0:00:02 > 0:00:04He was like Elvis. He's just like Elvis.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07- We both love him to death. - Very much so.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11As I always say to him,
0:00:11 > 0:00:14"Open the fridge door, the light goes on and you do 20 minutes."
0:00:14 > 0:00:15SHE LAUGHS
0:00:16 > 0:00:19Showbiz is supposed to be full of people that go to rehab,
0:00:19 > 0:00:21cocaine addicts, heroin.
0:00:23 > 0:00:25Johnny is a tea addict.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29He's a national treasure, isn't he?
0:00:30 > 0:00:33Johnny Beattie rocks. He is Scotland.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46# Oh, no, not me
0:00:46 > 0:00:48# Not me
0:00:48 > 0:00:53# I did it my way... #
0:00:53 > 0:00:55At Glasgow's Citizens Theatre,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59the audience is gathered to celebrate Johnny Beattie's 60 years
0:00:59 > 0:01:03in show business with a special gala in which a cast of family
0:01:03 > 0:01:07and friends pay tribute to one of Scotland's best-loved entertainers.
0:01:08 > 0:01:13# To say the things he truly feels
0:01:13 > 0:01:18# And not the words of one who kneels
0:01:18 > 0:01:22#The record shows
0:01:22 > 0:01:28# I took the blows
0:01:28 > 0:01:36# I did it my way! #
0:01:46 > 0:01:50Everybody just rolled up their sleeves, nobody giving it, "I have to
0:01:50 > 0:01:53"be particularly looked after because I am very, very precious." You know?
0:01:53 > 0:01:55And this is an amazing sort of labour of love that
0:01:55 > 0:01:59she's done this whole evening for him. It's lovely.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02Everyone was just there for two purposes.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06One was to honour the wonder that is John Gerard Beattie.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10And the other one was to raise this money for charity.
0:02:10 > 0:02:13# The stars in the hazy heaven
0:02:13 > 0:02:16# Tremble above you
0:02:16 > 0:02:18# As he is whispering
0:02:18 > 0:02:21# "Darling, I love you." #
0:02:21 > 0:02:26This was a nostalgic evening of variety theatre.
0:02:26 > 0:02:30Alan Cumming reprised Johnny's Buttons from Cinderella
0:02:30 > 0:02:32and Peter Morrison wrote a special ditty.
0:02:32 > 0:02:36Down with the loutish vandals who scribble their graffiti
0:02:36 > 0:02:40Bah to the social network so twittery and tweety
0:02:40 > 0:02:45Give me Lear and Hamlet or any role that's meaty
0:02:45 > 0:02:50But let me find a legend to compare with Johnny Beattie.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54Johnny himself stepped out onto the stage.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56I know what some of you are thinking.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58"What is he doing with that suit on?"
0:03:01 > 0:03:08Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first suit I wore on May 19th 1952.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10That's 60 years last night.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12AUDIENCE CHEER
0:03:15 > 0:03:18I havenae worn it for...must be 50 years.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21I mean, this suit's older than my gags.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27Una McLean revived the spirit of music hall as Doris Droy,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31a part she played in a show with Johnny 30 years ago.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34# I'm Sue
0:03:34 > 0:03:37# I'm just plain Sue
0:03:37 > 0:03:43# They call me Suicide Sal! #
0:03:44 > 0:03:46Absent friends sent tributes.
0:03:47 > 0:03:51I'm always proud and pleased to see someone from the Govan parish
0:03:51 > 0:03:53doing so well in life.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55I know you're from a different century from me,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58but dinosaurs live on.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Johnny, I love you. 60 years well spent.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06And 60 years that they, the Scottish people, will never get back again.
0:04:06 > 0:04:08AUDIENCE LAUGH
0:04:12 > 0:04:14Fellow River City actor Tom Urie
0:04:14 > 0:04:18sang a Glasgow song for this boy from Govan.
0:04:23 > 0:04:29# In the second city of the Empire
0:04:31 > 0:04:35# Mother Glasgow watches all her weans
0:04:38 > 0:04:46# Trying hard to feed her little starlings
0:04:46 > 0:04:51# Unconsciously she clips their little wings
0:04:57 > 0:05:05# Among the flightless birds and sightless starlings
0:05:05 > 0:05:07# Father Glasgow knows... #
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Down the Clyde, where Glasgow becomes Shieldinch
0:05:10 > 0:05:12in BBC soap River City,
0:05:12 > 0:05:15another day's filming is getting underway.
0:05:15 > 0:05:17Wouldn't be the same without my wee cup of tea.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19No, it certainly wouldn't. Start your day well.
0:05:19 > 0:05:21HE LAUGHS
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Every day I come in and the girl's made me a cup of tea.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26What can I say?
0:05:26 > 0:05:27After his cup of tea,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32Johnny usually goes over lines with fictional wife Eileen McCallum.
0:05:32 > 0:05:33Come in! >
0:05:35 > 0:05:38Right, sir. What are we going to do
0:05:38 > 0:05:40because we don't speak to each other in this scene?
0:05:40 > 0:05:44I think Liz might be quite anxious with Dan going away, because
0:05:44 > 0:05:47he's been living in the house, he's been helping with your condition...
0:05:47 > 0:05:51Yeah, and being a doctor, obviously that's made a bit special.
0:05:51 > 0:05:52Exactly! Exactly.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Johnny has played the character Malcolm Hamilton
0:05:55 > 0:05:58since the very first episode ten years ago.
0:05:58 > 0:06:01- That's all out?- That's all out.
0:06:01 > 0:06:04So the scene will start with Adam saying. "Good luck."
0:06:04 > 0:06:07He turns to Malcolm, puts up his hand, Malcolm shakes it...
0:06:07 > 0:06:10- Look after yourself, son. - I will, Malcolm.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13Just at that moment, Magdalena will come running down the stairs
0:06:13 > 0:06:15from Molly's flat.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17Dan, I'll miss you.
0:06:19 > 0:06:25It could be a pick up at, as this morning was, 8.30 I think.
0:06:25 > 0:06:30And it could have gone on till 7.00 you see. It's a long day.
0:06:30 > 0:06:31I know. I know.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36His agent would be horrified to know how many times
0:06:36 > 0:06:39he is called for that length of time.
0:06:39 > 0:06:42At one point, they brought a great big sofa-bed thing in
0:06:42 > 0:06:46and he was horrified. He said, "I don't need that!"
0:06:46 > 0:06:49JOHNNY LAUGHS
0:06:50 > 0:06:53Got this air of, what do you call it?
0:06:53 > 0:06:55Is it patrician?
0:06:55 > 0:06:58You know, River City, the older actor, you know?
0:06:58 > 0:07:01- Dave?- Yes. - I think I'll take this off.
0:07:01 > 0:07:04When you're sitting in the canteen, people are talking
0:07:04 > 0:07:06about stories and things that they've done in their life.
0:07:06 > 0:07:09And then you've got Johnny, and Johnny'll start talking
0:07:09 > 0:07:11about playing golf with people like Bob Hope.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13He's arguably the most entertaining person on here.
0:07:13 > 0:07:19- He's no going to the moon, woman. - At least he would be safer there.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22He just always is such a true professional.
0:07:22 > 0:07:25He comes on and he nails his character, and he nails his scene.
0:07:25 > 0:07:26He nails his lines.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28When you see Johnny coming on the screen,
0:07:28 > 0:07:30you know you're going to get something good.
0:07:33 > 0:07:34Look after yourself, son.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38The biographer came to see me in the first week or so and said,
0:07:38 > 0:07:42"Johnny, you're from Fife. You're a Fifer. You worked on the railway.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46"You had to retire early for some kind of health reason.
0:07:46 > 0:07:48"And you've come over to the west of Scotland."
0:07:48 > 0:07:52I said, "Hold on a wee minute. Why am I a Fifer?
0:07:52 > 0:07:54"I was born and brought up in Govan.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56"I didnae work on the railway, I worked in the shipyards."
0:07:56 > 0:07:59"Yes," she said, "that's the way to do it."
0:08:01 > 0:08:05Johnny's real life collided again with Malcolm's
0:08:05 > 0:08:09when a storyline involved memories of National Service in Malaya.
0:08:09 > 0:08:13I said to our director, "I was actually in Malaya in 1945.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15"In the Royal Marines."
0:08:16 > 0:08:18He said, "Have you any pictures?"
0:08:18 > 0:08:21I said, "Yeah." So I brought in the following day
0:08:21 > 0:08:24a picture of the seven of us.
0:08:24 > 0:08:25Yeah, yeah.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30And they used that. So it's art imitates life. Or life imitates art.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33No, no, sure, sure. Absolutely.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35I M-M-Malcolm...
0:08:37 > 0:08:39..Hamilton...
0:08:41 > 0:08:44Johnny's dementia story I think's important.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46It's an important story to tell.
0:08:46 > 0:08:48I think a lot of people are affected by that in families
0:08:48 > 0:08:50and I think he's played it wonderfully well.
