hardy Boys’ serial, The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure. I had heard of The Hardy Boys’ books and was aware they were two young American detectives. This serial is from 1956 so it is safe to assume it’s another repeat. Today is part two of nine.

A young girl claims to have had a blanket thrown over her head and her purse stolen, though it is soon recovered after one of the lads finds it. Suspicion soon falls on a young boy, Perry, employed by Mr Applegate. We (but not the Hardys) find out the lad is on probation from reform school, which I’m guessing is a type of young offenders’ institution. With help from another of Mr Applegate’s employees, the Hardys search Perry’s room. They find some stolen items, including the Hardys’ wire cutters, and a hunt is mounted for Perry. Yet when one of the Hardys finds him hiding in a bush, Perry insists he has been set up. We will have to wait until next week to find out more.

I liked this and the child actors are not bad, though nine episodes seems a long time to drag the plot out. Hopefully, it will develop fast soon. The sets are clearly limited. We have had a garden and a lawnmower all inside a studio, which seems a lot more hassle than just filming in a garden. Maybe US series were as studio-bound as some British series.

Tuesday 16 January

In 1968, The Magic Roundabout is on BBC One most days at the moment. Both Andy Pandy and The Magic Roundabout have had modern CGI remakes and these seem to have won the draw for DVD releases over the originals. As with yesterday, this means picking out what YouTube has. Today, Dougal is a film director. I have vague memories of watching The Magic Roundabout as a young child but can clearly see why adults also enjoyed it. The narration from Eric Thompson is wonderful and I’m looking forward to more.

Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons immediately creeped me out due to how realistic the puppets are compared to other Gerry Anderson series. Add in the fact they didn’t blink and I was unsettled from the off. I have the feeling Captain Scarlet is not his real name as he dresses in red and there is also a Captain Blue who wears blue. It feels an impersonal organisation.

I’m not all too sure how I feel about this show yet but I did like the new tank that had been developed. I was impressed with the realistic movement they had managed as the tank moved across a desert landscape, though this was interrupted when this tank managed to soar over an enormous drop without so much as a run-up.

Wednesday 17 January

As much as I enjoy children’s programming, I had been looking forward to my first prime-time programme of 1968: Man in a Suitcase. My time machine went a little awry and threw me a completely different episode. Never mind. Apart from it being an ITC show, I had no idea what I was going into. The first few minutes went well when esteemed actor Peter Vaughan showed up as a baddie. I knew he was a baddie because he was played by Peter Vaughan. He was also covertly transporting a World War II sea mine and this seemed a tad suspect.

Peter Vaughan’s character, Peters, teams up with another couple of blokes to kill a fellow called Masters, who has been blackmailing them. Masters’ wife, Lucinda, is helping them because she wants to leave Masters and go off with Peter Vaughan. Our man of the title, McGill has been employed by Masters as a private eye to try to spot any dodgy people hanging around. Masters tries to blackmail McGill too, refusing to pay him and commenting that he is an ex-CIA agent, which was a nice little bit of series explanation considering this show has been on for several months already. The plotters reckon McGill has already found out too much so decide he will have to be bumped off too.

This episode has a lot going for it. McGill has a fight with Masters’ henchman, Kirk, and manages to keep his cigarette hanging out of his mouth the entire time. That looked cool. Lucinda helps the gang capture McGill who later launches an escape attempt by tripping up and clobbering one of them, then diving out a window. Masters and Kirk turn up and Peters shoots Kirk. It all gets very tense as one of the gang, Harris, is having second thoughts about killing more than just Masters – the only bloke they originally planned on murdering. McGill divides them as he has worked out that Peters has never been blackmailed by Masters. McGill takes his chance to escape by running out the room and diving into the water. He keeps diving underneath to avoid the bullets being fired after him. Masters takes his boat but heads straight for the mine that has been planted.

This was so much fun. Fights, shoot-outs and tension are exactly what I like from my drama. Excitement and action like this are no less than what I have come to expect from ITC, whose output I have previously got to know well through The Saint, The Persuaders, The Prisoner, and, most recently for me, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased). I can’t wait for next week’s episode.

Thursday 18 January

My second visit to Gerry Anderson this week is Four Feather Falls. I’ve watched an episode of this before and, as with Captain Scarlet, was put off by the puppets not blinking. The basis of Four Feather Falls is that there is a bloke called Two Gun Tex. He has two guns and four magic feathers in his hat. These enable him to fire the guns without touching them, and also enable him to understand his horse and dog. Very helpfully, the titles explain all of this each episode, as if it would otherwise be unreasonable for a puppet to be able to converse with his puppet animals.

I say this, yet I found myself questioning the realism of this show when two boys, Jake and Makooya meet up. Jake is wearing trousers and a long shirt. Makooya’s full name is Makooya the Little Indian Boy and Makooya is wearing little more than a loincloth. If it is warm enough for him to wear only that, why is Jake not in shorts and short sleeves?

Tex does not have a great deal of screen time in this episode. Instead, we follow Jake and Makooya who go into some caves and are trapped by a baddie when they find some treasure. The episode is only 15 minutes long and the plot fills its slot adequately. Kenneth Connor and Nicholas Parsons are both in the cast list but I clearly wasn’t paying enough attention to pick them up so will have to listen better next time.

Friday 19 January

I feel I know The Man from U.N.C.L.E. well but have actually only seen a few episodes, all from the first couple of series. As a result, finding Ilya Kuryakin with noticeably longer locks in this fourth series was a surprise. Napoleon Solo has not moved with fashion though so remains reassuringly familiar.

Tonight’s episode is a traditional race against time as Ilya is kidnapped, then locked in a gas chamber and Napoleon tries to reach him before the cyanide will. Mr Solo finds a random young lady on the way and together they duck and dive through buildings, rubble and passageways while being shot at by a man with a sniper and a big cat.

The sets in this are huge and we get to see the scale of it thanks to some high angle shots from the top of buildings. These tall blocks also mean the sniper has a perfect view for shooting Napoleon and the tension mounts as the minutes tick by.

Late on Friday night was The Untouchables, a US gangster series set in the 1920s. This sounded so exciting but it never quite grabbed me and I found it rather dull. Too much talking and too many characters – I could barely keep track of what was happening in the opening fifteen minutes.

Saturday 20 January

Teatime on Saturday evening could only mean Doctor Who, so I joined episode 5 of ‘The Enemy of the World’. This is one of the stories that were mostly missing until the rest of them were found a few years ago. I watched it when it was originally released but didn’t actually remember all that much about the plot. From what I gathered from this episode, a chunk of the population have been living underground after a nuclear explosion. Their leader, Salamander, tells them it is not safe to go on the surface so they live a miserable existence on meagre rations below ground. He is lying. The twist of this story is that the Doctor (Patrick Troughton) is the exact double of Salamander. Patrick Troughton is my favourite Doctor and he does a fantastic performance as Salamander, switching marvellously between the two roles.

Next up is George and the Dragon, starring Sid James, Peggy Mount and John Le Mesurier. I had previously come across an interview with Sid James in TV Times to coincide with a new series of George and the Dragon so was interested to see the sitcom. Sid plays George and Peggy Mount is Gabrielle Dragon, both in the employ of John Le Mesurier. I gathered that the Dragon was a housekeeper but I never quite figured out what George was meant to be doing. At the start of the episode, he is attempting to construct a DIY television set but the only channels he manages to pick up are the local taxi and air traffic control. There is an offer on new televisions though so the two of them spend a night trying to ensure they beat the other to the front of the queue for the next morning.

I was a little disappointed in The Monkees as I found it rather low on laughs. In tonight’s episode, the band are visiting the relative of one of them, who, as they arrive, is being fired on by local cowboys. The gang spend the episode defending the home and, er… I’m not entirely sure what else. The programme is clearly intended to be surreal. A couple of them visit a saloon and manage to fool the locals into thinking they are big bad fellas, despite the fact that most of their dialogue is complete nonsense. Maybe that was half the point. It certainly felt like a children’s show, perhaps reminding me slightly of The Goodies. However, I just didn’t ‘get’ this. I’m intrigued enough to give it another go though.

“I hear you have some men with prices on their heads?”

Sunday 21 January

It’s Sunday so there is bugger all decent on the box. Go to church, do your homework, it’s bath night.

Missing and unavailable

What I would like to have been watching if it wasn’t missing or lacking a release.

MISSING: All Our Yesterdays – This programme looks back at what was happening 25 years ago this week. For 1968, this makes it 1943 and the Second World War is reaching a turning point in favour of the Allies. This show always grabs my attention in the listings.

MISSING: Z Cars – Two episodes – parts 1 and 2 – were broadcast each week and I’ve often seen the cop drama praised.

