David Challinor

I suppose my season only has a thimble or so of 'cursed' about it womanising Dick at the end of his life and Les famously self-deprecating and looking towards more meaningful roles... Benny Hill was seemingly too shy to fulfil a long-term relationship, but was obviously fascinated by women's beauty...and Ernie Wise might have felt/been seen as only 20% of the talent of the partnership with Eric. Certainly a terrible BBC doc on him without Eric in the late 1980s seemed to mock his attempts to forge any kind of career after Morecambe - the Beeb is rightly ashamed it ever got broadcast.
In my season, one scene, however, for the Ernie drama, could be that story, I am not sure whether it is true, I heard about how Wise attended a UK concert by his showbiz hero Gene Kelly. Kelly, on hearing that one half of England's best double act was in attendance was happy to give him a name check, and, urging Ernie to get to his feet said: "Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for one of England's best entertainers, Eric Morecambe!"
It was just that sort of irony the BBC 4 season was aiming for.

Freddie Freeloader

Wow.....Charles Hawtrey as Bernard Manning ????

The mind boggles.

rskershaw

The Curse of Emu - Rod Hull's career is blighted by working with a maverick, violent type of Ostrich, even though Rod controls the bird via its arse. (May contain scenes of puppeteer bestiality)

Don't you want us to dig him up?

davidb

bernard manning will have been upset at the accusations of racism ,just like benny hill was upset at the accusations of sexism but put on a brave face ,they were both off our screens for a while for those reasons ,was bernard racist ?

davidb

i meant sue perkins for charles hawtrey

Ray

Hylda Baker would be an interesting subject, and Jean Ferguson who played her so convincingly on stage would be perfect in the role.

Windthrop

I don't think Hill was upset at the accusations, he just didn't understand. He was uspet about not having his contract renewed.

Thats the joke that killed the Music Hall !

scholes

Bernard Manning - Obituaries, News - The Independent

Bernard came from a Jewish heritage.
Both Howard Jacobson and Stephen Fry were admirers.

batman

Cheers Scholes ... that is the most interesting, and most objective, thing I have ever read about BM.

Happy Birthday Daddy .... I love you!



BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09

Steve Crook

I like the line "There is little doubt about it; Manning was racist, but not viciously so"

The trouble is that it is the non-vicious kind of racism that easily becomes "institutional racism" and that youngsters might pick up "because there's no harm in it"

Interesting obit though

Steve

davidb

working class men in northern towns dont want a comedian telling jokes about yoga or the problems theyve encountered knitting yoghurt ,or trying to be all things to everybody ,they want near the knuckle stuff ,coarse ,rude etc, bernard would only have been giving his audience what they wanted ,proves my point that hed be a good candidate for the curse of comedy though ,the fuss that the mention of his name still can cause

scholes

EE bye gum lad,ecky thump and all that!
Not just peculiar to the North though.
Whilst I would never put Jim Davidson or Mike Reid in Bernard's class, neither pulled any punches with respect to this particular subject.

I hope this doesn't offend.........

But I remember going to Bernard's club with a group of work colleagues back in the seventies and he'd basically take the piss out of any one or anything.
I came out with my sides simply sore with laughing.
One of the lads I went with was about 45 at the time and always wore spectacles with extremely thick lenses a la Jim Bowen.
We were all on the second row of seats, and about twenty minutes through his routine Bernard looked at him and said out loud .......
"F*****g hell, with glasses like that you should be able to see through people!"

A little later, a Dwarf in the audience unwisely got up to go to the toilet but less wisely walked in front of the stage.
Manning yelled.........Hi hoooooooooooooo.......f**k me, I didn't know there was a Circus in town"
Even the short guy laughed his head off.
It all seemed to be said in a good spirit, there was a mutual respect between Manning and audience alike.
It was almost like his victims were made to feel special.
Nobody, perhaps other than Billy Connolly at his best, has ever made me laugh as much.

davidb

if you went to see bernard youd know what to expect ! if its not for you nobodys forcing you to watch ! my family or something is probably on the other side , love him or hate him hes still controversial ,a good candidate or not ?

eramusbooks

How about the wonderful Roy Chubby Brown? A comic of the old school, tethered from telly because of the PC brigade. " Lets do a documentary on muslim comics instead". Muli Colored swap shop " my arse".

batman

The Curse of Joan Collins - popular British film actor tries to sell his wife to an Arab. When the deal falls through she divorces him and he ends up in Bonanza.

Happy Birthday Daddy .... I love you!



BAT QUIZ 16 HAS JUST BEEN POSTED IN THE COMPETITION THREAD - 06/01/09