Ryan Davies Welsh Greats

LAUGHTER

MUSIC: "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss II

Ryan Davies's talent as a performer was truly unique.

His comedy captivated both Welsh and English audiences.

Quack twice and ask for Phyllis.

Ryan worked ceaselessly to hone his gifts as an actor, singer,

musician, composer and comic.

But his tireless pursuit of excellence would ultimately

end in tragedy.

Thomas Ryan Davies was born in Glanaman, near Ammanford, in 1937.

Glanaman was a Welsh-speaking community

with a long and rich tradition of amateur drama and choral singing.

Glanaman was a very lively area. That whole Amman Valley was.

He was...

steeped in performing

right from the beginning, right from the beginning.

Ryan's mother, Nans, who was a matron in a children's home,

came from a renowned family of actors and reciters.

And Ryan's father, William Thomas Davies,

was a miner and chapel organist.

Returning from service in the war one day, William Thomas was

treated to a display of his young son's musical ability.

At the age of eight, Ryan left Glanaman.

The family moved to Llanfyllin in Powys, where Ryan's parents

took over a nursing home that had once been a workhouse.

And the cells were still there, in Y Dolydd in Llanfyllin,

the home where I lived, the house where I lived

and there were holes in the wall just big enough to take

a certain size of stone, and there had to be a certain quota of stone

broken up by the tramps, who in those days used to wander around the country

before they'd had their breakfast the following morning.

So I suppose, yes, I was brought up in the workhouse.

-BELL RINGS

-From the age of 11, Ryan attended Llanfyllin High School.

There was something very stylish about Ryan from the very beginning.

He was very self-aware, even as a child.

He was very aware of his ability to enthral people and perform

and he would, you know, mimic people.

Especially in school, he'd mimic the teachers.

He knew he could make people laugh, even as a kid.

It was at school that a dark-haired girl called Irene Williams

caught Ryan's eye.

They started courting, I'm sure, when Ryan was about 14.

Irene and Ryan were always a couple.

Irene was always "the one", right from the very beginning.

After leaving school, Ryan did two years' national service before going

to Bangor Normal College to study to be a teacher.

As part of his course he studied drama,

taking key roles in plays by Moliere and Christopher Fry.

He was a compulsive actor.

Even when we went out of an evening, let's say,

Saturday night to a pub or something as students,

he would grab a chair and sit on it

and all of a sudden he would be someone having a driving lesson

for the first time and making a big hash of it.

And hilarious, absolutely hilarious.

And from the very beginning, he had an extraordinary talent,

it was something special.

At college, Ryan found himself among a crew of like-minded writers

and performers.

Together they formed a "parti noson lawen", a concert party

that travelled the country putting on shows in village halls.

Ryan's party piece was a mime of a customer in a chip shop

that would entertain audiences for years to come.

LAUGHTER

APPLAUSE

Ryan not only acted in these shows he also sang, played piano

and composed songs.

He composed excellent melodies.

There was something immediate about them,

you took to them straight away.

They were very, very singable.

In 1959, Ryan graduated and moved to London.

After a year studying at the Central School of Speech and Music,

he took a job as a teacher in a primary school in Croydon.

By the way, he was an excellent teacher, as you could imagine,

with his acting skills and his musical skills.

Ryan and Irene were married in 1961.

In Croydon, they became part of a thriving social scene

based around the London Welsh Society.

Ryan soon established himself as one of the society's star performers.

The London Welsh contingent always came to the national Eisteddfod

and they put on a whole night of their own and I got to see him

then perform and it became obvious that this man was going to be

a very important figure in Welsh light entertainment.

In 1963,

Meredydd Evans became head of BBC Welsh Language Light Entertainment.

He knew he would need a core of professional performers

to establish his department.

He had no doubt who his first signing would be.

And I said, "Well, the very first one I want is Ryan Davies.

"Here is the man, here's the obvious person."

He was the centre, something to build on and build around.

Ryan was offered a contract for one year only.

He was faced with a dilemma.

