Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Desert Island Discs
Presented by Roy Plomley
Producer and director of musical shows, songwriter, and the man behind the Scout Gang Shows.
Eight records
There's No Business Like Show BusinessFavourite
Disc 1: 'There's No Business Like Show Business'
Disc 2: The Irish record described; song title misheard or garbled in transcript, identified as 'The Bridge Below the Town' performed by Bridie Gallagher based on lyric snippet and context.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Not recorded.
In conversation
Presenter asks
How did you set about choosing your eight records?
Well, I like to be in good company. And uh The first one I chose was from a very great artist whom she matter of fact she gave me about the biggest thrill I've had in years since I saw Jolson. I saw her in gipsy. in New York a couple of years ago, and I'd take with me to be in really great company Ethel Merman singing perhaps the truest title of any song, There's No Business Like Show Business.
Presenter asks
How did the gang show start?
Well they started a complete flute. Sir Jeremar Coleman had given a big camping ground to the boys at Down. They wanted to build a swimming pool there, so they asked me if I would put on a show with a bunch of the London boys to raise money for it. We played for three nights at the Scarlet Theatre. Nobody'd come. Most we ever got, I think, was about a half a house. But those who did come liked it. And I agreed to do it only on conditions that I could do it under a non-diplome because, you see, I didn't want to get mixed up with my professional side, the scouting side, and so on. Anyway, we played for the three nights and the committee thought it had possibilities and they suggested we do it again the following year. Well within three years we began to fill the house. ... Throughout the world there is a gang show playing every night of every year. Somewhere.
The recording
Timestamps play the recording from that turn
Ralph Reader
BBC Sounds Music, Radio, Podcasts.
Speaker 1
Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. This is the only extract the BBC has of this episode, and for rights reasons, the music is shorter than on the original broadcast. The presenter is Roy Plumley. I hope you enjoy listening.
Presenter
How do you do, ladies and gentlemen?
Presenter
Our Castaway this week is a very well known producer and director of musical shows, a songwriter and a name to conjure within the Scout movement. It's Mr. Gang Show Ralph Reader.
Presenter
Ralph, have you had any experience of desert islands?
Presenter
Well, not really Roy except for pictures and uh
Presenter
I did take a trip to Malaya several years ago with the first professional concert party, but went out there to entertain the boys.
Ralph Reader
Mm-hmm.
Presenter
And strangely enough, I've been in loads of pantomimes, but I've never played in Robinson Crusoe. But I have read and reread The Swiss Family Robinson. It's a very useful book to read in preparation. Do you think you could face up to isolation?
Presenter
Yes, I I think I could. You see, I'm I'm a lucky bloke because I'm not afraid of silence.
Presenter
Well, it doesn't have to be silent all the time. You do have this measly allowance of eight records. How did you set about choosing them? Well, I like to be in good company.
Presenter
And uh
Presenter
The first one I chose was from a very great artist whom she matter of fact she gave me about the biggest thrill I've had in years since I saw Jolson.
Presenter
I saw her in gipsy.
Presenter
in New York a couple of years ago, and I'd take with me to be in really great company Ethel Merman singing perhaps the truest title of any song, There's No Business Like Show Business.
Speaker 3
No business like, show business like, no business I know. Everything about it is appealing. Everything that traffic will allow. Nowhere could you get that happy feeling when you are stealing that extra bow.
Speaker 3
There's no people like show people. They smile.
Presenter
The voice of Ethel Merman. What's your second choice, Ralph?
Presenter
Well, I lived when I was very young in Ireland for a while.
Presenter
And um I'm not too much of a sentimentalist, but I've got to admit that the nostalgia and my longing to always go back there means a lot, so I've picked an Irish record. See, I used to live in a little village called Micromorn.
Presenter
And a family there the Docker is have been well like my own family.
Ralph Reader
No, there's a bridge below the town, I'll have you all to know It's broken and it's tumbling to the ground But there we used to gather every evening long ago Sitting on the bridge below the town
Ralph Reader
Was there a first saw Peggy and she smiled as she passed by At first sight I knew she'd suit me
Presenter
Let's have record number three.
Presenter
Ralph, how did the gang show start?
Presenter
Well they started a complete flute.
Presenter
Sir Jeremar Coleman had given a big camping ground to the boys at Down.
Presenter
They wanted to build a swimming pool there, so they asked me if I would put on a show with a bunch of the London boys to raise money for it. We played for three nights at the Scarlet Theatre.
Presenter
Nobody'd come.
Presenter
Most we ever got, I think, was about a half a house. But those who did come liked it.
Presenter
And I agreed to do it only on conditions that I could do it under a non-diplome because, you see, I didn't want to get mixed up with my professional side, the scouting side, and so on. Anyway, we played for the three nights and the committee thought it had possibilities and they suggested we do it again the following year.
Presenter
Well within three years we began to fill the house.
Presenter
Before we knew it
Presenter
Newcastle, Glasgow came in. They wanted to do gang shows. Well now...
Presenter
It seems almost unbelievable to me, but
Presenter
Throughout the world there is a gang show playing every night of every year. Somewhere. Somewhere. Mhm. It might be a little tiny village in Malaya. Two weeks ago the Hong Kong gang show was on. Yes. But there's one playing somewhere.