UNAVAILABLE: A Man of Our Times – this stars George Cole, who would achieve success much later with Minder. His character in this seems to be expecting promotion but instead faces redundancy. I know little about this series and am intrigued.

MISSING: Softly, Softly – I got to see an episode of this Z Cars spin-off last year.

MISSING: Public Eye – I love Alfred Burke as private eye Frank Marker and this is the start of the programme’s third series. The first three series have a different tone to those that follow, which makes it all the more a crying shame that out of 41 episodes, only five survive.

In 1968 neither BBC One nor ITV had begun colour broadcasting but as the screenshots above show, some programmes were already being made in colour. It would never have occurred to me if someone else hadn’t suggested it but, strictly, to be watching 1968 telly properly, I should be watching everything in black and white. So, for the first week at least, I did. Due to switching from Granada to Anglia after a couple of weeks, I got to rewatch the episode of Man in a Suitcase and I appreciated the colour immensely. It had felt like dedication. It had also felt a tad obsessive. I enjoyed it.

The post Back in time for TV: 15-21 January 1968 appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

But a swashbuckler has to indulge in violence. And for 6 ft. 2 ins. London-born Roger Moore violence is something he abhors.

So when he decided to make a third bid at achieving an international television reputation what probably attracted him most to the title role in The Saint series was that here was a part in which he had to use quick wits in place of guns; stealth and shrewdness instead of fisticuffs. For Leslie Charteris’s famous character is a past-master at getting himself into dangerous situations with the greatest of ease — and getting out of them, thanks to cool thinking and cunning — even audacious talking. Playing such a character is heaven-sent for Roger Moore.

When it was announced in May of this year that he had been cast for the part he said simply. ‘This modern Robin Hood appeals to me.’

On previous occasions this son of an ex-London policeman, who first tried to earn his living as a commercial artist, had commented in this way on his roles as a TV hero. Of Ivanhoe, in which he played the title-hero, he said: ‘I felt like a complete Charlie riding around in all that armour and that plumed helmet. In fact, I felt like a mediaeval fireman.’ And when he had allowed a few centuries in time to slip by and he was seen next in programmes set in the American West of the last century he had this to say about his reactions to being Beau in the lighthearted Maverick series: ‘I can’t stand the noise of guns going off. I hate wearing cowboy boots, and my gun bruised my side.”

Third time is different. For someone who likes well-cut suits, ties that are at the height of fashion, and comfortable — mostly suede — bootees, the wardrobe chosen for The Saint is right up Roger Moore’s street. He’s honest about this: he likes good, expensive clothes.

But it hasn’t always been that easy for him to command a wardrobe which measures up to his fastidious taste…

Ten years ago he could see that cartoon drawing wasn’t going to be his line — nor was it going to bring in the kind of money that he wanted to earn. So he set down his pencil and brushes and attended classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. From this training he went on to small parts in London stage productions, augmenting this sporadic work by doing some modelling. The money was good
— but not enough. He turned his eyes West — towards America, and Hollywood.

Within months his £20 a week British pay packet had risen to £120. In the film capital he was to make his name in such pictures as The Miracle, The Sins of Rachel Cade and Gold of The Seven Saints.

He was also to earn the reputation of being one of the film capital’s best-dressed men. And Hollywood publicity writers were toying with such phrases as ‘the successor to Errol Flynn’. Roger secretly liked the tag; still does. But if he was being likened to Flynn, so he must allow himself to be considered for the hell-raising type of role which made the boisterous fighting Flynn famous.

But Roger Moore just doesn’t have the luck of the Irish to protect him when he is around a fight — even one staged in a film studio, or on location in front of a camera.

Bad luck seemed to dog him every time he walked into a film studio, where the word ‘action’ has more than one significance. In Ivanhoe his luck was right out.

In one episode of this series, when he clashed with a knight, an over-enthusiastic serf slashed his hand with a sword. When Roger broke off the fight to examine his wounds the knight crowned him with a battle-axe. Roger landed among the horse’s hooves. He was carried off the set unconscious. In a jousting scene he cracked three ribs because ‘someone was careless with a lance’. He was also kicked by a horse.

In Maverick he had a round of knocks, bruises, cuts and sores — the result of over-enthusiastic and or under-rehearsed fights in bar-room scenes, open-prairie chases, rooftop pursuits.

Little wonder that the smooth and sophisticated roles which he had played with some of screenland’s most famous first ladies — Liz Taylor, Lana Turner, Hazel Court among them — is more to his liking.

In The Saint this favourite Moore formula is basically available. The dialogue is crisp and intelligent. There are more than sufficient attractive young actresses—with good acting qualities as well as good looks—to offset his fetching mid-Atlantic accent and essentially English type features. And the whole character of ‘The Saint’ relies on speed of mind and tongue rather than endless brawls and feats of great physical courage.

The post The Saint appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

An example of this latter development was seen in a recent episode of ATV’s “private eye” series “77, Sunset Strip”.

In his air-conditioned offices in the heart of Los Angeles, Stu Bailey, senior partner in the private investigation company of Bailey & Spencer, suddenly found himself in need of vital information concerning a case on which he was working. He heard of a lead from a similar case reported in Honolulu.

In a matter of minutes he had made contact with his Hawaiian opposite number, Tom Lapaka (one of the “leads” in ATVs detective series “Hawaiian Eye”). The information he wanted was readily available and another piece had been fitted into the puzzle he was trying to solve.

Science has made possible this co-operation at great distance; but this incident also served to show the vastly different settings in which the stories told in two of the most popular series to come to the television screen are acted out.

For it is a far cry from the air-conditioned suite of offices where Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer, “Rookie”, “J.R.” and the inimitable Roscoe -not forgetting the glamorous Suzanne — operate and have their headquarters to the tropical setting of the South Sea islands of their “Hawaiian Eye” counterparts.

Traffic passes outside the office in Los Angeles, bumper to bumper, but the pace is more leisurely in Honolulu. Being active businessmen as well as investigators, Bailey, Spencer and company must conform to wearing business suits. It is only when their inquiries take them “south of the Border” that they can exchange jackets and trousers for bush shirts and shorts. The order of dress for Tracy Steel and Tom Lapaka, however, is much more casual: their wardrobe consists mainly of linen suits, multicoloured “hot shirts” and panama hats.

When pressure of business demands some relaxation, the office staff at No. 77 have the nearby cocktail bar and restaurant of Dino’s in which to relax, there to listen to all that is latest in modern jazz, played by the resident trio.

Down Hawaii way, Tracy and Tom have their own swimming-pool, built into their office compound, and when the atmosphere surrounding a case starts rivalling the mounting temperature outside a cool plunge into the pool, with a “header” taken almost directly from their desks, can do much to get even the most complicated piece of investigation into perspective.

The pace they know out of doors is more leisurely —the climate demands this—and if road travel is almost as harassing as any Los Angeles driver has come to accept as being natural, the office’s pet taxi-driver, Kim, knows the back roads and unofficial short-cuts so well around the island that the two detectives are never likely to be delayed because of local, Hawaiian-style traffic jams.

When a case has been successfully completed and there is time to relax — even to celebrate another job well done — the laughing voice of songstress Connie Stevens is always on hand at the club at which she works to add to the pleasure of the occasion. Connie plays “Cricket” in the series. She may appear madcap, with a quaint choice in hats, but she cannot hide the fact that she wears her heart on her sleeve for the two private detectives.

That her typical woman’s jealousy has much to feed on is seen in the number of occasions when she must stand by and see her twin beaus become involved with some of the loveliest women ever to join a ship and sail south across the Pacific to romance, adventure and, sometimes, involvement in crimes of which they are the innocent victims.

To such lovely maidens in distress the services of Steel and Lapaka are always available. Though at times they may seem to fall under the spell of these beautiful women, with the added inducement of tropical nights, balmy breezes and Hawaiian-style music, their surrender is never complete. For their agreed principle of “business first” always prevents too many lasting complications, which, of course, is very much to the liking of the ever-hopeful “Cricket”.

Meanwhile, back at the “Strip”, the latest “77, Sunset Strip” series has seen Gerald Lloyd Kooksan III (“Kookie”, to the uninitiated) emerge as an investigator in his own right, with a distinct leaning towards using scientific methods of detection which no one who recalls the parking-lot attendant of two years ago with his undisciplined quiff of hair and a peculiar style of speech which earned itself the description of “Kookie talk” would have thought him capable. Certainly the two senior partners in the business have been surprised at the emergence of this “new Kookie” — but pleased, too, for here, now, is an additional and capable member of their investigation team.

