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The series was devised and written by Spike Milligan with the regular collaboration of other writers including Larry Stephens, Eric Sykes (who co-wrote most of the episodes in Series 5), Maurice Wiltshire and John Antrobus, initially under the supervision of Jimmy Grafton.[5] Milligan and Harry Secombe became friends while serving in the Royal Artillery during the Second World War. Famously, Milligan first encountered Secombe after Gunner Milligan's artillery unit accidentally allowed a large howitzer to roll off a cliff, under which Secombe was sitting in a small wireless truck: "Suddenly there was a terrible noise as some monstrous object fell from the sky quite close to us. There was considerable confusion, and in the middle of it all the flap of the truck was pushed open and a young, helmeted idiot asked 'Anybody see a gun?' It was Milligan."[12] Secombe's answer to that question was "What colour was it?" Milligan met Peter Sellers after the war at the Hackney Empire, where Secombe was performing, and the three became close friends.[13] The group first formed at Jimmy Grafton's London public house called "Grafton's" in the late 1940s.[5][6][14] Sellers had already débuted with the BBC, Secombe was often heard on Variety Bandbox, Milligan was writing for and acting in the high profile BBC show Hip-Hip-Hoo-Roy with Derek Roy, and Michael Bentine, who appeared in the first series, had just begun appearing in Charlie Chester's peak time radio show Stand Easy.[5] The four clicked immediately. "It was always a relief to get away from the theatre and join in the revels at Grafton's on a Sunday night," said Secombe years later.[15] They took to calling themselves 'The Goons' and started recording their pub goings-on with a tape recorder. The BBC producer, Pat Dixon heard a tape and took interest in the group. He pressed the BBC for a long term contract for the gang, knowing that it would secure Sellers for more than just seasonal work, something for which the BBC had been aiming. The BBC acquiesced and ordered an initial series, though without much enthusiasm.[5] The series had its premiere in May 1951 and audience figures grew rapidly, from around 370,000 to nearly two million by the end of the 17th show.[5] The BBC commissioned a second series during which a number of changes occurred. Bentine left the show, citing a desire to pursue solo projects, although there had been an increasing degree of creative tension between him and Milligan.[16] The musical interludes were shortened, and Max Geldray joined the lineup. Peter Eton, from the BBC's drama department, replaced Dennis Main Wilson as producer. Eton brought stricter discipline to the show's production. He was also an expert at sound effects and microphone technique, ensuring that the show became a far more dynamic listening experience. However, a few episodes into the series Milligan suffered a major nervous breakdown. He was hospitalised in early December 1952,[17] just before the broadcast of episode five, but it, and the following episode, had already been written, and the next 12 episodes were co-written by Stephens and Grafton. Milligan was absent as a performer for about two months, returning for episode 17, broadcast in early March 1952. As with Series 2, all episodes were co-written by Milligan and Stephens and edited by Jimmy Grafton. No recordings of any episode of this series are known to have survived. Milligan blamed his breakdown and the collapse of his first marriage on the sheer volume of writing the show required.[18] His then ground-breaking use of sound effects also contributed to the pressure.[nb 1][19] All this exacerbated his mental instability that included bipolar disorder, especially during the third series.[20] The BBC however made sure he was surrounded by accomplished radio comedy writers—Sykes, Stephens, Antrobus, Wiltshire, and Grafton—so many of the problems caused by his ill health were skilfully covered over by composite scripts written in a very convincing Milliganesque style. Many senior BBC staff were variously bemused and befuddled by the show's surreal humour and it has been reported that senior programme executives erroneously referred to it as The Go On Show[5][21] or even The Coon Show.[22] This show was very popular in Britain in its heyday; tickets for the recording sessions at the BBC's Camden Theatre (now known as KOKO) in London were constantly over-subscribed and the various character voices and catchphrases from the show quickly became part of the vernacular.