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Post by Robert Belford on Mar 1, 2011 20:31:57 GMT
I reckon video recording may have started when Armchair Theatre moved to Teddington in 1959.
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Post by Peter Stirling on Mar 1, 2011 21:10:25 GMT
As mentioned, I would dearly love to see 'Underground' - one of the most historic and tragic moments in ITV history. Verity Lambert took over directing while the director rewrote the script. I would like to see what the result was. Were all Armchair Theatre episodes recorded/telerecorded? 1958 would be just before videotape arrived at ITV? I doubt if the viewer would have noticed anything much at all as ITV always had its safe haven -the commercial break.Crews in those days were use to live television and 'blagging it' if a calamity occured- after all it was 'theatre' Certainly the 1959 one which I think was called 'Three around a gas fire' starring Alan Bates and Joanna Durham was pre-recorded as the religious advisers who saw a pre-transmission viewing decided it was immoral and should never be shown on TV - or something like that. Whether it was squirrelled away and saved... no idea. |
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Post by richardfitzgerald on Mar 2, 2011 9:40:30 GMT
I wondered what other BBC programmes may have been found with the early 'Z Cars' episodes. There were a total of 13 episodes of Z Cars (the first seven of series one and 5 from series 2), the entire 1959 series of 'Bleak House' (11 missing programmes), all 6 episodes of the Francis Durbridge thriller 'The Desperate People' (although the BFi do hold the master 35mm originals but the BBC didn't have anything), a selection of the Susan Hamphire 'Katy' serial, some single plays (I don't have a list to hand but it included the aforementioned 'No Trams to Lime Street'), 'Sportsreel' from 23/11/1963, a lot of documentaries, Zoo Quest etc..., pretty mch every episode of Captain Pugwash from the 1950's and much more. I'll see if I can find my record book. Paul I assume the significance of the "SportsReel" programme is because of the date it was transmitted and the content is not primarily sport related? |
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Post by oj-wake on Mar 2, 2011 21:09:04 GMT
did the Armchair Theatres you saw in the Cyprus archive ever get recovered by either whoever owns the rights to them or the BFI? I do hope so. Sadly not. I told Steve Bryant about it at the time...and reminded him about it afterwards on numerous occassions. As far as I know nothing was done about it and the films were destroyed. I seem to recall that Camilla at 'Raiders of the Lost Archives' contacted Cyprus recently and she was told that all the material from 'the grave' aka the basement room where the film was stored had been disposed of. Sad really, I counted approximately 60 editions and it's very unlikely they would be the same 60 or so that survive today. Regards, Paul Paul, thanks for your reply. This is very sad news. We can only hope there are copies of some of the plays in other broadcasters' archives somewhere. Any idea if anyone actively searches out ITV material like you and some others at the BBC have done? Is there anyway Kaleidoscope could access information on iTV foreign sales, assuming any still exists? A bit of a long shot, but do you remember - even vaguely - any titles from the Armchair Theatres in Cyprus? |
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Post by oj-wake on Mar 2, 2011 21:36:42 GMT
As mentioned, I would dearly love to see 'Underground' - one of the most historic and tragic moments in ITV history. Verity Lambert took over directing while the director rewrote the script. I would like to see what the result was. Were all Armchair Theatre episodes recorded/telerecorded? 1958 would be just before videotape arrived at ITV? I doubt if the viewer would have noticed anything much at all as ITV always had its safe haven -the commercial break.Crews in those days were use to live television and 'blagging it' if a calamity occured- after all it was 'theatre' Certainly the 1959 one which I think was called 'Three around a gas fire' starring Alan Bates and Joanna Durham was pre-recorded as the religious advisers who saw a pre-transmission viewing decided it was immoral and should never be shown on TV - or something like that. Whether it was squirrelled away and saved... no idea. A couple of interesting points in relation to these comments. The television critics certainly didn't nothing anything notably amiss during Underground. I quote some of them in my article about it here: thiswayupzine.blogspot.com/2011/02/subterranean-drama-by-oliver-wake.html if