Irene had just given birth to their daughter, Bethan.

Would he sacrifice his permanent position as a teacher

for a short-term contract as an entertainer?

He was not sure at all, you know. It was quite a challenge for him.

He was well-employed in London,

he was in line for promotion to a headmastership.

It was a risk for him.

Anyway he took it and in 1965, he came.

# Have you ever seen my... Hob-y-deri dando

# She's so neat and she's so pretty Hob-y-deri dando. #

He was a producer and director's dream. He was thoroughly dependable.

You knew before he ever appeared in rehearsal

that he would give of his best.

There was no playing around.

He would have prepared carefully before he came.

He could have done it straight away.

Noswaith dda, which in English means good evening to you all.

That comes from us all here at the barn tonight.

So I used him as a quizmaster, presenter.

He was a real all-rounder.

He could do pretty well anything that you asked him to do.

It was Ryan's gift for comedy in particular

that would help Meredydd Evans realise a key ambition.

The next thing I wanted was to get a duo.

Two comedians, a straight man and the comic.

Meredyddd Evans didn't have to look far for his straight man.

He found him in the BBC Wales news studio.

Ronnie Williams, who had been in the drama college in Cardiff,

had started his career with the BBC as an announcer.

I thought, well, why not put these two together and see what happens.

That's it, and that's how it started.

Ryan and Ronnie made their first public appearance together, at the 1967 National Eisteddfod in Bala,

performing Green Green Grass Of Home, in the style of traditional Welsh verse singing.

# Green green grass of home.

When I awake, I look around me,

at four grey walls that surround me,

and I realise, yeah, I was only dreaming, because there's a guard...

# Yes, they'll all come to meet me

# In the shade of that old oak tree

# As they lay me 'neath the green green grass of home. #

THEY CONTINUE IN WELSH

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Within a year, the pair had a Welsh language comedy show of their own.

Ow!

Ow!

THEY SPEAK WELSH

In the show, Ronnie played straight man to Ryan's kaleidoscope of comic types.

He was a creator of characters.

He had a huge range of character portrayals.

The character of Mam, for example, running the household, really.

The barmaid, who was chattering, bubbling over.

Come up and see me some time. Quack twice and ask for Phyllis.

He was great in drag, and then there was the little diffident man.

Shy, nervous, with the bowler hat.

The real innocent abroad.

The series provided a showcase for Ryan's comic acting,

but he could equally hold his own as a straight actor.

In 1971, Ryan briefly became part of a very different double act.

He and Richard Burton travelled to Fishguard, to appear in a film adaptation of Under Milk Wood.

It must be a big thrill for you, Richard, playing opposite a big star like Ryan.

Oh, dear me!

I hope it's mutual!

He was primarily an actor

and could be as convincing in a serious play,

as he could be hilarious in pantomime.

In the film, Ryan played the role of Second Voice,

providing a comic foil to Richard Burton's imposing First Voice.

It's 11:30.

It's been 11:30 here for 50 years.

It's always opening time at the Sailors Arms.

Buy me a pint?

Buy me one.

Ryan and Ronnie kept going from strength to strength.

In an age when both English and Welsh programmes shared the same channel,

Ryan and Ronnie's visual humour crossed over the language divide.

HE SPEAKS WELSH

Ryan and Ronnie were by now two of the biggest names in Wales.

Their show ran for seven series in all.

Meredydd Evans was certain the pair could appeal

to an even wider public.

Two-shot and then out, as it develops.

Meredydd invited Bill Cotton,

who at that time was head of light entertainment in London,

for network, as we called it, and he invited him down to Cardiff,

showed him a couple of tapes,

and Bill Cotton said, "I'd like a series of this in English, please."

And of course they were performing in Welsh,

which does make it a bit difficult.

But one could tell, the way that the audience reacted to them,

that they had tremendous comedic potential.

Ryan and Ronnie travelled to London to record their BBC One show

in front of a live audience in a Shepherd's Bush theatre.