[23] The series has remained consistently popular ever since – as of January 2011 it is still being broadcast once a week by the ABC in Australia, as well as on BBC Radio 4 Extra and continuously on the internet at The GoonShowRadio. The BBC as part of its archival policy, destroyed most of series one, two, three and some of four. All of series five to ten exist, and the Corporation is gradually releasing them, remastered and restored by Ted Kendall. Bootleg copies of all extant episodes exist on the web - the show was widely recorded by devotees - including the first two episodes of series two, which the BBC had destroyed. The extant copies, and released discs are confused by the show existing in two formats - the original, and the Transcription Service edition. The TS version was the most widely circulated until the recent series of re-releases. The scripts exist mostly in fan-transcribed versions via dedicated websites. Although three books[18][24][25] were published containing selected scripts, they are out of print, and typically available only in libraries or second-hand bookshops. Some more recent biographical books contain selected scripts.[26][27] There were 10 series in total, plus an additional series called Vintage Goons, which featured re-recordings of early shows for which recordings had not survived. The first series had 17 episodes plus one special, Cinderella (1951); the second series had 25 episodes, (1952); the third series had 25 episodes plus one special - The Coronation Special (1952–53); the fourth series had 30 episodes plus one special, Archie In Goonland (1953–54); the fifth series had 26 episodes plus one special - The Starlings (1954–55); the sixth series had 27 episodes plus three specials, (1955–56); the seventh series had 25 episodes plus two specials, (1956–57); the eighth series had 26 episodes, (1957–58); the Vintage Goons were re-performances of 14 episodes from series four; the ninth series had 17 episodes, (1958–59); and the tenth series had six episodes, (1959–1960).[28] Format Throughout its history, each episode of The Goon Show, which usually ran just under 30 minutes, was essentially structured as a comedy-variety programme, consisting of scripted comedy segments alternating with musical interludes. The first two series were mostly produced by Dennis Main Wilson; none of the episodes was given an individual title[29] and these early shows were loosely structured and consisted of four or five unconnected sketches, separated by musical items. According to later producer Peter Eton, the musical segments took up around half the programme.[30] In this formative phase the show co-starred Milligan (who played only minor roles in the early shows), Sellers, Secombe and Michael Bentine as the nominal 'hero' of each episode, madcap inventor Dr Osric Pureheart.[31] Musical performances were by virtuoso jazz harmonica player Max Geldray, singer Ray Ellington and his quartet (both of whom were recruited by Dixon) and vocal group the Stargazers, but they left after Episode 6 of Series 2, and for the remaining episodes Secombe filled in, singing a straight vocal number.[32] Incidental, theme and backing music was provided by Stanley Black and the BBC Dance Orchestra.[33] Series 2 also saw the first appearances of popular characters Minnie Bannister (Milligan) and Henry Crun (Sellers). Partly due to creative tensions between him and Milligan, as well as his desire to pursue a solo career, Bentine departed after the end of Series 2. Dennis Main Wilson was replaced as producer by Peter Eton, who oversaw most episodes in Series 3, 4, 5 and 6. The last few episodes of Series 6 were produced by Pat Dixon, except for the Christmas special, which was produced by Main Wilson. Eton returned for the first two episodes of Series 7 but the remainder were produced by Pat Dixon, except the final episode, produced by Jacques Brown. In Series 8, Charles Chilton produced Episodes 1-5 and 17-26, Roy Speer produced Episodes 6-14 and Tom Ronald produced Episodes 15-16. Chilton, Speer and Ronald also variously produced the 14 episodes of the "Vintage Goons" series (1957–58) which were remakes of early programs for which recordings were no longer extant. Series 9 and 10 were entirely produced by John Browell. From Series 3, The Goon Show (as it was now officially titled) gradually settled into its 'classic' format. Milligan, Stephens and Grafton began to work within a narrative structure and by the second half of Series 4 each episode typically consisted of three acts linked by a continuing plot,[34] with Geldray performing between Acts I and II and Ellington between Acts II and III. Almost all the principal and occasional characters were now performed by Milligan and Sellers, with Secombe usually playing only Neddie Seagoon, who had replaced Pureheart as the hero of most of the stories. The closing theme, backing for Geldray and incidental music was now provided by a big band of freelance musicians under the direction of Wally Stott, who had been writing for the show since the first series.