you'll excuse the plug. No recording is known to exist of Underground and I would be very surprised if, assuming it was recorded at all, it was ever offered for overseas sale given the events and how ad hoc half of it was. Regarding Three on a Gas Ring, there are several theories about why it was never transmitted. One says the ITA banned it outright, but another - perhaps more credibly - says ABC decided against showing it themselves having discussed it with the ITA (though this could just be a polite way of saying the same thing). There's lots of interesting stuff in Leonard White's book about a number of unscreened Armchair Theatres. Anyway, happily, a recording of Three on a Gas Ring does survive on its original videtape (or a modern copy of it at least). Would be great to see. |
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Post by oj-wake on Mar 2, 2011 21:41:55 GMT
I reckon video recording may have started when Armchair Theatre moved to Teddington in 1959. Do you know exactly when that was? Sounds reasonable given that Kaleidoscope say it switched from live to VT for the series beginning 13/09/59 (with the immediately preceeding 'Armchair Summer Theatre' being live). |
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Post by Tim Disney on Mar 3, 2011 0:08:39 GMT
Nice article. I'd heard a lot of the rumours, but it's good to read a much more objective account of what happened. |
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Post by Robert Belford on Mar 3, 2011 16:12:10 GMT
Thanks for the info about Underground and link. I don't know the exact date of the move from Didsbury to Teddington. I'm fairly sure I got that year from 'Armchair Theatre: the lost years' by Leonard White. I have an interest in the ABC studios at Didsbury and that's why I researched it a while ago. I have had a copy of A Night Out (1960) for 25 years and always thought it would have made made at Didsbury. So was disappointed to find out it almost certainly wasn't. As the article says, there are various accounts of what happened. One is that he died in the dressing room. But the quote from Sydney Newman (where is that from?) suggests that Gareth Jones must have died just off-camera in the main studio area, as it says there was just 40 seconds for the make-up to be applied? But as it suggests this happened halfway through the second act I find it a bit hard to believe they continued for nine minutes with him either dead in the studio or after seeing him being carried away? I think the dressing rooms were at one side of the auditorium at the end where the cinema screen would have been. You would need a minute or two to run over there, get make-up applied and then get back into position. Impossible to do it in 40 seconds even if there was no scenery. I reckon video recording may have started when Armchair Theatre moved to Teddington in 1959. Do you know exactly when that was? Sounds reasonable given that Kaleidoscope say it switched from live to VT for the series beginning 13/09/59 (with the immediately preceeding 'Armchair Summer Theatre' being live). |
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Post by Ronnie McDevitt on Mar 4, 2011 20:37:33 GMT
Paul, are you sure of the date for the recovered Sportsreel edition as 23/11/63? I thought it was the 07/09/63 programme which certainly does exist?
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Post by Paul Vanezis on Mar 5, 2011 2:20:06 GMT
Paul, are you sure of the date for the recovered Sportsreel edition as 23/11/63? I thought it was the 07/09/63 programme which certainly does exist? What I said... |
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Post by oj-wake on Mar 5, 2011 19:03:40 GMT
Thanks for the info about Underground and link. I don't know the exact date of the move from Didsbury to Teddington. I'm fairly sure I got that year from 'Armchair Theatre: the lost years' by Leonard White. I have an interest in the ABC studios at Didsbury and that's why I researched it a while ago. I have had a copy of A Night Out (1960) for 25 years and always thought it would have made made at Didsbury. So was disappointed to find out it almost certainly wasn't. As the article says, there are various accounts of what happened. One is that he died in the dressing room. But the quote from Sydney Newman (where is that from?) suggests that Gareth Jones must have died just off-camera in the main studio area, as it says there was just 40 seconds for the make-up to be applied? But as it suggests this happened halfway through the second act I find it a bit hard to believe they continued for nine minutes with him either dead in the studio or after seeing him being carried away? I think the dressing rooms were at