Could we take a taxi for breakfast?
The answer is yes, of course, but rare because excess heat can cause some unfortunate side effects. I could go about choosing dishes more or less respectful with the environment without that article ceased to have meaning, because it is about The Goon Show, the British sitcom that broke the rule of sense to the delight of listeners of the BBC during the fifties.
The Goon Show came from Spike Milligan who was the creator and head writer throughout their career. Spike Milligan and Harry Secombe met while serving in the Royal Artillery during World War II. Secombe described their meeting as if a first script for The Goon Show it were: "Suddenly there was a terrible noise as some monstrous object fell from the sky quite close to us. There was considerable confusion, and in the middle of it all the flap of the truck was pushed open and a young, helmeted idiot asked 'Anybody see a gun?' It was Milligan." Secombe's answer to that question was "What colour was it?". Later Milligan met Peter Sellers at the Hackney Empire where Secombe was performing. By then, the late forties, the young Peter Sellers had already debuted on the BBC in the program Ray's a laugh with comedian Ted Ray. At that first meeting, they wrote a first script called Crazy People which later would become the germ of The Goon Show with Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers and, in the early chapters, Michael Bentine.
They were so enthusiastic that they found the doors of a BBC open despite the company wasn’t too much convinced. Still, the group had its premiere as Crazy People in May 1951. Then the programs consisted of four or five gags and musical interludes with a cast that included Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, Spike Milligan, Michael Bentine,The Ray Ellington Quartet, The Stargazers and Max Geldray. The audience increased so quickly during the first season that the BBC gave them a second one already under the name The Goon Show. During this period Michael Bentine left the group to pursue a solo career, but his creative tensions to Milligan are known. Still, the group's success only increased up to a dozen seasons ending in 1960, including five films: Penny Points to Paradise (Tony Young,1951), Let's go crazy (Allan Cullimore, 1951), Down among the Z men (Maclean Rogers, 1952), The Case of the Mukkinese Battle-Horn (Joseph Sterling, 1956) and the Running, Jumping & Standing Still Film (Richard Lester, 1960), as well as some special programs in the still young British television. Once separated, they gathered for two unique programs on television, first in 1968 under the title Tales of Men's Shirts and a last known as The Last Goon Show of All, both also written by Spike Milligan.
Their separation due to personnel problems prevented the creativity of the group, abandoning their activity when their success didn’t stop to increase. Remembering their solo careers after the break up, Peter Sellers is certainly the most famous, but that's another story. He died in 1980 at 54 years victim of the heart problems he suffered all his life. Michael Bentine died in 1996, Harry Secombe in 2001 and Spike Milligan 2002. Artists like The Beatles and Monty Python have admitted their influence. Many programs have been lost forever but the taxi they once asked for breakfast is yet to come.
THE GOON SHOW videos. Click here
THE GOON SHOW videos. Click here
Text by Juan Carlos Romero