This was their opportunity to bring Welsh humour to a British audience.

What kind of programme did you have in your concerts?

You better have a word with Tarquin Thomas. He's our musical advisor.

Yes. Tarquin Thomas. What an unusual name.

Oh, I don't know. There's lots of us Thomases in Wales. LAUGHTER

On June 8th 1971, viewers across Britain tuned in

to watch the first English-language edition of Ryan And Ronnie.

-ENGLISH VOICE:

-BBC calling! Rrrryan and Ronnie, hee-hee!

I was, frankly, worried about them.

I sat down with some trepidation to watch their first network programme.

It was early in the evening, about half five, in a children's slot,

which was a bit unfair, perhaps, but it was a good place to try them out.

And I remember thinking, what they haven't got now that they're on network television,

they don't have that tremendous goodwill

that comes from the audience. They're now fighting for a new audience.

That new audience may not understand Welsh humour.

Unfortunately, all that survives of the series today

is some behind-the-scenes footage and a handful of sketches,

including one about a new method for producing rice pudding.

Now the milk and the rice goes down here, you understand.

And it travels through here now, as far as the gurgle valve.

-Right? Are you reasoning my thinking now?

-Yes, indeed.

Then, later on, the rice and the sugar join the milk,

come together, you understand, down here.

One, two, three!

-Have you seen Ryan and Ronnie?

-Yes.

-On television?

-Yes.

-What do you think of them?

-Very good.

-What about you?

I've only seen snatches. He thoroughly enjoys it, I know.

Despite the show's early evening slot,

it was well received by British audiences.

Ryan and Ronnie found that the show had boosted their fame beyond Wales.

Riding high on the success of their network series,

they were booked to do a summer season in Blackpool,

topping the bill at the Central Pier.

As we found out, we were big names in the north of England.

We'd never been there. We were big names in Scotland,

we'd never been there. And they all came to see us in the Central Pier

where we broke all records of all time. It was a great thrill.

While their double act enjoyed great success,

Ryan continued to work as a solo performer.

Right then. I come from the audience into this area here.

During rehearsals for a one-man show,

he gave BBC Wales a preview of his act.

She's a character we've done many times, Phyllis,

She explains what she's been doing, cos she lives in Swansea.

Phyllis is from Swansea, and they all talk like that in Swansea, all right?

So she's married a man from Cardiff, like, and he now comes out

from behind the screen, and he's going up to the city hall, like,

cos he's going to complain about the drains down Portman Road,

only they've become a real problem down there.

Since this is supposed to be a "real capital",

we thought perhaps you better do something about it, like.

Ryan combined this solo work with his demanding rehearsal

and performance schedule for Ryan And Ronnie.

They were working on television, they were working on cabaret,

they were working in pantomime,

they were performing in nosweithiau llawen.

They worked hard, you know, they worked hard.

Now, doing that as a pair

for that amount of time

must have generated certain tensions and so on.

I think that this affected Ronnie far more than it did Ryan.

And from what I understand,

Ronnie felt that the stresses were really too great.

Get a life, you know?

He really wanted to be with his family and so on.

Ronnie drew me aside one day

and admitted to feeling mental and physical exhaustion.

And he wanted to call it a day.

Bill Cotton had offered the pair an hour-long BBC One special

of their own, but it wasn't to be.

Acting on his doctor's advice, Ronnie,

who was suffering from nervous exhaustion, told Ryan it was over.

At Caerphilly's Double Diamond Club, on the 4th of May 1974,

the pair took their final bow together.

At the age of 37, Ryan was now on his own.

The big question was, what he would do next?

I think it was a feeling of relief for him.

Because he was going to work out his own particular...

he did not want to become just one of a pair.

Just five months after the split,

Ryan launched a new Welsh-language series of his own.

As a solo artist, he now had the freedom

to develop the musical side of his act.

