Marty Feldman
August 31, 2007
East End writer and actor Marty Feldman was never going to qualify for leading man roles. With a sizeable and skewed, and manic bulging eyes, the cockney comic was strictly built for comedy. The pity is that he’s nowadays mainly remembered for his remarkable looks, obscuring the huge contribution he made to British radio and TV writing from the 1950s on.
Martin Alan Feldman was born on 8 July 1933 in the East End, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, who had travelled from Kiev to Whitechapel. Youthful enthusiasms included boxing and playing the trumpet. He left school at 15 with a broken nose and ambitions as a jazz musician. These came to nothing, and he drifted into a succession of dead-end jobs including a messenger boy for an advertising agency, a kitchen porter. There are extraordinary stories from these years. On has him being deported from Paris for vagrancy; another working as a greyhound track tipster; a third has him being introduced to poet Dylan Thomas, who advised Marty that he had writing talent. Whatever the truth of the stories, by the early fifties he was in London, working in variety. He ventured into comedy as part of the Morris, Marty and Mitch trio, who made their TV debut on BBC’s ‘Showcase’ in 1955. But it was as a writer that he would taste real success.
The year before he had teamed up as a writer with Barry Took, who he had met working in variety, the prolific pair contributing scripts to TV and radio hits of the time including The Army Game. Marty also worked on the huge radio (and then TV) hit Educating Archie with Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney (later to have huge smashes with On The Buses and The Rag Trade).
During the 1960s, Feldman was astonishingly prolific and diverse. As well as conventional sitcoms, such as the Army Game spin-off Bootsie and Snudge, starring another East End favourite in the shape of Alfie Bass, he was collaborating with Took on the innuendo-laden Round The Horne, providing superb material for performers Kenneth Williams and Hugh Paddick as the outrageously camp Julian and Sandy. The writers drew heavily on ‘polari’ (or gay back slang) for dialogue. At the time homosexuality was still illegal in Britain. He was chief writer on the satirical Frost Report, which mixed the new generation of Oxbridge comics (including future members of Monty Python and the Goodies), with more established writers such as Barry Cryer, Frank Muir and Feldman. The famed ‘class’ sketch starring John Cleese and the Two Ronnies was co-written by Marty.
By now, Feldman was moving away from the mainstream, more attracted by the surreal antics of his younger cohorts. He collaborated with Cleese and Graham Chapman on ‘At Last the 1948 Show’ in 1967. The show saw an unwilling Feldman back on screen too, where he was an immediate hit. The manic eyes were the result of an operation to correct a thyroid complaint, and he used them to great comic effect. The next year, the BBC gave him his own sketch show, ‘Marty’, which he co-wrote with Took. A succession of hit vehicles followed and Feldman proved popular in Europe too, The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine winning the Golden Rose at Montreux in 1972.
He was emboldened to move into films, and despite the flop of this first (British) movie, ‘Every Home Should Have One’ (written with Took and Denis Norden) he pursued a career in America with much more success - initially at least. Mel Brooks used him superbly in ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Silent Movie’ (Feldman was often most effective silently mugging to the camera). But ‘The Last Remake of Beau Geste’ in 1977 and ‘In God We Trust’ in 1980, both written and directed by Marty, flopped badly. You don’t often get a third chance in Hollywood, and Feldman returned to performing, writing and directing for TV.
His last role was as ‘Gilbert’ in the movie ‘Yellowbeard’ penned by Graham Chapman and Peter Cook and with a mix of Pythons, established British actors such as James Mason and Michael Hordern, plus American comics Cheech and Chong. On location, he told a journalist that he was ‘too old to die young, and too young to grow up’. A week later, he died in his hotel room of a massive coronary, brought on by shellfish poisoning. Leaving behind Lauretta, his wife of 23 years, he was just 49.
Stephen Lewis
August 29, 2007
The career of East End actor Stephen Lewis is defined in the popular memory by two long-running parts. To lovers of gentle, Sunday evening comedy he is Smiler in Last of the Summer Wine (the joke is that, no, he doesn’t smile very much). Thirty something years ago, those same viewers knew him as Inspector Blake in On The Buses (catchphrase ‘I ‘ate you Butler’) delivered at least once per episode to hapless, skiving bus driver Stan Butler - fellow East End comic actor Reg Varney.
