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* THE GOODIES FAN CLUB CLARION AND GLOBE *
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* THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF 'THE GOODIES RULE - OK!' *
Issue No. 183 12th February 2011
E-MAIL ADDRESSES
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Newsletter enquiries: clarion@goodiesruleok.com
General enquiries: enquiries@goodiesruleok.com
POSTAL ADDRESS
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'The Goodies Rule - OK!'
P.O. Box 492
Rosanna VIC 3084, AUSTRALIA
THE LADS AND LASSES OF THE C&G
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EDITOR
- Brett Allender <clarion@goodiesruleok.com>
ACE REPORTER & FEATURE ARTICLE WRITER:
- Lisa Manekofsky
C&G CONTRIBUTORS:
- Adrian Sherring, Fin Robertson, Amanda Stokes, Alison Bean
CONTENTS
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1. QUIZ & QUOTE - Goodies brainteasers for you and you and you
2. BOFFO IDEAS - The latest club news and happenings
3. SPOTTED!!! - The latest Goodies sightings
4. 2001 AND A BIT - Tim, Graeme and Bill sightings post-Goodies.
5. GOODIES WORD PUZZLE
6. FEATURE ARTICLE – SLAPSTICK 2011
7. GOODIES WORD FINDER SOLUTION – from C&G 182
8. QUIZ & QUOTE ANSWERS
1. QUIZ & QUOTE
***************
(by "Magnus Magnesium")
QUOTE: "Let's see. Virgo. Work prospects. You will meet a small fat man with a beard who will be no help at all!"
(a) Who says this quote?
(b) Whose horoscope is he reading out?
(c) Which episode is this quote from?
QUIZ: This month's questions are from the episode "Hype Pressure"
(d) What is the name of Bill and Graeme's folk-singing duo on Tim's talent show?
(e) And what is the charming name of this talent show?
(f) What is Bill's response to Graeme saying "I enjoy Muffin the Mule."
(g) What past era is Tim hellbent on reviving for his new gimmick?
(h) Which topic do the hippy William & Grayfunkel "Sing A Song Of …"?
The answers are listed at the end of this newsletter.
2. BOFFO IDEAS
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You can make it happen here. Liven up the club with a boffo idea for bob-a-job week. E-mail <enquiries@goodiesruleok.com> with your comments, ideas or suggestions - meanwhile these are the boffo ideas which our club has been working on this month:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAEME!
A very Happy 68th Birthday to one of our resident Goodies, Graeme Garden, on February 18th from all of his fans here at GROK!
WEBSITE POLLS
Well it sure was a big year for Goodies fans in 2010 with so many interesting things happening to mark the 40th anniversary of the show. There were plenty of popular options, but it was the long overdue repeats on the BBC (ungodly screening hour and all) which got fans most excited.
What do you think was the most exciting Goodies news of 2010?
- Goodies repeats on the BBC 71 votes
- Goodies repeats in Australia / NZ 46 votes
- release of a new Goodies DVD 40 votes
- publication of Andrew Pixley's book 6 votes
- Goodies receive Aardman/Slapstick award 2 votes
- it was all exciting! 43 votes
- the Rolf option topping the polls 6 votes
Total: 214 votes
This month's poll is a hypothetical one, but a fun one nevertheless. So before spending three weeks painting the whole town black and white, ride the last stagecoach out of Pinetree to the nearest polling booth and cast your vote for Sambo, er Samson today. You know it makes sense (sort of!)
At the end of "The Movies" each Goody is making a different type of film. In which film would you most like to appear?
- Graeme's western
- Tim's biblical epic
- Bill's black & white silent comedy
- I'd prefer to do a film with Rolf
3. SPOTTED!!!
*************
More exciting than getting your wig-spotters badge! If you've seen the Goodies recently, e-mail <clarion@goodiesruleok.com> with the details. Here's where we've Spotted!!! the Goodies this month:
… OR YOU CAN GO FOR YOUR WIGSPOTTERS BADGE!