# Kaaaaaaaaa...

# ..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...

# ..aaaaaaaaaaaaaaalinka, kalinka

# Kalinka, kalink

LAUGHTER

# Oh, kalinka, kalinka, kalinka, kalink

# V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka moya, hey!

# Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka, kalink

HE WHISTLES LOUDLY

# Kalinka, kalinka, k... # RYAN CLEARS THROAT

ALL: # Kalinka, hey! #

He had a light, pleasant, lovely, light tenor voice.

He could sell a song, you know, could really sell a song.

# The double diamond Caerphilly is

# All you lovely people Caerphilly is

# One town that won't let you down

# It's my kind

# Of to-o-o-o-o-own. #

When he wasn't on TV, Ryan was doing live cabaret and theatre work.

His annual appearances in pantomime were legendary.

When I used to go to the pantomimes in the Grand in Swansea,

they would run from, sort of, Christmas until April.

At the time they were the longest running pantos in the UK, full-stop.

And to be jam-packed every night, you know, full to the rafters of people,

coaches coming from all over the place,

wow, this is big, this, you know?

I played Mother Goose in Swansea and I'm down stage right there

and I'm acting myself to death, right?

And I got them, I know I got them.

LAUGHTER

They're in the palm of my hand, do you know?

And the kids are looking at me and I'm singing,

and there was one little angelic girl and she'd been wrapped up

in the story from the word go, and she was looking at me,

and I say to the goose, "Go away, I don't want you.

"Go on, go away. Leave me." And the goose toddles off,

and I happened to catch her eye just as the goose was disappearing

into the wings, and the little girl looked up at me

and she said, "You nasty bitch."

LAUGHTER

For Ryan, the work never stopped.

From 1975 on, he starred in the Welsh language sitcom Fo A Fe,

about two grandfathers from opposite ends of Wales

forced to share the same house.

The following year, he took on an even bigger challenge.

In How Green Was My Father,

Ryan was virtually the only actor on screen,

playing all 13 principal roles.

The film told the story of an American tourist

visiting the Valleys to rediscover his Welsh roots.

Yes, boy?!

-Excuse me, sir.

-Haha! A visitor from the vast beyond,

a transatlantic tourist, a becamera-ed camarado from Colorado.

I wonder if you could help me.

-I am pursuing research into the family of Jenkins.

-Jenkins?

Our geography germinates generations of Jenkinses.

Genealogy is the juice of our jerry-built jungle,

and all genuine jolack Jenkinses,

mark you, none of your jejune jelly-belly Jenkinses.

There's Jenkins the joiner, Jenkins the jeweller and Jenkins the Jew.

Jew, Jew.

For one man to carry an entire film was a phenomenal feat.

Ryan pulled it off thanks to the meticulous professionalism

with which he approached every project.

He was such a conscientious and worrying person.

He was highly strung in that sense,

and concentrated very hard on what he was doing.

Ryan's intense commitment to his work threatened to exacerbate

long-standing problems with his health.

He'd never be perfectly fit all his life.

He suffered from asthma, he had ulcers.

He used to carry a bottle of this chalk medicine around with him wherever he went.

These health issues came to a head in 1977.

Dad had finished the pantomime and he wanted a break,

so we all went out to stay with a good friend of his

who he was in school with, in New York State,

just for a holiday, really, to recuperate.

And, unfortunately, towards the end of the holiday, he fells ill.

Ryan suffered a severe asthma attack, followed by a heart failure.

On the 22nd April 1977, Ryan Davies died.

He was aged just 40.

It was so unexpected, and so far away, you know?

It was a shock. Everybody was shocked.

Ryan died thousands of miles from home,

but he lies buried at the foot of the Black Mountain.

Over three decades have passed since his death,

but Wales has yet to produce an entertainer

whose comedy unites the nation as his did.

And I think it's quite rare to have somebody with all that talent,

and all those different avenues that he could go down.

It's a tough call to fill somebody's shoes, especially my father's.

Ryan's memorial bust is inscribed with his own words.

"Mae chwerthin yn swnio'r un fath yn y ddwy iaith" -

"Laughter sounds the same in both languages".

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd