|
Post by markdixon on Nov 16, 2018 21:50:05 GMT
Thanks William. The images all uploaded properly this time. The series had some interesting guests.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Nov 16, 2018 21:37:13 GMT
I can see the second image and the final one.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Nov 16, 2018 21:13:19 GMT
Hi William. Thanks for this, but I can only view two of the images. I don't think the others have uploaded properly.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Nov 15, 2018 21:53:53 GMT
I think this footage was filmed at the second night of the UFO Festival, at the Roundhouse, London. The performance took place on 2nd September 1967 and the Move shared the bill with Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and Denny Laine.
The footage was featured in a German programme, but I’m unsure of its title. Some sources refer to it as 'Science Fiction: Das Universum des Ichs', while others claim it was called ‘Lesezeichen: Das Universum des Lichts’ .
A brief clip of Pink Floyd from this programme was included in the first volume of ‘The Early Years’ box set.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Nov 11, 2018 17:09:15 GMT
Thanks William.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Nov 11, 2018 14:43:53 GMT
Some of you will be familiar with ‘Pierrot and Turquoise or The Looking Glass Murders’. This was a mime piece which featured Lindsay Kemp and David Bowie. It was recorded in February 1970 and broadcast on STV on 08 July 1970. It exists as a colour telerecording.
I assumed for a long time that this programme was a stand-alone production. However, I found out recently that it was the opening episode of a six-part arts series called ‘Gateway’. According to Lost Shows, the other five episodes are missing.
‘The Looking Glass Murders’ seems to have been highly-regarded even before it was broadcast. It was shown at the Cannes Television Festival in April 1970. It was also nominated for a prize in the Pye Colour Television Awards, which took place in London on 15 May 1970. Perhaps this explains why it still exists.
I’ve found out that STV attempted to sell the ‘Gateway’ series to the ITV network, but were turned down. I wonder if any foreign broadcasters bought the series after seeing the first episode at the Cannes Television Festival?
The following article from ‘The Stage’ (09 July 1970) gives a brief outline of the entire series. However, it doesn’t go into detail about the participants. Does anyone know who appeared in the other five episodes? Presumably, the Scottish ‘TV Times’ gave full details.
STV try series of experiments
This week STV began an experimental series called the Gateway Series. They were all produced at STV’s colour studios in Edinburgh. The six programmes attempt to do specifically for television what the Underground movement in the Arts is already doing in the theatre, in music and on film, says STV.
Programme controller Tony Firth, who had been impressed by experimental work produced by various groups on the fringe of the Edinburgh Festival, asked director Brian Mahoney to investigate and create a series of Underground programmes. Not just programmes reflecting new developments in the visual and aural arts, but a series which would create new art forms in television itself.
The first of the programmes, Pierrot and Turquoise or The Looking Glass Murders was shown yesterday. What You See When You’re Not Really Looking, the second in the series (Wednesday, July 15) shows the creation of a painting on television for television.
The third programme in the series, Four Alone, is a two-part programme about poetry and the poet: Part I on Wednesday, July 22 and Part 2 on Wednesday, August 5.
This Programme is Unsuitable For … (Wednesday, July 29) recreates for television the impact of audience involvement, which has been startlingly marked in the theatre recently. In this People Show the cast of young men and women are deeply concerned about how the studio audience and the viewer at home react. A group of ordinary people were invited along to the recording presumably expecting to see a play from the cosy security of their seats. Instead they were forced into an involvement with the cast and with the play. They became part of the drama, a drama which many confessed they didn't understand.
The last programme, Instructions For Viewing This Programme Are In Your Local TV Journal (Wednesday, August 12) is to be taken literally. The programme director has listed the way in which this dramatic and experimental happening should be viewed at home. This programme is about the performance of a piece of music. But it is also a television happening in which everyone - cameramen, lighting engineers, technicians and stage hands form an integral part of the event.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Nov 4, 2018 9:27:36 GMT
Just for ease of reference, I’ve gathered together all the information we have for the ‘The Simon Dee Show’ (including the names from the TV Brain list). At the end I’ve indicated what still exists from the series.