[33] After the end of Series 3, original announcer Andrew Timothy was replaced (at the suggestion of John Snagge) by Wallace Greenslade,[33] who provided spoken narrative links as well as occasionally performing small roles in the scripts. From Series 3 onwards, the principal character roles were: Neddie Seagoon (Secombe) Eccles (Milligan) Bluebottle (Sellers) Henry Crun (Sellers) Minnie Bannister (Milligan) Hercules Grytpype-Thynne (Sellers) Count Jim Moriarty (Milligan) Major Denis Bloodnok (Sellers) Secondary characters were the 'Indians', Banerjee and Lalkaka, the servant Abdul/Singez Thingz, Willium "Mate" Cobblers, Cyril, Jim Spriggs, Little Jim, Flowerdew and Chief Ellinga/The Red Bladder - both played by Ray Ellington.[35] There were also occasional guest stars including senior BBC announcer John Snagge, and actors Valentine Dyall, Dick Emery, Kenneth Connor, Dennis Price and Bernard Miles. The traditional plots involved Grytpype-Thynne and Moriarty getting Neddie Seagoon involved in some far-fetched plan, and meeting the other cast members along the way. Many characters had regular catchphrases which quickly moved into the vernacular; among the best known are: "He's fallen in the water!" (Little Jim) "You dirty, rotten swine, you! You have deaded me!" (Bluebottle) "You can't get the wood, you know." (Henry, Minnie) "You silly, twisted boy, you." (Grytpype-Thynne) "You can't park 'ere, mate" (Willium) -- Milligan's dig at officious BBC commissionaires. Surrealism This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (October 2008) "What time is it Eccles?" MENU0:00 3:22 sample - 973kb Problems playing this file? See media help. The Goon Show has been variously described as "avant-garde," "surrealist," "abstract," and "four dimensional."[36] Broadly the Goon Show engaged in 'sound cartooning'. That is creating cartoons by means of sounds - voices, sound effects (FX), gramophone recordings of noises (Grams), orchestral effects etc. - all performed live in front of a studio audience. In the scripts themselves, Milligan explored the use of 'subject transference'. In particular he used three methods - transference of time, transference of place and transference of utility. Examples are: Transference of time If time causes calendars, calendars can cause time. If you drop a bundle of 1918 calendars on German troops in 1916, then they will all go home, thus shortening the war. ("World War One", 22nd episode/ 8th series.) Two other shows with extreme examples of time transference are "The Treasure in the Tower", 5th episode/8th series; and "The Mysterious Punch Up the Conker", 19th episode/7th series. (The famous 'What time is it Eccles?' scene.) Transference of place If one lives in a house, and one can say that someone lives in their clothes, then the two are interchangeable. Therefore a recurring theme in the shows is of someone living in the basement of someone else's clothes, or of someone taking the lift up and down inside someone's suit. (e.g.: "What are you doing in my trousers?? - 'Slumming!'") The best example of this is in "The Policy", 9th/ 8th series. Doors give you entrance into a different place, so a door can transport you anywhere. A door in the Himalayas can take you back to London etc. In "Six Charlies in Search of an Author" 13/7 Bloodnok is wearing a room in which are he and other characters; they attempt to escape from a stick of dynamite but find themselves still in the room ("Of course! I'm still wearing it!") until he takes the room off. Transference of utility Milligan swapped functions between objects haphazardly and to comic effect. Pianos become vehicles of transportation, theatre organs become divining machines, two bananas become binoculars, Eccles becomes an omnibus ("Rommel's Treasure", 6/6th - "My, he's running well"), gorillas become cigarettes ("These gorillas are strong! Here, have one of my monkeys - they're milder"), photographs of money become legal tender, etc. Medium games Additionally, Milligan played games with the medium itself. Whole scenes were written in which characters would leave, close the door behind themselves, yet still be inside the room. Further to this, characters would announce their departure, slam a door, but it would be another character who had left the room. That character would then beat on the door for re-admittance, the door would open and close and again the wrong character would be locked out.[37] Spike also specialised in writing long scenes where a pair of characters would discuss a subject in a circle, coming back to the point they started. The best example is in "The Great Tuscan Salami Scandal" 23rd episode/ 6th series, in a scene between Minnie and Henry. Locations The settings for the shows were a revolution in themselves. Rather than the tepid everyday world of Britain in the '50s, Milligan set most of the shows in foreign locations, especially India, North Africa, South America, the Wild West, places where he had lived or had been posted during WWII, or had been fascinated with when a boy. It gives the shows a "boys'-own-story" atmosphere to the plots, and also an extraordinary sense of realism. The episodes set during wartime and those located in India, highlighted the absurdist humour played out against the realistic backdrops. Violence Apart from the background, and the scripts, is the question of violence. Milligan had been caught in an explosion at the Battle of Monte Cassino during the war, and weekly he would blow up either Bluebottle, Eccles, or the whole cast. The whole cast is blown up in, for example, "The Sale of Manhattan", 11th episode/6th series. Bombs, cannons, dynamite, TNT; anything and everything was used. Eccles breaks his leg in "Shangri La Again", 8th/6th series. How? "I just got a big hammer and went WHACK!" This was weekly fare. The most violent episode is considered to be "The Last Tram", 9th/5th series, where the cast and announcer belt each other with shovels for the last two minutes of the show. The Goon Show paved the way for surreal and alternative humour, as acknowledged by comedians such as Eddie Izzard.