Do I get a wig spotters badge? I saw the Goodies themselves at HMV in London signing their DVDs. Also last Sunday I saw Sheila Steafel (Book out Harry and me) and Philip Madoc at a Convention in London about Doctor Who. Both are Goodies guest stars and Barnaby Edwards, who was the first Dalek in the New Series of Doctor Who, also directs for Big Finish Productions and has used Graeme in their productions. Graeme is the new Meddling Monk in the Doctor Who audio series too.
If that don’t get me a badge, don’t know what will!
(Adrian Sherring – 12th Jan)
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SLAPSTICK 2011 INTERVIEW WITH BILL
(Lisa Manekofsky – 14th Jan)
Bill has done an interview with the Bristol Evening Post to promote the upcoming Slapstick Festival 2011 (which will be held in Bristol, England from 27-30 January - details at http://www.slapstick.org.uk/
'Good comedy doesn't date'
Thursday, January 13, 2011, 07:00
NATALIE HALE talks to Bill Oddie, much loved as one third of the eminent comedy team The Goodies as well as a familiar face on such nature programmes as Spring Watch and Bill Oddie Goes Wild. At Slapstick Festival, Bill will be introducing a classic from his comedy heroes, Laurel and Hardy
Tim Brooke-Taylor and Graeme Garden are regular guests at Bristol's Slapstick festival, having fallen in love with the annual homage to physical comedy when they first took part in 2007.
Now they have convinced their fellow Goodie, Bill Oddie, to come and join the fun.
The anarchic comedian, also Britain's most famous twitcher, will be one of the very special guests taking part in the flagship event of the Slapstick Festival, the Silent Comedy Gala at Colston Hall.
A star-studded evening of classic comedy and live entertainment, this unique event presents four national comedy icons (Oddie, Ian Lavender, Barry Cryer and Neil Innes) introducing classic silent comedy shorts on the big screen accompanied by live music.
This gala is truly a once in a life-time opportunity to see the funniest silent comedy with some of our best-loved British comedy performers.
Bill will be introducing classic Laurel and Hardy silent, We Faw Down.
"I'm delighted to be introducing a Laurel and Hardy short at the gala," he tells me. "I have to say that We Faw Down isn't actually my favourite Laurel and Hardy short - I prefer their later work. But this early piece is an interesting taste of things to come."
One of his greatest loves as a child, he tells me, was going to the pictures on a Saturday morning.
"You have to be my age or older to remember the Saturday morning pictures, I've discovered. Youngsters look at me blankly. But it was absolutely standard when I was young for kids to go to the Saturday morning matinee.
"There were fairly standard ingredients to any programme - those ridiculous Pathe news things that weren't meant to be funny, a general interest bit, a cartoon, a Western, and a comedy.
"This was where you acquired a taste for what kind of comedy you liked and who you liked best."
And Bill liked Laurel and Hardy.
"They are a brilliant example of the classic ingredients of long-lasting and long-remembered comedy. One of those things is that iconic look of a fat one and a thin one. That has carried on throughout comedy, you've got Mike and Bernie Winters, the Two Ronnies, Little and Large... I've had experience of that, too, when I used to do sketches with John Cleese in cabaret. There was that immediate funny contrast - it looks funny before you even do anything.
"Also, what comes with that is the threat or promise of violence. You've got a big one and you've got a little one and the chances are that the poor little bugger is going to get bullied at some point!
"In fact, both of them get it fairly often, and it's funny because they're not quite real enough for you to think it really hurts, but at the same time they are both very sympathetic characters."
Bill, who was born in Rochdale but grew up in the Midlands, came from generations of mill workers on both sides of the family, but he was encouraged academically by his father, who sent him to a good public school, and he ended up at Cambridge University.
There he befriended fellow Goodies Graeme Garden and Tim Brooke-Taylor, as well as John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Eric Idle, who would, of course, later become founding members of Monty Python. This group of students were soon close friends and studied and socialised together.