18 Jan 1970: Patrick Cargill, Peter Sellers, Maggie Britton, the Peddlers 25 Jan 1970: Anni Anderson 01 Feb 1970: Des Wilson (director of Shelter), Billy Eckstine, The Pentangle 08 Feb 1970: George Lazenby, Sylvia McNeil, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Michael X, April Ashley 15 Feb 1970: Ginette Reno, Ned Sherrin, Orange Bicycle, Roy Hudd, Sacha Distel, Diana Dors 22 Feb 1970: Billie Whitelaw, Andre Previn 01 Mar 1970: Joe Brown, Samantha Jones 08 Mar 1970: Vincent Price, The Cuff-Links, Joe Brown, Salena Jones, Dennis Wheatley, Alex Sanders 15 Mar 1970: Gene Pitney, Jack Benny, Clifford Davis, Laurence Harvey, Wolf Mankowitz 22 Mar 1970: Ricky Renee, Jochen Rindt, Jack Wild, The Arrival 29 Mar 1970: Marty Feldman, Glynis Johns, Ronald Fraser, Joseph Ward, Jerry Butler, Will Gaines 05 Apr 1970: Shirley Bassey, Eartha Kitt 12 Apr 1970: Eric Sykes, Imogen Hassall, Dionne Warwick, Malcolm Roberts 19 Apr 1970: Edna O’Brien, Harry Fowler, Kenny Lynch, Carol Channing, Cleo Laine 26 Apr 1970: Siobhan McKenna, Nelson Riddle, Terry-Thomas, Dusty and Tom Springfield, Graham Kerr (the Galloping Gourmet) 03 May 1970: Dawn Addams, Peter Wyngarde, Midge McKenzie, Georgie Fame, Peter Hall, Yvonne Mitchell 10 May 1970: Warren Mitchell, Selena Jones, Andrew Duncan, The Up With People 17 May 1970: Millicent Martin, Alan Randall, Jimmy Chipperfield (with tiger cub), AJP Taylor, Marianne Faithfull 24 May 1970: Sandie Shaw, Jo Ann Pflug, George Wells, John Crosby 31 May 1970: Val Doonican, The Arrival, Rosemary Nicols, Jackie Collins, Anthony Quinn and the World Cup Motor Rally winners – Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm 07 June 1970: no episode due to World Cup coverage 14 Jun 1970: no episode due to World cup coverage, but there was a special early evening programme in which Simon Dee interviewed the Archbishop of Canterbury 21 Jun 1970: Vanessa Redgrave, Dr Benjamin Spock 28 Jun 1970: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Bruce Forsyth, Harry Secombe, Terri Stevens 05 Jul 1970: Carol Channing, Robert Morley, Cat Stevens
The Spooner Twins and the Maynard Ferguson Big Band were regulars on the series.
Peter Cook, Barbara Cartland and Roy Kinnear made appearances, but I haven’t got precise dates.
According to ‘Record Mirror’, White Plains were due to appear on the show sometime in February 1970.
Surviving material
18.01.70. VT of opening credits and Dee’s introduction to his interview with Patrick Cargill (but not the interview itself). Audio of interview with Peter Sellers. 08.02.70. Audio of interview with John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Michael X (duration: 13:31 minutes) 29.03.70. Audio of interview with Marty Feldman
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Nov 3, 2018 14:13:46 GMT
I’ve found out that another controversial episode of ‘The Simon Dee Show’ was the edition broadcast on 08 March 1970. The focus of that particular show was the macabre and the occult. Vincent Price and Dennis Wheatley were amongst the guests.
Apparently, Dee intended to have a coven of witches on the show. I’m not sure if this happened, but I know that Alex Sanders (known by some people as ‘the King of the Witches’) appeared on the programme. He produced a wax effigy of a rival witch and proceeded to stick pins in it. This incident gets a brief mention in the 1971 part-work magazine ‘Man, Myth and Magic’.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Oct 31, 2018 21:34:31 GMT
It looks like I was wrong in my previous post when I suggested that ‘The Simon Dee Show’ was either broadcast live or recorded hours before transmission. It seems more likely that each episode was recorded the day before transmission.
Therefore, it seems strange to me that LWT bosses allowed Dee’s interview with George Lazenby to be broadcast on 08 February 1970 when they knew the contents were very controversial.