one side of the auditorium at the end where the cinema screen would have been. You would need a minute or two to run over there, get make-up applied and then get back into position. Impossible to do it in 40 seconds even if there was no scenery. Do you know exactly when that was? Sounds reasonable given that Kaleidoscope say it switched from live to VT for the series beginning 13/09/59 (with the immediately preceeding 'Armchair Summer Theatre' being live). I think much of what's said about Underground has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Faulty memories, embellished stories, etc. As you note, Newman says he was only supposed to be off-screen 40 seconds, yet another account says Jones was hardly in that act anyway. All accounts seem to agree that the actors only learnt what was going on later, so I suspect Jones wasn't just off camera when he died, or the actors would have known. Unless someone can track down a recording or a script, I doubt we'll ever be any the wiser. I'm inclined to believe Jones was in the makeup chair, myself. Newman has talked about the incident a few times, but the quote you queried was from the interview ‘Back to Basics’, Doctor Who Magazine, issue 141, coverdated October 1988, p.16. I hop this helps. Does anyone know if Verity Lambert talked of the incident in any interviews? I thought she had but couldn't find any when writing that article. |
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Post by Robert Belford on Mar 5, 2011 23:18:25 GMT
I agree. I just got access to a digital archive of The Guardian. Its report the following day begins: "After appearing in the opening scene of a television play at the A.B.C. studios in Didsbury, Manchester, last night, Mr Gareth Jones, aged 35, collapsed and died 45 minutes after the play started." It mentions that he felt unwell while having his make up adjusted in the middle of the second act, lay down to rest and died shortly after. The programme listing in The Times shows that the slot was 22:05 to 23:10. Great to see the photos of the sets in your article, which I had never seen before. Quite impressive. I think much of what's said about Underground has to be taken with a pinch of salt. Faulty memories, embellished stories, etc. |
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Post by gileshill on Mar 31, 2011 7:56:54 GMT
What can't be forgiven here is that it was so many editions that were just sitting there and not just an odd episode or two. This would have been a find on a scale as great as (if not greater) than the Library Of Congress haul recently (which the BFI were happy to bask in the glory of)! It's exactly the sort of "dream find" that they always claim to look for when they're pushing out publicity blurbs for the various treasure hunts they are a part of. It makes initiatives like Missing Believed Wiped look like a sick joke. The BFI are a waste of space. And i'm being polite there. Surely their attitude to the LOC finds shows that things have changed in the past 20 years? It'd be a bit like blaming today's BBC for the wiping of quad tapes. The BFI of today isn't the BFI that didn't follow up leads and left old 405 line tapes to rot. Some of the fools might still be there but overall they've finally started to realise the value of old television. They just can't make a profit from it on DVD. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2011 8:46:48 GMT
Well, i'd love to be proved wrong but the evidence merely proves that the BFI have only changed to a degree. They are still indifferent to a lot of potential recoveries that are put in front of their faces, still indifferent to properly transferring material that is already in their archive etc. etc. They also still regard TV as a poor relation to cinema in all they do, even though they continue to amass large amounts of unseen material. Unfortunately there are still many areas of concern with the BFI.
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Post by williamdm on Aug 24, 2011 22:37:26 GMT
Hi all, thanks to this thread and some recent net finds, have just got interested in Armchair Theatre and watched a fair few - amazing stuff.
What I couldn't find online was an easy list of the surviving material, so I've spent my morning at working cross-referencing the IMDB episode list and the lostshows list of missing installments. According to a rough count, I have it pretty much right - probably one or two missing may from the list below, but if this is of use to anyone it should be accurate enough.
(Note: this list does not include Armchair Mystery or Armchair Thriller, so for instance "Man and Mirror", which has been torrented along with Armchair Theatre, does not feature on this list.)