They all joined the university's prestigious Footlights club, with Tim becoming president in 1963. This is when, Tim has previously told me, he introduced his fellow students to Buster Keaton.
"That's right, he did," recalls Bill. "The comedy films I remember as a kid are those of The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy. I don't remember much Keaton from then - maybe it was considered a little too sophisticated for us. It was certainly Tim, among others, who brought Keaton to Cambridge. I'm sure Keaton was terribly grateful!"
In 1970, Bill, Tim and Graeme teamed up to form The Goodies, an act that was heavily influenced by silent, slapstick comedy. The television series was a massive hit and ran from November 1970 to February 1982 on BBC2, with 70 episodes produced in all.
And there were numerous nods to their slapstick influences - many of the sketches included silent, live-action cartoon humour. There were even pastiches or variations of famous Keaton scenes, such as the house falling down around him.
"We were very influenced by our God, Buster Keaton, and by my favourites, Laurel and Hardy.
"Their work was funny when it was made, was funny when we watched it as students and let it influence our work, and is funny today. Really good comedy doesn't date."
Slapstick Silent Comedy Gala takes place at Colston Hall on Friday, January 28 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £20/£16 - call 0117 922 3686.
ABC GOODIES REPEATS REQUESTS
(Lisa Manekofsky – 17th Jan)
GOODIES DVDS IN GEELONG
(Amanda Stokes – 17th Jan)
Just went into the ABC Shop in Westfield Geelong and they have copies of the new Goodies DVD - The Goodies ... At Last ... Back For More, Again! - on their shelves; I saw probably about a dozen copies all
ready for purchase. Happy viewing everyone!!
SLAPSTICK 2011 DETAILS
(Lisa Manekofsky – 20th & 25th Jan)
This webpage - http://www.slapstick.org.uk/guests.htm - summarizes Tim, Graeme, and Bill's individual appearances at the upcoming Slapstick 2011 festival (in Bristol, England from Jan 27-30). Similar information is provided for the other festival guests (such as Neil Innes, Paul McGann, and Rob Brydon).
http://www.slapstick.org.uk/events.htm# contains a full list of the events that Tim, Graeme & Bill are appearing in and also includes links for booking tickets at the Slapstick 2011 festival in Bristol, England at the end of this week.
THE GOODIES PODCAST
New Goodies Podcasts since last month's C&G:
#49: Commentary: The Goodies Rule OK
#50: Graeme Garden Interview
Goodies Mastermind – Rounds 1 - 3
4. 2001 AND A BIT
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If you've sighted Tim, Bill or Graeme in a post-Goodies role, e-mail <clarion@goodiesruleok.com> so that we can tell everyone where to spot a Goodie nowadays. Large files (such as scans of articles or photos) for posting on the club's website can be sent to us at: groksite@gmail.com
Those of you seeking radio and tv alerts between issues of the C&G should consider signing up for the Goodies-l mailing list (more details available on the club website), as our crack (cracked?!) team of reporters attempt to post alerts as the information becomes available.
** (All items in this section contributed by Lisa Manekofsky, except where otherwise credited) **
Please note: BBC RADIO SHOWS listed below can be heard online via each station's website (www.bbc.co.uk/radio4 or www.bbc.co.uk/radio7) and then for a week after broadcast from the BBC iPlayer (aka Listen Again), www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer. Radio shows on the iPlayer are supposed to be available for listening worldwide.
BILL SPOTTINGS
* Bill Oddie has taken part in a film to highlight the extent of animal snaring in Scotland, on behalf of animal wefare charity OneKind.
(Fin Robertson – 13th Jan)
(24th Jan)
(24th Jan)
(27th Jan)
(14th Feb)
GRAEME SPOTTINGS
Here's information from that page:
Garden and The Goodies
Graeme Garden discusses this unique show with clips from the series. Brilliantly funny for all ages.