0:08:50 > 0:08:52Look at me, Malcolm.
0:08:56 > 0:09:01..take you, Elizabeth Buchanan, to be my lawful wedded wife.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04It's quite strange when you see him doing the Alzheimer's stuff,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07where he's supposed to look like he's wandering a wee bit.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09Whereas Johnny himself is sharp as a tack.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13I think in a sense he always was a frustrated actor.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16So now it's all turned full circle.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Now he's doing what he always wanted to do and good luck to him!
0:09:20 > 0:09:23You know. As Johnny says, "That's his pension."
0:09:23 > 0:09:24HE LAUGHS
0:09:24 > 0:09:28I was going up Byres Road one day, this is a couple of years ago,
0:09:28 > 0:09:30two wifeys said, "Oh, Johnny, we saw you in that River City."
0:09:30 > 0:09:33I said, "You enjoying it?" "Well...seen you a lot funnier."
0:09:33 > 0:09:35AUDIENCE LAUGH
0:09:39 > 0:09:43# And the tree and the fish
0:09:43 > 0:09:46# And the bird and the bell
0:09:48 > 0:09:55# Let Glasgow flourish. #
0:09:59 > 0:10:01Show business was never a likely career
0:10:01 > 0:10:04for a working class Glasgow boy in the 1930s.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06Johnny was very clever though,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and there were high hopes for a professional career.
0:10:09 > 0:10:14- I was told I was going to be a teacher.- Were you?
0:10:14 > 0:10:17And after the third year, instead of going back,
0:10:17 > 0:10:20I got a job as an errand boy in the Cooperative.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22I'd got quite pleased with the money, the tips.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25- So I didn't go back. - I bet you got great tips.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29- Oh, yeah.- Cos you would be doing the old patter with the wifeys.
0:10:29 > 0:10:30I can imagine it.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33So you went to the shipyards for your apprenticeship,
0:10:33 > 0:10:36- and from there you went into the Marines.- That's right.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39That must have been an absolutely massive culture shock.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42The boy fae Govan to suddenly find himself in these incredibly
0:10:42 > 0:10:44exotic places.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46- Oh, yeah. - That must have been extraordinary.
0:10:46 > 0:10:51We landed first in Ceylon. And we were a month there.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54Then we moved to Singapore.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Fortunately, en-route there on the boat, the Japanese surrendered.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00- I think they probably heard I was on my way and...- That's what it was.
0:11:00 > 0:11:02..and I might sing. "Oh, God. Please..."
0:11:02 > 0:11:05- He might give us The Wedding Of Jock MacKay.- Surrender!
0:11:05 > 0:11:08That was probably a bit early for The Wedding Of Jock MacKay.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11It hadn't quite happened in our wonderful lives at that point.
0:11:11 > 0:11:14We stayed in a place initially called Kurnegala,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17which was in the middle of the jungle.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20And there was a gate, but no fence round it.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23And we were assigned to guard the gate.
0:11:23 > 0:11:27Even then, I thought, "What the hell are we doing guarding this gate?
0:11:27 > 0:11:28"There's nae fence."
0:11:28 > 0:11:30They'd just have went along the road and walked in.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33It'd be about...just dawn was breaking, you know, and...
0:11:33 > 0:11:35Hot and humid, I imagine.
0:11:35 > 0:11:37About 4.00 in the morning, I heard this noise and I looked,
0:11:37 > 0:11:39and there was an elephant coming along the road.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42I'm shouting, "Halt! Who goes there?"
0:11:42 > 0:11:45And he just ignored me. "Halt! Who goes there?"
0:11:45 > 0:11:46And it just went past me.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48And there was one of the wee natives up on the front.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51And he was on his way, as we found out later,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53to another part of the jungle for timber clearing.
0:11:53 > 0:11:54They were trained.
0:11:54 > 0:11:57But he never even looked in my direction. I'm standing...
0:11:59 > 0:12:03Back on Civvy Street, Govan, Johnny returned to Fairfields Shipyard
0:12:03 > 0:12:07and entertaining his co-workers until a chance encounter with
0:12:07 > 0:12:11the director of an amateur dramatic group changed his life.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15He said, "I wonder if any of you can help us.
0:12:15 > 0:12:19"We're putting on this play..." And I remember the name.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22"..Dan Skillion can't do it, he's got the flu.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26"It's not a big part but it's next week. Could anyone come along?"
0:12:26 > 0:12:28And I thought,
0:12:28 > 0:12:32"Wait a wee minute, Govan boy, ex-Marine, get me, Jack the lad."
0:12:33 > 0:12:37And I looked at the girls and thought, "Quite nice, by the way."
0:12:37 > 0:12:39THEY LAUGH
0:12:39 > 0:12:42So I said, "I'll come along."
0:12:42 > 0:12:47And I played a police sergeant in a play called Grand National Night.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49Then I gradually got bigger parts.
0:12:49 > 0:12:52- I finished up playing the male lead, you know.- Of course!
0:12:52 > 0:12:54You played a lot of the...didn't you?
0:12:54 > 0:12:57- Oh, nearly all. And Burke. I played Burke in Burke and Hare.- Oh, ah.
0:13:02 > 0:13:03Johnny's acting talents
0:13:03 > 0:13:05were starting to make quite an impression.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09Tall, ram-rod straight.
0:13:09 > 0:13:15Mischievous twinkly blue eyes. And he's very, very attractive.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18To wee older women.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22Oh, yeah. Big ones too, of course. You know, all shapes and sizes.
0:13:24 > 0:13:26The man's a sort of babe magnet.
0:13:26 > 0:13:28AUDIENCE LAUGH
0:13:28 > 0:13:30Beautiful head of jet-black hair.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34And he had a kind of American gangster look about him.
0:13:34 > 0:13:35And he never looked a comic.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38He wasn't a man that you looked at and said, "Oh, that's a funny man."
0:13:38 > 0:13:40Because he looked a good-looking guy.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45But Johnny was funny and formed a comedy duo with friend Wally Butler
0:13:45 > 0:13:47and they played at concert parties
0:13:47 > 0:13:51until Wally landed Johnny an unexpected billing.
0:13:53 > 0:13:55I picked up the Evening News
0:13:55 > 0:13:58and the showbiz correspondent was called Mamie Creighton.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02And she said, "So and so... Principle comedian this year will be
0:14:02 > 0:14:06"electrical engineering student John Beattie."
0:14:06 > 0:14:08We didn't have the phone
0:14:08 > 0:14:10so I got the subway across and up the stairs to her.
0:14:10 > 0:14:14I said, "What's this, Wally? "What are you talking about?"
0:14:14 > 0:14:18Cos he'd asked me to write material. He said, "Well, you know, I'm stuck.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21"If you're writing the material, you may as well do it."
0:14:21 > 0:14:23So I went on and I did it.
0:14:23 > 0:14:26And they weren't a bad audience that particular night.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33Anyone who worked on the yards, you think of Johnny,
0:14:33 > 0:14:35you think of Billy Connolly for example,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39they will always tell you that if you could hold your own
0:14:39 > 0:14:42in the shipyards with your mates, you could entertain anybody.
0:14:42 > 0:14:45The shipyards, they were like comedy workshops.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48I don't know when they got time to build boats.
0:14:49 > 0:14:51Cos the patter went all day long, you know?
0:14:51 > 0:14:53I remember one particular day I got bold.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56And I said to an old boy in the yard beside me,
0:14:56 > 0:14:59I said, "Sandy, we're doing a show on the South Govan Town Hall,
0:14:59 > 0:15:01"would you want to come tomorrow? Maybe bring your wife?"
0:15:01 > 0:15:03So he came on the Sunday night,
0:15:03 > 0:15:06and on the Monday I committed the cardinal sin.
0:15:06 > 0:15:08You never say to people, "Did you enjoy the show?"
0:15:08 > 0:15:10If they enjoyed the show, they tell you.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12If not, they talk about the weather or the football.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16And I said, "Sandy, did you enjoy the show?"
0:15:16 > 0:15:18And he looked at me.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21He said, "There's better turns in the eye infirmary."
0:15:21 > 0:15:23AUDIENCE LAUGH
0:15:26 > 0:15:29Johnny left Fairfield's and turned professional
0:15:29 > 0:15:32after being spotted by Scottish tenor and international star
0:15:32 > 0:15:34Robert Wilson.
0:15:35 > 0:15:43# But not for them alone... #
0:15:46 > 0:15:49He asked me to come to Broxburn and do a Sunday night concert with him.
0:15:49 > 0:15:53- Which I did.- A wee try out. - Just a wee try out.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55And after it he says, "Not too bad.
0:15:55 > 0:16:00"Would you like to come and do some shows with me?"
0:16:00 > 0:16:03I said, "When are they, Mr Wilson?"
0:16:03 > 0:16:07He said, "Well, we start on the 5th of May."
