bentine

[shaun brown]

Hi

I am currently researching an article about the late Michael Bentine. Although there is ample documentation about his life there is little infomation about what is left of his shows in the archive.

From his own biography I know his radio shows have been wiped extant but what of his TV material?

How much of Sqaure World exists? or Ben-T-ime? I know all of the Potties exist and The Bumblies too but I would like to find out more.

Can anyone help me? Incidently Bentine had strong views about Auntie beeb and felt that his work had been badly treated due to internal politics...

Shaun

[Stephen Doran]

Didnt really get his humour sorry

[Nathan Dickel]

I know at least 3 standard episodes of It's A Square World exist, and the 1964 Montreux edition which ends with a very Benny Hill like end chase.

I don't know if any more exist, but those are the ones i've seen.

[davidstead]

So far as I recall Nathan, I think there are quite a number of episodes of Square World surviving in a mixture of 16 & 35mm f/r formats.

[John Green]

Lostshows says 46 of the 57 IASWs survive www.lostshows.com/default.aspx?programme=4c095dda-b1a0-4f6b-91e1-772b5b7a580b ,all the 'Potty Times' exist and have been issued on DVD (all of them yet?).the 'Bumblies' seem to exist-two issued as extras on a DVD,though all listed as missing.
Not a bad start,
And I'm not sure that I'd expect a performer to be genned up on survival rates.Didn't his autobiography come out about 40 years ago? Information there will hopefully be out-of-date.

[markandresen]

Good luck with this, Shaun. One hell of an interesting - and kind - man, by most accounts. An iconoclast in terms of his broad range of interests and experience too, who really also deserves a new in-depth biography. My memories are mainly as frustrated as his own when it comes to the Beeb. He was a semi-regular guest on 'Pebble Mill At One' in the 70s' and 80s', but his interviewers hardly ever allowed him realistic time to answer the questions they put - constantly cutting across him. So obsessed were they by timing everything to the second in each show. He took it all in his stride but, as a viewer, I eventually had to be held back from throwing the set out the living room window.

[Deleted]

David is correct and the majority of It's A Square World apparently exists (just a few very early ones are gone) - why this programme has remained untapped until now is beyond me as it was very much ahead of its time. It seems that ATV's later series All Square is missing except for one programme though, according to Lost Shows.

[John Green]

Hmmm.'Animal Magic' 9/8/1977.Michael Bentine as ring-master at a flea circus (exists).One of the old routines?

[Pete Morris]

Do any Goon Show episodes with Bentine survive?

[John Green]

Pete,it seems as though literally only one or two Bentine episodes exist,though he's in the movie 'Down Among the Z Men' of course.