David Suchet on Sid Field: Last of the Music Hall Heroes


David Suchet on Sid Field: Last of the Music Hall Heroes

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This is a story of a mystery. How can a man famous beyond words simply disappear?

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'He was the king of music hall revue

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'and to millions, the funniest man in the world.

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'Hollywood stars flocked to see him on stage.

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'Bob Hope said he was probably the best of them all.

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'He was a favourite of Winston Churchill, General Eisenhower

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'and members of the royal family.

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'He invented new forms of comedy and inspired an entire generation

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'of entertainment giants.'

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I remember seeing a man, a comedian with bright blue eyes

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and it was the first time I'd laughed hysterically at a character on the stage.

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He embodied the epitome of what I consider a good comedian.

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He walked funny, he talked funny, he had funny ideas.

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Clearly, he was such a supreme live performer,

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the people I've spoken to who've seen him, 60 years later, their recall of the words that he said, the lines...

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I just wish that he'd lived until the television age.

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Cos if you'd seen him in person, he was charismatic.

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'His influence went beyond music hall into the world of serious theatre.'

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Of all the people I've ever watched with the greatest delight,

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I think I still borrow from him freely and unashamedly.

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'His name was Sid Field

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'and there was a time when everyone knew it.

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'But today, he's all but forgotten.

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'And I want to find out why.'

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Join me as I uncover the amazing lost story of Sid Field.

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In 1994, I starred in a musical based on the life of Sid Field

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called What A Performance and I had to become him.

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That's me as Sid Field.

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And in order to become like Sid Field,

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I had to learn to breathe like him, to talk like him.

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And I had the good fortune of being trained by Sid Field's understudy, Jack Tripp,

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who taught me all Sid's tricks of the trade,

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how Sid would work an audience, how he would look at an audience,

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how he would befriend an audience almost immediately the moment he came on stage.

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And for the first time in my life,

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I got a feeling of what it was like to be a comedian

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and have the audience actually laugh at me.

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To become like this great man, Sid Field.

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The Daily Mail wrote about Sid Field that he was "the greatest English comedian since Charlie Chaplin"

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and yet the treasure chest of his life is tiny.

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'The problem is, as a live performer in the days before television,

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'there's precious little evidence of his genius.

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'He appeared in barely any films and the best known, London Town from 1946,

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'was a tragic failure.

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'Everyone who knew him condemned the movie

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'as a pale imitation of the real Sid.'

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-Get back in the chair!

-But I was only trying to...

-Get absolutely back in the chair!

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'To them, London Town was best forgotten.

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'There are fragments of news reel, like this,

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'his 1947 New Year's message from Pathe.

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'What's that, Sid?

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'Typically, the sound is missing.

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'But he did make an earlier film.

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'In 1940, Sid appeared in a low-budget movie called That's The Ticket.

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'But it hasn't been seen for years and was generally thought to be long since lost or junked.

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'That is, until we started making enquiries for this programme

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'and a dedicated film librarian tracked down

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'what may well be the last surviving copy deep in the vaults of the British Film Institute.

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'I've invited an expert in early comedy, Paul Merton,

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'to join me to see That's The Ticket for the very first time.

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'Could this be Sid Field's lost masterpiece?'

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-We've searched it and we understand it's empty.

-Well?

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I'll have to show you the layout.

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Now, we're here

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and the safe's in this corner. We're wo...

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Hors d'oeuvre, sir?

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We're working on it when in comes the girl.

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They start shooting. So do we.

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-You wouldn't shoot a girl.

-No choice.

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A case like this, it's her life or ours.

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You see, in a job like ours, you can't afford to let anybody stand in your way.

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In our business, if it comes to killing, well, that's just too bad.

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So you see, if you want to get on in this job,

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you've got to remember all I've told you.

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-Hors d'oeuvre, sir?

-Yes.

-Thank you.

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THEY LAUGH

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That is magnificent, to see that. I did not know that existed.

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I now know what a Sid Field moment is cos I've seen him do it.

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-It's like seeing a lost treasure, isn't it?

-It's wonderful.

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It's a major piece of work from a major artist.

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It's suddenly discovering that Leonardo Da Vinci painted Mr Lisa.

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-HE LAUGHS

-It is!

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-As well as the wife.

-HE LAUGHS

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That's a major discovery, that.

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Sid Field has always been spoken of by comedians of his generation as being a great comedian

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and the visual evidence has been slight sometimes.

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You can see him in London Town, you can see the characters, you can't hear the reaction.

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In this film, all this material was very fresh, very new, he's bringing it to life as he's doing it.

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-No-one's seen it.

-No. It's great. I want it. I want to show it to people. That's wonderful.

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-Meet any Indians on the way, sir?

-Pardon?

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-Did you meet any Indians on the way?

-Indians? What do you mean?

-You've been scalped.

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'We may have found a lost film,

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'but that doesn't explain why Sid Field became the forgotten star.

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'So let's take this story from the beginning.'

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Sid was born on the most perfect day for a comic, April Fools' Day.

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The year, 1904.

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The place, Sparkbrook, Birmingham, in this street.

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Pretty unremarkable street, really, but then Sid himself could've ended up pretty unremarkable

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had it not been for two great influences in his life.

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'The first was his mother.

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'There are no photographs of her, but we do have a description.'

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Sid's mother, Bertha, was a dressmaker. She was short, a little stout,

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but with a personality that was able to make even the strongest manager crumble.

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She was to prove a guiding hand throughout much of Sid's show business career.

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In actual fact, Sid might not have had a career at all

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if it hadn't been for the influence of one other very famous comic.

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'Charlie Chaplin was a working-class boy who rose through the music halls

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'to become the most famous comedian the world had ever known.

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'And Sid wanted to be just like him.

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'Half a century later, silent cinema still had the power to inspire the young Paul Merton.'

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And I remember coming out of seeing this Buster Keaton film and I was 12 years old

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and thinking, "That's what I want to do. I want to do what he does"

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and it's a bit fanciful, but I almost felt as if there was a baton being proffered toward me.

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I really did. I felt...

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It was a big thing because I was watching something at that point that was 50 years old

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and it still had the power to work and to move and to make people laugh

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and I thought, "That has to be art. That is an art."

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Like so many comedians, I read that he was very influenced by the silent movies, especially Charlie Chaplin.

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Well, if he was born in 1904,

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certainly by the time Chaplin came along, he was 10, 11, 12,

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so ideal time to get influenced by a major comedian, really,

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and Charlie Chaplin would've been inescapable. He was the biggest comedian in the world

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through the fairly new medium of motion pictures at that point.

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'Inspired by his hero, young Sid began to do a busking act.

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'Years later he talked about it in the only recorded interview that exists.'

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It was doing Chaplin in the streets.

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I used to kid round with the kids and all that sort of business

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and the police caught me one day and said I'd get into trouble

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if I did it anymore because I was holding up the traffic.