For over a decade, The Goodies TV show delighted millions of viewers with its inventive and often hilarious slapstick comedy. Its writers/performers became household names and major pop stars. Graeme Garden discusses this unique show with clips from the series. Brilliantly funny for all ages.
04 Mar 11 19:30 - 21:00
Cost: £8/£6
(24th Jan)
* A 1981-1983 series written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, "Astronauts", is being released by Network DVD. The 2-disk set will include both series of the show; the scheduled release date is 21 March 2011. Here is a description from Network's website, http://www.networkdvd.net/product_info.php?products_id=1325
Astronauts: The Complete Series
Two men, one woman and a dog are cooped up together in darkest space. Occupying a two-room 'sky-lab' on Britain's first manned space mission, they are under constant surveillance as they orbit the Earth - even on their visits to the lavatory. Tensions simmer, resentment builds and relationships become strained. and it's not long before they're ganging up on their earthbound American contact at Mission Control.
Written by Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie, this hilarious comedy was inspired by and based upon actual conflicts documented by the astronauts of the NASA Skylab programme. Christopher Godwin is Mission Commander Malcolm Mattocks, Barrie Rutter is his truculent partner David Ackroyd, and Carmen du Sautoy is no-nonsense Science Officer Gentian Foster; Bruce Boa stars as their much-abused mission controller, Beadle.
Astronauts was produced by Tony Charles and Douglas Argent (whose combined credits include Fawlty Towers and The New Statesman), with Dick Clement and Ian Le Frenais acting as script editors. This set contains both series, first aired between 1981 and 1983.
(5th Feb)
In addition, I don't think it was previously mentioned on this list but he also appeared in the Big Finish title "The Resurrection of Mars" which was released in November. It appears the artwork on the Big Finish site is still the preliminary version; the final version, featuring Graeme on the cover, can be seen at other websites such as http://www.whona.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=W&Product_Code=BBC746
(10th Feb)
I'M SORRY I HAVEN'T A CLUE (ISIHAC) and
I'M SORRY I'LL READ THAT AGAIN (ISIRTA)
(24th Jan)
(27th Jan)
* One of Tim's jokes from last week's episode of "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue" is the starting point for an opinion column in the Independent newspaper.
(28th Jan)
* BBC Audiobooks has reissued the 1978 "I'm Sorry I'll Read That Again" album on CD and digital download.
This album includes the tracks 'Full Frontal Radio', 'Prune Manifesto', 'Buffers', 'Critics', 'News in Welsh', 'Listening to Flowers', 'Eddie Waring Impersonation' and 'Taming of the Shrew' and more.
(8th Feb)
5. GOODIES WORD PUZZLE
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This puzzle consists of a series of Goodies clues to solve, with the highlighted letter from each horizontal answer forming a vertical solution. The letters of the solution then need to be unscrambled and rearranged to form a single word of 13 letters from the episode "Beefeaters" (Tower Of London) – Clue: Tim is appalled at a strange security prospect.
The information to solve the clues can be found in my Goodies Episode Summaries in the Articles/Guides section of the website if there are episodes listed that you are unfamiliar with. One letter has also been provided for each clue to assist with the solving of the puzzle.
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CLUES:
1. (4, 6 letters) Bill gives up music to become one of these (Hype Pressure)
2. (6, 5 letters) The name of Graeme's Scottish ancestor (Alternative Roots)
3. (9 letters) Hazel always wanted to be one instead of a witch (That Old Black Magic)
4. (6, 7 letters) T, B & G's music group who sing of the joys of "Shiny Shoes" (Punky Business)
5. (8 letters) One of the groups rostered to use the park at night (U-Friend or UFO)
6. (4, 5 letters) "A pair of old y-fronts and a mop head", according to Graeme (Earthanasia)
7. (12 letters) The U.S. Major's surname (Clown Virus)
8. (10 letters) The "Class D" consumers, bless 'em! (It Might As Well Be String)
9. (8 letters) Easily confused with a woman by someone trapped for 70 years (The End)
10. (5, 5 letters) Graeme cooks this type of soup for the Bu-Boom tribe (The Lost Tribe)
11. (7 letters) Bill describes Timbellina as "A bit of a …" (Chubby Chumps)
12. (12 letters) Bill has a bad habit of involuntarily doing this activity (Snooze)
13. (5, 5 letters) Tim threatens to take this organization over when he flips (Way Outward Bound)
6. FEATURE ARTICLE – SLAPSTICK 2011
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(by Lisa Manekofsky)
Lovers of classic film comedy gathered in Bristol, England again this January for the annual Slapstick Festival organized by Bristol Silents. Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and their friend (and fellow "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" cast mate) Barry Cryer have been patrons of past festivals; this year they were joined by Bill Oddie.
