Wee Sonny MacGregor

For enthusiasts of northern comedy, a 2006 biography of Frank Randle is now available. It's called ‘Wired to the Moon'.

Frank Randle Biography :: ‘Wired to the Moon: Frank Randle – A Life'

kelp

Hi! have you ever seen Colin...er...can't think of his last name now, the actor that plays the Robin Hood type character in "THE LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE" he has a brilliant One Man Show that he tours. He followed us into the theatre in Windsor last year, and he is incredible as FRANK RANDLE. He is of course a life-long fan and an authority on Frank. I think his second name is Clifford. Look it up, you wont be disapointed. Class act.
kelp

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...YOU MAY GET IT!

Wee Sonny MacGregor

Thanks. You must mean Keith Clifford. Windsor eh. That's promising. I thought Frank Randle was a bit too much for the sophisticated tastes here down south. I'll look out for him.

John Llewellyn Moxey

I did work with Frank Randle, as a very new Assistant Director. John Baxter was the Director. I do remember that we had visitors from his comedy routines, a part was invented for them and they were in the movie!! I cannot remeber the name of this masterpiece.

John Llewellyn

kelp

Keith Clifford of course! He really is an excellent Frank Randle. Yes, I was surprised that the act worked in Windsor, but I suspect that it wouldn't have done so in the fifties when Mancunian were mainly distributed as far as Birmingham, and certainly not the Home counties. What would they have made of him? "By eck...weve supped sum stuff toneet"
Personally, I enjoyed all those old films, as cheap as they were, they were part of my young life.
kelp

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...YOU MAY GET IT!

kelp

John tell me, what was he like? I read so much about him in various tomes that I have, but to have actually met the man...well...lucky, lucky chap.
kelp

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR...YOU MAY GET IT!

John Llewellyn Moxey

You know, I really had little to do with him. I do remember him as being a bit isolated, not terribly chatty. That's the best I can do!

John Llewellyn

Hugo

The North West’s first ever comedy conference is to showcase a long lost movie made by the iconic Mancunian Studios and starring one of the 1940s’ most famous comic actors.

The screening of Somewhere in Civvies starring Frank Randle is the culmination of the ‘What have you got in that box?’ conference which features academics and writers including Richard Dacre, Norman Wisdom’s biographer, and Lloyd Peters who was comedian Peter Kay’s tutor when he studied at Salford.

Somewhere in Civvies was discovered by conference organiser and Salford academic Dr Chris Lee of the Research Centre for Communication, Cultural and Media Studies, who tracked it down to an attic in Yorkshire where he persuaded the owner to let him make a copy.

Chris explained the significance of the star: “Frank Randle was one of the country’s most famous comedians during the 1940s. He was on a salary of £1,000 per week at the Mancunian Studios which was an astronomical wage for the time. Despite this, the role of the Mancunian Studios is often overlooked when people are discussing the British film industry and that’s something I’m trying to change.”

Salford was the first university in the country to offer a module in stand-up comedy and now Chris and his colleagues from the School of Media, Music & Performance see the conference as the next step in progressing these studies.

Chris also believes that comedy is worthy of much more academic discussion than it currently receives. He said: “Comedy brings together elements from all over the academic spectrum: politics, sociology and psychology as well as media studies.”

‘What have you got in that box?’ runs from 31 May to 1 June and includes seminars on northern versus southern humour, and ethnicity and gender in humour.

ddock54

My old tutor at college Jeff Nuttal was a great Frank Randall fan,he wrote a book about him

I SAY THERE BOY!

noglea

I heard a repeat of a radio drama on BBC 7 last month called something like 'Randle's Scandals'. Quiet interesting. Did anyone else catch it.