A lot has been written about the Lazenby interview, but it’s hard to gauge the accuracy of the information, because as far as I know, no audio recording or transcript exists. I think all that survives from the episode is a 13-minute audio recording of Dee’s interview with John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Michael X.
Craig Brown devoted a whole chapter to the Lazenby interview in his 2012 book “Hello Goodbye Hello: A Circle of 101 Remarkable Meetings”. Brown included what appear to be quotes from the episode, but I think his account of the incident contains many errors. For example, Brown claimed that when Lazenby appeared on the show, he had a beard and long hair, and was dressed as a cowboy. He also claimed Diana Rigg was interviewed alongside Lazenby. However, I’ve seen a photograph taken during the interview. Lazenby was clean-shaven and wore a suit. Diana Rigg wasn’t there.
I had a look through some old newspapers to see if I could find any contemporary accounts of the Lazenby incident. I could only find a few snippets. According to the ‘Newcastle Journal’ (14 Feb 1970) Lazenby ‘talked discursively, ignorantly and irrelevantly about the late President Kennedy’.
David Gibson wrote the following in ‘The Glasgow Evening Times’ (09 Feb 1970)
Watching all these late-night talkie-talkie shows, I get the feeling that if every oddball in London doesn’t know every other oddball, they’ll meet some night on TV. Last night was a good example. There was George Lazenby, 007½, spouting away from a list of people murdered and asking Simon Dee – I mean Simon Dee, of all people! – to investigate the Kennedy assassinations…
Dee even mentioned the Lazenby interview on the following week’s show. This is from ‘The Glasgow Evening Times’ (16 Feb 1970)
Simon Dee is to investigate the Kennedy Assassinations. I can hardly wait, following his announcement last night that he has taken seriously George Lazenby’s request for an enquiry made on the show last week to everyone’s embarrassment.
Finally, here’s Simon Dee discussing the episode about a year after it was broadcast. This is from the ‘British Kinematograph Sound and Television Society Journal’.
Let me tell you what happened to me in commercial television. One night George Lazenby appeared on my show. He came on and brought up the assassination of President Kennedy. I was completely unprepared for this so I let him get on with it because he wanted to talk about it — which is freedom. When he finished I mentioned a book I had been reading. The following morning Philip Purser in the Daily Telegraph filled two columns with invective against me and my handling of the situation.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Oct 28, 2018 14:49:55 GMT
‘The Simon Dee Show’ wasn’t broadcast on 07 June 1970 and 14 June 1970 because of World Cup coverage. However, there was a special early-evening programme broadcast on ITV on 14 June 1970 in which Simon Dee interviewed the Archbishop of Canterbury.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Oct 28, 2018 14:47:46 GMT
‘The Simon Dee Show’ was part-networked, and I think each episode was shown on the same day by the regional ITV companies. Some episodes were broadcast live, while others were probably recorded a few hours before broadcast. There were sometimes slight differences in broadcast times across the regions.
It’s possible that Dusty and Tom Springfield had to cancel their appearance on the 26/04/70 show at the last minute. They may have appeared on the following week’s show instead.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Oct 28, 2018 12:39:05 GMT
Here’s some details about guests on ‘The Simon Dee Show” that I found in ‘The Observer’. This information isn’t on TV Brain.
18 Jan 1970: The Peddlers 01 Feb 1970: Des Wilson (director of the Shelter charity) 08 Feb 1970: April Ashley 26 Apr 1970: Dusty and Tom Springfield, Graham Kerr (the Galloping Gourmet) 10 May 1970: Warren Mitchell, Selena Jones, Andrew Duncan, The Up With People 17 May 1970: AJP Taylor. I’ve already mentioned Jimmy Chipperfield, but apparently he appeared with a tiger cub. 24 May 1970: Sandie Shaw, Jo Ann Pflug. George Wells, John Crosby 31 May 1970: Val Doonican, The Arrival, Rosemary Nicols, Jackie Collins, Anthony Quinn and the World Cup Motor Rally winners – Hannu Mikkola and Gunnar Palm 21 Jun 1970: Vanessa Redgrave, Dr Benjamin Spock 28 Jun 1970: Sean Connery, Michael Caine, Bruce Forsyth, Harry Secombe, Terri Stevens
Peter Cook, Barbara Cartland and Roy Kinnear also appeared in the series, but I haven’t got the precise dates.