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A lady saw me. She said to my mother, "Why don't you let him go on the stage?"

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# Now I went looking for work one day and wherever I came to look

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'And that's exactly what she did.

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'In 1916, many children were packed off to work in factories or farms from the age of 12.

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'A child performer could earn good money, about seven shillings and sixpence a week.

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'So when Mrs Field spotted an ad in the paper for a music hall troupe,

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'she had young Sid down the train station in no time.'

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Just imagine, you're 12 years old,

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you've never been in a group of people ever before, really,

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and your mother shoves some small change into your hand

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and pushes you off to Manchester with a group of strange children.

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'Sid got the job, but he was told he had to start immediately without any rehearsals.

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'To calm his nerves, they gave him a tot of port

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'and the habit of a lifetime had begun.

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'Just like his hero, Sid was now in music hall.

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'He had joined the chorus of the Kino Royal Juveniles,

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'a rather grand name for a travelling song and dance troupe.

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'Through the 19th century, the music hall had grown to become

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'the main form of working-class entertainment

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'and during the First World War, there were over 300 of them around the country.

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'For a shilling, soldiers home on leave could see a live show

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'likely to include singers, acrobats,

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'saucy comics, performing animals and juvenile troupes, like Sid's.

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'It could be a pretty bawdy place.'

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'Today, very little survives from that world.

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'Some fragments of film, a few scratchy recordings.'

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'And this, Wilton's Music Hall in London's East End.

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'A good place to find out more from the president of the British Music Hall Society, Roy Hudd.'

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It was tough. Here we are in one of the most famous early music halls of all time, Wilton's Music Hall.

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The halls were always attached to the pubs.

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Music halls, halls of music.

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Look at this place. You can imagine tables and chairs,

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packed out with boozy old geezers off the boats and the London docks.

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And it was that sort of place. It was like a northern club.

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'Perhaps not the most suitable environment for a 12-year-old boy,

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'let alone a whole gang of them.'

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There were lots of those little juvenile troupes. They seemed to be a big deal.

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And I think they got half a crown a show or something, so they were quite cheap to put on.

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'Although Sid never performed at Wilton's,

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'the walls once echoed to the same great British songs that would've been his bread and butter.

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'Conductor Charles Hazelwood knows the genre well.

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'He used to be the director here.'

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HE PLAYS DAISY BELL

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# But you'd look sweet upon the seat

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# Of a bicycle made for two

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-It's wonderful stuff, isn't it?

-Isn't it? It's got this kind of come-hither lilt to it.

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You can totally see why people wanted to sing this material.

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You're kind of pulled up by your belt and braces. # Daisy...

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And they would do that, wouldn't they? They literally would go... # Daisy

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It's an open sound and it's brazen, isn't it?

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Yeah. You've got this wonderful word. # Daisy, Daisy

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It's a lovely, big, wide-open vowel sound.

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People just want to wrap their lungs around a word like that and a melody like that.

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HE PLAYS FIRST LINE OF MELODY

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It's like that's perhaps the question or the statement positive, and here's the response.

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-HE PLAYS NEXT LINE OF MELODY It's so simple.

-Yes.

-But so effective.

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And everybody joins in and sings and they have a whale of a time.

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And that, to me, is the key of the music hall tradition

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and why it's easy to understand how it had such a secure place in the hearts of British people.

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I think we, as a culture, have always loved to wrap our lungs around a simple tune.

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# I'm Burlington Bertie, I rise at 10:30

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'In his touring troupe, Sid sang covers of songs like Daisy Daisy

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'and Ella Shields' 1916 chart-topper Burlington Bertie from Bow.'

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# I've just have a banana

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# With Lady Diana

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# I'm Burlington Bertie from Bow

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Charles, was there a sort of formula, a musical formula in this sort of music

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that would sort of tell the audiences what was going to happen?

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The thing that comes immediately to my mind is that sort of extended rallentando, sort of...

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HE SINGS

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Yeah, it's the philosophy of the elastic band,

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which all great song composers should know about.

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You have a nice verse which might be whimsical to set the scene. As you tease towards the chorus,

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you want to build the tension and excitement. This is where the elastic band comes in. You start to...

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And there comes a point where you can't pull it any further, it's got to go! And the chorus starts. So...

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# Where the balmy breezes play

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# Ohhhhhh

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# I do like to be beside the seaside

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You're off. That's the kind of call to arms the audience would've needed.

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'Sid was learning first-hand

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'how a song could get the audience on his side.

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'But he also began to show a particular talent for comedy.

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'And by the time the first war ended, Sid, now aged 14,

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'had been promoted to understudy a comic called Wee Georgie Wood.

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'No, that's not Sid, that's Wee Georgie,

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'a four-foot-nine man who went on stage as a school boy

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'and then came out with some very adult material.

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'In so many ways, Sid had to grow up fast.'

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You know, it's hard for me to believe that as a young boy from Birmingham,

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13, 14 years of age, Sid was literally on the move touring all the time.

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'Of course, life was no picnic for the kids he grew up with back in Sparkbrook.

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'At 14, they would be doing long hours on farms or in factories.

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'Compared to their life of drudgery, Sid had the life of Riley.'

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Playing Bristol and seaside towns like Newquay,

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Falmouth, Torquay,

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and even London's Holborn Empire.

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'Someone who also did an apprenticeship touring the country's less up-market venues

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'was Nicholas Parsons.'

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There's no truer thing in our profession,

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particularly when it comes to comedians and comics,

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than the more experience they've had

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facing difficult audiences, tough audiences

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in miserable clubs all over the country.

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And once they have been around a time

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and they've mastered their craft,

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the more experience they've had, when they get a big break,

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the more they're able to take advantage of it and make a name for themselves.

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'But Sid's big break was still two decades away

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'and a slow revolution was about to hit his world.

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'Music hall was changing. The introduction of new regulations

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'meant that alcohol was no longer allowed in the auditorium.

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'So the venues became less like pubs and more like theatres.

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'Music hall was turning into variety.

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'At the same time, new styles of music were arriving from across the Atlantic. There was ragtime.

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'And something called jazz.

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'But Sid took the changes in his stride.

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'He could sing, he could dance, and he'd do anything.

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'Revues, pantomimes, even circus acts.

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'So he just kept working in the provinces.

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'It wasn't a bad life.

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'But for him, the biggest thing to happen in the 1920s

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'was a 16-year-old dancer named Connie Dawkins.

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'So now it's time for me to meet someone who has a very direct link with that romance,

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'Sid and Connie's daughter, Diane.'

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That's my mother. She was obviously at dancing school.

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She could dance very beautifully.

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-Cos she was a chorus girl.

-Connie?

-Mm.

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Were they both in the Midlands?

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I suppose they met on tour somewhere and she was one of the dancing girls, I suppose.