[38] The surreality was part of the attraction for Sellers.[19] All this exacerbated his mental instability especially during the third series.[39] Many of the sequences have been cited as being visionary in the way that they challenged the traditional conventions of comedy.[40] On p. 73 of the Pythons' autobiography, Terry Jones states "The Goons of course were my favourite. It was the surreality of the imagery and the speed of the comedy that I loved - the way they broke up the conventions of radio and played with the very nature of the medium."[8] This is reiterated by Michael Palin and John Cleese in their contributions to Ventham's (2002) book. Cleese recalls listening to The Goon Show as a teenager in the mid-1950s "and being absolutely amazed by its surreal humour. It came at a key stage in my own development and I never missed a show" (p. 150).[7] Music and sound effects The Fred the Oyster sound effect MENU0:00 The sound of an oyster opening which represented the introduction of Fred the Oyster. From The Sinking of Westminster Pier (15 February 1955, s05e23) Problems playing this file? See media help. Orchestral introductions, links and accompaniment were provided by a hand-picked big band made up of London based session musicians.[41] The arrangements and musical direction were done by Wally Stott from the third to the 10th series. Stott produced many arrangements and link passages, further improved by the first-class sound quality the BBC engineers managed to achieve.[42] Members of the band featured prominently in the comedy proceedings, particularly jazz trombonist George Chisholm who frequently played Scots characters. The show's concluding music was usually either "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" or a truncated and ironic rendition of the Alte Kameraden (Old Comrades') march, followed by Max Geldray and the Ray Ellington Quartet playing "Crazy Rhythm" as play-out music. In keeping with the variety requirements of the BBC's "light entertainment" format, The Goon Show scripts were structured in three acts, separated by two musical interludes. These were provided by the Ray Ellington Quartet—who performed a mixture of jazz, rhythm & blues and calypso songs—and by harmonica virtuoso Max Geldray who performed mostly middle of the road numbers and jazz standards of the 30s and 40s accompanied by the big band. Both Ellington and Geldray also made occasional cameo appearances; Ellington was often drafted in to play stereotypical 'black' roles such as a tribal chieftain, native bearer or Major Bloodnok's nemesis (and counterpoint to Bloodnok's affliction) 'The Red Bladder'. Geldray's roles were short and infrequent, and by no coincidence he was referred to in the show as the world's worst actor. Both musicians endured constant references to their physical appearance without apparent rancour, mostly Ellington's skin colour and Geldray's nose - but then again so did Secombe, whose height, girth and/or alleged lack of neck were referenced in almost every show. It was in its use of pre-recorded and live sound effects that The Goon Show show broke the most new ground.[5][19] Part of the problem was that "not even Milligan knew how to capture electronically the peculiar sounds that came alive in his head - he just knew when it had not yet happened".[43] An example of this comes from an often cited story of Milligan filling his two socks with custard in the Camden Theatre canteen, in an attempt to achieve a squelching effect. Milligan asked the BBC canteen ladies to make some custard; they thought he must have some stomach trouble so lovingly made him a fresh custard - which he accepted with thanks and immediately poured into his sock, much to their horror. Secombe recalled "Back in the studio, Spike had already placed a sheet of three-ply near a microphone." One after the other, he swung them around his head against the wood, but failed to produce the sound effect he was seeking ("So, a sock full of custard and no sound effect!").