I was fortunate to be able to attend many of the festival events again this year (the complete schedule is still online at http://www.slapstick.org.uk/events.htm#). On the Friday afternoon I attended a session entitled "Slapstick International U", which consisted of three films that had been shown at Pordenone's Italian Silent Film Festival. It was not unusual to see the festival's special guests attend one another's events, taking advantage of the opportunity to see friends and to view classic films with an audience and live accompaniment. I'd noticed Barry Cryer and some of the other guests sitting in the front row when I entered the theatre; just before the show started Bill Oddie joined them. The show began, with the crowd being told that presenter Chris Serle would provide one introduction for the two W.C. Fields films ("The Pool Sharks" and "The Golf Specialist") to be shown; once these finished, the Pordenone Festival's Director David Robinson would introduce the third film, a 1925 Russian comedy called "Chess Fever". At the conclusion of the second W.C. Fields film the theatre lights were raised but, before David Robinson could take the stage, Bill, Barry, and a few others quickly exited the theatre. After a few seconds a member of the festival staff said something like, "we're sure it's an excellent film, David, but we have to go prepare for tonight's gala", which got a laugh from the audience (and probably a sigh of relief from David!).
It's actually a shame they missed the film - I didn't know what to expect from a 1920's Russian comedy, but it was quite good and one sequence, in particular, reminded me of "The Goodies". A young man is getting ready to leave his apartment and finds his small kittens have gotten in into clothing (such as shoes and coat pockets) he's about to put on - the manner in which he picked up the kittens by the scruff of their necks and tossed them aside was very reminiscent of the running joke with Graeme and the bush babies in "Kitten Kong", other than the very important difference that Graeme was obviously tossing aside little balls of artificial fur while the Russian was using live kittens! Presumably (or at least hopefully!) provisions were made to safely catch them off camera. (At present, "Chess Fever" is available on YouTube at http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3727820471573567512# )
Friday evening brought the festival's Silent Comedy Gala. As opposed to last year, this year's event consisted of four different presenters each introducing a silent comedy from a different artist (Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Laurel & Hardy) accompanied by one of two musical acts - the five member European Silent Screen Virtuosi and Jazz Train, a 25-pieced youth jazz orchestra from Saaland, Germany (whose local government paid the expenses for the group to attend the festival). On the musical end, we were also treated to a song from the Chaplin film "Limelight" performed by Paul McGann (accompanied by members of the Vituosi) and Barry Cryer singing a song written by Neil Innes (with Neil providing the musical accompaniment).
Bill was the third person to present a film, the Laurel & Hardy short "We Faw Down", whose title he confessed to not understanding (asking was "Faw" supposed to be baby talk for "Fall" or was there some other meaning). In his introductory remarks Bill spoke about going to the Saturday morning matinees as a child, and how those mornings would consist of cartoons, newsreels, and serials in addition to classic comedies or other feature films. He joked about his frustration with younger people saying surely Saturday matinees were afternoon events, and his explaining no, they weren't (and, indeed, that the word matinee came from the French word matin, which means "morning"). Bill also commented that since the next two films to be shown that evening were silent there wasn't the need for the usual instruction for audience members to turn off their mobile phones, since it wouldn't matter anyway. He quickly explained he was kidding - aside from anything else, there was to be the live musical accompaniment.
