Geoff Hawkes
I remember the “Educating Archie” signature tune from the pre-television days in the late forties and early fifties when the radio, sorry, the wireless was the chief source of entertainment. Morning shows included “Housewives’ Choice” or “Children’s Choice” through “Woman’s Hour” in the afternoon, “Roundabout” at teatime followed by “My Word”, “Journey Into Space”, “Paul Temple”, “The Guilty Party”, “Meet The Huggets”, “The Glums”, “Life of Bliss” (in “Take It From Here”) and many more in the evenings.
I was interested to hear the name Julie Andrew’s among the cast of “Educating Archie” as I’d forgotten she was on that in her early days before she rose to stardom with “Mary Poppins” and “The Sound of Music”.
I remember Max Bygraves being on it with his catchphrase, “I’ve arrived and to prove it I’m here” and liked him as a kind of elder brother figure. Twenty or so years later he was a guest on “Des O’Connor Tonight” that I worked on and I said to him in passing that I thought he was good on “Educating Archie”. He must’ve thought I was taking the Mickey though I don’t know why as he shocked me by replying with a sneer, “…What, me doing impressions?” and turned away before I could explain. It may have been small beginnings for him that he chose to forget, but as a child the show left an impression on me that he might’ve been pleased to hear about.
To this day I sometimes quote his catchphrase as an aside when arriving somewhere, though it’s clear that no-one remembers the origin of it. It’s a bit like the enigmatic question, “What’s the difference between a duck?” that Steve Cockayne used to quote. The origin of that seems unclear, though with the tag it sounds worthy of Groucho Marx. Do any of you know the tag before I reveal it?
Another funny line of Groucho Marx that I like is, “I could dance with you till the cows come home – or I could dance with the cows till you come home…”
I’m sure you all have favourite one liners of your own to share.
[ed: Answer: Two legs are the same]
Mike Giles
I’m afraid I never did take to Archie Andrews and Peter Brough ~ even as a child I thought their humour puerile. And it mystified me as to why a radio show involved a ventriloquist and his dummy! Give me the subtlety of a Tony Hancock any day, or the riotous stuff from Kenneth Horne and co ~ riotous, but still cleverly written.
Pat Heigham
The idea of a vent on radio rather defeats the illusion. Brough was such a bad vent that maybe he could only get bookings for radio!
Geoff Hawkes
I think the opinion about Peter Brough’s ventriloquistic skills were accurate from what I’ve heard and there was a biographic programme on the radio a while ago that said the same.
Pete Hider
It’s an old story but worth retelling. When Archie Andrews was first on the radio, Peter Brough asked Ted Ray if he could see his lips move. Ted replied: “Only when the dummy speaks”.
Dave Newbitt
Ted Ray, I remember, was one of the old school comedians who largely got their material not from scriptwriters but by socialising with the great British public in pubs and elsewhere. As a youngster I found common ground with my parents (not a frequent phenomenon) in enjoying Ted Ray on the ‘wireless’.
Pat Heigham
Working the boom on the side set in TVT on “Pops & Lenny”, I found it hard to avoid favouring between Terry Hall and Lenny the Lion. My SS had to remind me that “There’s only one of them talking, Pat!”
David Denness
In my opinion the best Vent I ever saw was Dennis Spicer with his dummy James Green. He appeared at the Royal Variety in 1964 to loud acclaim and unfortunately died two weeks later in a motoring accident.
These days Nina Conti, daughter of Tom Conti, is getting plaudits for her at times unconventional act, but there is no denying she is a highly talented exponent of the art, and can be very amusing
Pat Heigham
I love Nina Conti, too. Her act with the fake mouth/jaw fitted to an unsuspecting audience member is hilarious.
Geoff Hawkes
The vent who impressed me most was Ray Alan. I remember him coming into Pres A and sitting in the control room chatting to the director about nothing to do with the show. Lord Charles was on his knee and the whole time while no-one was talking to him he just kept looking round and saying nothing. It struck me as the sign of a true expert never to let the dummy go dead while you have hold of it.
Vernon Dyer
Nice story about Ray Alan!
Another example: Ivan Owen and Basil Brush. Although Ivan wasn’t a vent, as a puppeteer he made sure that Basil Brush was always ‘in character’ whenever he was visible, even to just the crew.
Doug Puddifoot
I saw Basil Brush ask a floor manager to turn a monitor round so he had a better view, and he did.
Graeme Wall
I used to operate the TVT inlay desk on Basil Brush: it had a joystick for moving the effect around, so during recording breaks I made a bee shape which I “flew” around Basil who acted up to it, snapping at it.
Confused the FM and the stage crew but the kids in the audience loved it as they could see it on the monitors.
Roger Bunce
People start to believe it. I remember Roland Rat once forgetting his lines. A helpful Floor Assistant arrived with a script – and showed it to the Rat! Roland did a double-take, followed by an apparently serious attempt to read it. Then, looking at the Floor Assistant, cried, “I can’t read this! These eyes are just glass beads, you know!”
Bernie Newnham
I was once Roland Rat’s right hand.
For my sins I produced a series called “Roland Rat’s Easter Extravaganza” – basically a lot of extended links that we made using the “Eastenders” two camera OB in the old ATV control room at Elstree. ATV had left various monitors and stuff, and the place hadn’t been used since. We turned the gear on, and it worked, so we used it.
A year or so passed.
I was just getting up the South Hall stairs to the fourth floor, and a familiar voice called “Ah Bernie, just the person I need”. The rat was going to be interviewed on some morning programme, and the girlfriend who operated the right arm had gone sick, or walked out, or something. So up I went to Pres B, where I got down under the desk with David Claridge and a reversed scan monitor and did my bit. I think I had to hold an envelope and wave it around.
Roger Bunce
One of the pleasures of being an Inlay Operator was, having a certain amount of free time, the opportunity to entertain cast and production team during rehearsals.
Rather like Graeme Wall’s “Bee”, I once invented a “Vampire Bat” Wipe. – Fold a piece of paper in half; cut half-a-bat shape into the fold, such that a whole bat-shaped hole appears in the centre of the paper when it is straightened; place bat-shaped hole on light box, and inlay black into the white bit. No joy stick in those days, but you could fly your bat around the screen simply by sliding it around the light box, flexing the folded paper to flap its wings. Lots of fun chasing overacting cast around the set on various programs.
Graeme Wall
Ah that was you! I remember seeing it from the studio floor. The bee was very simple; just a small circular wipe filled with black level and move it aound the screen. After the first couple of weeks the gram-op used to play in the appropriate fx.
