Classic shows that have almost been forgotten, as well as shows that should probably have been forgotten
Charley says: watch out for Jimmy Savile
Obviously not a real one (it’s based on this one), but in retrospect, it should have been:
Classic TV
Yet more Christian shows added to the guide
I’ve extended the blog’s handy guide to religious shows again, this time with a collection of Christian shows that somehow escaped the list the first time round: Save Me, Angels in America, Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes and Miracles. More details at the guide itself, obviously.
Classic TV
Nostalgia Corner: The Mary Whitehouse Experience (1991-1992)/Newman and Baddiel in Pieces (1993)/The Imaginatively Titled Punt and Dennis Show (1994-1995)
Tracing the origins of modern ‘lad’ culture isn’t easy. Some cite James Brown’s launch of Loaded – the magazine for men who ‘should know better’ – while others point to the arrival of competitor FHM as its more definitive arrival in society.
However, I think you have to cast your mind back a little earlier to the late 80s and early 90s to first radio and then to TV with a comedy show called The Mary Whitehouse Experience. Originally airing on Radio 1 before moving over to BBC2, the show was the first real sign that the politically correct 1980s stand-up and alternative comedy scene was about to be taken over by ‘lad’ humour.
The Weekly Play
The Wednesday Play: General Electric Theater – Clown (1955)
Most of the plays featured in this strand have been British. But as I’ve remarked before, the US had plenty of its own play strands, artfully disguised as “anthology shows”. One of the longer lasting anthology shows – and eventually most controversial – was General Electric Theater. Guess who the sponsor was.
An offshoot, as many of these strands were, of a radio show, it was broadcast every Sunday evening at 9pm, starting on February 1 1953 and running for an amazing nine years until May 27 1962 for a total of 209 episodes, all of which were adapted from novels, short stories, plays, films and magazine fiction. Originally host-less, on September 26 1954, the show took on no less an actor than Ronald Reagan to introduce and even star in some of the segments.
Given Reagan part-owned the show, it made him a wealthy man; however, when he spoke out in 1962 against the problems of ‘big government’, it didn’t stop GE from firing him, possibly under pressure from Robert Kennedy, leading to the show’s cancellation.
Along the way, though, General Electric Theater accrued a remarkable number of performances from stars of the day, including Kevin McCarthy, Lee Marvin (no fewer than seven times), Lon Chaney Jr, Dean Stockwell, George Snaders, Alan Ladd, Vincent Price, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Judy Garland and even Nancy Reagan herself.
This week’s play, though, is Clown, which stars Henry Fonda in an adaptation of the autobiography of circus performer Emmett Kelley. Enjoy!
Charley says: Don’t spread germs
People like to think of the ‘war generation’ as being tough as nails. After all, they’d lived through the Blitz, right?
Wrong. Look at this rubbish public information film from 1948. It’s actually funny. How pathetic is that compared to the scary arsed stuff that the 1970s gave us?