At Last the 1948 Show
| At Last the 1948 Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Created by |
Tim Brooke-Taylor Graham Chapman John Cleese Marty Feldman |
| Starring |
Tim Brooke-Taylor Graham Chapman John Cleese Marty Feldman Aimi MacDonald |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of episodes | 13 (2 missing) |
| Production | |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | ITV |
| Original release | 15 February – 7 November 1967[1][2] |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Do Not Adjust Your Set (1967 – 1969) |
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical TV show made by David Frost's company, Paradine Productions (although it was not credited on the programmes), in association with Rediffusion London. Transmitted on Britain's ITV network in 1967, it brought Cambridge Footlights humour to a broader audience.
The show starred Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Marty Feldman and Aimi MacDonald. Cleese and Brooke-Taylor were also the programme editors. The director was Ian Fordyce. Chapman and Cleese would later go on to help form the Monty Python comedy troupe, and several of the sketches first performed in At Last the 1948 Show would later be performed by Monty Python in various formats.
While only two episodes of the show initially survived, efforts to locate missing episodes have been fruitful, with seven episodes being accounted for by 2013. On 23 October 2014, two episodes were recovered by the British Film Institute from the David Frost collection, and a further two episodes were recovered the following year, making the number of complete episodes eleven out of thirteen.[3]
History
Frost approached Cleese, Chapman and Brooke-Taylor to star in a sketch series. They suggested Marty Feldman, until then a comedy writer.[4] The series bridged the radio series I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and television's Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Goodies. It also led to Feldman's television series Marty (which also featured Tim Brooke-Taylor). The convention of comedy scenes interspersed by songs was abandoned. It still used punchlines, which would be abandoned by Monty Python.
Several sketches came from the 1963 Cambridge Footlights Revue entitled Cambridge Circus (the revue was previously entitled A Clump of Plinths). Sketches were again reused in How to Irritate People and Monty Python's Flying Circus plus Python's two German TV specials (Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus) and for stage shows. These include the "Four Yorkshiremen sketch" (which was later performed by Monty Python on Live at Drury Lane and Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl). The sketches "Top of the Form" and "Beekeeper" were performed in Secret Policeman's Ball stage shows. Another, "The Bookshop Sketch", was recorded in modified form for Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album. "Psychiatrist", "Tea Boy on a Mission", and "Grubnlian Holidays" were also performed again by The Two Ronnies.
Monty Python's catchphrase, "And now for something completely different," originated in At Last the 1948 Show, and was originally spoken by Aimi MacDonald.[5]
The shows had no relationship to the year 1948; the title referred to television executives' tendency to dither extensively over commissioning decisions. The cast also recorded an LP of sketches from the show's first season, and released a book of some of the sketches. The series was video-taped at what is now Fountain Studios, Wembley Park, Wembley.
Two series totalling thirteen 25-minute episodes were made during the series ten-month run, six in the first series and seven in the second.
Survival of episodes
Thames Television wiped the material once they had acquired the Rediffusion London archive, and all but two episodes were destroyed.[6] John Cleese became aware of tapes from two surviving episodes after Feldman's wife left them to him in her will.[7] Five compilation episodes for Swedish television also survived. Much missing material has been recovered in video, and surviving video has been restored by the British Film Institute.[8]
The majority of a previously missing episode (season 2, episode 6 tx 31.10.67) was returned to the BFI in May 2010.[9][10] On 23 October 2014, the BFI announced film copies of two previously missing episodes – the first and final episodes of the series (tx 15.02.1967 and 07.11.1967) – had been recovered from the private collection of the show's executive producer David Frost.[11] A year later, the BFI announced the recovery of another two episodes, with one of the new recoveries - the third episode of the first series (tx 01.03.1967) – to be screened at the Radio Times Festival at Hampton Court on 25 September 2015.[12]
Out of an original total of 13 episodes, eleven now exist in complete or near-complete form, while two remain incomplete.[13][14] While most surviving episodes are from original tapes or telerecordings, two of the complete episodes have been reconstructed from footage recovered from five compilation tapes returned from Sweden.[15] The two incomplete episodes' surviving footage also comes from these compilations. The complete audio of all 13 episodes exist, recorded off air by several fans.[16] An LP compilation of series 1 was produced using audio from the original videotapes. This has since been reissued on CD.