ARMCHAIR THEATRE/ARMCHAIR SUMMER THEATRE SURVIVING EPISODES
Season 1
Quay South ... 03 February 1957
Now Let Him Go ... 15 September 1957
The Human Touch ... 24 November 1957
The Lady of Camellias ... 16 February 1958
Emperor Jones ... 30 March 1958
Wolf Pack ... 13 April 1958
Breach of Marriage ... 04 May 1958
Death of Satan ... 25 May 1958
The Widower ... 01 June 1958
The Travelling Lady ... 03 August 1958
Season 2
I Can Destroy the Sun ... 12 October 1958
The Terrorist ... 26 October 1958
The Greatest Man in the World ... 09 November 1958
The Criminals ... 28 December 1958
Love and Money ... 25 January 1959
Hot Summer Night ... 01 February 1959
The Bird, the Bear and the Actress ... 08 March 1959
SUMMER ARMCHAIR THEATRE: You'll Never See Me Again ... 16 August 1959
The Scent of Fear ... 13 September 1959
After the Show ... 20 September 1959
Worm in the Bud ... 27 September 1959
The Thought of Tomorrow ... 11 October 1959
Small Fish Are Sweet ... 08 November 1959
The Last of the Brave ... 15 November 1959
Dr Kabul ... 06 December 1959
Lord Arthur Saville's Crime ... 03 January 1960
Where I Live ... 10 January 1960
After the Funeral ... 03 April 1960
A Night Out ... 24 April 1960
Season 3
Lena oh My Lena ... 25 September 1960
I'll Have You to Remember ... 23 October 1960
My Representative ... 30 October 1960
The Cupboard ... 11 December 1960
Honeymoon Postponed ... 29 January 1961
Tune on an Apron-String ... 26 February 1961
The Big Deal ... 03 March 1961
The Man Out There ... 12 March 1961
The Way of Love ... 09 April 1961
Danger! Men Working ... 07 May 1961
Flying High ... 27 May 1961
The Ship That Couldn't Stop ... 02 July 1961
The Omega Mystery ... 10 September 1961
The Rose Affair ... 08 October 1961
The Trouble with Our Ivy ... 19 November 1961
A Tune on the Old Tax Fiddle ... 17 December 1961
Season 4
Night Conspirators ... 06 May 1962
The Hard Knock ... 08 July 1962
The Fishing Match ... 19 August 1962
Nothing to Pay ... 02 September 1962
Afternoon of a Nymph ... 30 September 1962
Always Something Hot ... 28 October 1962
The Big Ride ... 25 November 1962
Hear the Tiger See the Bay ... 23 December 1962
Blue and White ... 06 January 1963
The Hot Potato Boys ... 20 January 1963
Into the Dark ... 03 February 1963
The Paradise Suite ... 24 February 1963
Invasion ... 31 March 1963
Wager ... 28 April 1963
The Monkey and the Mohawk ... 09 June 1963
The Push Over ... 23 June 1963
Late Summer ... 07 July 1963
A Little Night Music ... 21 July 1963
The Snag ... 04 August 1963
The Living Image ... 18 August 1963
The Front Room ... 15 September 1963
Little Doris ... 13 October 1963
The Chocolate Tree ... 27 October 1963
Long Past Glory ... 17 November 1963
The Higher They Fly ... 01 December 1963
The Swindler ... 15 December 1963
A Way of Living ... 29 December 1963
Sharp at Four ... 12 January 1964
The Last Word on Julie ... 26 January 1964
Prisoner and Escort ... 05 April 1964
A Nice Little Business ... 26 April 1964
Pleasure Is Where She Finds It ... 03 May 1964
That's Where the Town Is Going ... 07 June 1964
Exit Joe: Running ... 14 June 1964 (One or more sequences exist, but the complete programme is lost.)
