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**********************************************
* THE GOODIES FAN CLUB CLARION AND GLOBE *
**********************************************
*THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF "THE GOODIES RULE - O.K."*
Issue No. 5 12th April 1996
INTRODUCTION
************
Don't believe Ace of Base when they tell you 'It's A Beautiful Life!'
It's
not, it's a busy life! I'm sure I speak for Marf and Nik and indeed,
you all,
when I say that I feel like I've done 10 Goodies visual sequences in a
row, all
with the accompaniment of 'Run'! But as promised, here is a full
length, back
to normal, full of obscure trivia, C&G. We've all been working away at
club
projects and I think we're getting somewhere. So, let's stuff that
funky
gibbon!
CONTENTS
********
1. BOFFO IDEAS
2. SPOTTED!!!
3. GOODIES TRIVIA QUESTION
4. DID YOU KNOW?
1. BOFFO IDEAS
**************
THE RE-SCREENING CAMPAIGN IN THE US
from Marf Shopmyer
I wrote to the South Carolina Educational TV (PBS local) about You
Know Who.
They didn't seem to think it was available for distribution in this
country,
but would check.
Text of letter received:
***********************************
Dear Ms. Shepmyer [Okay, this proves that I handwrote the letter --
he
couldn't read my writing!] (It's a bit like The Goodies' Cleaning Lady
-
Alison):
Thank you for writing to S. C. Educational Television.
The British comedy, "The Goodies," may not be in distribution at this
time.
ETV did broadcast the program many years ago, but not with great
popularity.
However, I will be more than happy to check for availability and
possible
airing.
Thanks again for your support and interest in programming presented
by our
network.
Sincerely,
Jesse L. Bowers, Jr.
Vice President for Programming
South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Post Office Box 11000
Columbia SC 29211
********************************************
Ah-HA! That's how it gets to BE available. Feelers go out. Someone
gets the
idea that this might be the time to resurrect this show! Must find
more people
to write! Wheeee!
Hmmmmm -- what do they mean "not with great popularity," anyway? I
guess not
enough people called in with pledge money (which is how public
broadcasting
works) during their broadcast. Usually "Are You Being Served?" gets
all the
money.
If anyone else wants to contact their local PBS station in the US
please go
ahead.
ISIRTA ON RADIO NATIONAL
As I said in last month's C&G I recently e-mailed Radio National in
Australia
and asked them whether they planned to bring back ISIRTA. Here is the
reply I
received:
********************************************
Dear Alison,
I'm a Goodies fan too, so I'm in sympathy with the Fan Club.
However, it is important for us to find new comic talent, and much of
what
we'll be doing over the next few months in our Friday night Box Seat
comedy
spot will be aimed at encouraging new comedy.
Do listen, and let me know what you think. At present I'm thinking of
bringing
ISIRTA back next Summer.
Yours sincerely
David Britton
National Executive Producer
Radio Drama
************************************************
That is good news, but can we wait that long?
THE RE-SCREENING CAMPAIGN IN AUSTRALIA
It shall be done, never fear! All Australian members will finally get
information on the proposed Australia wide petition next week. And
that's a
promise!
LETTER TO THE BBC
Unfortunately there's still no reply to the letter I sent on 31st
January
regarding The Goodies Rule - OK! becoming an official club. However I
feel sure
they will reply, as I found out the other day that Graeme Garden and
Tim
Brooke-Taylor eventually replied to Melinda's letter concerning the
former
Goodies fan club on the net. Here's hoping that I can tell you about
the BBC's
reply next issue! (Of course, there's always the possibility that they
sent
their reply 2nd class, then the ruddy GPO won't have touched it yet!
See #7
Radio Goodies or ISIRTA tape one, episode one for details!)
ADVERTISING
Our advertising campaign continues. Peter Tatchell, editor of Laugh
magazine
assures me we'll be mentioned in their next issue, which is due out in
a month
or so. Also you should find us mentioned in the next issue of
Entropy*, The
University of South Australia's student newspaper. I've also mentioned
us in
e-mails to the ABC's new internet program "http://" and to Andy Grace
at FOX
FM, who hosts "The Net At Night" on the Austereo Network. So maybe
we'll get a
mention. Finally I've talked about us on a student radio show I do
here in
Adelaide, which probably gets about 10 listeners, but who knows?????
