Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Britain's senior Punch and Judy Showman.
On the island
Eight records
A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture
Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio
I always go every year to the Regent's Park Theatre when it's shown… on a nice warm night in that open air theatre, it is an enchanting experience, isn't it? Yes. Mendelsohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream Overture, played by the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, conducted by Rafael Kubelik. Goodbye.
…he's a to my mind a very great comedian. Risky but never filthy, like so many modern comedians are, not Max. He had a wonderful personality and certainly could put it across. Somebody called him the pure gold of the music hall. Absolutely. I couldn't agree more. She was but a village maiden…
There used to be a man of that time, called Whispering Smith. Whispering Jack Smith. Marvelous. You see a smiley face applied. A little nest that nestle where the roses blue just mark… And baby makes me but a happy end. Happy news. Whispering Jack Smith.
I'd very much like to hear that very great artist Gracie Field[s] sing a lovely number. Punch and Beauty Show [as heard]… The blow, but slay him low and he is below and the he is deep no more. Now the show is very nearly over, how we hate to see it end. For the figures, come back for the finished in the play decorations. Of all the things that tickled every fancy in the days of long ago. There were none that made us quite so happy as the punch came kinky choking. Gracie Field[s].
I think I'd very much like to hear Bestaboo [probably Webster Booth] singing that beautiful ballad, Because. Light and darkness… They make God a lot before.
The Flowers That Bloom in the Spring
I've been to Japan. I like excerpt from the Mikado. Why are the flowers that bloom in the spring?… For flowers that bloom in the spring, Thomas Rand and Peter Prepp [Thomas Round and Peter Pratt].
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:34Percy, how well could you take the lone winners [loneliness] on this island?
I don't think I'd be too happy really, but I would enjoy it, I'm sure, for a little while.
Presenter asks
0:56What would you be happiest to have got away from?
Oh well, modern living conditions with the uh race and tear of landers traffic and uh General Hassel and Battle. Perhaps it's because I'm getting older.
Presenter asks
1:06Are you anything of a musician yourself? Do you play an instrument?
No, I'm afraid I'm not really very musical. In fact, I sometimes regretted I didn't enjoy some kind of a musical education. I can appreciate some of the better class music. I wouldn't call myself a highbrow, but I indicated I enjoy a bit of bar.
Presenter asks
1:30Did you have any plan in choosing your eight records?
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
Well, yeah, yeah, most of them of course is from a nostalgic point of view will take me back into parts of my life… occasions… which I've enjoyed.
Presenter asks
14:15How far back in history does Punch and Judy go?
Well, uh of course the uh first record of Punch is uh dear old Sam Pepys, written in his diary, the fact that he saw a puppet show in Covent Garden. In May 1662. But before the days of Pepys, uh Punch and Julie had come from Italy. Oh, it wasn't Italian, it's part of the Commedia dell'Atti, yeah.
Presenter asks
15:38Is Punch still as popular as he ever was?
Oh I should think so, yeah. Yes, we get in very de big demand all over the place. Dozens and dozens of holiday camps all over the country and they nearly all have a function [Punch and Judy] operator during the season, you see. So there's really quite a few.
“I became rooted to this window display and I looked at it. And then for the first time I saw puppets in another light altogether. And I thought, here's something I I can do something with. And I thought, I'll d I know, I'll do a modern punching duty show.”
“It suddenly struck me the punch has got to go away from me. It's Elizabethan. Set to make a baffled rest for him. And Julie, I promoted her to an affi. I del deleted the policeman and made him a red cap, which since he then became a very great success every time he got knocked out, particularly when he's shown it to the forces. And the clown was the army cook, which brought in the lot of army gags.”
“But Pudge, you know, really, is akin to God. Because it's a patch here. There's no time for nagging women. So wallop? Crying babies, right? Out the window, down the field. The law of course, no time for the law, uh or medicine. And uh in the original play you have a fight with the devil, again of course from which Punch scored. He vanquishes the devil.”
“Punch is really such a visual entertainment, I have no qualms whatever I take in any part of the world, because people can follow the action.”