Stu Bailey continues to grow wiser and more handsome as the grey hairs collect around his temples. He is still prepared to fly to the ends of the earth in pursuit of a clue. He still is given to setting female hearts a-flutter, but never finds the true girl (though Dorothy Provine came pretty close to providing the answer in one of this year’s stories!).

When not on the job, Jeff Spencer continues his liking for strumming his guitar as an accompaniment to the Latin love songs which he learned in an earlier chapter of his life.

Roscoe’s successes “playing the ponies” are no more marked than in previous years, though his contacts with bookies, race-track touts and all the other types of ne’er-do-wells who are attracted to the sport continue to be invaluable to the detective agency.

If “Rookie” has grown up, then the “hot-rod generation” have found a new champion in the new odd-job boy in the firm. His liking for a conversation in which initial letters take the place of words may occasionally confuse and irritate his colleagues, but he has already proved himself to Stu, Jeff and “Rookie” to be a handy six-footer to have around in an emergency.

Suzanne of the reception desk continues to blossom — in looks and in the more important parts she is given in the stories — which is a development to everyone’s liking.

It is true to say that life and business continues to flourish at 77, Sunset Strip, just as it does, thousands of miles away, in Hawaii.

There may be only occasional contact between the two organisations, but in one thing they have a common purpose: they provide excellent entertainment for British television viewers. And the vast correspondence which the two series — and the leading artistes in each — prompts from these viewers bears testimony to their popularity.

The post Hawaiian Eye and 77 Sunset Strip appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

It was the hot summer of 1938. A decrepit Austin Seven rattled into Weavers Green and spluttered to a stop outside the Old Forge.

The local veterinary surgeons daughter, Dorothy Latimer, watched the driver, a tall red-haired Australian, climb out. His name was Alan Armstrong, he was a fifth-year veterinary student at Edinburgh University, and he had come to “see practice’” with Dotty’s father.

It is now 1966. Alan Armstrong is still at the Old Forge. He and Dotty are married and have two children. Mick, the daughter, is 22 — a fourth-year veterinary student at Cambridge. Tim is 15 and at boarding school. The older Latimers retired many years ago — and live in Devon.

In between, a great deal has happened. Alan qualified as a veterinary surgeon, then war broke out. Alan decided to become a horse specialist and to go back home to Australia. Instead he married Dot — and joined the Royal Army Veterinary Corps.

In a horseless war, Major Armstrong did a variety of jobs. He looked after army mules in Burma — and ran stock farms in the Middle East. At one point he was reputed to be an authority on camels.

In 1945 he joined his father-in-law’s busy practice in Weavers Green. First as assistant, then as junior partner. In 1952 he bought the old man out.

Alan’s practice and reputation grew, and with it the need for help. After a number of unsuitable candidates, he found an ideal junior partner in Geoffrey Toms.

Geoffrey was bom on a farm in Surrey. He saw the suburbanisation of the countryside and hated it. But he profited by it when his father sold his last acres to a development company. Although it was this that enabled Geoffrey to go to Cambridge, he never lost his deep longing for country life.

In spite of this, he couldn’t resist the offer of a good job in a fashionable veterinary practice in Knightsbridge. Five years later he had his own prosperous business on the border of Belgravia and Chelsea.

Late one night he was called out to attend a sick Siamese cat. He cured the cat and fell in love with the owner. A few months later he and Celia married.

Celia Portland had been the loveliest deb of her season. At 25, long after her publicised elopement with a delinquent playboy which left him in prison and her ward of court, she led the idle and aimless life of so many rich ex-debs who hang about in Chelsea, Tangier and the Costa del Sol. A number of vague entanglements with young men who were obviously after her money left her disillusioned and cynical.

But inside most sophisticated cynics there is a naive and childish romantic waiting to be released by a knight in shining armour.

The earnest young vet who would marry her only on condition that they live and manage on his earnings alone proved to be the man. He insisted that they sell his growing London practice and make their home in Weavers Green, in the depth of the East Anglian countryside. Celia was faced with the task of turning herself into a country vet’s wife. She is still trying.

Life in Weavers Green centres on the two vets.

But the village, like any village, is crammed with characters.

Like Mrs. Vincent, Dotty’s daily, and her cowman husband, Bert; progressive young farmer Jack Royston and old-timer Ernie Arkwright; the retired colonial civil servant Archibald Langley, O.B.E.; Capt. Tony Patterson who trains jumpers — including those of middle-aged playboy Bobby Brent — and worries about his daughter and his overdraft.

Not to mention Daniel Jessop, local handyman and poacher; Sam Money penny the village policeman; the Vincent’s two daughters; Hazel Westcott, who lives in a small cottage with her son, Colin, and labrador dog. Holly; old Mr. Wooley who owns the Post Office Stores; and agricultural machinery salesman Derek Swan who has only recently come back.

You’ll meet them all in Weavers Green. Others too. Join them on Thursday.

The post Introducing the folk who live in Weavers Green appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Sociologists try to explain why this particular form of entertainment should have an attraction for television-viewers in all levels of society and income groups. Phrases like “escapism”, “boyish dreams”, “a regard for good” have been bandied around. What is certain is that Westerns are among the most lasting and popular of television programmes seen regularly on our living-room screen.

In the choice of “Bonanza” and “Rawhide” for viewers in the London and Midlands ITV regions this year, ATV has chosen Western series as different in their stories and settings as are the regular characters around whom the stories are told.

“Bonanza” relies on its family association for its impact. “Rawhide” reflects what can happen when a group of assorted human beings are thrown together to face different sets of circumstances secondary to their main job in life — getting herds of cattle from a ranchland to a market or railhead.

Yet, from these essentially different backgrounds, have emerged tales of personal hardship, of humour — even heroism — all of which go to make the good Western. It is in the tale which reflects one or more of these qualities that the Western relies for its success.

The Cartwright family, around whom “Bonanza” has been created, have had their share of adventures involving hardship, humour and no little amount of heroism. And in the process the four main characters have emerged as individuals, but still owing allegiance to the family. To his role of Ben Cartwright, actor Lorne Greene brings a mixture of fatherly wisdom and a knowledge of human nature based on years of experience of all types of people. He portrays a character who is called upon to be understanding and patient, yet tough when the occasion demands. In himself, Lorne Greene has many of these same qualities. He has acquired them in a career which has taken him from college dramatics in his native Canada, through radio and local stage work and Hollywood films to a way of life in which he feels as much at home in rancher’s clothes as he does in the slippers, casual slacks and open-neck shirt which await him at the Beverley Hills home which he shares with his young actress wife and to which he returns from the cardboard-and-make-believe setting of Virginia City after each day’s filming.

As the eldest Cartwright son, Adam, bachelor Pernell Roberts shows a liking for dark clothes which match his black hair and deep-set dark eyes. The part he plays calls for someone who never really shows his feelings, is even withdrawn. In some ways, this is true of the real-life Roberts. He likes nothing better than to lock himself up in his photographic dark-room, there to develop and print his photographs — for, after acting, photography is his great interest in life. It is not that Roberts doesn’t like people. In fact, the exact opposite is the case. But he likes seeing them reflected in the lens of his camera. Essentially an observer of life around him, he admits to having ambitions to be a photographic journalist — if he hadn’t become an actor, that is.

The character of Hoss is the exact opposite. Jovial, good-natured, everybody’s friend — these faithfully describe Dan Blocker, who plays the part. Big of heart, as well as of body, this giant Texan has always known what it is like to stand out in a crowd. He was the biggest baby ever born in his home county. Before he was ten he had begun to realise that his unusual physique and strength were such that he could well capitalise on them. At university he was a natural for the football team. And when, by chance, he was introduced to stage work it was soon obvious that he was ready-made for “husky” roles. Family man Dan Blocker likes nothing better than to be surrounded by his growing family — all of whom show signs of following Dad in size and stature. Among his close friends he is regarded as “a genial giant”. Perfect casting, then, for the role of Hoss.

The Cartwright family history tells of “Little Joe” as being the son born of Ben’s third marriage — to the daughter of a French family from Louisiana. With such a background on his mother’s side, “Little Joe” has to be gallant, quick-tempered and dashing, whether in a bar-room brawl or with an attractive young lady in his arms under a romantic moon. The “Bonanza” stories brought to the screen this year have found “Little Joe” in stories which call on him to display one or other of these qualities. New York-born Michael Landon is just right — in appearance and athletic ability — to match up to the situations (romantic and otherwise) in which he frequently finds himself as “Little Joe”. The determination he put into his desire “to be the fittest kid on the block” stood him in good stead when he had to rough it in Hollywood before the “Bonanza” break came his way. The soft life which is open to anyone in the film capital who “has arrived” has not deflected him from his “keep fit” passion. To prove himself, he spent days on a training session with a regiment of US Marines and so impressed the officer in charge of the assault course that he was made an honorary member of the corps afterwards. There is no denying the good looks which his “Bonanza” part calls for. The endless admiring fan mail from thousands of teenage girls bears witness to this.

