A Bit Of Variety In Our Lives...

Busman747 · 17-02-2007, 16:51

O.K, I know that this FILM CLIP should be on "anything goes" ...........but it inspired me to think back to the 60's when "variety" was the mainstay of British Television.

Remember "Sunday Night at the London Paladium?" They always had a spot for the unusual. Jugglers, Magicians, If you had a skill, your aim was to go "on the telly" and in doing so, hope to become a household name.

The film clip above shows a man dedicated to a skill that he has and has obviously spent years learning his profession........but where does he go from here? He is popular on the streets, but his biggest audience are sitting at home, probably unaware of how to switch on computers.........what a waste

For all those "over40" people out there, do you miss the occasional spot of "variety?" or are you too hung up on soaps and reality TV?

shillelagh · 17-02-2007, 17:51

It used to be sunday nights with songs of praise and antiques roadshow and then sunday night at the palladium. Some of the variety stuff they show now is rubbish but that is because we are used to seeing spectacular stuff in films and tv programmes. Thing is though when we were kids there wasnt the stuff that we take for granted special effects etc you saw the scenery wobble and laughed if it fell over etc.

magpie · 17-02-2007, 18:56

is that from London Fashion week , a good size 0 there

cashman · 17-02-2007, 23:05

the answer from me busman is YES i do miss the occasional spot of variety. but then again i,m stuck in a timewarp.

love the NEW version of Lucille.

grego · 18-02-2007, 08:21

I remember watching the variety performances in the 70's, used to like them then but there wasn't much else on, I dont mind the Royal Variety performance but then again its only on once a year dont think I'd watch it if it was a regular slot.

jambutty · 19-02-2007, 12:27

What happened to the other posts of this thread with some wonderful memories?

WillowTheWhisp · 19-02-2007, 12:48

I was asking Mick that this morning but he doesn't know. It's just disappeared, which is a shame because I was going to add something that I'd thought of overnight.

jambutty · 19-02-2007, 13:07

I can help you out there WillowTheWhisp

You wrote:

Quote:

I don't remember Cafe Continental either. Maybe it sounded too posh to me!

I wish I'd been around in the days of the Hippodrome here in Accy. It sounds like it was a fantastic place. I'd have loved to have seen such a great variety of entertainment. I do remember seeing acts like that at the Alhambra in Morecambe - including the 'Egyptian' sand dancers along with Max Wall and his funny walk, and Nat Jackley.

I remember my Mum and Dad telling me one time about this great act they'd seen, a funny pianist. I couldn't understand what they could have been raving on about until I saw him for myself - Victor Borge. I lef that theatre with tears of laughter streaming down my face.

And I wanted to reply thus:
I have never seen Victor Borge live but a few times on TV and like you he had me in stitches. I also have a few of his LP’s where he introduces “Phonetic Inflation” where he adds one to any words that contain a number. Like wonderful becomes twoderful, create becomes crenine and so forth … er sofifth. He then reads a short story to leave you with aching sides.

His “Phonetic Punctuation” is an exercise in giving punctuation marks sounds and once again he reads a short story to demonstrate the result. Hilarious!

His “Mozart Opera” takes the Micky out of opera in a light-hearted way.

However on a little known LP “The Adventures of Piccolo, Saxie & Company” Victor introduces us to the full Symphony Orchestra by way of introducing the instruments and the families that they belong to. Absolutely fascinating!

On another LP he plays straight yet you can still hear the odd giggle from the audience.

He was a one off and we are lucky that he left behind recordings to enjoy over and over.

WillowTheWhisp · 19-02-2007, 13:23

I saw him do phonetic punctuation live and he had me in hysterics with the actions to match up to the sounds - a squirl in the air for a comma, a poke for a full stop and a double fingered poke for a colon, along with the relevant sounds. Exclamation marks and speech marks were even more fun and as for a question mark - lol. I had tears streaming down my face. As he was reading a story you knew what was coming and the anticipation of it made you giggle more.

I was thinking about that TV show Rindy mentioned in the AWOL thread - something like "When will I be famous?" but sadly appearing on that show is probably the pinnacle of their careers because there isn't anywhere for them to go is there? What a pity that the warm up acts and supporting acts don't feature more variety artists these days.

WillowTheWhisp · 19-02-2007, 13:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

His “Mozart Opera” takes the Micky out of opera in a light-hearted way.

I also remember him doing a few piano pieces by "Flist"

jambutty · 19-02-2007, 13:49

I think that you mean Shlitz for Liszt. He also played the “Happy Birthday” theme in the style of famous classical composers and managed to bring “Happy Birthday” into a well know piece by a composer. Imagine listening to the Blue Danube Waltz and finding Happy Birthday cropping up in the middle.

He also played “The Minute Waltz” by Chopin because his sister used to teach him how to play it. Only he played it in half a minute because she was only his half sister.

WillowTheWhisp · 19-02-2007, 15:36

No it was definitely Flist when I saw him.

'F. Liszt' read as all one word. Ph yes the Blue Danube, he managed to mangle that beautifully.