In speaking about Laurel & Hardy, Bill pointed out that the pair of opposites (short and tall, thin and fat, etc.) continued to be an excellent comedy device. He cited himself and John Cleese as an short/tall example, which produced some laughter from the audience who I suspect initially thought this was a hypothetical pairing until Bill went on to speak about the two appearing together on stage in the early 1960's.
Saturday brought Graeme's two on-stage contributions, the first being his presenting "Harry Langdon's Best Comedy Shorts". At last year's festival Graeme had mentioned he was curious to see more of Langdon's work, as in his day Langdon had been as popular as Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd but sadly had been largely forgotten over the years. As usual Graeme had done his research and arrived well prepared to present an interesting, witty, and informative session, which included several Langdon shorts accompanied by live music. I particularly enjoyed a short called "His Marriage Wow", which included a character billed as a "Professor of Melancholia and Pessimism" who brought the audience out in laughter every time he was on the screen.
Later that day Graeme took part in "Celebrating Buster Keaton with Ian Lavender". Graeme was the host, introducing Lavender (best known for playing Private Pike in "Dad's Army") and leading a question and answer session that explained how Lavender discovered and became such a fan of Keaton. As part of the event various Keaton clips were shown along with the film "Sherlock Jr". It was an interesting session and always a joy to watch Graeme, apparently effortlessly, trigger a gale of laughter with a quick-witted remark.
During the Keaton session it was mentioned that Ian had been one of the celebrities who had appeared as the Narrator in a recent UK stage production of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". Graeme asked him if he'd worn the fishnet tights, to which Ian said no, he hadn't; he thought Nicholas Parsons might have been the only one of the guests Narrators who did. When Ian then wondered if Tim Brooke-Taylor (who'd also taken a turn as the Narrator) had wore the tights Graeme called out to Tim, who was seated in the audience, and asked if he had done so; Tim quickly replied "certainly not". Very handy to have your fellow Goody on hand to immediately answer your
questions! :)
After the Buster Keaton event my friend and I saw Shappi Khorsandi meet Tim in the lobby of the theater. Shappi is a stand-up comic and another festival guest (she was going to present a session on Chaplin's film "The Great Dictator" the next day). Shappi was obviously delighted to meet Tim and asked him to pose with her for a photo; he readily agreed. After the photo she hung onto to him while chatting for a minute and then asking for a second photo (to be sure of getting at least one good one) - she seemed rather starstruck and reluctant to end her encounter with him (well, who could blame her? ;)
Saturday evening brought "Barry Cryer's Top Comedy Moments", with Rob Brydon as host. The festival chairman Chris explained that when arranging the festival he'd ask Barry who he would like to join him on stage; Barry had requested Rob. Chris had been doubtful that he could get the popular and busy Rob, but thanks to Graeme making the request it all fell into place. Rob and Barry made a great double act (I'd love to see these two do another project together), playing off each other beautifully as they introduced and discussed the comedic moments Barry had nominated as his Top 10. The evening is well summarized in the Bristol Evening Post article at http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/entertainmentnews/left-smile/article-3162439-detail/article.html , from which I will excerpt this one joke - "In the second half, Barry began by thanking his fellow comedians and comic writers for coming along. 'I enjoy this so much and it's great to see some of my comedy pals here tonight. There's Graeme Garden, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Ian Lavender, Bill Oddie... if a bomb fell on here tonight, Nicholas Parsons would come into his own!'"
On Sunday morning all three Goodies were again in evidence. Tim would be getting his first turn on stage in a session about his former writing partner and co-star, Marty Feldman. Rather unusually, the previous session in the theatre ran quite late. While the audience for the Marty session gathered in the foyer, Tim was seated in the theater café on the floor below, prepping for his session. Graeme and Bill gradually joined the crowd waiting to be seated, chatting amiably between themselves. Finally Tim was spotted coming upstairs to where we were all waiting; as he got off the elevator to head towards the event hall Graeme and Bill turned to greet him as he passed. Tim, however, was focused on getting into the hall to get ready for his session and walked by Graeme and Bill without noticing them, much to their amusement. Those of us standing near them couldn't help but overhear their playful back and forth, pretending to be offended (but which a chuckle in their voices) saying things along the lines of "oooh, he ignored us" and "we used to know him!"