This year’s “Bonanza” stories have told the life-story of Ben Cartwright and his three wives, each the mother of one of his sons.

In the “Rawhide” stories three men dominate the action. Eric Fleming is the lean, taciturn “boss man”, Gil Favor. Romance may never come to Favor, but somehow the impression is given that it could always be just around the corner, even in the next cow-town through which he pushes the herd of hundreds of cattle. For ex-sailor, 6ft.-4.ins. Fleming, voted by British housewives “the man we would most like to meet”, this is nearly true to life. A self-proclaimed bachelor, he likes girls, knows many of them who are mostly attractive “and interesting”, but to date has never found the “real one”.

Clint Eastwood — Rowdy Yates — is different. A lady in distress sends him rushing to her aid. Off the studio floor he did this once with lasting effect. An attractive blonde, Maggie by name, has been signing herself Mrs. Eastwood for the past seven years as a result.

Superstition has its place in show business. Among the “Rawhide” cast it is admitted that if Paul Brinegar, who plays the bearded bad-tempered “Wishbone”, ever really learns how to boil an egg his fellow artistes on the series could be out of a job. For the man who is seen every week serving up man-sized batches of beans and stew for his hungry co-stars admits to being an amateur in the kitchen. All his meals were taken in restaurants … that is, until this year. Then he met actress Shirley Talbott. A whirlwind courtship followed and as part of a near round-the-world honeymoon Mr. and Mrs. Brinegar stayed a few days at one of London’s plushiest hotels. But true to his off-screen reputation “Wishy” never ventured near the kitchen. Nor will he in his new Hollywood home!

The post Westerns appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Three years ago they branched out on their own under the banner of Hanna and Barbera Productions — they were formerly with M.-G.-M. for 20 years — located at the old Charlie Chaplin studio in Hollywood.

Oddly enough, neither William Hanna nor Joseph Barbera started his career in life as artist or cartoonist.

Hanna, born in Melrose, New Mexico, studied engineering and journalism at the University of California. His first job as a structural engineer was for the building of the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. After falling off a girder he decided to try his luck at another profession.

At a friend’s suggestion he went to art school where he studied for several months before getting his first “art” job with the Harman-Ising cartoon firm. His duties were “to clean cartoon frames, sweep up the place, run errands and inspire bosses with story ideas.”

Joseph Barbera, born in New York City, went to work as an accountant for the New York’s Trust Company. He was a dreamer and a doodler, a habit which was to launch him in a new career. After many tries of submitting cartoons to magazines he managed to sell one to Collier’s. Soon he became a regular contributor to such leading magazines as The New Yorker and Punch as well as Collier’s.

In 1937, Bill Hanna was hired by M.-G.-M. studios as a director and story man and Joe Barbera became an animator and writer at the same studio.

As their first assignment the two men were told to create a fresh, new cartoon series for motion pictures. The result: Tom and Jerry.

William Hanna, a modest and unassuming gentleman, told me: “My partner and I got along together so well all these years that by now we seem to be like identical twins, knowing each other’s thoughts and blending our ideas together.”

“Are Tom and Jerry modelled on any particular cat and mouse?” I asked.

“On the M.-G.-M. backlot there was a whole colony of cats to keep down the population of rats. Although the studio supplied them with food, water and even milk, those cats were vicious and like wild animals. From them we got the idea of adding Butch, the alley cat. Butch’s counterpart was on the backlot, and this also is true of Tom.

“Jerry, the mouse, was a little creature that turned up at our office from nowhere — I guess he was after scraps. We encouraged him to have the run of the office by putting titbits of cheese and other tasty morsels for him to nibble. We used to watch him for weeks in all his movements and antics.

“When kittens were born to the alley cats the girls in the inking department mothered them and made pets of them. Here we added models for the behaviour of Tom and Jerry.

“The bulldog idea was actually created from a little pup we called Tike. In our department we had an animator, the father of a small boy, who continually bragged about his son’s smartness. Day in and day out we had to listen to this devoted father and son relationship. My partner and I thought it a good idea to use the same formula with dogs and so Spike came into being.”

During the 20 years’ tenure at M.-G.-M. the team turned out 125 adventures of the mischievous rodent and bungling feline, which won seven Academy Awards for the studio. It was expensive to produce these cartoons which cost about £13,000 [£275,000 in 2018’s money] for a seven-minute run.

In 1957, with the motion picture business at an all-time low, M.-G.-M. decided to discontinue cartoon production for motion pictures and Hanna and Barbera were given release from their contracts.

This proved to be the biggest break of their lives. Together they had perfected several techniques and ideas for producing cartoons for television which they submitted to various advertising agencies and film production companies.

Everywhere they went they were met with the same answer: “It can’t be done. Good animation is too expensive; limited animation is too shoddy.”

On 7th July 1957 the two men formed the Hanna and Barbera Productions and Screen Gems took over as distributors. Their first production was Ruff ‘n’ Reddy, a story about a frisky cat and a dimwitted dog, and went on an American network in 1957, followed by Huckleberry Hound, the saga of a canine Don Quixote, which is one of their most popular cartoons.

It is estimated that it takes over 90 separate drawings to create a laugh movement or a total of 10,000 individual drawing frames to make up a half-hour cartoon enjoyment.

Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera say: “We think the popularity of our cartoons lies in providing psychological release for all human beings of all ages. No one gets hurt despite clobbering and binding situations.

“We have tried to give the audience characters which they can identify with themselves—then follow up with wild antics impossible to duplicate in real life.

“The adults have taken to the satire while the children watch the programmes for the face value action packed story.”

William Hanna is married and resides in North Hollywood with his wife and their two children, Bonnie, 18, and David, 21.

Joseph Barbera and his wife live in West Los Angeles. They have three children, Lynn, 21, Jayne, 18, and Neal, 15.

The post Hanna-Barbera appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

News on television is the greatest journalistic adventure of our time. Every day the television journalist has open to him new and revolutionary methods of carrying out the time-honoured task of getting the news — and getting it to the public.

In the place of the typewriter and the still camera he can use film and live television to let the public see for themselves events as they happen, or as they have recently happened. He can, too, by skilful interviewing, bring the public face to face with the men and women who make news. Under the direct and candid eye of the camera these people, whether they are the great of the land or just ordinary folk who get into the news once in a lifetime, can be seen and studied and understood directly and intimately instead of at secondhand through the descriptions of writers, artists or commentators.

This — and the many other methods and techniques which television has developed — are great gains for journalism and a great stimulus to it.

The men and women of ATV’s Midlands News Department and their counterparts the Independent Television News — ITN — can claim to have been very much in the forefront of the fight to create this new journalism.

On the seventh and eighth floors of Television House (a building which housed the Air Ministry during the Battle of Britain) ITN has its newsroom and its offices, its camera workshops and storerooms, its film processing and editing rooms, and a compact news studio fitted with the most modern equipment. Midlands News has a similar set-up in Birmingham.

On September 22nd, 1955, when ITV first went on the air, one major innovation had already been developed—the newscaster system. Under this, the news is presented not by readers but by newscasters — that is, by men of personality and authority. They are not just “personalities”. They are, above all, working television journalists whose authority stems from professional experience and skill, and who do their share of gathering and writing the news, as well as presenting it.

Television writing must, of course, match the story. The big stories must be written with force and authority; the lighter stories with gaiety and ease. And ITN newscasters seek whenever possible a “tailpiece” — some light, unusual, witty item with which to round off the bulletin.

The news which you see on your screens is made up of four components. These are:

1. Direct “live” news, where the news is shown in pictures as it happens. (This can be done by an outside broadcast, or by a studio interview.)
2. News on film or recorded on videotape.
3. News in words, read or spoken by the newscaster, reporter, or commentator.
4. News in diagrams, maps, animated designs and still pictures.

In direct “live” news, television is seen at its peak as a reporting medium. Outside broadcast cameras, stationed in this country, or with their pictures relayed from abroad by the Eurovision link, have been used to put news on the air at the very moment when it is occurring. This system has been used many times to present on-the-spot reports of rescue teams at work at air crashes and other disasters. When the Prime Minister returned from his tour of Africa, his speech at London Airport was carried directly into an early evening bulletin. In the 1959 General Election the returning officers in key constituencies gave, through live broadcasting, the news of the voting in their areas direct to millions of viewers at the same instant as they gave it to the crowds round their Town Halls. Home scenes such as traffic jams on Bank Holidays, the sit-down demonstrations in London’s Trafalgar Square, and the public’s reaction to Budget changes, have been broadcast directly into the news bulletins.