0:16:07 > 0:16:12"Oh, I couldn't do that," I said. "I get married on the 3rd of May."
0:16:12 > 0:16:16"This is a tour." he said. "You'd be going on honeymoon?"
0:16:16 > 0:16:18"Oh, yeah. Aye. Aye. Yeah."
0:16:18 > 0:16:20"Well, you could join me in a fortnight."
0:16:20 > 0:16:23- And we did six months. All over Scotland.- Gosh.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25- What a great start, Dad. - Northern Ireland.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28Yeah, I was getting at least three times the money I had on the ships.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31I was being paid £15 a week.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39This new-found wealth reflected the popularity of variety shows
0:16:39 > 0:16:44which played to huge audiences in the pre-TV world of 1952.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50Well, really, at the time it was thriving.
0:16:50 > 0:16:54It was the only place you could go to get a laugh and a sing-song.
0:16:56 > 0:17:02I would be onstage maybe in a gypsy scene, singing a song,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06straight song, and singing about a gypsy,
0:17:06 > 0:17:08and then come off, get changed and quick,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12and I could be on as an old woman within about three minutes.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15With the grey wig and the long black dress and the shawl.
0:17:15 > 0:17:16And doing a sketch.
0:17:16 > 0:17:20And then the next time I could be on doing a double with Johnny.
0:17:20 > 0:17:23That's what variety was all about. There was a little bit of everything.
0:17:23 > 0:17:27The summer seasons were four, four and a half months.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31Twice nightly. Change of programme every week for about six weeks.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34Then back to the original programme.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37For us as a family, you were very absent.
0:17:37 > 0:17:42Simply because that's what the job was and there weren't motorways.
0:17:42 > 0:17:44In the very early days, you didn't have a car.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47When you were up in Aberdeen say, doing a summer season,
0:17:47 > 0:17:49you weren't getting back home. You couldn't.
0:17:49 > 0:17:52And then we would come and join you for the summer holidays.
0:17:52 > 0:17:54That must have been quite hard for you, being away from us all.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57Very hard. But that's one of these things you have to do.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00I wanted to give you all a good start,
0:18:00 > 0:18:02a nice home and all the business, you know?
0:18:02 > 0:18:03And that was show business.
0:18:06 > 0:18:10Gags, songs and sketches have come and gone in Johnny's acts
0:18:10 > 0:18:12over the last 60 years,
0:18:12 > 0:18:15but one or two favourites have remained constant.
0:18:18 > 0:18:21# I've just come from the wedding of a Mr Jock MacKay
0:18:21 > 0:18:24# He got married to a little girl, her name was Nellie Blythe
0:18:24 > 0:18:26# No mistake about it, it was quite a swell affair
0:18:26 > 0:18:28# Listen for a minute, I will tell you who was there
0:18:28 > 0:18:29# There was... #
0:18:29 > 0:18:32HE MUMBLES
0:18:32 > 0:18:34I noticed that when he's doing The Wedding Of Jock MacKay,
0:18:34 > 0:18:37he finishes every time on a top F-sharp.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40Which is pretty impressive for a man who seems to have had no
0:18:40 > 0:18:42vocal training of any kind whatsoever.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46But his voice was kind of honed in the back streets of Govan,
0:18:46 > 0:18:49as you know. So he didn't have to bother too much.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54As a variety performer in ever changing programmes,
0:18:54 > 0:18:57Johnny was always thinking of new ways to describe his act.
0:18:59 > 0:19:01I did a sketch as Romans.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Dear old Bruce McClure, who was a top producer, he said,
0:19:04 > 0:19:08"I've just seen this programme. What's this here, your Roman sketch?
0:19:08 > 0:19:10"Et tu Beattie?"
0:19:10 > 0:19:13I said, "Well, you know, et tu Brutus, Julius Caesar."
0:19:13 > 0:19:15"What?
0:19:15 > 0:19:17"What's that got to do with the sketch?"
0:19:17 > 0:19:20I said, "OK, make it Roman In The Gloamin'."
0:19:20 > 0:19:23I had a friend who was very good at making costumes.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28So I said to Johnny, "Why don't we do like a couple of cigarette packets?"
0:19:28 > 0:19:31This is another thing you couldn't do now.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34We came out and did cigarette gags.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38It didn't do well at all.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40I said to Johnny, "I'm sorry about that, Johnny.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42"This was all my idea to dare to do that."
0:19:42 > 0:19:46"Ach, never mind," he said. "God loves a trier. Ha-ha!"
0:19:46 > 0:19:50If I was to say something on stage to him, not scripted,
0:19:50 > 0:19:54and it got a laugh, when we'd come off stage,
0:19:54 > 0:19:57he's the first person to say, "That was great. Keep that in."
0:19:57 > 0:20:00I've worked with lots of comics where I've said something
0:20:00 > 0:20:03and it's got a laugh and they've said to me afterwards,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05"By the way, don't do that again."
0:20:05 > 0:20:07Just the difference.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11Johnny...it doesn't matter who gets the laugh
0:20:11 > 0:20:13as long as the audience is laughing.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16So Johnny liked a funny man with him, you know.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19And he gave you gags to do, which was very generous.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22It wasn't just a straight man, you know?
0:20:22 > 0:20:27I do a particular character with him and she's in a knitted dress.
0:20:27 > 0:20:28HE SCREAMS
0:20:28 > 0:20:30SHE LISPS
0:20:30 > 0:20:31Hello, hello, I say. Hello. Hello.
0:20:31 > 0:20:34I'm no here about mysel', I say. I'm no here about mysel'.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38I'm here about my boyfriend, I say. I'm here about my boyfriend.
0:20:38 > 0:20:40- Have you got a boyfriend?- Oh, yeah.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Something the matter wi' him.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46Here - would you like to meet him? Ah say, would you like to meet him?
0:20:46 > 0:20:48I might as well, I'm daein' nothin' else!
0:20:48 > 0:20:50LAUGHTER
0:20:50 > 0:20:52I'm staunin' here, waitin' on a bus.
0:20:52 > 0:20:55Well, he's going to meet me here so you stand there
0:20:55 > 0:20:57and he'll be here any minute now...
0:20:57 > 0:21:00- Ah!- ..because he's an awful nice fella.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02Oh, there he is, there!
0:21:02 > 0:21:05Come on and meet the nice man. Come on!
0:21:06 > 0:21:09Oh, come on, Sebastian!
0:21:09 > 0:21:12He's awful shy, so he is, he's awful shy!
0:21:13 > 0:21:15LAUGHTER
0:21:17 > 0:21:20I can't even remember who won Britain's Got Talent last year.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22I might remember this year because of the dancing dog -
0:21:22 > 0:21:26but it's impossible to think of anyone going on to having
0:21:26 > 0:21:28that kind of rich and varied career.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Erm, and it was highly improbable for Johnny
0:21:32 > 0:21:35to have imagined it, but it's a great tribute to his skill that he's
0:21:35 > 0:21:39achieved it, evidently effortlessly.
0:21:39 > 0:21:41# We was
0:21:41 > 0:21:43# Always all the gither All together all the time
0:21:43 > 0:21:46# We was always all the gither all the time
0:21:46 > 0:21:49# My faither and my mother and my sister and my brother
0:21:49 > 0:21:52# We were always all the gither all the time - hee-hay! #
0:21:56 > 0:22:00Scottish acts were always in demand in Canada and North America,
0:22:00 > 0:22:02and Johnny regularly toured with the
0:22:02 > 0:22:04hugely successful Alexander Brothers,
0:22:04 > 0:22:09taking in halls from Vancouver to Medicine Hat to New York.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Oh, Carnegie Hall, I remember that one.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16- We were all so excited - first time ever...- See what I mean?
0:22:16 > 0:22:19He's a real handsome guy, isn't he, when you look at him?
0:22:20 > 0:22:23Yeah, Johnny went down very, very well.
0:22:23 > 0:22:26You know, his topical gags, and...
0:22:26 > 0:22:29You know, the New Yorkers were on the ball.
0:22:29 > 0:22:34# In the spring, when the world was young then
0:22:34 > 0:22:38# And the sweet songs of youth were sung then
0:22:38 > 0:22:41# By the lochside I met a maiden
0:22:41 > 0:22:45# And my heart longed to call her mine
0:22:45 > 0:22:48# She was fairer than words could say, man
0:22:48 > 0:22:52# And her smile made the water gay, man
0:22:52 > 0:22:56# But like springtime she could not stay, man
0:22:56 > 0:23:00# Though my heart longed to call her mine... #
0:23:00 > 0:23:02When you tour Canada and America, they expect you...
0:23:02 > 0:23:05- ..to wear the kilts. - ..to have the kilts on.
0:23:05 > 0:23:08That's part and parcel of the...
0:23:08 > 0:23:11- ..the package.- The package!