Home media
None of the complete, aired episodes have been officially released as of September 2015, while the five Swedish compilation episodes were released on DVD in 2007.[17] This includes the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, written and performed by Cleese, Chapman, Brooke-Taylor and Feldman.[18] The DVDs were issued by Pinnacle Vision in the UK (Region 2) and by Tango Entertainment in the US (Region 1). The DVD incorrectly states these as "recently recovered episodes", titles them as "episodes [1-5]", and also presents them in the wrong series order, with no mention on the DVD that the content is in fact a compilation. Eric Idle appears in three of the episodes (2, 4, and 5). The episodes on all DVD releases are soft, grainy, and generally low picture quality, even considering the material's age.[19] In recent years, several of the surviving, original episodes have been illegally uploaded on YouTube and other video-sharing websites; often in a much sharper quality than the compilation material.
As of March 2018, the surviving episodes are available on the Amazon Prime streaming media service.
Guest stars
- Barry Cryer – as director in Chartered Accountants and Gorilla / first person to sit in Thief in Library / Nigerian guide & Eskimo guide in Studio Tour / Feldman in Scottish Opera / deerstalker hat detective in Detective Sketch / Wine waiter in Four Yorkshiremen
- Bill Oddie – as depressed patient/Kowalski in Detective Sketch
- Christine Rodgers – as Mrs. Lotterby / waving co-host / Susan / opera-host / introduces self in "I'm The Loveliest" show intro
- Eric Idle – Librarian in Thief in Library / Beethoven patient / waiter / elevator operator in Detective Sketch / end of row opera patron in Scottish Opera
- Jo Kendall – as Sara Mellish in Studio Tour
- Mary Maude – as Lady in bath / introduces self in I'm "The Loveliest" show intro
- Dick Vosburgh – as director in Studio Tour / bearded front row patron in Scottish Opera
- Antony Jay – stage manager in Studio Tour
- Frank Muir – Saudi entourage in Studio Tour
- Denis Norden – Saudi entourage in Studio Tour
- Ronnie Corbett – wrestling stage hand in Studio Tour
- Frances Dean – accented opera-host / introduces self in "I'm The Loveliest" show intro
- Karin Feddersen – Long haired brunette patron in Scottish Opera
- Jacqueline Rochelle – as magic amulet opera-host
- Penny Brahms – introduces self in "I'm The Loveliest" show intro
- Joan Crane – as receptionist in Spiv Doctor / introduces self in "I'm The Loveliest" show intro
- Vicki Murden
- Anne Lewington
- Natalie Shaw
- Jenny Walton
- Patricia Franklin
- Dick Holmes
List of episodes
Note: only ten episodes are listed as complete or reconstructed, while an eleventh so-far unnamed episode has also been recovered.
Note: Not all ITV regions screened the series, and those that did did so on different transmission dates and times, with the series beginning and ending at different times of the year. The dates below reflect the transmission dates of the series in the London ITV region - Rediffusion's ITV franchise.