The "Marty!" session was especially fun as, from where my friends and I were seated, we could see Tim on stage being watched by Graeme and Bill – it seemed odd to have all three Goodies there but some of them in with us in the audience. In this session Tim answered questions about working with Marty posed by presenter Chris Serle; clips were shown from "At Last the 1948 Show" (including the Four Yorkshiremen and the one with the undercover policemen) as well as Marty's solo series (including one about the world cup, the bishop on the train, A Day in the Life of a Stunt Man, and the Loneliness of the Long Distance Golfer). For one of the clips the presenter asked Tim if he was working with Marty when it was made; Tim replied well yes, given that he appeared in it - he then dryly commented that apparently he hadn't made much of an impression. For the Loneliness of the Long Distance Golfer sketch (which is available on a Best of Marty DVD compilation) I was interested to learn that the caddy was played by composer & musician Denis King, who appeared with Tim in "Hello Cheeky".
Marty's work in Hollywood was touched upon, but Tim explained that he hadn't known Marty as well once he moved to the United States and, as a result, had less input upon that period (although he had kept in touch with Marty's widow over the years and said she was a very nice person).
After the session a few fans approached the three Goodies in the foyer, asking if they would mind posing together for a photo. As usual, they were very kind and immediately agreed, which caused a ripple of excitement from the waiting fans.
Sunday evening the festival concluded with a showing of "Young Frankenstein", to tie in with the Marty Feldman session. The day before we'd learned that Tim hadn't known he would be introducing the film until he'd seen this information advertised in the festival schedule. Chris, the festival director, mentioned this while introducing Tim prior to the film; Chris was obviously chagrined by the oversight. Tim was a pro, though – if we hadn't known better I never would have guessed he'd written his introductory remarks the day before, as they worked well as an amusing preface to the screening of the film. Bill had had to leave Bristol that afternoon but Tim and Graeme were able to stay for the movie, which they were interested to see as, if I understood correctly, they'd last seen it when it premiered in London in 1974. We ran into them on the way out of the theater and learned they were happy they'd declined a dinner invitation to watch the movie with the festival audience.
Thanks to the festival organizers for all the work they did in putting together another fantastic event, and for inviting Tim, Graeme, and Bill to be part of it!
Photos from Slapstick 2011 have been posted on the event's Facebook page and on Flickr - here are URLS:
Photos from the 2010 Slapstick festival, including some with Tim and Graeme,
7. GOODIES WORD FINDER SOLUTION
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From last month's edition:
11 unused letters rearranged to form a solution of four words (3, 2, 3 and 3 letters) from "U-Friend Or UFO" - clue: "Poetic licence"
Man In The Bog
8. QUIZ & QUOTE ANSWERS
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(a) Bill
(b) Tim's
(c) That Old Black Magic
(d) The Two Folk
(e) New Faeces
(f) "You can get locked up for that, y'know!"
(g) The Fifties rock 'n roll era
(h) Flowers
YOUR SCORE:
8 Mastermind Of The Year
7 Goodies fan supreme
5-6 Clever clogs
3-4 Goody Goody effort
1-2 Time to watch some more episodes
0 Are you sure you're not Rolf Harris?!
NEXT C&G EDITION:
- #184: 12th March 2011
UPCOMING ARTICLES:
- March / April: A Collection Of Goodies Themes – Goodies Targets: Graeme & Bill in Drag
- March / April: Goodies Music Review – Run
Updated to C&G 162 (May 2009)
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The Goodies Fan Club Clarion and Globe is copyright The Goodies Rule - OK! 2011. All rights reserved.
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