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Johnny always took his kilt off in the dressing room.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17One night between acts at the Ottawa Arts Centre,
0:23:17 > 0:23:22in shirt tails and his usual tartan boxer shorts, he got lost backstage.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25Got to this door, opened it, walked through -
0:23:25 > 0:23:27it was very, very dimly lit.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30Onto the stage
0:23:30 > 0:23:33in front of 300 people looking at him. He'd walked onto the set of...
0:23:33 > 0:23:36- Laughing at him, you know!- ..Hamlet!
0:23:36 > 0:23:39If you can imagine, the white hose and the Highland shoes,
0:23:39 > 0:23:42the boxer shorts and the shirt tail!
0:23:42 > 0:23:46So, they must have thought it was the ghost of Hamlet,
0:23:46 > 0:23:48or whatever, you know! He raised his hand...
0:23:48 > 0:23:51and just said, "Hello, there!"
0:23:51 > 0:23:53And walked off!
0:23:53 > 0:23:56# With a wee bunch here and a wee bunch there
0:23:56 > 0:23:59# And a Hielanman's umbrella! #
0:23:59 > 0:24:00Whoo!
0:24:00 > 0:24:03APPLAUSE
0:24:06 > 0:24:09They were halcyon days.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12We loved having him on the tours, that's for sure.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14Oh, he was great fun, great fun.
0:24:16 > 0:24:20Who needs to go to New York State, when you can rap in the Gallowgate?!
0:24:21 > 0:24:24# Who needs to go to New York State, when you can rap in the Gallowgate?
0:24:24 > 0:24:27# Out on the street, punters all clapping
0:24:27 > 0:24:29# Look at wee Erchie Glasgow rapping... #
0:24:29 > 0:24:33The Glasgow rap was Johnny's moment as a pop star
0:24:33 > 0:24:37when it shot straight into the Scottish charts at number 15.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41It was in the mid-'80s or something,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44and, er, he was taking, you know, urban,
0:24:44 > 0:24:48black music and giving it a Glasgow slant - I thought
0:24:48 > 0:24:50that was...I thought that was fantastic.
0:24:50 > 0:24:52# Gie it laldy! Belt it oot!
0:24:52 > 0:24:54- # Rap it up, rap it up - Ma and pa
0:24:54 > 0:24:56# Rappin wi' the weans nae bother at all... #
0:24:56 > 0:25:00I did a concert with Johnny about, oh, a month ago,
0:25:00 > 0:25:02and people were all shouting,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04"Gies the Glasgow rap!" And he did it!
0:25:04 > 0:25:07See you, Jimmy, you're a right wee brammer
0:25:07 > 0:25:09Hard luck, Cecil, cannae talk the grammar
0:25:09 > 0:25:11Glasgow rappin', you just shout well!
0:25:11 > 0:25:13Gies a break, then gaun yersel'
0:25:13 > 0:25:15Glasgow rappin', just pure magic
0:25:15 > 0:25:17Bools in the mooth - is that no tragic?
0:25:17 > 0:25:20Very good. Eminem is worried, you know!
0:25:21 > 0:25:23I wouldn't have to remember the Glasgow Rap.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Johnny will do you a rendition of the Glasgow Rap
0:25:27 > 0:25:30at the drop of a hat! I've heard it in the canteen, I've heard it
0:25:30 > 0:25:33in the corridor, I've heard it at home, Byres Road...!
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Performing solo, and with feeds like John Mulvaney, Hector Nicol,
0:25:41 > 0:25:45Anne Fields and Russel Lane, Johnny always wrote
0:25:45 > 0:25:49much of his own material and developed his own kind of comedy.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54A Johnny joke...
0:25:55 > 0:25:56Wee boy went into a shoe shop,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59tried a pair on, he said, "They're too tight."
0:25:59 > 0:26:04Woman said, "Try them with the tongue out." He says, "Thtill too tight..."
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Johnny has a flypaper memory.
0:26:07 > 0:26:10It's a remarkable thing. He can't just tell you where he was,
0:26:10 > 0:26:12or which theatre he was in, in 1962.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15He'll tell you who was in the cast, what costumes they wore,
0:26:15 > 0:26:17what the tea lady wore, and all sorts of stuff.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21MUSIC: Mastermind Theme
0:26:23 > 0:26:27Johnny Beattie - you have two minutes on corny, one-line jokes
0:26:27 > 0:26:29starting from now.
0:26:29 > 0:26:30Drink.
0:26:30 > 0:26:33Edinburgh man: "Where's the nearest boozer?"
0:26:33 > 0:26:34Glasgow man: "You're talking to him."
0:26:34 > 0:26:37Man with alcoholic constipation - he couldn't pass a pump.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Policeman: "Where are you going up a one-way street?"
0:26:39 > 0:26:42"I don't know, but they're all coming back."
0:26:42 > 0:26:43Doctors...
0:26:43 > 0:26:46Old maid went into the doctor, rushed out screaming two minutes later.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49Nurse to doctor: "What happened?" "I've just told her she's pregnant.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52"Is she?" "No, but it's cured her hiccups."
0:26:52 > 0:26:55His 40th celebration of whatever it was, he said,
0:26:55 > 0:26:58"I'm going to do 40 gags in 10 minutes."
0:26:58 > 0:27:00And he did 40 gags in 10 minutes.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04And on his 50th, he said, "I'll do 50 gags in 10 minutes."
0:27:04 > 0:27:06He just reels them all off, you know?
0:27:06 > 0:27:08He's a gag man.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Landladies...
0:27:10 > 0:27:12"May I have an alarm clock?" "You won't need one -
0:27:12 > 0:27:14"you'll hear me scraping the toast."
0:27:14 > 0:27:16"The sheets were damp - I'll have lumbago in the morning."
0:27:16 > 0:27:19- "You'll have porridge like everybody else."- Shopkeepers...
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Lady walked into the butcher's - "Have you got sheep's heid?"
0:27:22 > 0:27:25"No, it's the way I part my hair." "Do you keep dripping?"
0:27:25 > 0:27:28He says, "Mind your own damn business." Man at the fishmonger,
0:27:28 > 0:27:30put a chamber pot on the counter. "A pound a' fillet."
0:27:30 > 0:27:33- He says, "A pound you don't." - A lot of humour is sort of
0:27:33 > 0:27:36kind of mean, and he's not.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Er, so, yeah, he's kind of unusual in that way, I think.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43His humour is incredibly warm. I think it's not cynical in any way,
0:27:43 > 0:27:46it's absolutely about a kind of positive humour and about finding
0:27:46 > 0:27:49the sweetness and the emotional thing in something.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52I also think he's very dry, so it's not a sentimental humour
0:27:52 > 0:27:54in any way at all, erm...
0:27:54 > 0:27:57But it's a kind of sophisticated and a polite humour,
0:27:57 > 0:28:00he's a kind of gentleman comedian, if there is such a thing.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03If I could absorb
0:28:03 > 0:28:05an iota of his charisma
0:28:05 > 0:28:07and his stage craft, it would make me
0:28:07 > 0:28:115,000 times a better comedian.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14They've got studs in their eyebrows, their ears, their nose,
0:28:14 > 0:28:16through their lips, in their tongue -
0:28:16 > 0:28:18I'll not go any further down, but they've got them there.
0:28:18 > 0:28:22They're covered in metal studs! I mean, gentlemen, when we were...
0:28:22 > 0:28:26at that age, to attract a young lady, you just need a wee bit of charm,
0:28:26 > 0:28:30personality - nowadays, to attract a lassie, you just need a big magnet!
0:28:30 > 0:28:34I took my granny, who was a great Johnny Beattie fan,
0:28:34 > 0:28:36I took her to see him one night.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39It was in the Pavilion - I'll never forget this as long as I live.
0:28:39 > 0:28:43I remember buying a paper, an Evening Times,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46and there was a story in it, and he told a gag about this
0:28:46 > 0:28:49thing that was in the Evening Times, and I might have been the only one
0:28:49 > 0:28:52that laughed - because it was too new.
0:28:52 > 0:28:54He'd say to Anne Fields, "I don't understand that," you know,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58"I was doing these gags, and, er, just no laughs there." She says,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01"Well, why did you...? I've never heard that." He says,
0:29:01 > 0:29:04"It's in the papers, in the Evening Times!" She says, "Johnny,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07"that first house audience, they probably haven't even bought
0:29:07 > 0:29:10"the Evening Times, or if they have, they haven't read it."
0:29:13 > 0:29:16An admiration for Scottish comedians like Tommy Morgan,
0:29:16 > 0:29:20Dave Willis and Lex McLean from a previous generation
0:29:20 > 0:29:24shows that up-to-date Johnny also always had a foot in the past.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27They say married men live longer than single men.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30It's a lie - it just seems longer!
0:29:32 > 0:29:35If I don't stay in at night, I'm not a home bird.
0:29:35 > 0:29:37If I stay in, I'm a pest!
0:29:37 > 0:29:41If I go home early, she thinks I'm after something.
0:29:41 > 0:29:43And if I go home late, she thinks I've had it.