[43][44] Secombe noted that "Spike used to drive the studio managers mad with his insistence on getting the sound effects he wanted. In the beginning, when the programme was recorded on disc, it was extremely difficult to achieve the right sound effect. There were, I think, four turntables on the go simultaneously, with different sounds being played on each - chickens clucking, Big Ben striking, donkeys braying, massive explosions, ships' sirens - all happening at once. It was only when tape came into use that Spike felt really happy with the effects."[44] An FX instruction in one script read "Sound effect of two lions walking away, bumping against each other. If you can't get two lions, two hippos will do". Over time, the sound engineers became increasingly adept at translating the script into desired sounds, assisted from the late 1950s onwards by specialists in the BBC's newly formed Radiophonic Workshop.[43] In creation of the Goon shows, long and acrimonious shouting matches occurred between Milligan and BBC managers as he tried to get his own way.[45] Was he a diva? "I was in the Goon Show days", he told Dick Lester.[46] "I was trying to shake the BBC out of its apathy. Sound effects were 'a knock on the door and tramps on gravel' - that was it, and I tried to transform it." Using techniques already developed by the drama department, he went on to give the show an indelible sense of reality, going out of his way to achieve maximum believability by the use of FX (live sound effects) and Grams (pre-recorded sound effects), making the show the first comedic production of its kind to try actively to persuade the listeners that the happenings were real, and especially to create alternate realities or surreal audio imagery that would be impossible to realise visually. This approach was echoed on television in the 1970s by Monty Python through the surreal animation inserts created by Terry Gilliam. Many of the sound effects created for later programmes featured innovative production techniques borrowed from the realm of musique concrète, and using the then new technology of magnetic tape. Many of these sequences involved the use of complex multiple edits, echo and reverberation and the deliberate slowing down, speeding up or reversing of tapes. One of the most famous was the legendary "Bloodnok's Stomach" sound effect, created by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop to represent the sound of Major Bloodnok's digestive system in action, which included a variety of inexplicable gurgling and explosive noises. Lewis (1995, p. 218) states Bloodnok's stomach "was achieved by overlaying burps, whoops from oscillators, water splashes, cork-like pops, and light artillery blasts".[19] This effect kept turning up on later comedy shows, and can even be heard on a track by The Orb.[citation needed] Cast members and characters Main article: List of The Goon Show cast members and characters Harry Secombe's characters Major: Neddie Seagoon Minor: Uncle Oscar Private Bogg Nugent Dirt Izzy Welshmen Yorkshiremen Spike Milligan's characters Major: Eccles Minnie Bannister Count Jim Moriarty Minor: Throat Little Jim Spriggs Yakamoto Cor blimey Singes Thingz Hugh Jampton Fu Manchu Mr Banerjee Peter Sellers' characters Major: Major Bloodnok Hercules Grytpype-Thynne Bluebottle Henry Crun Minor: Cynthia Willium "Mate" Cobblers Mr Lalkaka Eidelberger Flowerdew Cyril Fred Nurke Gladys Lew/Ernie Cash Churchill Hearn and more... Michael Bentine's characters Prof. Osric Pureheart and more Other cast members Guest cast members The Goon Show was a British radio comedy programme, originally produced and broadcast by the BBC Home Service from 1951 to 1960, with occasional repeats on the BBC Light Programme. The first series broadcast from 28 May to 20 September 1951, was titled Crazy People; all subsequent series had the title The Goon Show, a title inspired, according to Spike Milligan, by a Popeye character.[1] The show's chief creator and main writer was Spike Milligan. The scripts mixed ludicrous plots with surreal humour, puns, catchphrases and an array of bizarre sound effects. Some of the later episodes feature electronic effects devised by the then-fledgling BBC Radiophonic Workshop, many of which were reused by other shows for decades afterwards. Many elements of the show satirised contemporary life in Britain, parodying aspects of show business, commerce, industry, art, politics, diplomacy, the police, the military, education, class structure, literature and film. The show was released internationally through the BBC Transcription Services (TS).[2] It was heard regularly from the 1950s in Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, India and Canada, although these TS versions were frequently edited to avoid controversial subjects.[3] NBC began broadcasting the programme on its radio network from the mid-1950s.[4] The programme exercised a considerable influence on the subsequent development of British and American comedy and popular culture. It was cited as a major influence by the Beatles,[5] Monty Python (especially Cleese, Chapman, Gilliam, Palin and Jones)[6][7] [8][9][10] and the American comedy team The Firesign Theatre.[7][11] |
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