It’s not surprising that the two roles have obscured Lewis’s other work - On The Buses racked up an extraordinary 74 episodes, over seven series in just four years from 1969-1973; when ITV had a hit in those days they weren’t shy about exploiting it. And he’s served 17 years so far in Last of the Summer Wine - though that makes him a relative newcomer in a show that’s been running since 1973.
Stephen Lewis has a prouder and more diverse theatrical pedigree though. In the late fifties and early sixties, the Londoner was a merchant seaman working out of the East End docks. His shore leave took him to the Theatre Royal Stratford, home to the explosively creative (and often very difficult) Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop.
Littlewood famously encouraged improvisation, loathing the actorly sheen which performers would apply to their performances. Work by the group included the British première of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children (1955), which she directed and in which she also played the lead. Lionel Bart came in with Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be; there was Oh! What a Lovely War (1963),and A Taste of Honey by Shelagh Delaney (1958). Much of the work ended up on TV and many actors followed, becoming household faces (and occasionally names): Yootha Joyce, Brian Murphy (the pair better known as George and Mildred), Barbara Windsor, Glynn Edwards and Harry H Corbett.
Part of the deal at Stratford was that the audience were invited to discuss the play with the actors afterwards - no room for fragile thespian egos here. On one occasion, at the bar, Littlewood heard Lewis criticising the play. ‘If you’re so clever, why not do it yourself,’ she replied, a typical Littlewood ploy. Lewis took the bait, but infuriated her by returning to sea afterwards. ‘I had no intention of being an actor’ he explains.
But he returned to Stratford with a friend a year or two later, and was invited to have another go. This time the bug bit. He stayed with the company as they went into the West End with ‘The Hostage’ and ‘Mrs Wilson’s Diary’. There was no going back to sea now.
His real claim to fame came in 1960 when he wrote Sparrers Can’t Sing for the company (though an important thing to remember here is that all the Workshop’s pieces were improvised, so the concept of playwright is somewhat fluid). The piece moved from the Theatre Royal into the West End and then, in 1963, was made into a movie. Littlewood worked hard at keeping things real despite the pressures to produce a commercial success. The film was made in location in Limehouse, Stepney and Bethnal Green, with the Kray brothers appearing on set. Scenes shot in pubs and cafes took the rich local mix of rhyming slang, Yiddish and unadultered cockney accents and put it straight on screen. A minor concession was to retitle the movie ‘Sparrows Can’t Sing’ but it was all a bit too real for the New York Times who remarked ‘This isn’t a picture for anyone with a logical mind or an ear for language. The gabble of cockney spoken here is as incomprehensible as the reasoning of those who speak it.’
Lewis worked his way through the 1960s in a succession of minor theatre and TV roles, his hangdog ordinary bloke looks seeing him cast as a succession of caretakers, lorry drivers, servicemen and police officers. But it was with his casting as Inspector Blake in On The Buses (alongside fellow actor from ‘Sparrows’ Bob Grant) that he came to fame. Lewis and Grant went on to write several episodes of the sitcom. Three feature films accompanied the series, and when the idea eventually ran out of steam, LWT squeezed out a spin-off series, Don’t Drink the Water, with Lewis as Blakey retiring abroad.
Art imitated life as he appeared in the movie The Krays in 1990 but comedy was always the perfect situation for his gloomy looks, with roles in One Foot in the Grave and 2point4 Children (as a driving instructor, naturally) among others. The sitcom Oh, Doctor Beeching saw Lewis as a lugubrious railway worker in 1995 … by which time he’d already started his long stint in the Yorkshire Dales.
London for nothing
August 22, 2007
Yes London can be horrendously expensive, but use your imagination and do your research and there’s plenty of good free stuff to be had. That’s because museums and galleries are free apart from special exhibitions, though it would be kind to make a donation. Here’s a few you will know, and a load you won’t, to get you going.
