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Post by dubs on Feb 9, 2004 22:54:01 GMT
Well, well.
I have to broach the subject, putting my head above the parapet, man not cold in his grave etc...
But what did Bob Monkhouse have in his film collection, and someone said he had made preparations for the disposal of said collection in his will?
(C'mon - you've been desperate to ask - well I was).
Hopefully Bob left the lot to a reputable archive.
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Post by helpful hartley on Feb 10, 2004 10:39:52 GMT
From what i know Bob collected mostly silent films from the early part of the last century, these were used in his Mad Movies series and also Looks Familiar with Denis Norden.
The bit you might interested in is the TV part.. He had a collection of his own performances, including ' Sunday night at the London Palladium ' which was recorded on a Sony reel to reel . 'Quick on the Draw' which were on Philips n1500, plus of course various TRs including the last ever 'Golden Shot'. Just after his hearing the bad news he had the tapes transfered to VHS, i suppose to be able to see them again ?
Any other TV he might have, would probably be of old
comedians of the films/music hall who had moved to telly in their later life, people like maybe Max Miller , Abbott and Costello?that sought of thing.
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Post by Laurence Piper on Feb 10, 2004 12:04:54 GMT
Presumably he must have had a certain amount of TV-originated material, as well as cinema movies (even if only related to cinema-orientated performers). I do recall him saying at an NFT / MBW event in the '90s that he had a VCR in 1966, so presumably at least a certain amount of interesting stuff was kept. It would be interesting to know who administers / holds his collection now and their plans for it.
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Post by dubs on Feb 10, 2004 12:25:33 GMT
This sounds most promising for TV recoveries.
BTW the NFTVA hold about 40-odd "Quick On The Draws" last time I asked them.
Why the acquisition rate for this programme is so high, in comparison to other daytime fodder of the 70s I cannot fathom.
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Post by William Martin on Feb 10, 2004 12:31:46 GMT
Presumably he must have had a certain amount of TV-originated material, as well as cinema movies (even if only related to cinema-orientated performers). I do recall him saying at an NFT / MBW event in the '90s that he had a VCR in 1966, so presumably at least a certain amount of interesting stuff was kept. It would be interesting to know who administers / holds his collection now and their plans for it. he had a VTR? your right that does sound promising we must start asking around likley people to see if they had one or knew someone who had one |
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Post by Andrew Doherty on Feb 11, 2004 11:17:25 GMT
I was introduced to Bob Monkhouse after the 1994 Missing Believed Wiped event and he had mentioned that he possessed a BBC television drama in which he played a Disc Jockey. I remember watching this drama and was impressed. The drama I believe was called "The Flip Side" circa 1964. More recently a clip shown in a television interview confirmed this.
I have been told that a letter from the B.F.I. (Steve Bryant and Dick Fiddy) has been sent which, under the circumstances, is not an enviable task.
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Post by Andy Henderson on Feb 11, 2004 16:10:35 GMT
More than once, Bob dropped hints about films in his collection. In many ways, given some of those hints, I hope the films are donated to the BFI. It was well known that he did have copies of editions of 'My Pal Bob' - 1957 (10 eps) and 'The Big Noise' (6 eps) - 1964. There was more than that, but it would be foolish to mention this on the WWW until something hopefully concrete happens as regarding the films. What is certain is that he had examples of programmes which no longer exist in any shape or form (and before anyone asks, I am speaking generally not referring to Doctor Who or any other sci-fi material of that ilk).
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Post by Andy Henderson on Feb 11, 2004 16:14:02 GMT
Andrew, forgot to mention that the play was 'The Flip Side' and was a BBC-2 Thirty Minute Theatre from Jan 1966.
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Post by Mike Royden on Feb 11, 2004 22:37:18 GMT
He was interview on the Pete Price show on Liverpool's Radio City a few years back and mentioned that a BBC Producer had introducted him to an ex employee who was supposed to have destroyed that Play, but had taken it home instead and kept it, and so B, M bought it off him.
He was suppoesed to have had the largest private collection of silent films. He also managed to obtain the only remaining complete copy of Keaton's The Cameraman, which good old British Customs then destroyed. I always wondered if he was sent the original or a duplicate copy
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Post by Andy Henderson on Feb 11, 2004 23:34:26 GMT
"He was suppoesed to have had the largest private collection of silent films. He also managed to obtain the only remaining complete copy of Keaton's The Cameraman, which good old British Customs then destroyed. I always wondered if he was sent the original or a duplicate copy "
Like many other MGM silents with Movietone Soundtrack, the Cameraman has never been a lost film.
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Feb 12, 2004 2:09:50 GMT
[quote author=Guest-Andy Henderson link=board=general&thread=1076367241&start=9#0 date=1076542466Like many other MGM silents with Movietone Soundtrack, the Cameraman has never been a lost film. [/quote]
No, but there are supposedly a couple of sequences missing from the currently circulating prints, to to negative damage. Tom Dardis' and Jim Kline's books on Keaton give details.
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Post by Matthew K Sharp on Feb 12, 2004 2:12:42 GMT
It was well known that he did have copies of editions of 'My Pal Bob' - 1957 (10 eps) and 'The Big Noise' (6 eps) - 1964. Didn't Monkhouse make a point of saying in his autobiography that there were no copies of Big Noise in existance? |
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Post by Mike Royden on Feb 12, 2004 8:59:26 GMT
Like many other MGM silents with Movietone Soundtrack, the Cameraman has never been a lost film. I didn't say it was a lost film, just not complete. Didn't MGM wear out their own copy using it as a training film. Isn't part of the middle section missing. I can't remember were I found the quote from, as I couldn't find it in his autobiography. Having said that, I think a better copy has since turned up. |
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Post by Laurence Piper on Feb 12, 2004 10:43:56 GMT
This is all very interesting, the info on prints that Bob had. But what about the VCR material? This might hold the more interesting finds in terms of off-air recordings of shows that no longer exist.
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Post by Andrew Doherty on Feb 12, 2004 16:49:23 GMT
It will be noted that Bob Monkhouse had been involved in television since the very early 1950s (he had appeared in the series "Café Continental"). By the latter part of that decade he would have been in a position to request complimentary copies of programmes that he had appeared in. At that time it would have been programmes recorded on 16mm telerecording. It is possible that he might have had material given to him from others in the media who were also permitted such a favour.
Such a situation would have existed into the 1970s with complimentary copies being given on tape (U-matic, 1" tape, even 2"tape).
However, this is really just speculation, but if anyone involved in television in the past five decades were to have missing programmes then Bob Monkhouse would have to be the one of the best candidates.
N.B. I did hear that the originator of the "Café Continental" shows requested around twenty of them to be copied in 1950 and had them sent to his friends in France. My investigations, however, were not fruitful. Steve Bryant had discussions with the International Federation of Television Archives on this topic.
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