Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
An actor, best known as the commanding officer Captain Mainwaring in Dad's Army.
On the island
Eight records
The first record I've chosen is uh a ballad called Parted. And the reason I've chosen this is because it takes me right back to my childhood before the days of wireless. when we used to have musical evenings at home and and at friends. And my father had a rather good baritone voice and um we had a lot of friends coming and and we would go out to friends. And it always finished up, of course, with somebody sitting down to the piano and saying, Sing a song for his artist if he he's called after two. And uh at the drop of the hat he would sing parted, very well I may say, and and uh so whenever I hear it, which isn't often these days, it always takes me right back to those very happy days when we we made our own entertainment.
Well, because I think Al Bowlly stands for everything that that we remember of the thirties. It was the time of the big band, Lou Stone, Roy Fox and all the great bands of the of the times. I remember being very happy in the thirties. uh going to dances and listening to them the the late night Wireless when there's a a different band on every night.
my next record is uh Glenn Miller. playing uh a number called At Last.
And I've chosen that because it it brings back the the the touring days, the happiness of of our touring days. We were out on tour with um the School for Scandal that Basildean produced. And this was particularly exciting for me because it was the first time that I'd worked with anybody famous. Evelyn Lay was the famous person. And what a lovely person she is. It was a lovely sunny summer that year and we were playing Bonne, the pavilion Bonne, and we went down to the theatre one morning to pick up our mail, as one does on tour, and we heard this. Scats are being played. in the pit. Then it was our pianist who was we'd take him with us to play the interval music. uh Fred Lydian and he was playing this this sketch so And Ever since it's been symbolic of those happy days on tour at the seaside, you know, with such bubbling, happy music.
Shaney Wallace and Jeff Warren
Well, uh I think I would like to uh recapitulate to my first musical, which was Call Me Madam. And I'd like to hear it's a lovely day today.
Concerto in C minor for two pianos
Paul Badura-Skoda and Jörg Demus
record number six is Unbox. Concerto in s in C minor. Oh, for two pianos.
Who Do You Think You're Kidding, Mr. Hitler?
My last record is the signature tune for Dad's Army, Who Do You Think You're Kidding, Mr. Hitler, sung by Bud Flanagan. ... The reason I've chosen this is because I presume that they that the the shipwreck would be pretty immediate. I mean it's happening it's happening now, isn't it? Yes, it's it's uh And so the last The most recent piece of music that would be in my mind, of course, is this signature tune. Um And with very very happy memories too, because it would be the end of a career. If I were going to stay on the island, which I would be. And one couldn't have, in my opinion, a happier end because Dead's Army is a success. It isn't just successful as a television series for the audience. It's successful. as a as a piece of work. This is a successful team, a very happy team, one of the happiest engagements I've ever had. And death. I think it would be a very, very happy note to go out on.
In conversation
Presenter asks
6:26Where did your wartime service take you?
Eventually to the Middle East, in forty two, early forty two, just before Alamein. Was there for oh nearly four years.
Presenter asks
6:41When did the theatre first come into your life?
We came in quite accidentally really because I was stationed on the Gaza Strip in the Sinai Desert at a place called Rafa. There's a big ordnance depot there. And there was absolutely nothing to do in the way of entertainment except an open-air cinema. And the chaps were getting what we call sand happy. … So we decided we'd start our own news service. … I sent off to Cairo for some one-act plays and we pinched a lot of timber from some of the other workshops and built a stage and some scenery and put on The Marquis Paul, which was extremely successful. … I went on putting plays on wherever I happened to be until I was noticed by a branch of Army Welfare, … and I joined his forces. … So when I was demobbed, I decided to go into the theatre professionally.
Presenter asks
9:59You were back in Sevy Street, looking for your first professional job in the theatre. Was that hard to come by?
Um no, because I had help here from my father. … My father knew Eric Norman … he introduced me to him and he said, Look, this chap wants to go on the stage. I think he's mad, but will you give him a go? … So Eric did, as soon as there was anything a little bit to try me out in. That little bit was a play called Bedtime Story. … I played a butler in it. That was the beginning of it all.
The keepsakes
The book
I think it might be wise to have a book on tropical plants, you know. Tropical plants would I know what berries to eat and perhaps a little word about irrigation in the index.
The luxury
a dozen cases of my best claret
A luxury. Or a case of my best carrot. Only one case? Oh, no, I can have more, can I? Leave them have, yes. Can I? A dozen cases? A dozen cases, yes. Don't leave them lying about in the sun.
Presenter asks
18:01How did you view this change to stardom?
Well, um it was something that I'd never really sought. It was something that I hadn't aspired to, stardom, and I think then it was only minor stardom. It was still really very much first feature playing, but I found that as my career had taken a sort of steady progression, it was the next step in promotion and I sort of had to look at it that way. … the red tabs had gone up and with it the responsibility of court orders.
Presenter asks
18:46How do you feel about being recognized wherever you go?
This depends usually on the state of my liver. But generally speaking, I'm very happy to be recognized everywhere. I mean, that's what one's in the business for, you know. There are times, of course, when it can become irksome.
Presenter asks
20:36How would you manage as a castaway, Arthur? Could you look after yourself?
Uh yes, I think I could. A shelter, for example? Yes, I'm sure I could do that. Live off the land? Yes. Would you try to escape? No. No ideas for constructing a craft of any sort. No, I don't think so. No, I think this would be very very foolhardy.
“I got myself a job at the magnificent sum of ten shillings a week, pushing a hand-cart round the streets of Manchester. Still, it was a job.”
“I joined the Duke of Lancaster's own yeomanry in 1938 because I wanted to ride a horse. And this was a cheap way of doing it, I thought.”
“I've been thinking all the time that I remembered it. It's so right in the idiom, in the wartime idiom, and it suits classes so well. Lots of people say, Oh, I remember that one, and they don't at all, of course, because it was actually written for Dad's Army by Jimmy Perry.”
“Dead's Army is a success. It isn't just successful as a television series for the audience. It's successful as a piece of work. This is a successful team, a very happy team, one of the happiest engagements I've ever had. And I think it would be a very, very happy note to go out on.”
“I think it might be wise to have a book on tropical plants, you know. Tropical plants would I know what berries to eat and perhaps a little word about irrigation in the index.”