Let me know if you've got any advertising ideas for the club,
.
T-SHIRTS
Nik is still working on the t-shirt
designs, like
us all she has been very busy recently, but as soon as they are
available on
the homepages, we'll let you know.
HOMEPAGES
Thanks to Frauke Nonnenmacher and Nik Whitehead
, you'll soon be able to download The
Goodies logo
from the club's homepages
(http://www.mcs.dundee.ac.uk:8080/~nwhitehe/goodies/homepage.htm). The
homepages are also being updated, with new versions of most pages
available
now. Look out for more changes in the next couple of weeks.
While on the subject of homepages, Melinda Casino's
The Goodies Archives has now become
The
Cricklewood Office, this is due to the unfortunate closure of
cathouse.org,
which was probably the best site for British Comedy on the net.
However, check
out The Cricklewood Office, if you haven't already, at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/3387/ .
2. SPOTTED!!!
*************
RUN FOR YOUR WIFE
from Diane Marie Cooke
Here's some info on Tim and a farce I saw him in. It was in March
1984 and he
played the role of Stanley Gardner in the London production of "Run
For Your
Wife" at the Criterion Theatre in Piccadilly Circus. (It had been
playing there
for years; he was in only one of many casts.)
I don't exactly remember Tim's character beyond that he was very
confused-- as
most farce characters are if they are not in on the source of the
misunderstanding. I think he was a neighbour, but don't quote me on
that.
His biography as it appears in the brochure is as follows:
*****************************
TBT was expelled from his first school at the age of 5 1/2 but
finished his
education at Winchester and Cambridge where he joined the famous
Footlights
Revue Club, becoming its President in 1963. The revue of that year,
"Cambridge
Circus," played at the Lyric Theatre and later Tim transferred with
the rest of
the cast to Broadway. He subsequently made many radio and television
appearances including On The Braden Beat, ISIRTA, At Last the 1948
Show, Marty,
I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Broaden Your Mind and The Goodies.
On Stage Tim has appeared in Australia in My Fat Friend and Privates
on
Parade. In the West End he appeared in Royce Ryton's The Unvarnished
Truth,
which was also televised and last year he played his first Dame in a
sell-out
season of Dick Whittington at the Shaw Theatre. He has appeared twice
with Hugh
Paddick in Michael Pertwee's Don't Just Lie There Say Something and
also in
John Chapman and Ray Cooney's farce Not Now Darling. Tim has just
finished
recording a new series for London Weekend Television as Richard
O'Sullivan's
incompetent partner in Me and My Girl and at the beginning of 1984 he
recorded
"a slightly naughty" comedy for the American Cable TV Company HBO
which will be
shown here later in the year. His first book "Rule Britannia" was
published in
1983 and is available in all good bookshops - and a few bad ones as
well.
****************************
SHADES OF GREENE
from Diane Marie Cooke
Tim Brooke-Taylor also appeared in the series Shades Of Greene.
Shades of Greene was a British series which, from week to week
depicted
different short stories of Graham Greene. That was probably about 14
years ago.
Tim played a man who meets up with his mother for a visit. She very
casually
tells him that while she was out eating in a restaurant, she found a
human
finger in her meal. Horrified, Tim asks "Well what did you do about
it?!" She
replies (as if this was the proper thing to do) "Well I pushed it to
the side
of the plate, so the waiter could see it!" The episode, as I recall
it was
primarily this odd conversation between TBT and the woman playing his
character's mother.