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-And that's how they got together.

-Yes.

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-Did you mother have a stage name?

-No.

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-No, no, she wasn't as grand as that.

-No.

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-No, she was just one of the girls.

-One of the girls.

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'While their romance blossomed,

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'show business was about to change again.'

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# Swanee, how I love you, how I love you

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# My dear old Swanee

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'In October 1927,

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'Al Jolson brought sound to the motion pictures.'

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'From now on, every singer and comedian in every little theatre

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'would have to compete with Hollywood's finest talent.

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'But Sid was more worried about his love life than the future of live performance.

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'His mother didn't seem to approve of Connie.'

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Bertha Field tried her best to frighten Connie away.

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"Some of his family were in asylums, you know?" she'd say.

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And, "Sometimes Sid acts very peculiar".

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But Connie was having none of it. She knew she'd found her man.

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# Now I've found the right girl, oh, what a girl

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'But it wasn't until 1933 that they plucked up the courage to defy Mrs Field.'

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Sid told Constance, "Be ready, 10:15 Friday morning."

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"Why?" "We're going to get married. But don't tell a soul!

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"I don't want it getting back to my mother!"

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# You've scored a bull

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# Now my search has ended

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# Bye-bye the past

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So, here's Sid in his brand new Trilby and off they go for the wedding feast.

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Wedding feast? Well, instead of champagne, it's a cup of tea.

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And instead of caviar, fish and chips.

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Which also doubles as a wedding cake.

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And then they pledged their love to each other over this banquet

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with Connie wearing her gleaming wedding ring,

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and then it's a quick bite and off to do the show.

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-Look at that with the nice jacket.

-Yes. And cigarette.

-And cigarette.

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'In 1936, after Diane came along,

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'the family bought a house in the Birmingham suburbs.'

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-That's you there, isn't it?

-That's me, yes. HE LAUGHS

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He used to chase us up the stairs. He had four little false teeth here

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and he used to lift them with his tongue so they were like that

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and he'd put a towel over his head and chase us all round the house.

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And it was lovely, cos we screamed ourselves silly.

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You know what it's like. Has anybody ever chased you up the stairs?

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-You can't just get up there quickly enough!

-No.

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So he was always fooling about, yes. Lovely.

0:21:240:21:27

'However, Sid still had to spend most of his time away on tour,

0:21:270:21:32

'despite now being a father.'

0:21:320:21:34

I used to wish I had one that came home from the office every evening

0:21:340:21:38

-with nice sharp pencils that I could draw with.

-I think that's what my children say about me sometimes.

0:21:380:21:43

Cos we didn't see him from one end of the week to the other.

0:21:430:21:47

'Through the 30s, Sid was gradually working his way up the billing

0:21:500:21:54

'in a series of variety shows that toured the provinces.

0:21:540:21:58

'To entertainment historians, it's an interesting period.'

0:21:590:22:02

The titles are fascinating. Red Hot And Blue Moments.

0:22:040:22:09

One Exciting Night. Hot Ice.

0:22:090:22:12

These are all part of folklore now.

0:22:120:22:16

APPLAUSE

0:22:180:22:21

'Sid was making a name for himself and catching people's eye.

0:22:210:22:25

'Amongst them, a future comic legend, Spike Milligan.'

0:22:250:22:29

I saw my very, very first variety show at the New Cross Empire with my mother and father.

0:22:290:22:36

I'd never been to one before. The show was called Red Hot And Blue Moments.

0:22:360:22:41

And I remember seeing a man, a comedian, with bright blue eyes

0:22:410:22:44

and it was the first time I'd really laughed hysterically at a character on the stage.

0:22:440:22:49

Years later when I went to Leeds and I saw Piccadilly Hayride, I realised that man was the great Sid Field.

0:22:490:22:54

He did something that not very many comics do today.

0:22:540:22:59

He walked funny, he talked funny,

0:22:590:23:02

he had funny ideas, his timing was out of this world.

0:23:020:23:07

Everything he did was funny.

0:23:070:23:09

'When the Second World War broke out,

0:23:120:23:14

'the big time was still eluding him.

0:23:140:23:17

'Like it or not, the movies were now the number-one form of entertainment.

0:23:170:23:23

'During the war, the cinemas of Britain sold about 1.4 billion tickets a year.

0:23:230:23:29

'And while Sid was doing panto in a regional theatre,

0:23:290:23:33

'40 million people saw Gone With The Wind.

0:23:330:23:36

'But in 1942, something happened that would revolutionise his life.

0:23:370:23:42

'He teamed up with Jerry Desmonde.

0:23:440:23:46

'He was a straight man who much later worked with Nicholas Parsons.'

0:23:460:23:51

It was a dream combination and so...

0:23:510:23:56

And that's what Sid Field needed,

0:23:560:23:59

someone who was the epitome of this distinguished, elegant man.

0:23:590:24:03

And he was perfect for Sid to bounce off.

0:24:030:24:06

-Will you stop being so stupid and come back?

-Why do you keep saying "let's go" then?

0:24:060:24:10

When I say let's go, I don't mean let's go, I mean stay here and let's go!

0:24:100:24:15

'It was as if Morecambe had finally found Wise.

0:24:160:24:21

'Jerry was a comedy dancer playing in Streatham

0:24:210:24:24

'and at first was reluctant to play the straight man to Sid's more earthy characters.'

0:24:240:24:29

Jerry was in real life as he was on the stage. That was Jerry Desmonde.

0:24:290:24:34

A charming, lovely, distinguished, very formal sort of person.

0:24:340:24:38

-When you say "let's go"...

-Yes?

0:24:380:24:41

-..you don't mean let's go.

-No.

-You mean stay here and let's go.

-Yes.

0:24:410:24:45

'They were different, too, in how they approached the material.

0:24:460:24:50

'Jerry said that Sid never relied on the scripts for laughs.

0:24:500:24:54

'The audience showed him where the laughs were.

0:24:540:24:56

'And without that interaction, he never really worked on film.'

0:24:560:25:00

-What do I do with this bag?

-Oh, dear, oh, dear. What do you think you do with the bag?

0:25:000:25:04

-I'm asking you a civil answer.

-Oh.

0:25:040:25:07

What do I do with the bag?

0:25:070:25:10

'Nicholas Parsons was lucky enough to see this golfing sketch how it should've been. Live.'

0:25:100:25:17

I must say, when he walked on for that golfing sketch, Sid had such an engaging personality,

0:25:170:25:22

you started to smile. You just knew it was all going to be funny.

0:25:220:25:26

Jerry was a perfect foil. Simple dialogue, but the way Sid played it made you roar with laughter.

0:25:260:25:32

-Put a ball down.

-Right.

0:25:320:25:34

-That's right. Now make the tee.

-What?

0:25:340:25:38

-Make the tee.

-I thought you wanted to play golf.

