Classic TV

Classic shows that have almost been forgotten, as well as shows that should probably have been forgotten

The Wednesday Play: Playhouse 90 – The Comedian (1957)

16 October 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

One US anthology series that really did think it was doing a form of theatre was, as its name suggested, was Playhouse 90. Running from 1956 to 1960, these 133 90-minute productions featured some of the best actors of the day in stories of various genres adapted and written by the likes of F Scott Fitzgerald, Rod Serling, Aaron Spelling, Tad Mosel and Frank Gilroy. It was also the source of numerous movies, including Requiem for a Heavyweight, The St Valentine Day’s Massacre, Days of Wine and Roses and Judgement At Nuremberg, which saw Maximilian Schell originating the role he would play in the movie.

One of the show’s most prolific directors was John Frankenheimer, who was responsible for one of the show’s most famous plays: The Comedians. Written by Rod Serling from a novella by Ernest Lehman, the live production starred Mickey Rooney as an egomaniacal television comedian venting his hysterical wrath on his brother (Mel Tormé), with Edmond O’Brien as a writer driven to the brink of insanity by the mayhem. Kim Hunter played Rooney’s wife. And it’s this week’s play – enjoy!

 

Charley says: Clunk Click every trip

8 October 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

It wasn’t until the 1980s that it became illegal to not wear a seatbelt in the front seat of car. However, accidents still happened and to stop people from taking risks while it was still legal, public information films extolled the virtues of the seatbelt with the message: “Clunk Click Every Trip“. Here’s (oh God) Jimmy Savile and others to demonstrate, particularly to you ladies watching.

For a little change of pace, I’ll also give you this hardcore remix by Jam Hamster. It’s very catchy.

The Weekly Play

The Wednesday Play:The Come-uppance of Captain Katt (1986)

2 October 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

A lot of the plays that have appeared in ‘The Wednesday Play’ have been serious and for adults. Yet, plays are for everyone and needn’t always be so ‘challenging’. We’ve already had one entry from ITV’s Dramarama series, but I think it’s about time we had a look at The Come-uppance of Captain Katt, the opener to the fourth season of the series starring Alfred Marks and written by Peter Grimwade. If that latter name is familiar, it’s probably because you’re a Doctor Who fan and while I’m not saying that this play about the making of a long-running science-fiction TV series and the politics involved has anything to do with Grimwade’s experiences of working on said show, you would be forgiven for thinking that perhaps it has…

Charley says: Splink

1 October 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Apparently, the Green Cross Code, with its mantra of ‘Stop, look, listen, think’, was a bit too hard for 1970s kids to remember. Dolts. Oh hang on, I was one of those. 

So to help us dolts out, in 1976, the Green Cross Code recruited Jon Pertwee to teach us all the obviously far easier to remember mantra of ‘SPLINK’, which stood for (can you guess?) ‘Stop at the Pavement, Look and listen, and If traffic is coming, let it pass. When No traffic is near, cross the road, but Keep looking and listening.’

There. Simple hey?

The Weekly Play

The Wednesday Play: Soft Targets (1982)

25 September 2013 Rob Buckley Post a comment

Soft Targets

When is a play about espionage not about espionage? When it’s a Stephen Poliakoff play, that’s when.

All the elements are here in Soft Targets, one of the BBC’s Plays for Today. It’s got Ian Holm – fantastic, of course, as Bernard in ITV’s later adaptation of Len Deighton’s Game, Set and Match trilogy – here playing a junior Soviet official called Alexei. It’s got Helen Mirren as a mysterious blonde, who appears and disappears mysteriously. It’s got Nigel Havers and Rupert Everett as Brits of various importance. Everything looks set.

But this isn’t a play about spies. It’s about paranoia. It’s about people meeting and misinterpreting things and each other. It’s about the difference between how they perceive the world, how it really is, and how the world perceives them. It has the pace of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy but the final revelation is a very different conclusion.

As always, if you like it, buy it on DVD – it’s one of the Helen Mirren at the BBC collection, which also includes The Apple Cart, Caesar and Claretta, The Philanthropist, The Little Minister, The Country Wife, Blue Remembered Hills, Mrs Reinhardt, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cymbeline and The Hawk.