Ready Steady Go! New Years Eve 1963 audio

[ajsmith]

www.mixcloud.com/JackMortimer4053/ready-steady-go-31st-december-1963/?fbclid=IwAR1_tfKN2MKENyqiIjfjW-gg1rt2AwBsIUopuCyrWR_B0X20OoclwKCkaFA

Posted to the Kal facebook recently, thought many here would enjoy it if they don't already know of it.

[ajsmith]

Just listened to the whole thing: of course RSG! was still mimed in 1963, so the music performances aren't that interesting, but it's more the general atmosphere and brief interviews that really make this of interest. In particular Brian Epstein at the top (remarking on how his car had just beem towed!).. also we get Billie Davis interviewed with Jet Harris discussing the recent car crash they were involved in! There's a bit 2/3rd through where Keith Fordyce interviews faces in the audience, including a very young Adrienne Posta.. just interesting to hear as a snapshot of the nascent 60s scene. Also of note is that this edition recycles the 3 Beatles songs from their existing 1963 edition.. perhaps a contributory reason as to why that one was kept so it could be re-used in later shows like that.. Elkan Allan must've already been aware that The Beatles were in high demand and so it was prudent to keep their footage for occasions like this.

[Thomas Walsh]

Great listen. A few things I noticed were the incredible similarities of a few tunes that were yet to come. Is it Mike Hurst (?) who sings the 'banjo' lyric tune? Ex-Springfields? Well Shocking Blue took the entire melody for 'Venus'. If that's a well known fact then I apologise but it's the first time I've heard it and it's a direct rip. Also I'm thinking a soon to be hit maker Mr. Ray Davies was tuning in because in that skit liverpudlian tune the riff of 'All day and all of the night' is clearly audible. That was very soon to be written. All great fun.

[johnpoole]

Sept 13, 2021 19:13:34 GMT Thomas Walsh said:

Great listen. A few things I noticed were the incredible similarities of a few tunes that were yet to come. Is it Mike Hurst (?) who sings the 'banjo' lyric tune? Ex-Springfields? Well Shocking Blue took the entire melody for 'Venus'. If that's a well known fact then I apologise but it's the first time I've heard it and it's a direct rip. Also I'm thinking a soon to be hit maker Mr. Ray Davies was tuning in because in that skit liverpudlian tune the riff of 'All day and all of the night' is clearly audible. That was very soon to be written. All great fun.

Mike Hurst had covered a US recording of 'The Banjo Song' by The Big Three (Tim Rose, Cass Elliot, and Jim Hendricks; not the Merseybeat group). It has been said that Robbie van Leeuwen of Shocking Blue (who wrote 'Venus') was familiar with the Big Three recording; but I guess it may have been the Mike Hurst version that he knew.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uqnN3ek2vI&ab_channel=MaxCowan

Amusingly when Neil Young recorded a version of 'Oh Susannah' with Tim Rose's arrangement he was accused by some of ripping off Shocking Blue ...

[tonyrees]

What we heard in the 40 minute excerpt was...

AR Ready, Steady, Go! - The New Year Starts Here! 11:15 pm - 12:15 am
The Beatles - Twist and Shout (repeat of 4th October 1963 performance in the 'highlight' feature)
Brian Epstein - Keith Fordyce asks him about his New Year's resolution
The Fourmost - I'm In Love (Best New Group)
John Leyton - Beautiful Dreamer (Best Singer / Actor)
Billie Davis - Tell Him (Pluckiest Pop Star)
Billie Davis and Jet Harris - chat with host
Dancers demonstrate the Hitch-Hike to The Chucks - The Hitch-Hiker
Adam Faith & The Roulettes - We're In Love
Kenny Lynch - For You
The Beatles - I'll Get You, She Loves You (repeat 4th October 1963)
Host chats to celebrities in the audience including Adrienne Poster/Posta, Liz Fraser, Vince Hill, Al Saxon, David Kossoff, Wally Whyton
Tommy Quickly - Kiss Me Now (Best New Boy)
Mike Sarne - Hello Lover Boy (Comedy Singer)
Cilla Black - Love Of The Loved (Best New Girl)
Mike Hurst - The Banjo Song (Breakaway act)
Kirby Kirby - Secret Love
The Dave Clark Five - Glad All Over

Plus unheard...
Four celebrities will put on Beatle wigs and mime to a Beatle song in Mime Time
ensemble - Auld Lang Syne
Ray Martine
The Searchers
Mark Wynter
Helen Shapiro
Tony Meehan
Tommy Bruce
Doug Sheldon
Eden Kane
Rolf Harris
The Big Three
Harry Fowler

[ajsmith]

Sept 14, 2021 12:45:43 GMT tonyrees said:

What we heard in the 40 minute excerpt was...

AR Ready, Steady, Go! - The New Year Starts Here! 11:15 pm - 12:15 am
The Beatles - Twist and Shout (repeat of 4th October 1963 performance in the 'highlight' feature)
Brian Epstein - Keith Fordyce asks him about his New Year's resolution
The Fourmost - I'm In Love (Best New Group)
John Leyton - Beautiful Dreamer (Best Singer / Actor)
Billie Davis - Tell Him (Pluckiest Pop Star)
Billie Davis and Jet Harris - chat with host
Dancers demonstrate the Hitch-Hike to The Chucks - The Hitch-Hiker
Adam Faith & The Roulettes - We're In Love
Kenny Lynch - For You
The Beatles - I'll Get You, She Loves You (repeat 4th October 1963)
Host chats to celebrities in the audience including Adrienne Poster/Posta, Liz Fraser, Vince Hill, Al Saxon, David Kossoff, Wally Whyton
Tommy Quickly - Kiss Me Now (Best New Boy)
Mike Sarne - Hello Lover Boy (Comedy Singer)
Cilla Black - Love Of The Loved (Best New Girl)
Mike Hurst - The Banjo Song (Breakaway act)
Kirby Kirby - Secret Love
The Dave Clark Five - Glad All Over

Plus unheard...
Four celebrities will put on Beatle wigs and mime to a Beatle song in Mime Time
ensemble - Auld Lang Syne
Ray Martine
The Searchers
Mark Wynter
Helen Shapiro
Tony Meehan
Tommy Bruce
Doug Sheldon
Eden Kane
Rolf Harris
The Big Three
Harry Fowler

Ah so this wasn't even the full thing? Did all those guests perform full songs? What a crazy packed episode if so!

[tonyrees]

I suppose it was a bit like Jools' Hootnanny with performers on stage and celebrities in the audience.

For the 1965 New Year's Eve show the the Daily Mirror claimed ‘And among the personalities who have been invited to enliven the atmosphere in Studio Nine at TV House in London's Kingsway are Raymond Francis, actresses Diana (Avengers) Rigg. Shirley Ann Field and Nyree Dawn Porter, satirist David Frost, critic Kenneth Tynan, and the Mills family actor John and playwright wife Mary Hayley Bell with daughters Hayley and Juilet and son Jonathan’
Interview clips with some of the stars were played between the programmes on ITV all evening. The show was broadcast from Television House, London (the old RSG studio), while producers will use 'vidicons', shoebox-sized cameras for more intimate, informal shots of the guests around the studio. They were referred to by director Robert Fleming as "creepie-peepies."