0:25:380:25:41

'Someone else who saw the original sketch was Eric Sykes.'

0:25:410:25:45

-You felt that you wanted to protect him.

-Oh.

0:25:450:25:50

And Jerry Desmonde, too, was such a brilliant feed

0:25:500:25:56

that you could understand his frustration

0:25:560:26:00

at not being understood.

0:26:000:26:02

For heaven's sake, get a stick in your hand!

0:26:020:26:06

'Soon after he teamed up with Jerry, Sid's fortunes started to turn.

0:26:060:26:10

'They caught the eye of top theatre impresario George Black,

0:26:100:26:16

'the Cameron Mackintosh of the time,

0:26:160:26:18

'and he was putting together a new musical revue for the West End stage.'

0:26:180:26:22

After more than 20 years in the wilderness, Sid Field was about to arrive.

0:26:230:26:29

'His new revue would be here, just off Leicester Square.

0:26:290:26:34

'Established acts were away entertaining the troops

0:26:350:26:39

'so George Black chose undiscovered talent for his cast.

0:26:390:26:43

'His title was catchy.'

0:26:430:26:46

Strike A New Note. And this is the programme.

0:26:460:26:48

And it really does give a flavour of what it must have been like here in the Prince of Wales Theatre.

0:26:480:26:53

It's cheap wartime paper.

0:26:530:26:56

And "the rising generation" hints of Dad's Army.

0:26:560:27:00

Full of performers either too young to fight, or like Sid Field, too old.

0:27:000:27:06

Here's something you'd never see in a programme of today.

0:27:060:27:09

Look. "This theatre is disinfected throughout with Jeyes' Fluid."

0:27:090:27:15

Many of the show's line-up would've become famous stars in their own right.

0:27:180:27:22

For example, here we have two teenagers at the time, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise.

0:27:220:27:28

-Now then.

-HE LAUGHS

-Bernard, Donald.

-It is indeed!

0:27:300:27:35

'Singer Bernard Hunter and dancer Donald Reed

0:27:350:27:38

-'were with the show from the start.'

-Just the same.

-Thank you!

0:27:380:27:42

'The opening night was March 18th 1943

0:27:440:27:48

'and for Sid, it was the chance he'd been waiting for all his life.'

0:27:480:27:53

Tell me about the first night. What was that like?

0:27:530:27:56

Well, sensational, cos Sidney came round to shake hands with everybody

0:27:560:28:03

before that curtain went up, and he was trembling like an aspen.

0:28:030:28:07

The orchestra launched into their first number.

0:28:110:28:14

Three minutes, please!

0:28:150:28:18

This is the moment that Sid has been dreaming of.

0:28:180:28:21

His act practised to perfection.

0:28:210:28:24

Made up, dressed up, possibly ginned up, who knows?

0:28:280:28:32

Sid is anything but ready to go on stage.

0:28:320:28:35

He is petrified!

0:28:350:28:38

Straight man Jerry Desmonde began his introduction for Sid.

0:28:380:28:43

"Now, ladies and gentlemen,

0:28:430:28:45

"one very bright and promising young man was overlooked at the auditions.

0:28:450:28:50

"So to be fair to him, we're bringing him onto the stage right now to show us what he can do."

0:28:500:28:56

-APPLAUSE

-He glances to the wings and sees Sid like a rabbit in the headlights.

0:28:560:29:01

"I've got no spit! I can't go on! I won't!"

0:29:010:29:06

APPLAUSE

0:29:060:29:08

Finally, Sid is literally thrown onto the stage.

0:29:080:29:12

-They had to push him on the stage. He wouldn't go on.

-Really?

-Yes.

0:29:140:29:18

They had to shove him on.

0:29:180:29:20

'In those days, it was the newspaper theatre reviews

0:29:240:29:28

'that could make or break a show or a performer.

0:29:280:29:32

'After any opening night, the cast usually stayed up to read the first editions.'

0:29:320:29:37

Mr Collie Knox, a critic writing for the Daily Mail, said,

0:29:390:29:43

"I've attended many a thrilling first night in my time,

0:29:430:29:46

"John Gielgud as Hamlet and the electric success of Laurence Olivier as Richard III,

0:29:460:29:50

"but never before have I heard such gales of laughter and applause whirling around the theatre

0:29:500:29:56

"as I did on that historic Field night.

0:29:560:29:59

"The man in front of me laughed so helplessly

0:29:590:30:01

"he had to be carried out and given first aid."

0:30:010:30:04

But suddenly he was a national star then.

0:30:040:30:08

And everybody was flocking to the Prince of Wales Theatre to see the show, Strike A New Note.

0:30:080:30:13

After years of struggle and battle, Sid Field had made it,

0:30:150:30:20

and he literally broke down and cried when he realised he was a discovery.

0:30:200:30:25

'It was a moment he recalled on the one and only surviving radio interview.'

0:30:270:30:31

The first night, of course, was a terrific thing in my life.

0:30:320:30:37

I didn't even realise that I should be the success I turned out to be.

0:30:370:30:41

But within three weeks,

0:30:410:30:43

-the bills were up there, "Sid Field, the new funny man". It was a great thrill when I saw that.

-I bet.

0:30:430:30:48

-Overnight, Dad was this huge...

-Yes! Ta-da!

0:30:480:30:54

I mean, literally, go to bed one night,

0:30:540:30:58

-wake up in the morning and your lives will have changed.

-Yes.

0:30:580:31:03

We used to go for lunch at the Trocadero on a Saturday

0:31:030:31:07

and then walk back to the Prince of Wales

0:31:070:31:12

and I used to like that, cos I used to think,

0:31:120:31:14

"This is my daddy! This is my daddy!" I didn't say it, but I liked everybody to know that he was mine.

0:31:140:31:20

-Did people stop him?

-Oh, you couldn't have a meal in peace.

-No?

0:31:200:31:24

-This is without television.

-Yes!

-This is being in a theatre show.

0:31:240:31:28

-And they knew him. It's quite extraordinary.

-It is extraordinary.

0:31:280:31:32

Amongst all those people who were influenced by the great Field,

0:31:330:31:38

none was influenced more than Tony Hancock.

0:31:380:31:42

Graham Stark had the privilege of being present in the audience with Tony Hancock

0:31:420:31:48

when Hancock first set eyes upon Sid Field

0:31:480:31:52

and the sketch that reached home was called The Blizzard Of The Bells.

0:31:520:31:57

And Sid played a rather moth-eaten music professor.

0:31:590:32:03

Pardon me.

0:32:060:32:08

And at this point, Tony and Graham were collapsing in laughter.

0:32:080:32:13

BAND PLAY SLOW MELODY

0:32:130:32:16

HE TAPS BELL

0:32:160:32:18

BAND PLAY SLOW MELODY

0:32:180:32:20

HE TAPS BELL

0:32:200:32:22

BAND PLAY SLOW MELODY

0:32:220:32:24

BOINGING

0:32:240:32:26

And Tony grabbed Graham by the arm and he said,

0:32:270:32:31

"That's the man for me. That's the man for me."

