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Post by Martin Dunne on Jul 10, 2016 11:29:15 GMT
Oliver in the Overworld was a musical pantomime. First a segment in series two of Little Big Time, the third series was entirely composed of the story (from 11 May 1971). Five minutes of Oliver below, apparently edited into a sales pitch with an American narrator. Followed by two minutes with Freddie Garrity off Southern Gold in 1993, significantly with different footage than the advert. Does anyone know anything about this? Is there more? www.freddieandthedreamers.com/oliver-and-the-overworld.htmlIn Australia we enjoyed it twice, and no other Little Big Time. Regionally on ABC, Saturdays 6.05pm. ABS2 Adelaide from 10 May 1974. ABC3 in Canberra from 8 February 1975. Nationally on ABC from Sunday 13 February 1977, 12.20pm. |
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Post by John Green on Jul 10, 2016 12:48:43 GMT
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Post by Martin Dunne on Jul 10, 2016 14:08:32 GMT
Thanks John, just what I wanted!
For all I know, while the episodes are listed as wiped, the two clips may be common.
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Post by Ian Wegg on Jul 10, 2016 16:40:28 GMT
The video on that website doesn't work for me (in any browser). From memory the Southern Gold clips were all from the final episode of Little Big Time and featured a German style (lederhosen thigh slapping) performance with Wilf Lunn and Freddie's farewell song where he nearly cracks up. There is a thread on the old M-Club site here: Freddie and the Dreamers and a robot with cutlery arms? ~iw |
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Post by John Green on Jul 10, 2016 16:58:04 GMT
The video on that website doesn't work for me (in any browser) Same here,though I can watch it as stills by clicking along the clip's timeline. |
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Post by brianfretwell on Jul 10, 2016 20:07:30 GMT
It takes a long while to load and frequently stops when I view it. Good memories though, I mainly remember the song "Gimme That (or Dat?) Ding" from it.
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Post by Martin Dunne on Jul 11, 2016 0:46:52 GMT
The video on that website doesn't work for me (in any browser). From memory the Southern Gold clips were all from the final episode of Little Big Time and featured a German style (lederhosen thigh slapping) performance with Wilf Lunn and Freddie's farewell song where he nearly cracks up. There is a thread on the old M-Club site here: Freddie and the Dreamers and a robot with cutlery arms?~iw Thanks Ian! I've written to the site owner, who says he was a member of the Dreamers. The site was updated as little as two months ago. The Mausoleum thread mentions the Southern Gold footage is from "a private copy of the last Oliver episode". I use Chrome and the player works for me with the occasional pause. For those who can't see it ... It features a series of the characters introducing themselves. 1. Inspiration Day 2. The Undercog 3. The Waste Disposal Unit 4. The Belle Telephones 5. Windy Bill 6. Chief High Pipe 7. The Deferential Gearbox 8. Oliver and the Undercog ("It's a teleprinter!") 9. Inspiration day Then the Southern Gold material from 4.37 1. A chalk board Southern Independent Television Title: LITTLE BIG TIME Starring: FREDDIE GARRITY Producer: ANGUS WRIGHT VTR PGN?: 31.82 STUDIO 1 2. Don't Underestimate the Undercog Caption: Little Big Time 1973 (Which I find surprising.) 3. Fred Dinenage and Freddie Garrity 4. Windy Bill's Song 5. Fred Dinenage and Freddie Garrity 6. Freddie breaks down during finale 5. Fred Dinenage and Freddie Garrity Krazy Kat Theater has a stage version planned. www.krazykattheatre.co.uk/signs-of-the-time-project-receives-arts-council-england-funding/ |
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Post by Patrick Coles on Jul 11, 2016 14:34:56 GMT
There is an album by Freddie and The Dreamers titled 'Oliver in The Overworld' released on EMI's budget Regal Starline label
I recall watching one episode of 'Little Big Time' that closed with Freddie and The Dreamers singing a version of John Lennon's Beatles song 'Run For Your Life' - I recall there were only Derek, Pete, and Bernie of The Dreamers, not sure if rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Roy Crewdson had left or was just missing from that one show
no one ever does a PROPER serious history of Freddie & The Dreamers it seems - Freddie told his story in that audio posted on youtube but music mags if mentioning them at all normally dismiss them off hand and later CD booklets always seem to rather downplay the band, even guitarist Derek Quinn in a CD booklet note spoke little re their success just said about how they got WORSE ! - when actually they were VERY GOOD as they played accurately despite all clowning about doing kicks, jumps and falling over, 'dozing off' onstage etc...