Studio interviews, in which people in the news are questioned in the studio, form an essential part of this live component. They have provided many memorable news moments: Miss Vivien Leigh telling her own story of how she interrupted the House of Lords to protest against the demolition of the St. James’s Theatre; Derek Ibbotson, just arrived from the White City and still in his track suit, watching a film of himself breaking the four-minute mile and then talking of how it felt to do so; Sir Edmund Hilary and Sherpa Tensing talking of the Himalayas; even a runaway monkey which had boarded a bus and the bus conductor who had found him riding on the top deck. Such people in the studio, all very much alive, made television news which in its turn was alive and vivid.

Recordings of live broadcasts rank at the top of the second component of television news — news on film or on videotape. One tremendous news moment after another has been caught and recorded from live broadcasts. Colonel Glenn in his gleaming space-suit climbing into the capsule at Cape Canaveral; Mr. Krushchev reporting to the Russian people after Vienna; Angela Mortimer giving Britain its first Wimbledon victory’ since pre-war; the Derby, followed yard by yard to the finishing post — these and many other news occasions have been captured by the videotape recorder and brought to the screen in news bulletins.

But though the outside broadcast cameras are supreme on the big, predictable occasion, they still take second place to film for day-to-day news coverage.

A foremost tool of the television journalist remains the 16mm. film camera. Small, highly mobile, highly reliable, able to record the sound as well as the sight of an event, these cameras have become the television reporters’ notebook. From its own staff of cameramen in London and Manchester and Glasgow, in Paris and Rome; from its freelance cameramen throughout the British Isles and in more than fifty countries overseas; from the cameramen of the regional news rooms of ITV companies — like Midlands News — and from the newsfilm service of the Columbia Broadcasting System of America, thousands of feet of film pour into the film department of ITN every day of the year.

In addition to the daily news bulletins, ITN staff are also responsible for producing “Roving Report”, a weekly programme dealing with news items and topics of interest from all over the world, and “Dateline”, a late-night review of important events.

When the film cameras can capture the very moment an event takes place they produce news of remarkable power. “See it happen on ITN” was a slogan from the early days of Independent Television.

Very many of these happenings have been breathtaking in their immediacy. Suez, with British tanks rumbling through the dusty streets on their way towards the Delta; a long column of Russian tanks in Hungary, filmed as they thundered remorselessly towards Budapest to crush the rising there; the American landing-craft heading for the Lebanese beaches in 1958, the ramps coming down and the US Marines storming ashore on to the beaches, crowded only a moment before with holidaymakers; Mr. Krushchev pounding a desk with his shoe at the United Nations, or wisecracking with reporters from a Fifth Avenue balcony; seamen being hauled ashore in a breeches buoy from a ship wrecked on the Scottish coast; the catch which gave Hampshire the county cricket championship; messengers sprinting from the Royal Exchange after a bank rate change; the crowd pelting the ground with bottles at the end of the first West Indies v. MCC test in Trinidad… these have been moments when film has brought the news to life
— the true alchemy of television.

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From a spacious office set in a fascinating warren of technical studios and workshops overlooking Soho Square, works a man who can proudly claim to be head of “the busiest cartoon film unit in Europe.” His name? John Halas, of Halas and Batchelor, the partnership that virtually put the British cartoon film industry on the map.

The way in which this unusually successful team came into being is quite a story which began when tall, charming John Halas came to England in 1936.

Born in Budapest he grew up with a passionate love of the theatre but when he left school his parents apprenticed him to a carpenter. That job lasted a matter of weeks before he turned it in and obtained another with a cartoon film company — sweeping floors and cleaning paint pots. From that time on John Halas relinquished any other ambition he may have had and became dedicated to making cartoons. He worked his way up to a better position (at one time he was assistant to George Pal, who later found fame in Hollywood) before taking a job in Paris. This fell through, however, and it wasn’t long before he was back in Budapest where he formed his own company. A couple of years later the invitation to form a cartoon film unit in England arrived and John Halas was on his way here.

An advertisement for an assistant brought him an attractive blonde by the name of Joy Batchelor and after launching the Halas and Batchelor company four years later they were married.

A husband and wife team unique in the world of film making, the production that brought them real fame was the full-length controversial cartoon of George Orwell’s Animal Farm. This success was by no means an overnight one for together they had already produced more than 100 cartoon and puppet films before winning this enviable and much sought after assignment.

Today the company is busier than ever, dividing its time equally between cinema and television, and under the guidance of Halas and Batchelor their large creative staff is always perfecting techniques of film-making and developing new and unusual characters.

Their most recent films and character creations include features like: The Cultured Ape (this won a first prize at the Venice Film Festival), The Insolent Matador, The Widow and the Pig, The Lion Tamer and I Wanna Mink, and their latest character due to be seen in cinemas and on television this autumn is a cut-out paper dog called Snap, the basic idea for which came from a Danish artist now working with the company in London.

Halas himself prefers to produce for the medium of the cinema—he says it offers him more scope and presumably, for an artist, it is always more exciting to work in colour.

Halas and Batchelor are also unique in another way, for their films have done more to make the cartoon “adult” than anything else produced. A form of screen entertainment which was at one time almost completely limited to children’s films or as fill-ins to the main cinema feature, the cartoon, thanks to this still young company, now occupies an important and very successful place in both cinema and television.

As John Halas himself says: “The past few years have shown us that there is a very real demand for screen entertainment of significance— and we intend to play our part filling it.”

We wish him every success.

The post Halas and Batchelor appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Come with me to the headquarters of a secret organisation known as U.N.C.L.E., short for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Provided our credentials are found to be in order we are allowed to pass through an innocent-looking tailor’s shop in a New York street.

We find ourselves now in the midst of one of the world’s most powerful and well-organised forces, used in the fight against injustice done to individuals or countries.

The main force of evil opposed to U.N.C.L.E. is the crime syndicate called thrush whose aims stretch to world domination.

In the world of U.N.C.L.E. we find ourselves in a complex, computerised, well-guarded society headed by a friendly Englishman called Mr Waverly who is responsible for the movements of his various agents’ missions against thrush. Looking like an amiable uncle himself, Mr Waverly has at his disposal the most scientific weapons ever invented and a well-drilled team of international agents, who are called upon to infiltrate every country in the world in pursuit of justice and to protect the interests of the free world.

Two of his most respected agents are Napoleon Solo and Iliya Kuryakin.

Solo is a dashing, sophisticated figure, with an easy-going charm that hides a ruthless dedication to U.N.C.L.E. He lives in a small apartment in a new luxury building in New York—a bachelor apartment which reflects a nautical flavour, its decor stemming from Solo’s love of the sea and from his service days in the Royal Canadian Navy.

He tends to view all men as equals, unless their behaviour proves them otherwise. He is attracted to beautiful women, and this he finds to his advantage, particularly when they are agents of thrush. Solo is more than capable of taking care of himself. He is calm, quick-thinking, ingenious, coldly calculating even when the odds are heavily against him.

Olya Kuryakin, of Russian descent, is clever, physically adept, a good man to rely on. He is a lone wolf, introverted, not at all gregarious. Like other U.N.C.L.E. agents, he has worked behind the Iron Curtain, sometimes with and sometimes without the knowledge and consent of the authorities. Iliya lives in the same apartment block as Solo, and, like Solo, can be cold andcalculating in a nasty situation which may become a matter of life and death.

The world of U.N.C.L.E. is fictitious, although it may have some counterpart in real-life secret organisations. It was created for a TV series and it has proved tremendously popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

Say its makers: “It is designed for those who want to take off for sixty minutes of unadulterated adventure.”

It is a series designed to follow the trend of today, a trend sparked off by the success of the James Bond films.

In the key roles of Solo and Kuryakin, Robert Vaughn and David McCallum have stepped into parts which have made them two of the most exciting personalities on television.

First, take a closer look at Robert Vaughn, the invincible Napoleon Solo, who says, “In some ways Solo is very much like myself, except that I’m no hero. I sometimes think he is just out to get himself killed. Not me! I have too much to live for. But like Solo I enjoy the good things of life—good clothes, fast cars, gourmet cooking, and wines.”

Before U.N.C.L.E. came into his life, Robert Vaughn had already proved himself a first-rate actor and had once been nominated for an Academy Award.

He was born in New York into a show-business family. His mother, Marcella Gaudel, was an established star on Broadway; Walter Vaughn, his father, was a prominent radio actor.