0:32:310:32:35

And what he meant was, this was the star

0:32:350:32:38

that was going to be the guiding light for the rest of his career.

0:32:380:32:42

The man's so utterly stupid, I could scream.

0:32:420:32:45

I could've had my music lesson with Miss Panthorp.

0:32:450:32:48

'As well as his timing, audiences also loved his chameleon-like ability

0:32:480:32:53

'to create a whole range of comic characters.'

0:32:530:32:56

-I might be a mug in here, but I ain't outside.

-You'll very soon be outside!

0:32:560:32:59

'He switched from posh music professor...'

0:32:590:33:02

Sometimes I finish before the orchestra's even started!

0:33:020:33:06

-'..to cockney wide boy.'

-Right-oh, nice and bright.

0:33:060:33:10

# You ought to see me...

0:33:100:33:12

'Each character might then appear in a series of sketches.

0:33:120:33:16

'It's a comedy style we know so well,

0:33:160:33:19

'but back then, it was groundbreaking.

0:33:190:33:22

'One of the most popular characters was a fella by the name of Slasher Green.'

0:33:220:33:26

Everyone in wartime Britain was familiar with the Slasher Greens,

0:33:290:33:33

the wide boys that run the black market.

0:33:330:33:35

Sid's genius, though, was spotting that spivs, as they were called,

0:33:350:33:39

would be a rich vein for comedy.

0:33:390:33:41

-I'll play you a tantivy.

-Tantivy? What's that?

0:33:410:33:44

Tantivy. It's like a hunting song.

0:33:440:33:47

All about hounds and horses and that.

0:33:470:33:49

'Slasher Green was doing his bit for the war effort.

0:33:490:33:52

'Invasion planning for D-Day was underway, but even planners need a break.'

0:33:520:33:57

I remember a lot of important people came round to see you in that show

0:33:580:34:02

-and one of them was General Eisenhower.

-That's right, yes.

0:34:020:34:05

He said, "I've heard so much about this guy Field from my men."

0:34:050:34:08

He was very complimentary to me

0:34:080:34:11

and said, "Field, you're doing a grand job with my boys. Thank you very much."

0:34:110:34:15

-I bet you were very proud of that.

-I was, very proud indeed.

0:34:150:34:19

# I'm going to get lit up when the lights go up in London

0:34:220:34:27

'One of Sid's numbers from the show, I'm Going To Get Lit Up,

0:34:270:34:30

'became a huge wartime hit.'

0:34:300:34:32

BOTH: # You will find me on the tiles, you will find me...

0:34:320:34:36

'The song was so iconic that Winston Churchill chose it

0:34:360:34:41

'for one of the most important secret signals of the entire war.

0:34:410:34:45

'When it broadcast on the radio, resistance fighters in Europe

0:34:450:34:49

-'knew that D-Day was imminent.'

-# More, much more

0:34:490:34:53

When the dark cloud of wartime lifted, everybody flocked here to Piccadilly Circus

0:34:530:34:58

and there was only one song they wanted to hear.

0:34:580:35:01

Sid's song. I'm Going To Get Lit Up When The Lights Go Up In London.

0:35:010:35:07

# The city will sit up when the lights go up in London

0:35:090:35:13

# We'll all be lit up as the Strand was

0:35:130:35:17

# Only more, much more

0:35:170:35:19

# And before the party's played out

0:35:190:35:22

# They will fetch the fire brigade out

0:35:220:35:26

BOTH: # To the littest uppist scene you every saw

0:35:260:35:30

Bravo! Bravo!

0:35:300:35:34

-Bravo!

-You're very kind. Thank you very much.

0:35:350:35:38

Wonderful. Wonderful.

0:35:380:35:40

-A little tearful, but nevertheless, a great man.

-Takes the guts out of you.

0:35:400:35:46

A great man.

0:35:470:35:49

-I wish I had a drink.

-THEY LAUGH

-You lift it up to Sid.

0:35:500:35:54

He would've loved that.

0:35:540:35:56

'The roaring triumph of Strike A New Note

0:35:580:36:01

'led to a follow-up show, Strike It Again.

0:36:010:36:04

'And as the war ended, Sid was riding high on success.'

0:36:040:36:10

Strike It Again ran through VE Day until August bank holiday 1945

0:36:100:36:15

and it didn't close through a lack of audience. No.

0:36:150:36:18

It closed because Sid Field set his sights elsewhere.

0:36:180:36:22

The movies.

0:36:220:36:24

'And this is where he came.

0:36:280:36:30

'Britain's answer to Hollywood - Shepperton Studios.

0:36:300:36:33

'After almost 30 years, he'd finally reached the top on the stage.

0:36:330:36:38

'Now he had the chance to make it in the movies

0:36:380:36:41

'and be seen by an audience of millions.

0:36:410:36:44

'All he needed was a big hit film.'

0:36:450:36:49

For the film company J Arthur Rank, it seemed a sure bet.

0:36:510:36:54

Britain's most famous stage comic would become Britain's most famous film comic.

0:36:540:36:58

A £1 million blockbuster starring the hottest talent in town.

0:36:580:37:03

THEY SING

0:37:030:37:06

With sumptuous sets and extravagant dance routines,

0:37:090:37:13

the film aimed to wake up grey, post-war Britain.

0:37:130:37:16

'But Sid was lost in those sumptuous sets

0:37:180:37:21

'and the dances went on forever.

0:37:210:37:24

'And worse than that, his comedy just didn't work.'

0:37:240:37:29

You felt for him all the time because you were...you were hurting.

0:37:310:37:36

It's almost like putting...

0:37:360:37:39

-..Nureyev in Strictly Come Dancing.

-Yeah.

0:37:410:37:46

And to watch... I was suffering for him.

0:37:460:37:51

# Miser, miser, you're getting worse

0:37:510:37:53

'One of Sid's co-stars was a child actress already famous in her own right, Petula Clark.'

0:37:530:37:59

# Spend a few coppers, old man

0:37:590:38:02

I was playing his daughter and so it was important, I suppose,

0:38:020:38:06

that we got along well, and we certainly did.

0:38:060:38:09

Because he was a warm, generous man

0:38:100:38:14

and I felt, playing those scenes with him, that he was sort of like a dad.

0:38:140:38:19

-# No, you can't keep a good dreamer down

-Now the funny chorus.

0:38:190:38:24

'There was a huge atmosphere around the making of this.

0:38:240:38:29

I'm not sure that Sid fitted in well to that...

0:38:290:38:34

..you know, tra-la-la thing that was going on.

0:38:360:38:38

He was a very down-to-earth kind of man.

0:38:380:38:41

-You'd like a little...