0:29:43 > 0:29:45LAUGHTER
0:29:45 > 0:29:48Clydebank's Lex McLean, known as Sexy Lexy
0:29:48 > 0:29:50for his often risque humour,
0:29:50 > 0:29:54was, like Johnny, a graduate of the shipyards.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57Johnny is a talented mimic, who has re-created
0:29:57 > 0:29:59Lex McLean's comedy onstage.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01The greatest!
0:30:01 > 0:30:03Rabbie Burns!
0:30:03 > 0:30:05A big waster...
0:30:05 > 0:30:07AUDIENCE GASPS AND GIGGLES
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Wrote daft wee songs and silly poetries,
0:30:11 > 0:30:13and chased after women...!
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Yes, he was a success in every field he went into!
0:30:16 > 0:30:19LAUGHTER
0:30:20 > 0:30:23If he's been my man, I'd have poisoned his tea!
0:30:23 > 0:30:26If he'd been your man, he'd have taken it!
0:30:27 > 0:30:31I mean, it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up
0:30:31 > 0:30:34with some of the voices. If he sneaks up on you
0:30:34 > 0:30:37and does Lex McLean, you're... "Oh! No, it cannae be, no.
0:30:37 > 0:30:38"He's deid."
0:30:39 > 0:30:42He just has never forgotten where he came from,
0:30:42 > 0:30:46which is, to me, a great thing in any human.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Sadly, comedy now, especially the stand-ups nowadays,
0:30:49 > 0:30:53the talking comics, I mean, a lot of them are funny, but...
0:30:53 > 0:30:56OK, I'm old-fashioned, but
0:30:56 > 0:30:59I just think some of them go too far.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02You didnae have that kind of stuff with all these great comics,
0:31:02 > 0:31:04- the Tommy Coopers and the Morecambe and Wises...- Absolutely.
0:31:04 > 0:31:08..and the Les Dawsons. Oh, they were riotously funny,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11without...without telling gags about
0:31:11 > 0:31:15- things they shouldnae be talking about. Anyway, that's me, and...- No.
0:31:15 > 0:31:18My idea of hell would be to be in a room full of comedians -
0:31:18 > 0:31:22because they all, you know, they all try to top each other, and it's...
0:31:22 > 0:31:25And they're actually... It's all kind of a little crazed,
0:31:25 > 0:31:28and a little, er, sort of scientific, actually,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31it's not very, not very fun - it's all about science, and,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34"Why did that gag work? What about this one?" And...
0:31:34 > 0:31:38And so... But Johnny, I would like to be in hell with Johnny,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41that would be quite fun. But I don't think he's got that.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43He doesn't have that gene. It's perhaps because his whole thing
0:31:43 > 0:31:46is about warmth and openness, it's not about, erm,
0:31:46 > 0:31:51sort of cunning, and meanness in his humour.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54I'm just going to tell you a little story that will tie in
0:31:54 > 0:31:56with Johnny's kind of sense of humour.
0:31:56 > 0:31:59I had a lady in the hospice, and she was crying.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02I said to her, "What's wrong? Why are you so upset?"
0:32:03 > 0:32:06And she said, "Sister," she said,
0:32:06 > 0:32:09"I know I'm dying," and she said,
0:32:09 > 0:32:11"I was married to a wonderful man."
0:32:12 > 0:32:15"We were so happy."
0:32:15 > 0:32:17And I said, "Isn't that wonderful?"
0:32:17 > 0:32:20And she said, "Yes," but she said, erm,
0:32:20 > 0:32:22"He died when I was in my 30s.
0:32:22 > 0:32:25"I met a wonderful man again," and she said,
0:32:25 > 0:32:28"I got married." "My God," I said, "I don't believe it -
0:32:28 > 0:32:31"that you met two wonderful men." And she said,
0:32:31 > 0:32:34"What will I do when I get to the other side?"
0:32:34 > 0:32:37LAUGHTER
0:32:41 > 0:32:45"Listen," I said, "if I know anything about men,"
0:32:45 > 0:32:48"they'll have already found somebody else."
0:32:48 > 0:32:51LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:32:53 > 0:32:55Sister Rita is the chief executive
0:32:55 > 0:32:58of the St Margaret of Scotland Hospice in Clydebank.
0:32:58 > 0:33:01The proceeds of the gala will benefit the hospice,
0:33:01 > 0:33:05where Johnny is valued as a generous supporter.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10It made these lunches very special, because it is all ladies,
0:33:10 > 0:33:13except for one man, and that's Johnny, who loves
0:33:13 > 0:33:18to be the centre of attention, because the women just love him.
0:33:18 > 0:33:23And he has taken part in the fashion shows, and he's very entertaining.
0:33:23 > 0:33:28The Christmas party is a very special occasion, and Johnny comes to that
0:33:28 > 0:33:31and he really brightens the whole thing up. Because there is
0:33:31 > 0:33:33a great sadness about it, you know.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36A lot of patients and their families are very aware
0:33:36 > 0:33:39that that's their last Christmas.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42It's not as though he turns up for the ball and the big things -
0:33:42 > 0:33:44he turns up for the small things
0:33:44 > 0:33:47that are very precious and special to patients.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50And I think that that's why I have such respect for him.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53To be able to sort of pick up the phone and just
0:33:53 > 0:33:57speak to Johnny himself, you know, is absolutely tremendous.
0:33:57 > 0:34:00Sometimes, with other people, you have to go through layers
0:34:00 > 0:34:04and layers, but not with Johnny - you can speak directly to him,
0:34:04 > 0:34:06and that's what I admire most about him.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09I've genuinely never known Johnny to say no.
0:34:09 > 0:34:11I've seen him standing in the middle of soggy parks
0:34:11 > 0:34:14to open pensioners' active open days.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17I've seen him going along to the hospice,
0:34:17 > 0:34:19just to pop in and say hello and have a cup of tea,
0:34:19 > 0:34:22which is one of his favourite pastimes as well!
0:34:22 > 0:34:25At his gala, Johnny Beattie MBE
0:34:25 > 0:34:28became an ambassador of the Variety Club.
0:34:28 > 0:34:30He is a keen supporter of charities
0:34:30 > 0:34:33related to the entertainment industry -
0:34:33 > 0:34:36perhaps not surprising after 60 years in show business.
0:34:38 > 0:34:42Johnny once played Broadway and Cowdenbeath in the same week,
0:34:42 > 0:34:45but the place he regards with most affection
0:34:45 > 0:34:47is the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr.
0:34:47 > 0:34:49As he says, he's been to Ayr that many times
0:34:49 > 0:34:51he's starting to look like Rabbie Burns.
0:34:59 > 0:35:02I just fell in love with the theatre from the word go. I just...
0:35:02 > 0:35:04Well, you know. You've played it, darling.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08- I have, it's a wonderful... - It's this intimacy that I've never...
0:35:08 > 0:35:12I mean, I spoke to people, big names, and they say, "Oh, what a theatre."
0:35:15 > 0:35:18If you got the Gaiety Whirl, you were something, you know?
0:35:18 > 0:35:20Oh, it was a great run, it was a great season.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22It was classy. It was a classy theatre.
0:35:22 > 0:35:26Mr Gaiety. That's what they called John.
0:35:26 > 0:35:28First time I came to the Gaiety,
0:35:28 > 0:35:31there was an enormous billboard and it said,
0:35:31 > 0:35:35"The Gaiety, Ayr, the family theatre run by a family for the family."
0:35:35 > 0:35:37That, kind of, appealed to me, you know?
0:35:37 > 0:35:39As principal comedian in the Gaiety Whirl,
0:35:39 > 0:35:41Johnny was at the top of his game.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46He also relished the uniquely informal atmosphere.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49There was never a stage doorman at that theatre, oddly enough,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53unlike other theatres. People would wander in. "Hello there."
0:35:53 > 0:35:55Come into your room for a chat in the middle of the show.
0:35:55 > 0:35:59You're rushing about. And Johnny would be there, he'd be changing,
0:35:59 > 0:36:02and there would be a man in talking about the theatre,
0:36:02 > 0:36:04an old designer guy talking about the sets
0:36:04 > 0:36:06and how the theatre's changed,
0:36:06 > 0:36:08and Johnny was too mannerly to say, "I'm busy,"
0:36:08 > 0:36:12so he would chat to him getting into a kilt outfit all the time,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and also, over the course of the night,
0:36:15 > 0:36:20looking over about 15 bits of paper with people who were in.
0:36:20 > 0:36:25"Willie and Agnes are in, their 21st wedding anniversary,"
0:36:25 > 0:36:29cos he would refuse to go on and read it from notes.
0:36:29 > 0:36:31Memorised them all every night.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39"Whirl" probably describes the atmosphere
0:36:39 > 0:36:41backstage at variety shows pretty well
0:36:41 > 0:36:44with all the costume changes for sketches,
0:36:44 > 0:36:48comedy routines, dance numbers and songs.
0:36:48 > 0:36:51So, I mean, you can imagine. We were up to high doe,
0:36:51 > 0:36:54especially at the change of programme on Monday,
0:36:54 > 0:36:59- and Johnny, Cool Hand Johnny Beattie.- Cool Handed Luke.
0:36:59 > 0:37:02He would just go into it and lock his door to the dressing room
0:37:02 > 0:37:03and fall asleep.
0:37:05 > 0:37:07He loved my wife's soup.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11He used to say, "Has Lillian made soup?"
0:37:11 > 0:37:13I said, "Yes."
0:37:14 > 0:37:18Johnny's predecessor as principal comic at the Ayr Gaiety
0:37:18 > 0:37:21was Jack Milroy, famous later with Rikki Fulton
0:37:21 > 0:37:24as Glasgow's comedy Teddy boys Francie and Josie.
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Aye, it was brilliant, Josie, but, Josie, it was brilliant.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Mind the old days, mind all the wee shops roundabout here?
0:37:30 > 0:37:32- The wee jenny a'things. - The jenny a'things.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35Aye, you could get anything in there from a needle to an oil rig.
0:37:35 > 0:37:37You remember that? I tell you what, let's show them what it was like.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40- Sure, Josie, sure.- I'll be in the shop, you be a customer.
0:37:40 > 0:37:43I'm coming into the shop. Right, eh, good morning.
0:37:43 > 0:37:45- Good morning. - I'd like a pair of crocodile shoes.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Certainly, what size does your crocodile take?
0:37:49 > 0:37:51- I'm in the shop, I'm in the shop. - Ding ding.
0:37:51 > 0:37:54- CONGESTED ACCENT:- Good morning. - Oh, my God. Good morning.
0:37:54 > 0:37:57- Good morning. Oney honey? - No, hunny ony.
0:37:57 > 0:37:59LAUGHTER
0:37:59 > 0:38:01Before Francie and Josie,
0:38:01 > 0:38:05Jack had been headlining solo at the Gaiety for five years.
0:38:05 > 0:38:10Johnny took over in 1959 and they became lifelong friends.
0:38:10 > 0:38:12And there was a real rite of passage.
0:38:12 > 0:38:15Jack gave him a gold watch which was passed on
0:38:15 > 0:38:18as an indication that he had finally made it
0:38:18 > 0:38:20and the apprenticeship was over.
0:38:20 > 0:38:24You know, he talks about Jack Milroy with huge fondness
0:38:24 > 0:38:25and he tells me all the time
0:38:25 > 0:38:28that Jack used to just say every day to him,
0:38:28 > 0:38:30"Oh, we're awfully lucky. Oh, we're awfully lucky.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33"Oh, we're blessed, we're blessed," you know?
0:38:33 > 0:38:35And Johnny would mimic that a lot
0:38:35 > 0:38:38and you can just see that that's a sentiment
0:38:38 > 0:38:40that he really, you know, holds with too,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43and you really get that from Johnny,
0:38:43 > 0:38:47that sense of delight at his fortune.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50They used to go in, och, once year for a week to the Pavilion.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54I used to say to Jack, he'd be about 80 then, and I'd say to him,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56"You're no needing the money.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58"What the hell are you going in there for?"
0:38:58 > 0:39:02"Mary," he used to say, "I love it. I love going in to see Johnny.
0:39:02 > 0:39:05"He brings in the tea and he brings in the biscuits
0:39:05 > 0:39:08"and we have the best laugh and if anyone's singing a sad song
0:39:08 > 0:39:11"we listen to them and we say, 'Oh, my, it's awful sad.
0:39:11 > 0:39:14'Oh, it's awful sad,'" and the two of them laugh their heads off
0:39:14 > 0:39:16and as they walked out they used to say,
0:39:16 > 0:39:18"The legends have left the building."
0:39:26 > 0:39:29In the early '70s, Johnny's beloved Gaiety Theatre
0:39:29 > 0:39:33was under threat of demolition to make way for a supermarket.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37It was reprieved after a campaign spearheaded by Johnny.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43I say every night, " You're a marvellous audience.
0:39:43 > 0:39:45"You were well worth saving the Gaiety for,"
0:39:45 > 0:39:48and it gets a standing ovation. It really does.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52But the Gaiety went dark again in 2009 with the real possibility
0:39:52 > 0:39:55that it might never open its doors again.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Johnny was as outraged as he was the first time
0:39:58 > 0:40:00and addressed a public protest meeting.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02They turned up in their hundreds.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05They'd to go into the local church, 700-seater,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08- standing room only, people outside. - Of course.
0:40:08 > 0:40:11Wouldn't you think they would get some kind of message?
0:40:11 > 0:40:13And some would say, "Oh, it loses money."
0:40:13 > 0:40:15It's not there to make money.
0:40:15 > 0:40:20It's a tourism amenity, a social amenity, it's a civic amenity
0:40:20 > 0:40:25and you still get that group who just cannae get their head round it.
0:40:25 > 0:40:30It's almost like it becomes sort of a, "We are not going to be moved."
0:40:30 > 0:40:33It becomes about not being moved as opposed to thinking sensibly
0:40:33 > 0:40:36- and listening to all the arguments. - Absolutely.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44Who knows whether the Gaiety will ever Whirl again,
0:40:44 > 0:40:47but the trust now responsible for the theatre
0:40:47 > 0:40:50will reopen the doors this year for audiences to enjoy
0:40:50 > 0:40:54that last of truly traditional family entertainments, the pantomime.
0:40:54 > 0:40:57AUDIENCE SHOUTS
0:40:57 > 0:40:58Behind me?
0:40:58 > 0:41:00Your tannoy's crackling off the wall.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03You can hear all the buzz. HE MIMICS MURMURING
0:41:03 > 0:41:06The curtain opens, there's naebody on stage, everybody cheers.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08They haven't even seen us.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11And we go out and do all the business and audience participation,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14"Oh, no you don't. Oh, yes you do."
0:41:14 > 0:41:17And I often think you could almost prescribe that on the National Health,
0:41:17 > 0:41:20never mind pills - give them a couple of tickets for a good pantomime.
0:41:20 > 0:41:23- Absolutely. - You know? And that, kind of...
0:41:23 > 0:41:26And no matter how tired you are when you're doing a pantomime,
0:41:26 > 0:41:28you just get that lift right away.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32This is the crack unit, the SAS.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35The Saltcoats Athletic Society. LAUGHTER
0:41:35 > 0:41:37You may have had a bad day or whatever,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39and you're suddenly sitting there with, what,
0:41:39 > 0:41:431,000 other people, who are terribly disparate people,
0:41:43 > 0:41:44and have come from all over the place
0:41:44 > 0:41:46and they may have had a really shocking day
0:41:46 > 0:41:49while some have had a happy day and they are all sitting together
0:41:49 > 0:41:54in the theatre and Johnny Beattie's on stage and you just go...fwoom.
0:41:55 > 0:42:00And I think he can capture an audience in the palm of his hand
0:42:00 > 0:42:02and do what he wants with them.
0:42:02 > 0:42:06You did that fabulous Rogers and Hammerstein Cinderella.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09- Was that at the Empire? - Glasgow Empire.
0:42:09 > 0:42:10That was 1960, I think it was.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13- That was fabulous. - That was wonderful.
0:42:13 > 0:42:15Did you love that? Oh, I loved doing that, yes.
0:42:15 > 0:42:18Johnny was Buttons and he was a very good Buttons, actually.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21He was a very good Buttons. It was a lovely, lovely show
0:42:21 > 0:42:25and it was the very last show to be in the Empire,
0:42:25 > 0:42:28so Johnny and I said we closed the Empire.
0:42:28 > 0:42:31# The skies in the hazy heavens
0:42:31 > 0:42:34# Tremble above you
0:42:34 > 0:42:37# As he is whispering
0:42:37 > 0:42:39# Darling, I love you... #
0:42:39 > 0:42:41So how did you feel when you saw Alan Cumming?
0:42:41 > 0:42:44That must've been a huge surprise because I know you knew Alan
0:42:44 > 0:42:47was on the show but you didn't know he was going to be doing that.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50It just blew me away. The big thing that blew me away too
0:42:50 > 0:42:53was the fact that who's playing Cinderella
0:42:53 > 0:42:55but my 16-year-old grandniece.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58Well, Alan was thrilled to be asked and he was lovely
0:42:58 > 0:43:00because he's been a huge fan of yours for a long time.
0:43:00 > 0:43:03- Fancy Alan Cumming being a fan of mine, eh?- Well, there you go.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08The straight role of Buttons in Cinderella
0:43:08 > 0:43:11at the Glasgow Empire Theatre was the last time
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Johnny appeared in pantomime as anything other than the dame.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18For the next 30 years he was centre stage,
0:43:18 > 0:43:22decked out in wigs and frocks and truly in his element.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29Some dames you go to see it's like a mannequin parade, you know?