Raised in Minneapolis by his grandparents, Robert at first did not want to follow in his parents’ footsteps by entering show-business himself. Instead, he enrolled with the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism. But it soon became evident that he was, after all, going to be a “chip off the old block” when he became more

interested in the university’s drama department. Acting took a hold on him and he starred in productions of “Hamlet”, “Death Takes a Holiday” and “Knickerbocker Holiday”, among others. Any thoughts of a career in journalism were finally forgotten when he was awarded a prize in a radio acting contest in 1951. The following year he entered the Los Angeles City College as a drama student and starred in “Mister Roberts”. During his summer holidays he worked as a resident director and leading actor with a theatre company in Albuquerque.

After graduating, in 1956, with a B.A. in drama, he became a professional actor and appeared in a production of “End As a Man” in Los Angeles. Soon after, he was signed to a film contract, which unfortunately proved short-lived. Then he went into the Army. After his military service was completed he returned to his acting career by signing with Columbia Pictures and appearing in No Time to be Young, followed by an important part in The Young Philadelphians for Warner.

His performance in this gained him his Oscar nomination. His career then started to go up in leaps and bounds as offer followed offer. He made countless TV appearances in dramas and did several films, including The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brynner, a film which first brought him fan mail from England.

It was as Napoleon Solo that he hit the popularity jackpot.

Off the screen he leads a life comparatively quiet for a star in his position. He expresses a keen interest in the American political scene and once said that he would love to take an active part in it.

About his role of Solo he says, “I enjoy being U.N.C.L.E.’s agent number one. It’s a fine series to work on, but pretty strenuous. Those guys who write the scripts certainly make us work for our money by getting us into all kinds of bizarre situations. I’m playing Solo with tongue in cheek. The situations might seem madcap and dangerous at times—perhaps even outlandish—but it’s all quite plausible. We use normal persons in the stories, so that the average fan can imagine himself being caught up in international intrigue.”

The success of David McCallum in the part of Iliya Kuryakin has been quite phenomenal. His weekly fan mail, which arrives at the M.G.M. studios in Hollywood, bears this out. It comes in lorry-loads.

He was born in Glasgow, September 19, 1934, the son of a leading violinist, David McCallum. His mother Dorothy was a concert cellist. His parents had expressed a wish that he would take up the oboe, but David sought a career in the theatre and went about it by getting a job when he was 14 as an electrician’s assistant in a theatre.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art between 1949 and 1951, and after leaving he found himself with the job of property-master with the Glyndebourne Opera Company. Then he was called up for National Service and served in Ghana for ten months as a lieutenant. In 1953 he resumed his theatrical career by acting with various repertory companies. In 1956 he was placed under contract to the Rank Organisation and appeared in such films as The Secret Place, and A Night To Remember. In Robbery Under Arms he found himself working with actress Jill Ireland, a young actress he had wanted to meet since seeing her picture in the paper.

She became his wife soon after they first met.

After making several other British films, he finally went to Hollywood to appear in the role of Judas in The Greatest Story Ever Told. While he was in the States he received several TV offers and made appearances on “Perry Mason” and “The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters”. Then along came “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” offer.

It was some weeks before the show really caught on with American viewers, but since then it has become one of the top attractions on TV.

Away from the cameras, David spends all his free time with his wife and three sons, Paul, Jason and Valentine, in a house built into the side of a hill with a magnificent view of the valley and the sea.

There appears to be no professional rivalry between David and Robert when they are working on the set together.

“I’ve never seen two guys so dedicated,” commented one of the technicians.

“It’s a happy show,” said another. “If it were otherwise it would not be successful.”

That just about completes our dossier on two U.N.C.L.E. agents. Let’s hope too much has not been revealed to any thrush agent who may be reading this.

The post A dossier on two U.N.C.L.E. agents appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Back in 1938 two men took over the back garden of a big house in Highgate, brought in child star Binky Stuart, and knocked off their first film, a two-reel effort that didn’t exactly start a rush for their services.

In 1959 a film produced and directed by the same two men was the top British box office hit of the year. The men: the Terrible Twins of the British film industry, John and Roy Boulting, and the film that hit the top in ’59 was, of course, I’m All Right, Jack.

The name Boulting has become synonymous with laughter, but the twins were first associated with dramatic films like Pastor Hall, Brighton Rock, Seven Days to Noon, Thunder Rock, and The Guinea Pig. But then they found that ridicule was a more effective weapon.

Institutions so far ridiculed by the Boultings have included the Army, the Law, and that holy of holies of modern life, the Trade Union. They made Ian Carmichael into one of the funniest funny men in Britain in Private’s Progress and Brothers in Law, and gave Peter Sellers a part in I’m All Right, Jack, that lifted him right out of goonery — and won him a British Oscar — and into character acting with side-splitting results.

The mickey-taking Boultings haven’t always found it easy to take their hilarious jabs at officialdom. When they started on Private’s Progress some gentlemen in Whitehall decided that the Army was far too sacred an institution to be laughed at. War films were fine, so long as they were kept suitably stiff upper lip and the officers were shown in an admirable light. But a film that took the mickey — oh dear no. Their refusal to co-operate cost the Boultings an extra £10,000 for equipment like tanks, guns, etc., that they could normally have borrowed.

Whilst taking a tilt at trade unions in I’m All Right, Jack, production was held up because of — trouble with a trade union! If that wouldn’t make a good plot for a Boulting film, I don’t know what would.

But it takes more than the frowning disapproval of officialdom to put the Boultings off their stride. Early in their careers, Roy, until then the director half of their producer-director partnership, fell ill halfway through a film. To hold up production would have broken them financially, so John took over the direction. For a whole day, nobody on set even realised that John was John, if you see what I mean, for they’re identical twins, and to his astonishment John discovered that he had exactly the same methods of directing as his brother. The fact that he had never directed a film in his life before didn’t seem to matter at all. After that they started taking it in turns to produce and direct.

About the only thing that Roy and John seem to take seriously is film making. They have said that they make films because they enjoy making films — good films.

“And if we do a bit of debunking, we are debunked too — by our wives,” they once admitted. “They refuse to take us seriously.”

It seems hard to believe now that Noel Coward described them some years ago as “Brilliant boys, but quite humourless.” It was that remark that set them thinking. The result of their thoughts was Private’s Progress.

After seeing that film one American critic wrote, “You may be losing your Empire, but, thank goodness, you haven’t lost your sense of humour.” We’re not likely to get the chance while the Terrible Twins are around.

The post Here are the mickey-taking Boultings appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

The new BBC-2 was slow to spread across the country, and people were slower still to buy the new 625-line sets and put up the new UHF aerials required to receive it.

Even if you were in a good reception area for your standard VHF television pictures, the results on BBC-2 were often disappointing; on top of that, early adopters of monochrome 625-line sets soon found themselves with redundant technology when colour programmes started being transmitted by the new channel.

Finally, just to really stink the viewers off, BBC-1 endlessly promoted what was on BBC-2 that evening, next week or now, giving us glimpses of the occasional brilliant show that we couldn’t receive even if we wanted to.

BBC-2, all in all, was not a popular innovation.

And then, in 1967, came The Forsyte Saga. A lavish production, adapted from five pieces of early 20th century writing by John Galsworthy into 26 parts shown every Saturday evening for six months, the last black and white drama serial to be made by the BBC.

Suddenly, everybody wanted – needed – BBC-2. People who already had 625-line sets could profitably invite others without to watch with wine and nibbles, oiling the social wheels. Television rental shops found that – at last! – people were seeking to upgrade to 625-line after years of resistance. The public view of BBC-2 turned from an annoyance to an accepted part of the British media landscape.

And then the series got a repeat on BBC-1, this time on Sunday evenings and now to a mass audience. And 18 million of us tuned in to follow the ups and downs of the upper middle classes either side of the first world war.

The post The Forsyte Saga appeared first on THIS IS MY 1960s from Transdiffusion.

Mike Nesmith, Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, and Peter Tork. A year ago they were unknown in Britain. But their BBC-1 show and three top discs changed all that. Now they have a bodyguard each. Two permanent hairdressers between them; and a staff of thirty-four. They are all dollar millionaires, and they only talk to the Press when they want to. Overleaf, Jack Lewis brings you up to date with The Monkees

‘We are booked for another year in America. We think we can keep going for another year after that’
Prophecy by Monkee Mike Nesmith. June 1967

If all the millions of words that have been written about The Monkees were strung together, there would be enough to encircle the Regents Park Zoo with a tight, verbal cocoon. Some people might like to see the pop group put inside there first.

It would be a harsh judgment. This is the age of the young and the young have seemingly grown very fond of this quite extraordinary amalgam that sprang to life a year ago in a quite extraordinary way.

The Monkees have been accused of aping the Beatles but the manner of their birth suggests they were created in the image of a Frankenstein monster.

Group manufacture

Inspired by the success the Beatles achieved in the Dick Lester film A Hard Day’s Night, two American television producers, Bob Rafelson and his cousin, Bert Schneider, decided to manufacture a group and cash in on the product. The raw material would be supplied by America’s own zany youth.