-Some of that, please.

-Some of what?

0:38:410:38:44

-That.

-One of these? I thought you would, yes.

0:38:440:38:46

'The first film that Sid appeared in, That's The Ticket,

0:38:460:38:49

'was shot fast and loose in just three weeks.'

0:38:490:38:52

-This?

-Thank you.

-You'll get it whether you like it or not.

0:38:520:38:55

'That way of working seems to have suited him better.

0:38:550:38:58

THEY SING

0:38:580:39:01

'But with the massive sets, huge casts and enormous Technicolor film crew,

0:39:010:39:06

'the London Town shoot must have been painfully slow.'

0:39:060:39:10

Sid hated being filmed. He described the camera as,

0:39:110:39:15

"Coming at me like a blood-thirsty dragon, ready to pick up my mistakes."

0:39:150:39:20

He wasn't comfortable without the audience.

0:39:200:39:23

The rehearsal could make the crew laugh,

0:39:230:39:26

but in the take, everybody had to be dead quiet and it, kind of...

0:39:260:39:30

He was of that breed of musical comedian, so was the last of the line, more or less.

0:39:300:39:36

They needed the audience. They needed to feed off it. They needed to get a reaction.

0:39:360:39:42

'Geoffrey Macnab has written a definitive history of the Rank movie empire.'

0:39:440:39:49

So what was it about the film that made it fail? Why do you think it failed?

0:39:490:39:54

It wasn't a comedy for domestic consumption, low budget,

0:39:540:39:58

where you could just have fun, do it quickly, and move onto the next one.

0:39:580:40:03

But nor was it a great artistic endeavour, like a Red Shoes.

0:40:030:40:07

It fell disastrously between two stalls.

0:40:070:40:11

The sadness is, because of that, Sid Field didn't have a film career.

0:40:110:40:15

And because he didn't have a film career,

0:40:150:40:18

you ask somebody in the street, "Who is Sid Field?" they won't know.

0:40:180:40:22

And they might well know who Arthur Askey is,

0:40:220:40:25

they might know who George Formby is.

0:40:250:40:28

They might even know who Tommy Trinder is.

0:40:280:40:30

And Sid Field, who was probably on a level above these comedians,

0:40:300:40:34

is forgotten, and that's the sadness of it.

0:40:340:40:37

'I can only imagine Sid's frustration.

0:40:390:40:42

'The blockbuster that should have made his name live forever

0:40:420:40:45

'went down like a lead balloon.

0:40:450:40:48

'But London Town's failure didn't affect Sid's popularity with his faithful live audience.'

0:40:480:40:55

Next came Piccadilly Hayride,

0:40:550:40:57

which gave him over 700 sell-out performances.

0:40:570:41:01

It was an incredible showcase of talent.

0:41:010:41:04

'Piccadilly Hayride was a smash right from the start.

0:41:070:41:10

'Songs from the show were made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra.

0:41:120:41:16

'Ever heard this one?'

0:41:160:41:19

# They've got an awful lot of coffee in Brazil

0:41:190:41:24

-How do you do?

-'The show also launched the career of, amongst others, Terry Thomas.

0:41:240:41:30

'And for Sid, it confirmed his place in show business royalty,

0:41:320:41:36

'the king of comedy.'

0:41:360:41:39

One night I was up in this bar having a drink. It was between the houses.

0:41:390:41:44

And there were one or two people in and a babble of conversation.

0:41:440:41:49

And suddenly the conversation dropped, like that.

0:41:490:41:52

And the door opened and in walks Sid Field.

0:41:520:41:55

And he had the make-up on for the second half.

0:41:550:41:58

And he came and stood next to me.

0:41:580:42:01

Well, of course, everybody's now looking at him with awe.

0:42:030:42:08

I can't remember what he was having because from that moment I was tongue-tied.

0:42:080:42:13

If he had asked for a barrel full of goldfish

0:42:130:42:19

I would still have accepted it and said, "I'll have the same."

0:42:190:42:24

In the same room as Sid Field?

0:42:240:42:27

'During the war, Sid's most popular persona was the spiv Slasher Green.

0:42:300:42:34

'But later, another of his character types became everyone's favourite.

0:42:340:42:39

'Today, it's one of the most common types of comedy around.

0:42:390:42:43

'But then it was new and very daring.'

0:42:430:42:47

He did that sketch, which was unique at the time,

0:42:470:42:51

which he played a camp photographer.

0:42:510:42:54

-No, no, I'm sorry. Doesn't suit you one bit.

-Really?

-No.

0:42:540:42:58

-Of course, my hair isn't done.

-Mm. Even so.

0:42:580:43:01

That had not been done on the stage. The general public didn't know what they were laughing at,

0:43:010:43:06

-it was just somebody very sweet and lovely and precious.

-Yes.

0:43:060:43:10

But he was sending up people who were camp. And it was a wonderful impersonation.

0:43:100:43:16

And he did it with such style and aplomb, it was hysterical.

0:43:160:43:21

Something on the lines of, erm...

0:43:210:43:23

-Yes.

-Yes, oh, good.

-We'll have these books with you.

0:43:230:43:27

Sid set the trend for this gossipy form of camp humour,

0:43:270:43:32

which Frankie Howerd built upon with a more crumpled exterior.

0:43:320:43:36

Ooh!

0:43:370:43:39

-Kenneth Williams...

-..which was a rotten shame, wasn't it? Oh, it was a shame!

0:43:390:43:44

-He put a lot into that, didn't you?

-Everything.

-Tell him, you put a lot into it. He put his pension in.

0:43:440:43:49

Larry Grayson... LAUGHTER

0:43:490:43:53

There's so much of Larry which is pure Sid.

0:43:530:43:57

And then, in more recent times, Julian Clary, Graham Norton and so on. It's an unbroken line.

0:43:570:44:03

'In fact, where would television comedy be today without those camp characters.

0:44:050:44:11

'But Sid discovered that it was a rich vein of comedy possibilities in another way.'

0:44:110:44:17

-What's your name?

-LAUGHTER

0:44:170:44:19

-Lee. Have you been to the gym?

-LAUGHTER

0:44:190:44:23

'The camp character could work the audience more than any other.

0:44:230:44:28

'There was a licence to make comments that would otherwise come over as just aggressive

0:44:280:44:32

'or downright rude.'

0:44:320:44:34

I think you could keep your legs slightly closer together.

0:44:340:44:38

Yes. It's a bit upsetting.

0:44:380:44:40

I'm trying to work here.

0:44:400:44:42

'I've come to Leicester to see how, 60 years later, it still works for Julian Clary.'

0:44:440:44:50

It's important to me to know who's in the front row cos there's quite a lot of interaction.

0:44:500:44:55

And see who's there to play with.

0:44:550:44:58

-I look for a heterosexual couple.

-Oh, good.

