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Post by cubehouse on Jan 27, 2007 19:15:45 GMT
Hey, I've found this community from the BBC website and it's one of many attempts to hunt down an episode of Parkinson from when it was on BBC.
It's an 1980's episode with Tom Lehrer and I've been trying to get hold of it for well over a year now.
This seems like a sensible place to ask, so does anyone know how or where to start looking for it?
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Post by cubehouse on Jan 27, 2007 22:42:37 GMT
what does researching the programme mean? I'm a Tom Lehrer nut and it's been a project of mine and a number of other people on the net to get all this video of him that's not currently avaliable.
When you say it doesn't apply, does that mean I can get it free/cheap(er)?
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Post by cubehouse on Jan 27, 2007 23:59:03 GMT
Ok... someone had replied in between my first two posts, but its gone... anyone else got any comments?
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Post by lfbarfe on Jan 28, 2007 15:12:22 GMT
At a guess, the show in question would date from around the opening of Tomfoolery at the Criterion Theatre - so that's June 1980. Parkinson was off-air at the time, but it returned on 24 September. Unfortunately, there are no guest listings for that era on the public version of INFAX, but hopefully that narrows it down a bit. I've not seen this show in circulation sadly. As a fellow Lehrer fan, I'd love to see it.
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Post by cubehouse on Jan 28, 2007 21:28:02 GMT
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Post by lfbarfe on Jan 29, 2007 14:43:06 GMT
There are several ways to get a recording of the show:
1) Have been involved in its making, thus allowing you to pay a large amount of cash for a copy under the BBC's contributor access scheme.
2) Hope someone recorded it at the time and keep asking nicely wherever you go. I'd say this one is theoretically possible, but unlikely.
3) Lobby BBC4 to repeat it.
4) Sleep with an archive researcher.
5) Sleep in the archive.
6) Er, that's it.
I know for pretty certain that the producer (John Fisher) won't have a copy, as he didn't get a VCR until 1984 - he mentions the date in his book about Tommy Cooper.
All I can suggest is patience. I've seen/been given copies of things that I thought I'd never get a chance to watch. The trading community is a friendly one, and once people know you're looking for something, they remember. Of course, you have to have something to give them in return, but that's par for the course.
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Post by cubehouse on Jan 29, 2007 16:45:14 GMT
lol, highly enjoyed your methods... although I don't think any of them seem feasible... shame...
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Post by lfbarfe on Jan 29, 2007 16:53:01 GMT
Well, if I ever stumble across it, I'll let you know. Stranger things have happened. A friend recently sent me the last 15 minutes of the Larry Adler/Ithzak Perlman Parkinson, also from 1980, that he'd found on the end of a tape.
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Post by Andrew Doherty on Jan 29, 2007 21:11:03 GMT
What a series the '71 to '82 BBC Parkinson shows were, i.e. interesting characters with depth, and a knowledge of the world, that made the interviews a must on Saturday evenings.
Yours,
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Post by lfbarfe on Jan 30, 2007 3:38:14 GMT
What a series the '71 to '82 BBC Parkinson shows were, i.e. interesting characters with depth, and a knowledge of the world, that made the interviews a must on Saturday evenings. Yes, they were rather marvellous, weren't they? The modern revival is a pale shadow of the original run. Most of the guests seemed to have something to say rather than 'buy my book', 'see my film' or 'buy my record'. Obviously that was why they were there, but the discussion really went somewhere, more often than not. So what's changed? Not so many celebrities worth interviewing? Has Parky lost it? Has broadcasting lost it? All of the above? |
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Post by Peter Chadwick on Jan 30, 2007 5:53:48 GMT
I love the Orson Welles edition, shown a few years ago (along with the Kenneth Williams & Peter Cook compilations) what a mind that man had.
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Post by Andrew Doherty on Jan 30, 2007 21:32:47 GMT
I love the Orson Welles edition, shown a few years ago (along with the Kenneth Williams & Peter Cook compilations) what a mind that man had. Well, Mr. Barfe, with the above snapshot for a 1970s 'Parkinson' line-up of real celebrities, it is the world of entertainment that has 'lost it'. Consequently, the present era of 'Parkinson' shows pale into the background. Really, what can Michael Parkinson do? He could have interviewed Arty Shaw while he was still around, or our own Trevor Duncan while he was still around. Thankfully, both of these REAL celebrities were interviewed (not by Michael Parkinson, though), and, with respect to Trevor Duncan, I have a DVD titled, 'An Afternoon With Trevor Duncan', which (sometime in the mid to late Spring) I intend to show to Dick Fiddy and Veronica Taylor. The interview was recorded in London sometime in April, 2004. Yours, |
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Post by lfbarfe on Jan 30, 2007 23:00:49 GMT
Well, Mr. Barfe, with the above snapshot for a 1970s 'Parkinson' line-up of real celebrities, it is the world of entertainment that has 'lost it'. Up to a point. There are still any number of articulate, intelligent celebrities doing the rounds. For every Jade Goody, there's a Michael Palin. For every Patrick Kielty, there's a George Clooney (not quite the serious auteur that Orson was, but he's on the way there with some of his more recent films). Parkinson still has the pulling power to get the best guests, but I fear that Parky's partially to blame for not getting the best out of them. He used to really get them talking to each other. Anyway, all this talk of Parkinson has made me want to write the section of my light entertainment book devoted to it - I might cheat slightly and rough it out now, even though I'm currently still only just up to the opening of BBC2. I interviewed John Fisher - who was with the show for its entire original 1971-1982 run, first as researcher under Richard Drewett, then as producer - at length last year and he told me the full story behind Orson Welles' 2 appearances. It'd be on-topic here, because it involves the wiping of the tape of the first appearance, but forgive me if I don't give the game away just yet. It's a great story. As are John's stories about George Burns, Liberace and...oh, you'll just have to wait  Maybe the absence of a producer like John Fisher is the reason for the revived show's lack of intellectual oomph. He has a serious academic mind, but he chose to apply it to show business - pretty much everything he's ever worked on has had a serious intent beneath the frivolity. The historical bits in the Paul Daniels shows - they were his work. Heroes of Comedy - just about the only clip show that doesn't make me throw shoes at the screen - him again. The Bob Monkhouse BBC2 chat shows - real comedy masterclasses, with guests like Sid Caesar, etc. The producer? You've guessed it. Theoretically, although he was semi-reclusive at the time, wasn't he? Is that a Light Music Society production? |
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Post by Andrew Doherty on Jan 30, 2007 23:27:28 GMT
Yes, it is.
Yours,
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