0:43:29 > 0:43:32I think Danny LaRue made a career out of it.
0:43:32 > 0:43:36Stanley Baxter's made a career out of it as well.
0:43:36 > 0:43:40Very clever and all that, but with Johnny Beattie it was funny.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43When he came on to the stage everybody in that theatre knew,
0:43:43 > 0:43:45"That's a man dressed up as a woman,"
0:43:45 > 0:43:48and that's the way it should be in a pantomime dame.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50You don't want the kids thinking,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53"That's a strange looking woman with an Adam's apple."
0:43:53 > 0:43:54CHILDREN HOLLER
0:43:54 > 0:43:57Behind me? Where? Here?
0:43:58 > 0:44:02It's like it when you see women standing at the bus stop
0:44:02 > 0:44:04having a chat with each other
0:44:04 > 0:44:07and it's that kind of gallus kind of way that they speak to each other
0:44:07 > 0:44:09and with that, "Oh, I know. I told you - I told you -
0:44:09 > 0:44:13"that's what he said to me. I told you about that."
0:44:13 > 0:44:17And it's that kind of wonderful way that he mimics women,
0:44:17 > 0:44:22a particular type of gallus Glasgow woman, without being insulting.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25He's not insulting them, he's not making fun of them,
0:44:25 > 0:44:26he's just being them.
0:44:26 > 0:44:31He was Sadie Sinbad and I was The Sultana of Baghdad.
0:44:31 > 0:44:33# Baghdad, Baghdad It's a wonderful town. #
0:44:33 > 0:44:37And we had this wonderful scene where we were shipwrecked
0:44:37 > 0:44:41and we thought we were landing on this island.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44It was just a big humplet in the middle of the stage
0:44:44 > 0:44:47and it was very, very shiny
0:44:47 > 0:44:52and there was supposed to be indents in it for us to climb up.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54Well, they hadn't made the indents,
0:44:54 > 0:44:56but it turned out it was a whale, you know.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58Trying to get on to this thing
0:44:58 > 0:45:02and I got to know a great deal about Johnnie Beattie, I can tell you.
0:45:02 > 0:45:08Grabbing here, grabbing there, and the place was in an uproar
0:45:08 > 0:45:11and I remember I had a councillor by the neck that night
0:45:11 > 0:45:13and, you know, they wouldn't change it.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17It was so funny they kept it and so every night was different,
0:45:17 > 0:45:20but every night was very funny and people used to say,
0:45:20 > 0:45:24"Oh, I was in the night when you couldn't get on to the whale,"
0:45:24 > 0:45:26Little did they know it was every night.
0:45:26 > 0:45:30There was a lovely wee hotel that Johnny and I went to
0:45:30 > 0:45:33and had a few drinks and then they always kept us a nice supper,
0:45:33 > 0:45:35so that was when I really...
0:45:35 > 0:45:38You get to know somebody when you are as close as that
0:45:38 > 0:45:40and he was a great... A lovely companion to be with,
0:45:40 > 0:45:43and you knew he was never going to try any funny business,
0:45:43 > 0:45:46you know what I mean? An honourable man.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51Mother Goose!
0:45:51 > 0:45:53Mother Goose!
0:45:55 > 0:45:58Here I am, everybody. I'm back to being my...
0:45:58 > 0:46:00- ALL:- Old, old, old...
0:46:00 > 0:46:02- Watch it.- ..lovely self.
0:46:02 > 0:46:04Johnny was great to me by bringing me along.
0:46:04 > 0:46:06Letting me come into his pantomime.
0:46:06 > 0:46:08I did three or four pantomimes with Johnny
0:46:08 > 0:46:11and I did three or four summer seasons with Johnny
0:46:11 > 0:46:13and I learned so much just being with him.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15You know, just being with people like that, you know?
0:46:15 > 0:46:19You can't learn that. You can't learn that going to college, you know?
0:46:19 > 0:46:22Nowadays the kids go to college and learn how to become an actor
0:46:22 > 0:46:24or how to become a comic or how to become a singer.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28In those days I didn't get that training. I never had that training,
0:46:28 > 0:46:31I had to watch people like Johnny and learn from them.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35Here we are, boys and girls, the original flowers of the forest.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Oh, we're wearing the Beechgrove collection.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40My name is Pansy Potter.
0:46:40 > 0:46:44And I'm Jessie, The Flower Of Dunblane.
0:46:44 > 0:46:46We're going to go environmental.
0:46:46 > 0:46:48Yes, environmental - I'm environ and she's mental.
0:46:48 > 0:46:50LAUGHTER
0:46:50 > 0:46:51That ability to be able to use your voice
0:46:51 > 0:46:53and to be able to go right to the back of the room
0:46:53 > 0:46:56and for everybody in every corner to be able to hear you,
0:46:56 > 0:46:58to get every moment, to get the timing and all of those things.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00You know, that's what Laurence Olivier had,
0:47:00 > 0:47:02that's what the great actors have,
0:47:02 > 0:47:05and Johnny Beattie has that in absolute spades.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08It was funny when he played the panto dame in River City.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10We have such a laugh about that
0:47:10 > 0:47:13because we had to keep reminding him he was meant to be Malcolm
0:47:13 > 0:47:16so therefore he'd be rotten at it, but he just...
0:47:16 > 0:47:20He was so in his element, you know, with his Madonna boobs.
0:47:20 > 0:47:23HE SQUEALS
0:47:27 > 0:47:31River City has introduced Johnny to a new generation of TV viewers,
0:47:31 > 0:47:35but many still remember earlier TV incarnations.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42He really has been someone that I've always known in my life,
0:47:42 > 0:47:44you know, from, "Welcome to the ceilidh..."
0:47:44 > 0:47:46# Let me fill your glass
0:47:46 > 0:47:48# Slainte mhath forever... #
0:47:50 > 0:47:52'I wrote the opening song for that.'
0:47:54 > 0:47:56# Welcome to the ceilidh, come in, come in, come in. #
0:47:56 > 0:47:58Very good. I remember it quite well.
0:47:58 > 0:48:01The royalties weren't all that good, but still.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:48:04 > 0:48:07You need a good pair of hurdies for the kilt. Don't you?
0:48:07 > 0:48:10And people always say how well you wear the kilt.
0:48:10 > 0:48:12I think the big sticky-oot bum's got a lot to do with that.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15- It makes it hang nicely. - I think that's right.
0:48:15 > 0:48:18He's very handsome in his kilt. Because he wears it well.
0:48:18 > 0:48:20Not every man can wear a kilt well,
0:48:20 > 0:48:22but Johnny wears it tremendously well.
0:48:22 > 0:48:24Johnny's the army man
0:48:24 > 0:48:26and he walks like a Grenadier Guard, I always say.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29Johnny walks like the Grenadier Guards.
0:48:36 > 0:48:37The Johnny Beattie walk.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45Shows like Welcome To The Ceilidh had much in common
0:48:45 > 0:48:49with the old variety shows but with a wee bit more tartan.
0:48:50 > 0:48:52It was a surprise to many people
0:48:52 > 0:48:57that he took on the Grampian programme, Welcome To The Ceilidh.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00He fitted in very well and I took part in those programmes as well
0:49:00 > 0:49:03and, yeah, he created a niche for himself there.
0:49:03 > 0:49:06Whatever he does, he does it well.
0:49:06 > 0:49:09I've said to Johnny, "Johnny, you keep turning up in my life."
0:49:09 > 0:49:12He said, "I'm a professional turner upper."
0:49:20 > 0:49:22You know what it's like at New Year,
0:49:22 > 0:49:25celebrities are very hard to get, but there's magic in the air.
0:49:25 > 0:49:27Now you see them. LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:49:29 > 0:49:30'These things were great.'
0:49:30 > 0:49:33They should do more of these things on the television now.
0:49:33 > 0:49:35Line four, position one - frost.
0:49:37 > 0:49:41- I pressed my button and it didn't work.- A likely story.
0:49:41 > 0:49:42I saw him do it.
0:49:42 > 0:49:46Listen, Johnny, he's just suffering from a bit of frostbite.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53Can we have another question, please? Thank you.
0:49:53 > 0:49:56They're freeing up the daytime schedules, apparently,
0:49:56 > 0:50:00so I for one think Johnny Beattie should be back on my television
0:50:00 > 0:50:01with Now You See It.
0:50:01 > 0:50:05Absolutely, and I'll be one of the first contestants.
0:50:05 > 0:50:06As long as he wears a kilt.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11Not knees but bare knuckles featured in the movie
0:50:11 > 0:50:13of William McIlvanney's The Big Man
0:50:13 > 0:50:17with Johnny flexing his straight acting muscles in his film debut.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19I'm beginning to sound like my mother.
0:50:21 > 0:50:23Everything she said about us.
0:50:24 > 0:50:26It's all true.
0:50:26 > 0:50:29Sometimes you sound as if we'd brought you up as a punishment.