-That's my, kind of, way in.

0:44:580:45:03

I know Sid was heckled a lot and people used to shout at him and he used to love that.

0:45:030:45:08

-Has anybody heckled you?

-Oh, yes. I encourage it.

-Do you?

0:45:080:45:13

-Yes, cos it's not... They haven't come to see a Chekhov play.

-No.

0:45:130:45:17

And it can create a bit of improvisation.

0:45:170:45:21

And certain places, you know, a really witty heckle is fabulous.

0:45:210:45:25

'When I was preparing to play Sid on stage,

0:45:250:45:29

'I got a host of tips from his understudy, Jack Tripp.'

0:45:290:45:33

I would come on to do my sketches like this.

0:45:330:45:36

And I'd start working.

0:45:360:45:39

Jack, who was teaching me, and he knew Sid Field,

0:45:390:45:43

he'd say, "No, no, no!"

0:45:430:45:46

-So he'd say, "I'll show you."

-Yes.

0:45:460:45:49

This is what he showed me Sid would do.

0:45:490:45:52

He would come on.

0:45:520:45:54

He would trip. He would look at the audience,

0:45:540:45:58

he would get them on his side then he would start the sketch.

0:45:580:46:02

So he'd come on like this, the same foot every time, and he'd go,

0:46:020:46:05

"Oh!" and look at them and go, "Oh, dear", you know. And then start.

0:46:050:46:10

APPLAUSE

0:46:100:46:12

-Was that the original mince, do you think?

-He did mince.

-He really did mince.

0:46:150:46:19

All that mincing backwards and forwards.

0:46:190:46:22

That photographer sketch, he was doing this all the time.

0:46:220:46:25

People are asking me what mincing means. I should have referred to Sid Field, really.

0:46:250:46:31

-He really did mince.

-Yes.

-I'm really going to look forward to watching you tonight now,

0:46:310:46:35

having had this conversation, because I'm fascinated by comedy.

0:46:350:46:41

-There may not be a laugh to be had.

-Here in Leicester?

0:46:410:46:45

'Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Mr Julian Clary!

0:46:470:46:52

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:46:520:46:54

'Eyeliner and pink Rollerblades.

0:46:560:47:00

'The clothes have changed, but the interaction with the audience is pure Sid.

0:47:000:47:04

'His comic legacy lives on.'

0:47:040:47:07

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

0:47:070:47:09

How kind. Thank you. Mind you don't peak too early.

0:47:120:47:15

-LAUGHTER

-Is that a heterosexual couple slipped through the net here?

0:47:150:47:21

Good evening. Nice to see you having a proper night out.

0:47:210:47:24

Because I know you heterosexuals prefer to stay at home, don't you?

0:47:240:47:29

-Eating food covered in breadcrumbs.

-LAUGHTER

0:47:290:47:34

Watching Top Gear.

0:47:340:47:36

Leslie, you actually saw Sid Field live on stage.

0:47:360:47:39

He worked an audience, didn't he? He used an audience.

0:47:390:47:43

Yes, well, I had a rather super girlfriend. I was quite young still.

0:47:430:47:48

And I was doing quite well with her. I had my arm round her and touching her up a bit, you know?

0:47:480:47:52

And he saw it from the stage.

0:47:520:47:55

CRASHING

0:47:550:47:59

And he picked me out and started to send me up rotten.

0:48:010:48:05

And all the audience turned round and watched me and him.

0:48:050:48:08

And he used me in his show.

0:48:080:48:10

-So he really used an audience?

-Oh, absolutely.

0:48:100:48:15

Yes, he could walk... He used to walk out into the audience.

0:48:150:48:19

He was part of the audience.

0:48:200:48:22

And he came out with some fairly strong stuff about this bird I was with, you know.

0:48:220:48:27

-Really?

-Oh, yes.

-Can you remember what he said at all?

0:48:270:48:31

No. I don't think I could repeat it.

0:48:310:48:34

What's you name? Any idea?

0:48:340:48:37

-LAUGHTER

-It's Dick.

0:48:370:48:40

-Dick! Is it?

-LAUGHTER

0:48:400:48:42

-Thank you, God.

-LAUGHTER

0:48:440:48:47

'No-one could work an audience like Sid.

0:48:520:48:55

'Back in 1946, Piccadilly Hayride was the hottest ticket in town.

0:48:550:49:01

'And Sid's fans included Hollywood stars like Bob Hope and Cary Grant.

0:49:010:49:06

'Danny Kaye came to see the show and became a close friend.

0:49:070:49:11

'From the left, Danny Kaye, Laurence Olivier and Sid.'

0:49:110:49:16

Laurence Olivier adored Sid.

0:49:170:49:21

He was one of his greatest fans. And Bing Crosby was, too.

0:49:210:49:25

He had a marvellous row of worshippers.

0:49:250:49:30

'In London's Albany Club, the Bartenders Guild meets to discover who can mix the perfect cocktail.

0:49:300:49:35

'In all, there were 46 entries. The stage and screen star Sid Field comes along as one of the judges.'

0:49:350:49:41

'Sid even had a cocktail created in his honour. A colourful concoction called the Slasher Green.

0:49:440:49:51

'But from that first glass of port to calm his stage fright,

0:49:540:49:57

'Sid had never been a stranger to drink.

0:49:570:50:00

'Peter Burn was somewhat concerned when he saw Sid backstage

0:50:010:50:05

'just before one of his many Royal Variety performances.'

0:50:050:50:10

And Sid Field, to my horror, I saw was slumped in the corner.

0:50:100:50:15

Completely out. Legless.

0:50:150:50:17

I couldn't believe it. They hadn't even been on. And the king and queen were in front,

0:50:170:50:22

and Churchill and all the great and the good.

0:50:220:50:24

And it was being broadcast all over the world. I thought, "This is a disaster!"

0:50:240:50:29

And I said, "Excuse me, I think he's had a few drinks."

0:50:290:50:33

He said, "Yes, well, I'd be very worried if he hadn't."

0:50:330:50:36

We stood on the side of the stage in the wings.

0:50:370:50:40

And Jerry Desmonde walked on and did the preamble.

0:50:400:50:44

And Sid was standing there, and he got his cue,

0:50:440:50:47

and suddenly he shook himself like a bear coming out of a river,

0:50:470:50:51

and walked on and gave the performance of his life.

0:50:510:50:54

-They said he liked a tipple.

-He did, but I thought everybody did.

0:50:540:51:00

-But I never ever saw him drunk. I never thought, "He's gone a bit funny."

-No.

0:51:000:51:06

So, I mean, it didn't seem to impinge, well, certainly not on my life.

0:51:060:51:11

'Everyone thought that Sid would follow Piccadilly Hayride with another hit revue show.

0:51:130:51:19

'But in 1948, he took a brave new direction.