Into the show business newspaper Variety went the following advertisement:

MADNESS. Wanted, a quartet of hip, insane, folk-orientated rock ’n’ rollers, 17 to 21, with the courage to work.

More than 400 hip, insane, folk-orientated rock ’n’ rollers answered the call. Rafelson and Schneider put them through a series of daft tests. Stupid questions were fired at them and the replies noted.

Sometimes the interviewers remained silent for long periods; or juggled with golf balls; or, as when they had Dolenz before them, balanced a pile of bottles, glasses, and cups and watched his reaction.

It was a swift one. Micky took a paper cup, placed it at the top of the pile and said, grinning: ‘Checkmate!’

Potty behaviour and quick wits were not the only criteria. Health was another factor — poor health. Fit young men would be liable for call-up to serve in Vietnam.

Micky Dolenz earned points with his sharp, amusing reactions but his place in the group was clinched when they discovered that his back and eyesight were weak.

Tork reported that the U.S. Army authorities had classified him as 1Y because he had failed the mental tests. Nesmith had already done his military service. Jones, from Manchester, couldn’t be called up.

The four were duly chosen but now they had to be welded into a group—a musical group— although only two could read music professionally and none could sing well. It hardly mattered. They were bundled into a locked studio room with a door-sign which read: MONKEES — KEEP OUT.

A single entity emerges

A talented twenty-nine-year-old director, Jim Frawly, was put in charge of them. His job was to put the four-man robot together and tighten its nuts. He took three months to do it.

They had entered as four, rather bewildered youths. They emerged as a single entity, thinking alike, acting alike, utterly responsive to the show-business scientists who had created them in the likeness of The Beatles.

In this respect, the timing of their presentation to the pop public was lucky. The Beatles were already moving away from the crazy, practical-joke era.

Filling a gap

Yet the fans’ appetite for mad fun (it wasn’t new — The Marx Brothers and Olsen and Johnson had done it thirty years before, but it was new to the 1960s) had been whetted. Who could fill the gap? The answer was, of course, The Monkees.

Musically — and they themselves agree — they are far behind the Beatles. In fact, despite a few hits like ‘Last Train to Clarksville,’ ‘I’m a Believer’ and their theme tune, all written, incidentally, by others, they can hardly claim more than a moderate success as a pop group.

Television, however, was another matter. If aurally they just secured a pass mark, visually they roared to distinction. The crazy capers they cut in their TV series earned them a stupendous popularity.

Frawly — the first backroom boffin of pop — had done his work faithfully. The electronics of its TV show had brought the robot to life with a vengeance. There were those who prophesied that the monster would soon blow itself up.

But, artificially sparked off though it was, the mad machine didn’t short-circuit simply because it didn’t short-change the public.

Signs of metal fatigue?

Yet, are there signs now of metal-fatigue? Will Nesmith’s forecast of a short, merry life prove correct? It is difficult to say. There are no apparent indications that the trend for berserk humour is on the wane.

There are plans for a Monkees full-length feature film. Movies could keep them in business for years.

But something quite fascinating is happening to the erstwhile-ersatz pop group. The Monkees are developing their own individual personalities! They are struggling to free themselves and to show themselves as real, flesh-and-blood people.

Lulu’s view

Lulu, who appeared with The Monkees on their tour here last summer, knows them well. ‘My conception of them was that, as a group, they might last only a few years,’ she told me. ‘But then, they said that about Elvis Presley and even the Beatles.

‘Then I grew to understand them. I found that each had a personality trying to burst through the artificial barriers. Each, in his way, had the potential of a star.

‘Micky is a top-class comedian. Davy may one day be the heart-throbbing romantic hero. Peter will always evoke sympathy while Mike is sure to emerge as the cool, untouchable type. And the Beatles really like them. They don’t care that they’re being imitated.

‘When George Harrison was told that the robot group wanted to meet them, he said: “Great—we dig them!” As George explained to me later, “You can’t knock success.”’

A recent article in Spotlight Weekly asked: ‘Is the Monkee craze finished?’ It pointed out that there had been a marked falling off in the attendance of the group’s show at the Forest Hills stadium, New York. It was only half-filled.

Maybe they had better make that film. Or perhaps a new hit record will give this most human of groups the fillip it needs. But over here, I can almost hear a million young fans shouting hoarsely: ‘We still love you, Monkees! ‘

P S from Hollywood

An up-to-the-minute report from our correspondent in America…

The Monkee success story goes on and on. World-wide fame has its attendant hazards. The home addresses of the four boys here in Hollywood is one of the city’s most closely guarded secrets. On their tours over here, the security arrangements are practically Presidential.

A hundred policemen at least are always on duty—a dozen of them in the Monkee hotel, where the whole floor the boys always book is searched and sealed off two hours before the group are due in.

They still get 70,000 letters a week from American fans alone.

The television series is now showing in thirty-nine countries — the most recent convert being Japan. The boys sent over a trailer with them speaking in Japanese! They’d learnt it phonetically from a local university professor.

Davy Jones has just bought himself a farm near the famous Malibu Beach where he hopes to train race horses—a throwback to his days as a jockey. At the moment, he plans to spend Christmas in Britain, and there’s a chance that Peter Tork will join him for a holiday before the group start their first full-length feature film in February.

The earliest opportunity of seeing the whole group in England will be in June, when they will be touring.

On the record scene, the boys are planning to produce their own records at more informal recording sessions in a full-scale studio, rigged up in Mickey Dolenz’s home. And there’s also discussion about changing the format for the TV show. ‘Situation comedy is very confining,’ says Peter. ‘We’d rather do TV specials or a variety series.’

Article source: the Radio Times published 26 October 1967.

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Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the British adored variety programmes. And the top variety programme was Val Parnell’s Sunday Night at the London Palladium. It was also probably one of the longest titles in British television.

The Palladium show’s presenters – Tommy Trinder, Bruce Forsyth, Norman Vaughan, Jimmy Tarbuck – became fully fledged stars for compering the programme, with its mix of showbiz acts, audience participation games, popular music and leggy dancers. The queue to guest-star on the show was long, with ATV having the pick of the world’s top talent to choose from every week.

It helped that ATV itself was showbusiness, thanks to businesses its management came from. Val Parnell, the titular head of the Palladium show, was ATV’s managing director and was also in charge of the Moss Empires music halls, theatres and variety circuit. He knew the management of everybody who was anybody. If there was any manager he didn’t know, Bernard Delfont knew them. Delfont’s brother was Lew Grade, deputy managing director (until promotion in 1962) at ATV, and a theatrical agent: he was the management of everybody who was anybody. If he didn’t manage a star, his other brother Leslie did. Even the music at ATV (and today’s Sony-ATV Music is the last gasp of the old ATV empire) was under the management of Val Parnell’s nephew Jack, who also knew everybody in the business.

An appearance on the Palladium was a guarantee of further bookings and a rise up the billing on the circuit. If a “nobody” appeared, they were likely to be signed up by The Grade Organisation and become a “somebody” in pretty quick time. Such was the size of the of this almost incestuous system – ATV, ITC, Moss Empires, Grade Organisation, Delfont Organisation, later even EMI – that the people involved had trouble keeping up.

A, possibly apocryphal, story attaches to Lew Grade. Watching an unknown act on stage, he decided that while they weren’t top-flight, they were not untalented and with the right promotion could go places. When the act ended, he rushed round to meet them. “Your act! It’s great! I’d like to represent you – your current agent is wasting you in a theatre like this!”. “Thanks! We agree,” replied the talent, “and we’re looking to change to someone better!”. “Great!”, said Grade, “I’ll sign you up now and sort your agent out with a finder’s fee. Who is he?”. The act beamed back at him: “Lew Grade!”.

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Television plays had first appeared with television itself in the 1930s. At first they were stagey, hammy farces and drawing room comedies, designed to appeal to the middle classes that made up the audience for the new medium. When ITV started in 1955, not much had changed – plays for television were multi-camera, studio-bound and had small casts. In 1956, the new ITV company for the midlands and north on weekends, ABC, had started a strand it called Armchair Theatre. The plays were still small cast, studio-bound and usually adaptations of relatively conservative stage plays.

But the management at ABC spotted something: when they showed a play that was a bit more avant garde or intended to challenge the viewer’s opinions or lifestyle, viewing figures went up. Against the conventional wisdom, it seemed that people in the late 1950s liked having television that took them on full in the face.

Armchair Theatre was soon switched from being a family affair into being a contemporary discussion of modern life. New plays were commissioned and a vogue for “kitchen sink drama”, families falling apart or failing at what was expected of them, children breaking out of society’s straitjacket, women refusing to take the word of men as the word of law, gripped the nation.