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Bank of Museum
Bartholomew Lane, London, EC2R 8AH, 020 7601 549, Open Mon-Fri 1000-1700
Closed Weekends and Public & Bank Holidays
www.bankof.co.uk/museum -
Barbican Art Gallery
Barbican Centre, London, EC2Y 8DS, 020 7638 8891
Open Mon, Tue, Thu-Sat 10am - 6pm; Wed 10am - 9pm; Sun & Bank holidays 12 noon - 6pm
www.barbican.org.uk/home.asp -
London Jewish Museum of Art
108a Boundary Road, London, NW8 ORH, 020 7604 3991, Open Mon - Fri 10 - 5.30 Sun - 12 - 4, Closed Sat
www.benuri.org.uk -
Bethlem Royal Hospital Archives & Museum
The Bethlem Royal Hospital, Monks Orchard Road, Beckenham, BR3 3BX, Kent,
020 8776 4307
Open Mon - Fri 0930 - 1700
Closed : Sat Sun Public Holidays Other statutory holidays (NHS)
www.bethlemheritage.org.uk -
Bramah Museum of Tea and Coffee
40 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1UN, 020 7403 5650, Open Seven days a week 10am - 6pm
Closed : Christmas and Boxing Day
www.bramahmuseum.co.uk -
Britain At War Experience
Churchill House, 64 - 66 Tooley Street, London Bridge, London, SE1 2Tf, 020 7403 3171, Open Summer Daily 1000-1730
www.britain-at-war.co.uk -
British Library
British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, NW1 2DB
020 7412 7332, Open Mon Wed-Fri 0930-1800 Tues 0930-2000 Sat 0930-1700 Sun and English public holidays 1100-1700
www.bl.uk -
British Museum
The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG, 020 7323 8299, Open Museum opening hours: Saturday - Wednesday 10.00-17.30 Thursday - Friday 10.00-20.30 Great Court Opening Hours: Sunday - Wednesday 09.00-18.00 Thursday - Saturday 09.00-23.00 Reading Room Opening Hours: Saturday - Wednesday, Friday - 10.00-17.30 Thursday 10.00-20.30
Closed : Closed 1 January, Good Friday and 24-26 December every year.
www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk -
Cutty Sark
The Cutty Sark, King William Wark, Greenwich, London, SE10 9HT, +44 (0) 20 8858 3445, Open Seven days 1000-1700 (last admission 1630), Closed December 24-26
www.cuttysark.org.uk -
Design Museum
Design Museum, 28 Shad Thames, London, SE1 2YD,
0870 909 9009, Open Daily 10.00-17.45. Last admission 17.15. Closed Christmas Day
www.designmuseum.org -
Dr Johnson’s House
17 Gough Square, London, EC4A 3DE, 020 7353 3745
Open Oct-April Mon-Sat 1100-1700 May-Sept Mon-Sat 1100-1730 Sun and Bank Holidays Closed, and Sundays and Bank Holidays
www.drjohnsonshouse.org -
Golden Hinde Living History Museum
The Golden Hinde, St Mary Overie Dock, Cathedral Street, London, SE1 9DE, 020 7403 0123, Open Daily 0930 - 17.00 Contact museum to confirm
www.goldenhinde.co.uk -
Guildhall Art Gallery
Guildhall Art Gallery, Guildhall Yard, London, EC2P 2EJ, (020) 7332 3700, Open Mon-Sat 1000-1700 Sun 1200-1600, Closed Christmas Day, Boxing Day & New Year’s Day Ceremonial events at Guildhall sometimes require the Gallery to close, for advanced notice phone the information line.