0:50:31 > 0:50:34His role in the comedy drama The Sunshine Boys
0:50:34 > 0:50:38was a personal career highlight and Johnny's mafia good looks
0:50:38 > 0:50:42were perfect for a shady character in Taggart.
0:50:42 > 0:50:45I'm going to have you.
0:50:45 > 0:50:48You've tried it once before, Mr Taggart. Now, tell me.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51What crime are you going to make up for me this time?
0:50:51 > 0:50:55As a matter of fact, Jack and I, we're the only two in show business
0:50:55 > 0:50:58- that didn't get a part in... - Taggart.- Taggart.
0:50:58 > 0:51:01Everybody else did.
0:51:01 > 0:51:03Daughter Maureen took him to a workshop
0:51:03 > 0:51:06at the Royal Shakespeare Company where he caught the attention
0:51:06 > 0:51:08of renowned voice coach Cicely Berry.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13That particular workshop, just as it happened,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16was about the relationship between king Lear
0:51:16 > 0:51:18and the Fool character in Lear
0:51:18 > 0:51:21and Cis being Cis suddenly went, "Oh, Johnny.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25"You're a comedian, aren't you? And Dad went, "Yeah."
0:51:25 > 0:51:27She said, "Would you like to read the Fool for us?"
0:51:27 > 0:51:29And Dad was, you know, a bit taken aback
0:51:29 > 0:51:32but did what he always does, which is step up to the plate
0:51:32 > 0:51:37and it was an absolute sensation and all the actors were like...
0:51:37 > 0:51:40Including me, because he got a laugh on every line,
0:51:40 > 0:51:43which is unheard of in Shakespeare's fools.
0:51:43 > 0:51:47You know, here am I, I've worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company umpteen times
0:51:47 > 0:51:50I think of myself as a, you know, straight classical actress
0:51:50 > 0:51:52and am I mentioned in any of Cicely Berry's books?
0:51:52 > 0:51:55No, but my father is.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58Before his acting career took off again with River City
0:51:58 > 0:52:02when he was a youthful 76, Johnny regularly hosted
0:52:02 > 0:52:04the Pride Of The Clyde shows,
0:52:04 > 0:52:08which reprised that mix of variety and white heather.
0:52:10 > 0:52:13# So lift up your glasses We'll all drink together
0:52:13 > 0:52:17# To the land of the hills and heather
0:52:17 > 0:52:19# To the land
0:52:19 > 0:52:26# Of the hills and heather. #
0:52:27 > 0:52:31One of the last times that I saw Johnny live
0:52:31 > 0:52:33was at the Mitchell Theatre.
0:52:33 > 0:52:36He was doing a Pride Of The Clyde type of show
0:52:36 > 0:52:40and the audience were... They just weren't getting it.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43It was a Monday night show, first house Monday night - it's the worst.
0:52:43 > 0:52:48And, God love 'em, Jack Milroy and Mary Lee were in the audience
0:52:48 > 0:52:52sitting about six rows back and Johnny was working it from the stage
0:52:52 > 0:52:54and getting nothing from the audience
0:52:54 > 0:52:56and suddenly Jack started to feed him.
0:52:56 > 0:52:59Jack was feeding him lines from six rows back
0:52:59 > 0:53:03and Johnny and Jack did this double act.
0:53:03 > 0:53:07Absolutely wonderful moment to see, again,
0:53:07 > 0:53:11these two great comedians, because Jack had passed it on to Johnny,
0:53:11 > 0:53:14to see there's still this rapport as they work together
0:53:14 > 0:53:18and it was just a little moment of theatre magic.
0:53:18 > 0:53:22After that show, when the audience had been less than cooperative,
0:53:22 > 0:53:25you would never have known from Johnny on stage
0:53:25 > 0:53:28and I went backstage to see him and I said, "How was it?"
0:53:28 > 0:53:31He said, "I'll tell you, Andy," he said, "See that mob tonight?
0:53:31 > 0:53:33"They just came in for spite."
0:53:35 > 0:53:39Some audiences, though, are more appreciative than others.
0:53:39 > 0:53:47Johnny made the most brilliantly funny speech at my wedding.
0:53:47 > 0:53:52It was hilarious. He is a very good after-dinner speaker as well.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54Very, very good.
0:53:54 > 0:53:58And when Ronald Reagan was honoured by the Scotch whisky industry,
0:53:58 > 0:54:02Johnny got a call asking him to write the President's acceptance speech.
0:54:04 > 0:54:08I said, "Come on. Ronald Reagan?" I didn't even know he was over here.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11- No.- And he explained in detail.
0:54:11 > 0:54:15He said, "His entourage has written his acceptance speech
0:54:15 > 0:54:19- "and the Earl of Elgin has deemed it to be unsuitable."- Ooh.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22I said, "When do you want it for? Next week?"
0:54:22 > 0:54:24"Could we have it for six o'clock," they says.
0:54:24 > 0:54:27Well done, Johnnie Beattie. Cor, I wonder...
0:54:27 > 0:54:29Is that what happens?
0:54:29 > 0:54:32If Barack Obama comes, will I be asked to write a speech for him?
0:54:32 > 0:54:34It wouldn't be as good as Johnny's, I suspect.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37When they landed in America, they were given a horse...
0:54:37 > 0:54:40A plough, ten acres of land...
0:54:40 > 0:54:43..and two tickets to Frank Sinatra's farewell concert.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07Growing up in Glasgow before the war,
0:55:07 > 0:55:11the highlight of Johnny's year was the annual trip to Rothesay
0:55:11 > 0:55:15and he's been carrying on a love affair with the Isle of Bute ever since.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32We used to come here on holiday on the Glasgow fair fortnight
0:55:32 > 0:55:34because, as you know, the Glasgow fair fortnight,
0:55:34 > 0:55:39I mean, the last two weeks in July, everybody went doon the watter
0:55:39 > 0:55:41and so many of them came here to Rothesay.
0:55:41 > 0:55:45There's a postcard here you'll see of seven steamers all round the pier.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49The promenade was chock-a-block.
0:55:54 > 0:55:57There would be an accordionist leaning against the rail
0:55:57 > 0:55:59at the promenade and they'd all be dancing.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02You know? Fantastic. And the lights were...
0:56:02 > 0:56:04all the illuminations were up.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15This place here in the background, I used to come here, you know,
0:56:15 > 0:56:18with my brother and the summer show would be rehearsing there
0:56:18 > 0:56:21and we could hear music and singing and we used to jump up
0:56:21 > 0:56:25and try and see in the windows, which we couldn't do, you know,
0:56:25 > 0:56:28and maybe that put a wee notion in my head, I don't know.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31My parents would take us in for the summer show, too,
0:56:31 > 0:56:35and you'd see all the old comics and it was just a great atmosphere.
0:56:38 > 0:56:42We do call it Scotland's Madeira, but I've got nothing but happy memories
0:56:42 > 0:56:45and of course I have a place here now and I come here whenever I can.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48It's just, it's my personal Shangri-La.
0:56:56 > 0:56:59The first time ever I saw Johnny was in the Winter Gardens.
0:56:59 > 0:57:01I think I was about 12.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05He doesn't really like me reminding him about that all these years ago.
0:57:14 > 0:57:15He comes here to escape.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21You could float a boat on the tea that Johnny has drunk
0:57:21 > 0:57:24throughout his career.
0:57:24 > 0:57:27The amazing thing about Johnny is that he seems to know everybody.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30It's not the other way around where, because he's the big star
0:57:30 > 0:57:33people recognise him, but he's well kent face in Rothesay.
0:57:36 > 0:57:38Johnnie fought hard to save the Ayr Gaiety
0:57:38 > 0:57:42and he was just as passionate about Rothesay's Winter Gardens
0:57:42 > 0:57:46when it, too, was threatened by the march of so-called progress.
0:57:49 > 0:57:52When you approach that on the steamer and you see that Winter Gardens
0:57:52 > 0:57:56with the wee Chinese pagodas, you think of your childhood and all that.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Now, if that had been demolished,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02they would have extended the car park, lorries, buses.
0:58:03 > 0:58:07The bulldozers were defeated after local laird Sir Richard Attenborough
0:58:07 > 0:58:10joined forces with campaigners and Johnny.
0:58:12 > 0:58:16Yes! Oh, I'll ham to the end.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26# I wanna get to know you Want to hear you say hello
0:58:26 > 0:58:31# I'm gonnae shout out hi-de-hi And you shout ho-di-ho
0:58:31 > 0:58:35# And wi' you, and wi' you And wi' you, Johnny lad
0:58:35 > 0:58:39# I'll dance the buckles off my shoe Everybody clap
0:58:39 > 0:58:43# And wi' you, and wi' you And wi' you, Johnny lad
0:58:43 > 0:58:51# I'll dance the buckles off my shoe With you, my Johnny lad. #
0:58:52 > 0:58:54CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:58:54 > 0:58:56Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd