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The Good Old Days On BBC4 Tonight |
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#1 |
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Join Date: May 2008
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The Good Old Days On BBC4 Tonight
My goodness, a blast from the past! This was a 1976 episode.
Although I remember it from the time I was a kid in the seventies (b.1965) and used to hate it when it was on. Those Thursday nights after the nine o'clock news and then it moved to Friday nights at 8:10. I was just too young to appreciate it. Les Dawson's doing a turn at the moment. I can even see now how clever Leonard Sachs was with those words. I never would have thought that back then, it used to make me cringe. Good to see again. I believe this show ran from about 1958. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Jul 2015
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God yes, I used to quite enjoy it.
Roy Hudd , Rod Hull, Les Dawson doing a Turn. Even in 1976 one was surprised at the number of " Speciality Acts " Knife Throwers, Contortionists, Magicians, Etc . I suppose Northern Clubs and Seaside Summer Seasons gave them a decent living. All gone now I suppose. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Sep 2005
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A lot of the performances were from people used to being on stage at theatres, therefore their stagecraft and their ability to engage with a live audience, made these excellent shows.
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#4 |
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Quote:
God yes, I used to quite enjoy it.
Roy Hudd , Rod Hull, Les Dawson doing a Turn. Even in 1976 one was surprised at the number of " Speciality Acts " Knife Throwers, Contortionists, Magicians, Etc . I suppose Northern Clubs and Seaside Summer Seasons gave them a decent living. All gone now I suppose. I was amazed at the attention to detail in the audience too. All properly costumed and made up. Not just an audience truning up with tickets in fancy dress if they felt like it. Probably casted and prepared by the studio. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: May 2008
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Quote:
A lot of the performances were from people used to being on stage at theatres, therefore their stagecraft and their ability to engage with a live audience, made these excellent shows.
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#6 |
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Quote:
Yes, it was still a time when TV used to embrace variety entertainment. Hence the need for a vehicle, bit like the Wheeltappers and Shunters. Some real quality acts.
I was amazed at the attention to detail in the audience too. All properly costumed and made up. Not just an audience truning up with tickets in fancy dress if they felt like it. Probably casted and prepared by the studio. The shows always came from Leeds City Varieties, I would think it was mostly a regular audience, so they'd have their own costumes. Hard to believe this show ran on the BBC for thirty years 1953 to 1983. It still has these Victorian evenings a few times a year. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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Flicking through the channels tonight, I said to my H, "Oh dear God, of all the programmes ever made, they had to drag THIS one out of the ark!"
I was made to watch it and my parents loved it (apart from my Dad hating the final song of Down at the Old Bull and Bush - it got turned over/off when that started). I was probably too young to appreciate its, erm, attractions |
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#8 |
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What night did this go out on - I have a suspicion it was Friday.
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#9 |
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Join Date: May 2003
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Quote:
I doubt if the BBC dressed the audience.
The shows always came from Leeds City Varieties, I would think it was mostly a regular audience, so they'd have their own costumes. Hard to believe this show ran on the BBC for thirty years 1953 to 1983. It still has these Victorian evenings a few times a year. https://www.cityvarieties.co.uk/Online/default.asp |
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#10 |
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Join Date: Jul 2010
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I really enjoyed that especially Les Dawson
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#11 |
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Quote:
City Varieties is still with us after an expensive refurbishment:
https://www.cityvarieties.co.uk/Online/default.asp |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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Missed it tonight but it brings back memories of my childhood (b. 1967) My granddad used to live with us and it was his favourite programme - he sang along to it!
I was fascinated by Leonard Sachs introductions, which were pretty impressive! |
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#13 |
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Quote:
Missed it tonight but it brings back memories of my childhood (b. 1967) My granddad used to live with us and it was his favourite programme - he sang along to it!
I was fascinated by Leonard Sachs introductions, which were pretty impressive! |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Feb 2002
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Quote:
My goodness, a blast from the past! This was a 1976 episode.
Must set a Series Link. Quote:
Missed it tonight...
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#15 |
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Quote:
What night did this go out on - I have a suspicion it was Friday.
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#16 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Quote:
I doubt if the BBC dressed the audience.
The shows always came from Leeds City Varieties, I would think it was mostly a regular audience, so they'd have their own costumes. Hard to believe this show ran on the BBC for thirty years 1953 to 1983. It still has these Victorian evenings a few times a year.
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#17 |
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Join Date: Dec 2012
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It was very popular until the end. The BBC decided to have a very unpleasant dispute with its staff over expenses on this programme, among others, which meant that good will was withdrawn. In theory the show was rigged on Saturday, rehearse/record on Sunday, derig Monday. This was impossible for the theatre so it was done unofficially on a very long Sunday shift. As a result of the dispute staff insisted that the show was made as per the official schedule and as a result the show was cancelled as that was impossible for the theatre. It was a very enjoyable show to work on with a family atmosphere between production, crew and theatre staff, very rare.
The picture quality at the time was very good for its day, what has happened to the tapes in the mean time is anyones guess but this weeks show seemed to be from a multigeneration copy, possibly found by BBC Enterprises abroad. |
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#18 |
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It was great to see this. Good old-fashioned entertainment with a well-behaved audience (just applause, no whooping or whistling) and a good humour to it all. I was thinking they should bring it back, but I can just imagine - votes, judges and sob-stories.....
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#19 |
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Join Date: Jun 2007
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Quote:
A little known fact is that the theatre used to be a strip joint part of the time the BBC used it
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#20 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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The OB unit was usually North 1 and the producer, of course, Barney Colehan.
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#21 |
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Join Date: May 2012
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Quote:
It was very popular until the end. The BBC decided to have a very unpleasant dispute with its staff over expenses on this programme, among others, which meant that good will was withdrawn. In theory the show was rigged on Saturday, rehearse/record on Sunday, derig Monday. This was impossible for the theatre so it was done unofficially on a very long Sunday shift. As a result of the dispute staff insisted that the show was made as per the official schedule and as a result the show was cancelled as that was impossible for the theatre. It was a very enjoyable show to work on with a family atmosphere between production, crew and theatre staff, very rare.
By the way, was The Black & White Minstrel Show still enjoying high ratings when it finished? |
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#22 |
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Join Date: Dec 2012
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Quote:
With the changing tastes in television, how long would the series had run on anyway?
By the way, was The Black & White Minstrel Show still enjoying high ratings when it finished? The Black and WhiteMinstrel Show was from an earlier, more innocent, era. It could not be shown today although I think the stage version continued for many years. |
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#23 |
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Quote:
With the changing tastes in television, how long would the series had run on anyway?
By the way, was The Black & White Minstrel Show still enjoying high ratings when it finished? |
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#24 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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On Sunday nights in 1963 the Black and White Minstrel Show was averaging 17.650 million. Steptoe and Son (Thursday nights) was getting 22 million, figures we will probably never see again.
Source : BBC Handbook 1964 |
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#25 |
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: North-West England
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If it were the "non PC" element that turned people off The B&W Minstrels, why didn't the BBC replace it with a PC version? They'd had "the White Heather Club" before.
They didn't because that sort of format became less popular. |
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