By the way, there are lots of colour pictures from the series on the Rex Features website.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Oct 27, 2018 20:44:33 GMT
Here’s what I found for ‘The Simon Dee Show’. I looked at various newspaper listings and TV Pop Diaries.
18 Jan 1970: Maggie Britton 15 Feb 1970: Ginette Reno, Ned Sherrin, Orange Bicycle, Roy Hudd, Sacha Distel, Diana Dors 22 Feb 1970: Billie Whitelaw, Andre Previn 01 Mar 1970: Joe Brown, Samantha Jones 08 Mar 1970: Vincent Price, The Cuff-Links, Joe Brown, Salena Jones, Dennis Wheatley, Alex Sanders 15 Mar 1970: Gene Pitney, Jack Benny, Clifford Davis, Laurence Harvey, Wolf Mankowitz 22 Mar 1970: Ricky Renee, Jochen Rindt, Jack Wild, The Arrival 29 Mar 1970: Marty Feldman, Glynis Johns, Ronald Fraser, Joseph Ward, Jerry Butler, Will Gaines 05 Apr 1970: Shirley Bassey, Eartha Kitt 12 Apr 1970: Eric Sykes, Imogen Hassall, Dionne Warwick, Malcolm Roberts 19 Apr 1970: Edna O’Brien, Harry Fowler, Kenny Lynch, Carol Channing, Cleo Laine 26 Apr 1970: Siobhan McKenna, Nelson Riddle, Terry-Thomas 03 May 1970: Dawn Addams, Peter Wyngarde, Midge McKenzie, Georgie Fame, Peter Hall, Yvonne Mitchell 17 May 1970: Millicent Martin, Alan Randall, Jimmy Chipperfield
The Spooner Twins and bandleader Maynard Ferguson were regulars on the series.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Oct 23, 2018 16:38:40 GMT
Julie Driscoll appeared on ‘The Eamonn Andrews Show’ on 14 November 1968, so that’s probably the night when the studio microphones failed. According to the 45cat website, ‘Road to Cairo’ was released as a single on 27 September 1968.
|
|
|
Post by markdixon on Oct 21, 2018 17:02:24 GMT
I haven’t been able to find any information about an audio bootleg of this ‘Colour Me Pop’ performance. I hope it exists. On a related note, I had a look at the BFI Collections Search database and I saw a listing for a clip called ‘Julie Driscoll: This Wheel’s On Fire’. This is a performance from ‘Late Night Line-Up’ broadcast on 23 November 1968. The Julie Driscoll ‘Colour Me Pop’ episode was broadcast on that date. Is this an extract from the Fairfield Hall concert? The clip is 3:30 minutes long and a videotape can be requested for viewing at the BFI. Very interesting, thanks for the info! Sounds likely that could be from CMP: I guess there's a chance it could also have been separate performance/promo film used in LNLU to trail the CMP show later that night: although that seems less likely. If the clip could be viewed it would be easy to tell right away if it was the CMP footage, as the Nice edition filmed on the same night at the same venue still exists in b/w and could be compared. I had a look at TV listings for 23 November 1968. ‘Colour Me Pop’ was on BBC-2 at 10:50, but there wasn’t a regular edition of ‘Late Night Line-Up’ earlier that evening. Therefore, the clip of ‘This Wheel’s on Fire’ held at the BFI is likely to contain footage recorded at Fairfield Hall. I suppose there’s a small possibility that the BFI might have dated the clip incorrectly. I had a look at an article about Julie Driscoll published in ‘The Guardian’ on 08 June 1968. As far as I can work out, 'This Wheel’s on Fire’ was also performed on a regular edition of ‘Late Night Line-Up’ on Wednesday, 05 June 1968. Apparently, Michael Dean introduced the performance by claiming that the song had gone “unnoticed by the shrill pundits of Radio One”. Hopefully, someone will be able to have a look at the BFI clip at some point. In the meantime, do any forum members remember seeing it at a ‘Missing Believed Wiped’ event at the BFI in 2012? Was it a telerecording of a studio performance or film footage of a live concert?
|
|