...while some 'serious' bands struggled to play properly in an upright static position !
the 'Sunday Night at The London Palladium' DVD shows just how much loved and popular Freddie and the Dreamers were with the British public back then (likewise in the USA briefly in 1965)
- just as it also shows the screaming girls were still going crazy over Cliff Richard and The Shadows in 1965....duly correcting all the later re-writing a good number of revisionist rock history books that have since tried to tell us otherwise post Beatles and 'Beat Boom' !
Just try tracking down Freddie and The Dreamers original sixties EMI Columbia, and early seventies Regal Starline albums...even the budget MFP one is rare now !
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Post by Ian Wegg on Jul 11, 2016 14:48:54 GMT
I've found the trick for watching it is to use the space bar to play and pause. I assume there is a play control somewhere but it isn't visible (I stumbled across the invisible "full screen" button but couldn't find any others). You can go directly to the video at this link. You need to give it plenty of time to buffer (it took several minutes on my broadband). The first part is new to me. Aside from the narration it's interesting to note some Americanisms in the original programme such as the "Bell Telephones" with U.S. accents, evidence perhaps of an eye to overseas sales when they made it? The VT ident board is interesting and only on screen briefly.  It's not clear where this came from, but everything after that point is from Southern Gold. Frustratingly my DVD copy of that programme won't play but I don't recall there being much more than that. ~iw |
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Post by Martin Dunne on Jul 11, 2016 15:23:37 GMT
My theory is the advertising pitch was made for Southern to sell to the US market, the clips on Southern Gold are from domestic format and all belonged to Garrity, hence no episodes exist. The site owner got them from Garrity, so there may be more.
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Post by paul carney on Jul 11, 2016 18:01:16 GMT
I was around 14 or 15 when this was aired and so was moving away from watching children's tv, but I do recall finding this programme interesting as it was so off the wall compared to other kids programmes. Also the Sunday Night at the Palladium footage shows that amongst all Freddie's jokes and chaos they were in fact a tight ,well rehearsed band who could play all their hits live. My favourite memory of Freddie is of him leaping around doing a song on Blue Peter ,I don't think Petra ever recovered.....  |
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Post by Richard Marple on Jul 11, 2016 19:54:03 GMT
Even before Harry Enfield got his hands on the Blue Peter clip it seemed to be common to include in clip shows as an example of mid 1960s Blue Peter.
The period immediately after the Beatles became popular is an interesting one, as many bands managed to get a break as labels hoped to sign up their own "Fab Four".
Some seemed to fade away within a few years as the music scene changed, but others seemed to mange to stay around longer.
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Post by John W King on Jul 11, 2016 20:19:31 GMT
My God. This was in the back of my memory but I recall it as being quite interesting. Oliver in the Overworld. I recall it as being a bit like Wizard of Oz? Were there parts when he was wondering amongst chimneys? All a long, long time ago. I think Midlands ITV showed it on a Tuesday at 17.00? or 17.30? Was it followed by Junior Showtime or the other way round? I don't recall Freddie jumping about like he did when he sang with the Dreamers. I saw the Dreamers about a year or two after Freddie died and they were a great band. I think they are still performing.
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Post by paul carney on Jul 11, 2016 20:38:36 GMT
Graham Haberfield appears in the footage. He had great screen presence but sadly died of a heart attack aged just 33.
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Post by John Green on Jul 11, 2016 20:58:08 GMT
The first part is new to me. Aside from the narration it's interesting to note some Americanisms in the original programme such as the "Bell Telephones" with U.S. accents, evidence perhaps of an eye to overseas sales when they made it? Wasn't that the tack with Double Deckers,which I think was more successful at cracking the U.S. market? A title change might have been necessary over there-Little Big Man featured a massacre! |
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