A Certain Kind of Silence ... 28 June 1964
Season 5
The Trial of Dr. Fancy ... 13 September 1964
The Cherry on Top ... 27 September 1964
The Importance of Being Earnest ... 15 November 1964
The Hothouse ... 13 December 1964
I've Got a System ... 03 January 1965
The Lady with the Albatross ... 14 February 1965
I Took My Little World Away ... 14 March 1965
The Man Who Came to Die ... 18 April 1965
Season 6
The Paraffin Season ... 04 December 1965
The Gong Game ... 11 December 1965
A Cold Peace ... 18 December 1965
Neighbours ... 15 January 1966
The Pity of It All ... 22 January 1966
Season 7
Man Without a Mortgage ... 19 March 1966
The Night Before the Morning After ... 02 April 1966
Dont Utter a Note ... 09 April 1966
The Walls Came Tumbling Down ... 23 April 1966
The Match ... 30 April 1966
Season 8
Pretty Polly ... 23 July 1966
The One Eyed Monster ... 06 August 1966
The Noise Stopped ... 03 September 1966
Dead Silence ... 10 September 1966
Barrett Keller: His Mark ... 17 September 1966
Light the Blue Touch Paper ... 24 September 1966
Season 9
The Floating Population ... 28 January 1967
A Magnum for Schneider ... 04 February 1967
What's Wrong with Humpty Dumpty? ... 11 February 1967
Easier in the Dark ... 25 February 1967
Reason for Sale ... 04 March 1967
Call Me Daddy ... 08 April 1967
I Am Osango ... 15 April 1967
Season 10
Compensation Alice ... 01 July 1967
Love Life ... 29 July 1967
The Education of Corporal Halliday ... 05 August 1967
Split Level ... 02 September 1967
Poor Cherry ... 09 September 1967
The Heroism of Thomas Chadwick ... 26 September 1967
Season 11
Mrs Capper's Birthday ... 03 February 1968
The Wind in a Tall Paper Chimney ... 10 February 1968
The Scallop Shell ... 17 February 1968
A Very Fine Line ... 09 March 1968
Season 13
Up Among the Cuckoos ... 07 June 1970
The Others ... 15 June 1970
The World in a Room ... 22 June 1970
The End of the Line ... 29 June 1970
A Young Man in Trouble ... 06 July 1970
The Prime Minister's Daughter ... 13 July 1970
A Room in Town ... 15 September 1970
Warm Feet, Warm Heart ... 22 September 1970
The Second Interview ... 29 September 1970
The Company Man ... 06 November 1970
Poor Mother ... 13 October 1970
Mrs Davenport ... 20 October 1970
Say Goodnight to Your Grandma ... 27 October 1970
The Dolly Scene ... 03 November 1970
Wednesday's Child ... 10 November 1970
Still Life ... 17 November 1970
Season 14
Ireland, Mother Ireland ... 03 August 1971
The Bargain Hunters ... 10 August 1971
Office Party ... 17 August 1971
The Loving Lesson ... 31 August 1971
Brown Skin Gal, Stay Home and Mind Bay-Bee ... 07 September 1971
The Detective Waiting ... 14 September 1971
The Girl on the M1 ... 21 September 1971
Will Amelia Quint Continue Writing 'A Gnome Called Shorthouse'? ... 29 September 1971
Competition ... 05 October 1971
Man Charged ... 12 October 1971
Father's Help ... 19 October 1971
Season 15
The Left Overs ... 22 August 1972
What Became of Me? ... 29 August 1972
A Touch of the Victorians ... 05 September 1972
Hot Summer: Do Not Sell ... 12 September 1972
Franklin's Farm ... 19 September 1972
A Fluid Arrangement ... 26 September 1972
On Call ... 03 October 1972
The Creditors ... 10 October 1972
The Breaking of Colonel Keyser ... 17 October 1972
Anywhere But England, Old Boy ... 31 October 1972
The Folk Singer ... 07 November 1972
The Stumbling Block ... 11 December 1972
Season 16
Death of Glory ... 11 September 1973
Beyond Our Means ... 18 September 1973
A Bit of a Lift ... 25 September 1973
Brussels Sprouts-Boy Scouts ... 02 October 1973
Red Riding Hood ... 09 October 1973
The Square Root of Three ... 16 October 1973
Verite ... 23 October 1973
The Golden Road ... 30 October 1973
Russian Roulette ... 06 November 1973
That Sinking Feeling ... 13 November 1973
Season 17
If You Could See What I Can See ... 15 May 1974
Amy, Wonderful Amy ... 19 June 1974
The Virgins ... 02 July 1974
According to the Rules ... 03 September 1974
Hope this is of some use
William
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