Series 1
| Episode | Original air date | Sketches | Archival status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series 1, Episode 1 | 15.02.1967 (ITV) | Doctor and Man with Skinny Legs - Witch - One-Man Wrestling - Secret Service Chief -Treasure Trove - Vox Pop | Complete - recovered in 2013 |
| Series 1, Episode 2 | 22.02.1967 (ITV) | Four Sydney Lotterbys - Lucky Gypsy - Judge Not | Incomplete, 5:45 of video footage exists |
| Series 1, Episode 3 | 01.03.1967 (ITV) | Visitors for the Use of… - Sleep Starvation - Mice Laugh Softly - Charlotte - Sheepdog Trials - Bookshop - Job Description | Complete - recovered in 2015[20] |
| Series 1, Episode 4 | 08.03.1967 (ITV) | Someone Has Stolen the News - Grublian Holidays - Memory Training - One-Man Battalion - Ministerial Breakdown - Engine Driver - Undercover Policemen | Complete |
| Series 1, Episode 5 | 15.03.1967 (ITV) | Top of the Form - Gentleman Farmer - The Wonderful World of the Ant - John and Mary in Malaya | Complete |
| Series 1, Episode 6 | 22.03.1967 (ITV) | Let's Speak-a English - The Siege in the Frock - Choral Repetition - Chinese Restaurant - Beekeeping - Ferret Song | Complete |
Series 2
| Episode | Original air date | Sketches | Archival status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series 2, Episode 1 | 26.09.1967 (ITV) | Spiv Doctor - Reptile Keeper - Thief in Library - Come Dancing - Joke Shop | Incomplete - 18:30 of video footage exists |
| Series 2, Episode 2 | 03.10.1967 (ITV) | Shirt Shop - Nosmo Claphanger Game Show - Clothes Off! - Insurance for Accident-Prone Man - Thuggish Ballet Supporters | Reconstructed by BFI |
| Series 2, Episode 3 | 10.10.1967 (ITV) | Pessimistic Customer - Meek Bouncer - Men's Club - Neurotic Scientist - Sydney Lotterby Craves the Test Score - Shop for the Sight and Sound Impaired | Complete |
| Series 2, Episode 4 | 17.10.1967 (ITV) | Discussion on Pornography - Door-to-Door Undertaker - Uncooperative Burglars - Topic Discusses Freedom of Speech - Programme Announcement - Studio Tour | Complete, recovered in 2015 |
| Series 2, Episode 5 | 24.10.1967 (ITV) | Reluctant Choir - Psychiatrist - Secret Service Cleaner - Reprimanded Soccer Player - Deadly Architectural Model | Complete - missing end credits |
| Series 2, Episode 6 | 31.10.1967 (ITV) | Sydney Lotterby's Renewed Acquaintance - Chartered Accountants Dance - Dangers of Dentistry - Four Yorkshiremen | Complete, recovered in 2015 |
| Series 2, Episode 7 | 07.11.1967 (ITV) | TV Current Affairs - Railway Carriage - Pet Shop - The Rhubarb Tart Song | Incomplete - recovered in 2013 but missing the Rhubarb Tart song |
References
- ↑ Missing Episodes Index
- ↑ Comedy.co.uk article about episode recoveries
- ↑ BFI.org
- ↑ Roger Wilmut From Fringe to Flying Circus: Celebrating a Unique Generation of Comedy 1960-1980, London: Eyre Methuen, 1980, ISBN 0-413-46950-6.
- ↑ "Missing episodes of Monty Python precursor At Last the 1948 Show found", The Guardian, 16 September 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
- ↑ Pythonet - 1948 Show Archived August 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ "Unbound: John Cleese in conversation with John Hodgman". youtube. BAMorg. March 12, 2015. Retrieved May 3, 2015.
- ↑ And now for something completely similar - the original Monty Python
- ↑ Lost comedy archives unearthed
- ↑ Missing-Episodes website
- ↑ Pre-Monty Python TV comedy episodes rediscovered, bbc.co.uk, 23 October 2014
- ↑ BFI.org
- ↑ BFI.org
- ↑ Lost Shows
- ↑ At Last the 1948 Show
- ↑ Missing-Episodes website
- ↑ Amazon.co.uk
- ↑ "Tim Brooke-Taylor interview". Radiohaha.typepad.com. 2006-06-03. Archived from the original on 29 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-08.
- ↑ - Review
- ↑ BFI.org