www.guildhall-art-gallery.org.uk -
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ, 020 7416 5320, Open Open daily, 10.00-18.00
Closed : Closed 24-26 December
www.iwm.org.uk -
Jewish Museum, Camden Town
Raymond Burton House, 129-131 Albert Street, Camden Town, London, NW1 7NB, 020 7284 1997, Open Sun 1000-1700 Mon - Thurs 1000-1600, Closed Fridays, Saturdays, public holidays & Jewish Festivals
www.jewishmuseum.org.uk -
Jewish Museum, Finchley
The Sternberg Centre, 80 East End Road, Finchley, London, N3 2SY, 020 8349 1143, Open Mon-Thurs 1030-1700 Sun 1030-1630, Closed Friday, Saturday and Public & Jewish holidays
www.jewishmuseum.org.uk -
John Wesley’s House & The Museum of Methodism
Wesley’s Chapel, 49 City Road, London, EC1Y 1AU,
020 7253 2262, Open Monday to Saturday 10.00a.m. - 4.00pm Sunday 12.00noon - 1.45pm, Closed every Thursday between 12:45 & 1.30pm (for service), Between Christmas & New Year, Public & Bank Holidays, except Good Friday
www.wesleyschapel.org.uk -
London Canal Museum
12-13 New Wharf Road, King’s Cross, London, N1 9RT,
020 7713 0836, Open Tues-Sun 1000-1630 Last entry 1545 Open bank holiday Mondays, Closed : 24-26 December, 31st December, Mondays (except bank holidays)
www.canalmuseum.org.uk -
London’s Transport Museum
London’s Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza, London, WC2E 7BB, 020 7565 7299, Open Mon-Thurs Sat-Sun 10.00 - 18.00 Fri 11.00 - 18.00 Last Admission 17.15
www.ltmuseum.co.uk -
Museum of Garden History
Lambeth Palace Road, London, SE1 7LB, 020 7401 8865, Open Daily 10.30am-5.00pm, Closed for a short period over Christmas and New Year
www.museumgardenhistory.org -
National Army Museum
Royal Hospital Road, London, SW3 4HT, 020 7730 0717 ext. 2210 / 2235, Open Daily 1000-1730, Closed 24-26 December, 1 January, Good Friday
www.national-army-museum.ac.uk -
National Gallery
The National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London, WC2N 5DN, 020 7747 2885, Open daily 10.00-18.00, Wed 10.00-21.00
www.nationalgallery.org.uk -
National Maritime Museum
National Maritime Museum, Park Row, Greenwich, London, SE10 9NF, 020 8858 4422, Open Daily 1000-1700 Closed 24-26 December
www.nmm.ac.uk -
National Portrait Gallery
National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London, WC2H 0HE, 020 7312 2463, Open Monday - Wednesday & Saturday - Sunday 10am - 6pm Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm Evening Openings Thursday & Friday 10am - 9pm Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm, ClosedGood Friday, 24-26 December, 1 January
www.npg.org.uk -
Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, 020 7942 5000, Open Mon-Sat 1000-1750 Sun 1100-1750 Last admission is 1730, Closed on 24, 25 and 26 December only
www.nhm.ac.uk -
North Woolwich Old Station Museum
Pier Road, London, E16 2JJ, London, 020 7474 7244
Open April-September Fri Sun 1400-1700 Sat 1000-1700 Also school holidays-call for details -
Old Operating Theatre Museum, London
The Old Operating Theatre Museum, 9A St Thomas’ Street, London, SE1 9RY, 020 7955 4791, Open 10.30 - 17.00 Monday -Sunday inclusive, Closed 15 Dec - 5 Jan inclusive
www.thegarret.org.uk -
Royal Armouries at HM Tower of London
HM Tower of London, London, EC3N 4AB, 020 7488 5658, Open Summer - Daily 10.00-17.00 Winter - Daily 10.00-16.00
www.armouries.org.uk -
Science Museum
Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD, 020 7942 4000
Open Daily 1000-1800, Closed 24-26 December
www.sciencemuseum.org.uk -
Sherlock Holmes Museum
221B Baker Street, London, NW1 6XE, 0181 374 0053
Open Daily 0930-1800 Closed 25 December
www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk -
Sir John Soane’s Museum
13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3BP, 020 7405 2107, Open Tues-Sat 1000-1700 1st Tues in month 1800-2100 Mon Bank holidays & Christmas Period Closed
www.soane.org -
Tate Britain
Tate Britain, Millbank, London, SW1P 4RG, 020 7887 8000, Open Daily 1000-1750, Closed 24, 25, 26 December
www.tate.org.uk -
Tate Modern
Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1, 020 7887 8888
Open Open Sunday-Thursday, 10.00-1800 and Fri & Sat 10.00-22.00, Closed 24-26 December
www.tate.org.uk -
The Charles Dickens Museum, London
The Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty Street, London, WC1N 2LX, 020 7405 2127, Open Mon-Sat 1000-1700 Last admission 16.30 Sunday 1100-1700
www.dickensmuseum.com -
Theatre Museum, London
Russell Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 7PR,
020 7943 4700, Open Tues-Sun 1000-1800, Closed Bank Holidays
www.theatremuseum.org -
Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, South Kensington, London, SW7 2RL, 020 7942 2000
Open Daily 1000-1745 Wed and last Fri of month 1000-2200, Closed : 24-26 December
www.vam.ac.uk -
William Morris Gallery
Lloyd Park, Forest Road, London, E17 4PP, 020 8527 3782, Open Tue-Sat & first Sunday in each month 1000-1300 & 1400-1700
www.lbwf.gov.uk/wmg