0:51:190:51:22

'To play the lead in a Pulitzer Prize-winning drama, Harvey.

0:51:220:51:26

'Needless to say, there's no films or recordings of Sid in the role,

0:51:260:51:30

'but James Stewart played the part in the Hollywood version two years later.

0:51:300:51:34

'It won him an Oscar nomination.

0:51:340:51:37

'It was a comedy, but there was no singing, no dancing, and Sid couldn't play the audience.'

0:51:380:51:44

Suddenly, this variety comedian had gone legit.

0:51:460:51:51

He was absolutely wonderful in the show.

0:51:510:51:55

Brilliant. And with his amazing timing.

0:51:550:51:59

It was innate, instinctive comedy timing.

0:51:590:52:04

He was in a disciplined situation of a play. He took on that discipline,

0:52:040:52:09

gave a memorable performance,

0:52:090:52:12

he deserved an Oscar for it.

0:52:120:52:14

'His success in Harvey showed that, as with Tony Hancock, Sid could do more than just sketches.

0:52:150:52:22

'He could sustain a dramatic comic character.

0:52:220:52:25

'And that was a style of comedy that would soon become a mainstay of the emerging medium of television.

0:52:250:52:31

'In fact, TV would have suited Sid perfectly.

0:52:310:52:35

'Because then most shows were even performed in front of a live audience.

0:52:350:52:40

'He was on the verge of even greater success.'

0:52:410:52:45

# Rainy days don't worry me

0:52:450:52:48

'Except for one thing. During the run of Harvey, his health declined.

0:52:480:52:54

'He took a month off to recuperate, but soon after returning, in February 1950,

0:52:540:53:00

'Sid had a heart attack and died.

0:53:000:53:03

'He was just 45.

0:53:030:53:06

'At his funeral, thousands turned out to show their grief.'

0:53:080:53:12

# Keeping troubles away from...

0:53:120:53:15

There used to be a straight road that went up to the chapel,

0:53:150:53:19

and there were flowers completely covering all the grass.

0:53:190:53:23

Phyllis Rounce, who was Tony's agent at the beginning of his career,

0:53:250:53:30

she once told me something quite touching.

0:53:300:53:34

She said the only time she saw Tony Hancock cry,

0:53:340:53:39

burst into tears,

0:53:390:53:41

was when he heard the news of Sid Field's death.

0:53:410:53:47

# Rainy days don't worry me

0:53:470:53:52

'Sid Field may have been a brilliant comic. But he was hopeless with money.

0:53:540:54:00

'When he died, there was just £60 in his bank account to keep his widow and three children.

0:54:000:54:06

'But when the show business world heard of their plight, they came out like an entertainment army.'

0:54:080:54:14

In 1951, they united here at the London Palladium Theatre

0:54:140:54:19

for one of the greatest benefit concerts that has ever been staged.

0:54:190:54:23

'Sid's close friend Danny Kaye was the inspiration behind the event.

0:54:310:54:35

'It was a concentrated blast of talent.

0:54:380:54:41

'The biggest stars together for one incredible show, a midnight matinee.

0:54:410:54:46

'It would raise the equivalent of £350,000 for Sid's family.'

0:54:460:54:51

One writer called it, "the greatest show of its kind ever seen

0:54:540:54:58

"with a more impressive array of talent than any Royal Command Variety Performance."

0:54:580:55:04

Everyone was here. Comics like Danny Kaye, Tommy Trinder.

0:55:060:55:11

Actors like Orson Welles, Laurence Olivier, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

0:55:110:55:15

Whilst Peter Ustinov was on stage mimicking every voice in a choir,

0:55:150:55:20

here in the wings stood Elizabeth Taylor and Vivien Leigh.

0:55:200:55:25

Noel Coward, Judy Garland, a galaxy of stars.

0:55:250:55:29

One of the high points of the show was when Danny Kaye came on to sing.

0:55:300:55:35

Or at least he tried to sing, because at the same time, the Crazy Gang came on

0:55:350:55:39

and literally stripped him of his dress suit, squirting him all over with soda water,

0:55:390:55:43

throwing a custard pie in his face until he was left naked, just bar his underpants,

0:55:430:55:48

on which was the slogan, "Candy Kisses".

0:55:480:55:51

And in one spectacular routine,

0:55:510:55:56

dancers from three huge West End musicals gathered together to dance, here on this very stage.

0:55:560:56:03

APPLAUSE

0:56:030:56:05

'They did it to raise the money, yes, but more than that,

0:56:170:56:22

'they needed to express their grief.

0:56:220:56:25

'Because everybody who knew Sid or just saw him on stage loved him.

0:56:250:56:30

'And the tragedy for us today

0:56:300:56:33

'is that there's no hard evidence left that really shows why.

0:56:330:56:38

'We just have to take people's word for it.'

0:56:380:56:40

I just wish that he'd lived until the television age.

0:56:420:56:47

Because if you'd seen him in person, he was charismatic.

0:56:470:56:50

He embodied the epitome of what I consider a good comedian.

0:56:550:57:00

It is to be visual and likeable.

0:57:000:57:04

And Sid Field had all these commodities in abundance.

0:57:060:57:10

-Address the ball!

-Here, ball!

-Oh, stop!

0:57:100:57:15

I don't know what to do, do I?

0:57:150:57:17

He was such a supreme live performer. The people I've spoken to who have seen him,

0:57:170:57:21

60 years later, it's as if they'd seen it yesterday.

0:57:210:57:26

-What a performance.

-All right...

0:57:260:57:28

A painter leaves paintings, a composer leaves work that other people hear.

0:57:280:57:33

What does a comedian leave? Only the memories of people who laughed at him.

0:57:330:57:37

# Just remember when good fortune chooses to frown

0:57:380:57:44

'After a lifetime on stage, and just seven years at the top,

0:57:450:57:49

'Sid Field was the star who died too soon.

0:57:490:57:53

'Poised on the brink of the television age, who knows what might have been?

0:57:530:57:58

# You can't keep a good dreamer down

0:57:580:58:02

'But those who saw him never forgot.

0:58:020:58:05

'And memories, like jokes, go down the generations.

0:58:050:58:10

'So maybe the echo of that laughter haunts us still.'

0:58:100:58:14

# Your lucky star

0:58:140:58:17

# You can feel just like a king

0:58:170:58:19

# And not wear a crown

0:58:190:58:23

'Although we may not now recognise his name, Sid's impact on comedy was vast.

0:58:230:58:28

'And his legacy continues to this very day.'

0:58:280:58:32

# When the little monkey feels he's more than a clown

0:58:350:58:41

# Well, you can't keep a good dreamer down

0:58:410:58:44

# If the man they dumped would like a new Paris gown

0:58:470:58:52

# Cos you can't keep a good dreamer down

0:58:520:58:57

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

0:58:580:59:02

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0:59:020:59:06

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0:59:060:59:06

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