Presenter
In 1937 your your London cast was the first amateur company ever to appear in in a Royal Command performance. It got going that quickly. Yes, we were. We we've appeared twice now, as a matter of fact. Mm-hmm.
Presenter
And then when war started, the the gang shows became the REF gang shows. Well, yes. A actually when I came into the Royal Air Force, I thought I should leave behind me the gang shows. But before I knew it, I was in charge of the REF Entertainments as well as being
Presenter
an intelligence officer, and I was then before I hardly realized it, in charge of about twenty five units, two of them were completely filled with WEF. Mhm. And they traveled to every theater of war.
Presenter
We found boys in cookhouses, we found them in nephews.
Presenter
We recruited them from all over the place, and it's a great thrill to me now when I look back and see some of those boys that came with us passing by theater now and see their name up in the lights.
Presenter
Norrie Parramore was one of my boys. So was Reg Dixon.
Presenter
Tony Hancock, Graham Stark, Dick Emery, and of course Peter Sellers. That's just a few. Yes. And the RAF Gang Show played professionally for a while, don't you? It did. When we came out of the service, Tom Arnold sent us on tour and eventually brought us to the West End with the RAF Gang Show, and I think that was one of the happiest tours I've ever had in my life. It was great coming out of the services and then still being together, but living with all the amenities of Civi Street and a little more muddy, too. All the material for the gang shows you write yourself, Ralph. Songs and sketches, everything. Yes, I've written every lyric, every tune, and of course, all the scripts for the sketches. Well, that must have added up to a...
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Presenter
to a lot throughout the years. Oh crumbs, I I couldn't count them now, Roy. There's been hundreds of them. Nice. Are you a systematic worker? Do you sit down at the piano and and work for regular hours or do you just get inside?
Speaker 1
Yeah.
Presenter
As well as the gang show, you've produced a number of big Boy Scout pageants, too. Well, yes, Boy Scout pageants and all kinds of pageants, actually. What's the biggest cast you ever handled in a pageant? Biggest cast I ever handled was the Royal Air Force pageant Paradi Rodastro. We had a cast of just under 2,500. We actually opened up the RAF station at Chippingonga and the Air Ministry sent all the whole crowd down there to rehearse under me. And it was quite exciting because outside the orderly room they had, in big letters with white pebbles, RAF, and some wag or wags changed this around and called it Reader's Air Force.
Presenter
And I I I still believe that one of those boys who helped do that was a a youngster, a sergeant, who used to carry my scripts around for me. Uh you'll know him now as Richard Attenborough. I wouldn't put it past him.
Presenter
Let's have record number four now.
Ralph Reader
These are the times we shall dream about And we'll call them the good old days When the years have rolled away
Speaker 1
When the girl
Presenter asks
In 1937 your London cast was the first amateur company ever to appear in a Royal Command performance. How quickly did it grow? And what happened during the war?
Yes, we were. We we've appeared twice now, as a matter of fact. Mm-hmm. And then when war started, the the gang shows became the REF gang shows. Well, yes. A actually when I came into the Royal Air Force, I thought I should leave behind me the gang shows. But before I knew it, I was in charge of the REF Entertainments as well as being an intelligence officer, and I was then before I hardly realized it, in charge of about twenty five units, two of them were completely filled with WEF. Mhm. And they traveled to every theater of war. We found boys in cookhouses, we found them in nephews. We recruited them from all over the place, and it's a great thrill to me now when I look back and see some of those boys that came with us passing by theater now and see their name up in the lights. Norrie Parramore was one of my boys. So was Reg Dixon. Tony Hancock, Graham Stark, Dick Emery, and of course Peter Sellers.
Presenter asks
You write all the material for the gang shows yourself – songs, sketches, everything? How many would that have added up to over the years?
Yes, I've written every lyric, every tune, and of course, all the scripts for the sketches. Well, that must have added up to a... to a lot throughout the years. Oh crumbs, I I couldn't count them now, Roy. There's been hundreds of them.
Presenter asks
You've produced some big Boy Scout pageants as well. What's the biggest cast you ever handled?
Biggest cast I ever handled was the Royal Air Force pageant Paradi Rodastro. We had a cast of just under 2,500. We actually opened up the RAF station at Chippingonga and the Air Ministry sent all the whole crowd down there to rehearse under me. And it was quite exciting because outside the orderly room they had, in big letters with white pebbles, RAF, and some wag or wags changed this around and called it Reader's Air Force. And I I I still believe that one of those boys who helped do that was a a youngster, a sergeant, who used to carry my scripts around for me. Uh you'll know him now as Richard Attenborough.
“Yes, I I think I could. You see, I'm I'm a lucky bloke because I'm not afraid of silence.”
“I saw her in gipsy. in New York a couple of years ago, and I'd take with me to be in really great company Ethel Merman singing perhaps the truest title of any song, There's No Business Like Show Business.”
“Within three years we began to fill the house. ... Throughout the world there is a gang show playing every night of every year. Somewhere.”
“We found boys in cookhouses, we found them in nephews. We recruited them from all over the place, and it's a great thrill to me now when I look back and see some of those boys that came with us passing by theater now and see their name up in the lights. ... Tony Hancock, Graham Stark, Dick Emery, and of course Peter Sellers.”