Sean Gaffney (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
seangaffney) wrote2022-11-11 02:07 pm
seangaffney) wrote2022-11-11 02:07 pm
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The Goon Show: Vintage Goons, Episode 1: The Mummified Priest
The first Goon Show in the Vintage Goons series is The Mummified Priest, recorded on the same day as the 2nd episode of Series 8. Apparently the VG series went first in the evening's entertainment. This is not only the first in the series but, in my opinion, the best. (As a reminder, the Vintage Goons series is 14 episodes re-recorded and updated to sell to Britain's commonwealth countries in 1957-1958.)
Max Geldray played It Had to Be You, which he previously performed in the first 1985 show, a well as in The Kippered herring Gang in Series 4. Here's Billie Holiday's version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlYfaJYn5fU
And Ray Ellington played Little Darlin', by Maurice Williams. Arguably a parody of the doo-wop genre (Ray's version certainly is), it had great versions by The Gladiolas and The Diamonds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHsSkI81Sgk
During the episode, Henry Crun sings "In the twi-twi-twilight", a 1910 song by George Lashwood, a music hall comedian of the turn of the century, known as the "Beau Brummel of the music halls". https://youtu.be/-IwY0dme32I
The Mummified Priest was an obvious choice for a VG, as it was a full show - a lot of Series 4 shows still had "Handsome Harry Secombe" opening skits, with the main show only starting 1/3 of the way in. The 4th series version no longer exists. It originally came out as the 17th episode of Series 4, airing on January 22, 1954.
We do have the script for the Series 4 version - however, Spike has edited it extensively for the VG version (we even know when, it's listed as "ready for typing" on August 5, 1957) and we don't know what edits were for VG and what were for the original. There are some updated references in the VG version. "Derek Roy and Charlie Chester" is changed to "Bob Hope and Steve Allen", "Jane Russell" to "Jayne Mansfield", and "Anna Neagle" to "Bette Davis". All of these, bar Russell/Mansfield, are to make it more global.
The main bits that were in 4-17 but cut from VG-1 are Ray Ellington scenes, as he had a much larger role in the original show. Even the VG version recorded cuts a number of his scenes for the TS version. In one cut scene, Ray calls Neddie in a dream as the "voice of the Tomb" warning Seagoon not to search for the gold. When Neddie calls the operator to have the source of his dream phone call traced, he's referred to Colney Hatch, a psychiatric hospital.
The original script credited Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens - Spike has crossed Larry out in the script, and the VG aired version only credits Spike. Not an uncommon things to see, alas. Very little characterization rewriting has to be done, with only Bluebottle's entrance getting new lines. This lacks Moriarty, so is a bit easier to simply use the same Series 4 characterization. We even hear "Secombe" instead of "Seagoon" a few times.
This was one of 6 Vintage Goons shows that got a UK airing in 1958, in the lead up to Series 9. The "UK Original" we have has a lot of extra material cut from the TS, but the quality is poor. And, of course, this also got a Pick of the Goons, with a few cuts. This got released commercially in 1995, the first BBC release of a VG show. On the physical Compendium release in 2014, the "UK original" parts were a separate track owing to poor quality. The 2022 digital release has edited these into the show, which now runs 34 minutes. The Goons performed Russian Love Song during warmups, inspired by Sputnik. They'd record the 45 single two weeks later. The warmup is also on the Compendium.
Lastly, there is an excellent Goon Pod on this episode, which goes into much greater detail. Listen to it here: https://anchor.fm/tyler-adams0/episodes/The-Mummified-Priest-e1d5bac
Max Geldray played It Had to Be You, which he previously performed in the first 1985 show, a well as in The Kippered herring Gang in Series 4. Here's Billie Holiday's version of the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlYfaJYn5fU
And Ray Ellington played Little Darlin', by Maurice Williams. Arguably a parody of the doo-wop genre (Ray's version certainly is), it had great versions by The Gladiolas and The Diamonds. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHsSkI81Sgk
During the episode, Henry Crun sings "In the twi-twi-twilight", a 1910 song by George Lashwood, a music hall comedian of the turn of the century, known as the "Beau Brummel of the music halls". https://youtu.be/-IwY0dme32I
The Mummified Priest was an obvious choice for a VG, as it was a full show - a lot of Series 4 shows still had "Handsome Harry Secombe" opening skits, with the main show only starting 1/3 of the way in. The 4th series version no longer exists. It originally came out as the 17th episode of Series 4, airing on January 22, 1954.
We do have the script for the Series 4 version - however, Spike has edited it extensively for the VG version (we even know when, it's listed as "ready for typing" on August 5, 1957) and we don't know what edits were for VG and what were for the original. There are some updated references in the VG version. "Derek Roy and Charlie Chester" is changed to "Bob Hope and Steve Allen", "Jane Russell" to "Jayne Mansfield", and "Anna Neagle" to "Bette Davis". All of these, bar Russell/Mansfield, are to make it more global.
The main bits that were in 4-17 but cut from VG-1 are Ray Ellington scenes, as he had a much larger role in the original show. Even the VG version recorded cuts a number of his scenes for the TS version. In one cut scene, Ray calls Neddie in a dream as the "voice of the Tomb" warning Seagoon not to search for the gold. When Neddie calls the operator to have the source of his dream phone call traced, he's referred to Colney Hatch, a psychiatric hospital.
The original script credited Spike Milligan and Larry Stephens - Spike has crossed Larry out in the script, and the VG aired version only credits Spike. Not an uncommon things to see, alas. Very little characterization rewriting has to be done, with only Bluebottle's entrance getting new lines. This lacks Moriarty, so is a bit easier to simply use the same Series 4 characterization. We even hear "Secombe" instead of "Seagoon" a few times.
This was one of 6 Vintage Goons shows that got a UK airing in 1958, in the lead up to Series 9. The "UK Original" we have has a lot of extra material cut from the TS, but the quality is poor. And, of course, this also got a Pick of the Goons, with a few cuts. This got released commercially in 1995, the first BBC release of a VG show. On the physical Compendium release in 2014, the "UK original" parts were a separate track owing to poor quality. The 2022 digital release has edited these into the show, which now runs 34 minutes. The Goons performed Russian Love Song during warmups, inspired by Sputnik. They'd record the 45 single two weeks later. The warmup is also on the Compendium.
Lastly, there is an excellent Goon Pod on this episode, which goes into much greater detail. Listen to it here: https://anchor.fm/tyler-adams0/episodes/The-Mummified-Priest-e1d5bac