ISIRTA TAPE 3 IS RELEASED IN AUSTRALIA
I recently bought a copy of the third ISIRTA double cassette for
$19.95. It is
just as enjoyable as past releases of ISIRTA. It features Lady
Constance and
John Cleese singing, a satire on public holidays and the original
version of
Jack The Ripper, which was resurrected as the Prune Play in the 1989
25th
Anniversary Episode. Those in Australia wanting a copy should try ABC
Shops and
Centres or try the ABC Shop Online at
http://www.abc.net.au/default.htm
CLASSIC COMEDY VIDEOS
There are currently three videos in this series which feature classic
British
comedy of the 60s, 70s and 80s. The videos are released by Network
Entertainment and cost $19.95 in Australia. I found them in the ABC
Shop
The 60s video contains an excerpts from Marty featuring Marty Feldman
and Tim
Brooke-Taylor in a sketch called Little Old Couple 3 - The Post Office
where
Tim plays the pepperpot wife (of course!) of Marty Feldman's
character. This
sketch is from Series 2, Episode 2 of Marty originally broadcast on
BBC2 on
December 16th 1968 (Source: Laugh Magazine). There is also an excerpt
from
Doctor In The House, but it comes from the episode Pass or Fail which
was
written by Graham Chapman and Barry Cryer. Also on this video are
excerpts from
On The Buses and Sykes. It is a shame that pioneering sketch programs
from the
60s such as At Last The 1948 Show, Twice A Fortnight and Broaden Your
Mind,
which featured TBT, GG and BO, were largely destroyed as it would have
been
interesting to see excerpts from these too.
The 80s video contains a short excerpt from The Goodies episode
Football Crazy
(originally broadcast on January 16th 1982 on ITV) but no other parts
of any of
the comedy shows featuring TBT, GG and BO, that were made in the 80s.
This
video also features extracts from Hi De Hi, Not The 9 O'clock News,
Smith and
Jones, French and Saunders, The Young Ones and Hale and Pace.
Oddly enough the 70s video contains no Goodies and not even any Monty
Python.
I am quite mystified by this. In fact some of the sketches and
excerpts chosen
for these videos are quite mystifying, but as far as I know they're
the easiest
way to get a taste of rare TV shows.
MORE RECYCLING
from Clive Robertson
I happened to be watching two Goodies episodes last night and I saw
two
"Spotted" type things.
Firstly: in the Rolf Harris Plague episode, the hat that Bill is
wearing as he
comes out of the Poms Outfitters in Australia (yes that one with the
bottles
attached to the brim) is the same hat he wore as one of the masked
scouts in
Scoutrageous, less the mask band. This may already have been spotted
by someone
else - I don't know.
Secondly: in the Jolly Rock Lighthouse episode, the actual lamp and
lamp room
where Graeme tries to read his book was used in a Dad's Army episode
called
"Put That Light Out." Here again I'm not sure if this has been
previously
spotted.
Well that's it for now but as I keep watching episodes I may find
more!
Well spotted Clive! Anyone got any more?
3. GOODIES TRIVIA QUESTION
**************************
A while ago I received this suggestion from Andrew E Smith
<100406.1536@compuserve.com>:
I thought trivia questions might be fun for the news letter.
And he included this question:
What is the name of the ship in the pirate radio episode?
The answer will appear in the next C&G.
4. DID YOU KNOW?
****************
We all know that The Goodies went to Cambridge, but what are their
exact
qualifications?
Tim Brooke-Taylor has a degree in Law and Economics. He was also
conferred as
an honorary Doctor of Law at St Andrews University in 1983.
Graeme Garden is a qualified Doctor. He has the following degrees
according to
The Best Medicine - Graeme Garden's Book of Medical Humour B.A., M.B.,
B.Chir
(Cantab). (If anyone knows what they actually stand for do let me
know).
Bill Oddie read English at Cambridge and presumably has a Bachelor of
Arts or
something similar.
There are of course numerous references to Graeme being a Doctor in
The
Goodies and it is Tim who leads the defence in the episode Love The
Police but
as far as I can remember Bill Oddie does not talk once about great
literature
(however many ISIRTA episodes contain spoofs of Shakespeare and other
classic
works). Perhaps the explanation for this can be found in Bill Oddie's'
Little
Black Bird Book where Bill explains that he does not read much,
because he did
so much of it at University that he got sick of it.
THE END
*******
Happy ANZAC day to all Australians and New Zealanders, happy holidays
to those
on school or uni breaks and a belated Happy Easter to everyone!
Cheers and good gibbon stuffing!
Alison Bean.
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