The trend spread to other ITV companies – Granada and Rediffusion both putting out plays by new writers – and eventually to the BBC. With a popular clamour for one-off plays on television, these programmes weren’t confined to the off-hours or, from 1964, the new BBC-2. They were put in peak viewing time on the popular channels – ABC’s Armchair Theatre on Saturday evenings on ITV, The Wednesday Play and its successor Play for Today also at around 9pm on weekdays on BBC-1.

The plays started to push subject matter further as the 1960s progressed. Abortion (Up The Junction, BBC-1, 1965), sexual assault (A Night Out, ABC, 1960), sex (The Lover, Associated-Rediffusion, 1963), the casting couch (Afternoon of a Nymph, ABC, 1962), capital punishment (3 Clear Sundays, BBC-1, 1965) and “the colour problem” (Fable, BBC-1, 1965) all appeared to challenge the views of the viewers – often heralding real change in their attitudes and opinions.

Into this mix came Cathy Come Home. For its time, the structure of the play is very unusual. It is shot by Ken Loach more like a Panorama or World in Action feature than a play, blurring the lines between documentary and drama. While tightly written and not improvised, Carol White and Ray Brooks play their parts with a startling naivety, looking and sounding for all the world like real people in a real situation. Additionally, the play was shot on film and so covered a longer period of time than usual studio plays, and gained a realism that video (or, ironically, live performance) didn’t quite provide.

The 1960s were a time when television was seen as disposable. For most of its history, it hadn’t been possible to record television’s output. When it did become possible, the cost of the tapes were so high that reuse was the only way to keep within a budget. For film, and when the cost of tapes fell, storage was an issue. Why keep something that most people had seen when doing so cost money and the audience preferred a poorer new production to a brilliant one they had seen before?

Cathy Come Home, however, was kept. Not only kept, but repeated by the BBC several times. In the Radio Times clipping above, the play is getting its first run out since its début and warrants a mention on the magazine cover as well as most of an inside page – most unusual.

But then the effect of the play was unusual too. A fortnight after it first aired, and largely by coincidence, the homelessness charity Shelter was launched – a very successful launch with the play still burnt into the minds of its 12 million viewers. A year later, and entirely because of Cathy Come Home‘s effect, the charity Crisis launched, again with a mandate to fight homelessness. The problem of homelessness came very much to the fore of British society’s conscience in the years after Cathy, with the launch of a further housing charity, Centrepoint, and the 1974 two-day takeover of the similarly named (and long empty) office building Centre Point in central London by the capital’s homeless.

The government of the day also reacted to Cathy, first with the ill-fated 1967 Housing Subsidies Act then the 1969 Housing Act – both heavily influenced by the play. At the same time, the policy of splitting families apart – wives from husbands, parents from children – when people became homeless was stopped: the play highlighted that this was more an act of punishment similar to the hated pre-welfare state workhouses than an attempt to help those without a home, and the public swung against such barbaric practices.

Much of the work done in the aftermath of Cathy Come Home was undone by the free market policies of the 1980s and by society forgetting the impact of the play and turning back to blaming the homeless for their plight. Homelessness for families and individuals is again a big problem in the United Kingdom and we face a housing shortage not seen since Cathy Come Home convinced a government that building more houses – quickly and for a low price – was something that a civilised society needed.

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It was in ATV’s Saturday evening series “Man of the World” that he first caught the eye of a shrewd television executive who saw in his portrayal of a suave, devil-may-care rogue the possibility of something more than what is known in the business as a “oncer”. For the performance of Carlos Thompson, as he charmed his way through situations fraught with danger, was such as to spark off thoughts of a number of programmes reflecting similar escapades, set against backgrounds which could be international in their appeal.

The idea took root—and the “go-ahead” was given for a series of programmes. And the planners of the programmes were told that they had to stick closely to the character that had been created for that one “Man of the World” story. The hero had to be impeccably dressed; sophisticated without being foppish; attractive to women, yet of that stuff of which heroes are made; he must be witty, athletic and very much a man-of-the-world.

A tall order for a character. Equally so for whoever was to take on the role.

Carlos Thompson can truly be said to measure up to the requirements of such casting.

The Argentinian-born Thompson is tall (6ft. 2ins.), dark and handsome. He has been described as a Latin heart-throb. Although born in the heat of South America, he has made his home for a number of years in the cool “and ice” of Switzerland, where he lives with his film star wife Lilli Palmer—3,000 feet up a mountain. The very effort of getting up and down that self-same mountain answers the demand for athletic prowess. He is also robust and quick on his feet—and he has “been around”, having spent much of his adult life in the majority of the capitals of South American countries, in New York, London, and the bigger cities of Europe.

In “Sentimental Agent” he is shown as owning and running an import-export business called Mercury International which has ramifications all over the world. From his own personal experiences Thompson could well be suited for such a job in real life, for he is essentially cosmopolitan—in origin and in outlook. Despite the country of his birth— or perhaps because of it—he claims to be one quarter German, one quarter Spanish, one quarter French, and he speaks eight languages.

In his linen suit —or that cut by a fashionable Savile Row tailor when the occasion demands — his panama hat set at an angle which is neither rakish nor too lacking in character, and his inevitable, specially prepared cigar alight in its ebony holder (and this is his smoking preference as practised in real life), he is the embodiment of the male whom most women secretly hanker after, whom many women openly spend their life looking for.

It was one of the most beautiful women ever to grace the world’s cinema screens from Hollywood who first saw the potential in Carlos Thompson. He owes his career in the competitive world of filmland to the tempestuous Yvonne de Carlo. She it was who spotted him for his first English-speaking films. She lured him to the film capital in California to co-star with her in “Port Algiers”. Based on this picture — to which he had brought a tough apprenticeship in Argentinian films — he was given a Hollywood contract and hailed as a new heart-throb. Roles opposite Lana ‘Turner and Esther Williams followed. Starring parts in “The Flame and the Flesh”, “The Valley of the Kings”, “Magic Fire”, “Thunderstorm” and “Raw Wind of Eden” followed. Then he disappeared from the English-speaking screen.

Where had he gone? By his own admission he recalls: “The Hollywood-stvle life was not for me. I had to decide whether I wanted to return to Hollywood or be myself and live the sort of life I wanted”. He made his decision—and chose Switzerland as his home.

But this did not mean he was lost to films. Austria and Germany are within easy reach — after a tough journey on skis — from his 1800-built converted peasant’s chalet on the Swiss mountainside.

In these countries he has made eighteen films in the last ten years and established himself as one of the Continent’s most sought-after and popular leading men. Witness to this claim was shown while Carlos was on a quiet, private, sightseeing tour around London this spring as a break from househunting for his wife and himself for their stay in Britain to make the “Sentimental Agent” series.

As he strolled through Trafalgar Square, overcoat draped characteristically over his shoulder, cigar-holder at its jaunty angle, the eyes of some members of a visiting party of girls from one of Kent’s most proper finishing schools for young ladies noticed him. Immediately the long hours of training and insistence on decorum were forgotten. “Eet ees Carlos”, shouted the German, Swiss, Austrian girls in the group. In a moment deportment was forgotten and the smiling actor found himself surrounded by excited girls while he tried to keep up a conversation with them in the many different languages with which he was being assailed as his fans recognised him, demanded that he speak to them—of his films and of “home”.

Such is his standing on the Continent. Before long the distinctive accent of the English used in the North Country, in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Birmingham and around Hampstead could well be added to this acclaim.

The son of a writer — his father was an Argentinian newspaper editor — Carlos Thompson is following in Thompson senior’s footsteps. His main hobby is writing. He has written many short stories and at one time seriously considered taking up writing as a career.

His home in Switzerland provides the ideal requirements for a man of letters: he has peace, air like champagne — inducive to good composition — and a wife who likes to read herself and who understands the needs of a creative mind… a far cry this from the role of the modern-day swashbuckler of “Sentimental Agent”.

But Thompson is an adaptable person. He has to be, for to every role he plays he brings his own instinctive interpretation. This is always realism. In ATV’s “Sentimental Agent” he is called on to draw on the vast experience that has been his career to date. One moment he is in danger, another he is in love, in yet another he is in a situation that taxes all his wit, ingenuity and charm — but without doubt he is always in the centre of things. In such situations he gives his all — and who can blame him? Always at the back of his mind, to relish and look forward to, is that snow-covered mountain retreat where visitors, if they have negotiated the difficulties of the journey, are always welcome; but he knows that the unexpected knocks on his thick oak front door will be few and far between.

Truly, a man with a mind of his own — and a place of his own — is Carlos Thompson, “Sentimental Agent”

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