BENNY HILL : Interview Part 1 : 1974 Sydney Australia

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• published: 22 Oct 2014
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It’s a great pleasure to present Part 1 of this Benny Hill interview from 1974, soon after his 50th birthday, recorded in Sydney Australia with local radio personality Bob Rogers, who still presents a music show today at age 88. Benny was in Australia at the time to promote The Best Of Benny Hill movie and visit relatives of all things, if alive now Benny would be a very old man indeed. It is said Benny Hill did not give many interviews in his lifetime, an online search revealed one 90 sec interview from 1956 and there must be hidden archive interviews at least in the BBC or even Thames /Freemantle Media but it would appear that Benny Hill’s name is still mud in showbiz terms, as the legacy of his career estate and his television work is not actively being promoted or acknowledged, yet there are hundreds of scattered pieces of Benny Hill TV skits on U Tube so … somebody is watching him ! It’s like the elephant in the room and it appears we’re still uncomfortable with Benny Hill and not ready to accept him back into the mainstream arena and embrace his entertainment legacy. It begs the question as to why decades after the Politically Correct protocols of the late 80’s torpedoed his career and his will to live, that within context and thoughtful consideration, that Benny Hill is not at least now at this point in history, recognised for his contribution to comedy and entertainment at large, regardless of the change of cultural attitude and the political plus developing societal consciousness we’ve been through since before the sad circumstances of his death in 1992. In 1989, Thames ended the contract of Benny Hill, a stalwart at the station since 1969. It was believed that the comedian was dismissed because his shows were considered offensive, but in fact, Thames' decision was taken because of falling ratings. The show at its peak had 21 million viewers, while the last episode had nine million. Hill made only 58 hour-long episodes in the 20 years he worked for Thames. In the UK these were generally marketed as specials, but re-edited as 30 minute episodes for overseas markets in which form Hill gained a following in the United States. In this the first part of this interview, you’ll hear Bob Rogers state, that Benny appears as a well adjusted person, I have worked with Bob Rogers and I can tell you that Bob is a very upfront and direct person and not one to mince words, Bob won’t make a call that is just said for the sake of politeness, so I’m thinking, Benny is not just some self-absorbed misogynist or xenophobe at large. I enjoyed watching Benny Hill as a child, on a face value level at the time I enjoyed the visuals of prank falls and sped up vision and silly scripted moments, now I can see more sub text and commentary I never understood as a 10 year old but in retrospect, I don’t sense anything evil or particularly subversive or see a person who is out to attack any one person in society, more than anything it mostly just shows the universality of a life situation and points out the sometimes ridiculous and frustrating world we live in and the majority of Benny Hill comedy is nothing more than a vague commentary or satire in letting off steam and or in being silly for entertainments sake. A lot of the comedy is characterisations of which Benny does well, yes there are a few of the caricature ethnic stereotypes which we don’t see or would do today but you have to remember the society and culture Hill grew up in was a very parochial and small world view, I know as my mother was also born in 1924 so these people were in terms of their world view, somewhat ignorant and or partially fearful of other cultures and races but the majority of persons of that era would not go out of their way to attack anyone person or race and could be educated to change their somewhat broad myopic world view, you have to take into consideration the time that people like Benny Hill grew up in, as he states, you mostly write of what you know. It’s time we let go of the fear of what his comedy may have once represented and just enjoy it for its own entertainment value, of which many skits there is plenty. Bob Monkhouse on Benny Hill (must see) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZB9C6i0egw Bob Rogers 2CH http://www.2ch.com/show/bob-rogers The Best of Benny Hill : Movie Trailer http://youtu.be/30wPJ6px1n0 Benny Hill : Rehearsing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f57LGwdWrjQ Benny Hill : The Police Raid in Waterloo Station https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M8_DZvF2FI Benny Hill : Hold Back the Wind (feat Tiddles The Wonder Cat) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24jK4uCafak&feature;=youtu.be Benny Hill remembered 20 years after death - BBC News http://m.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-17753021 Restoration Comedy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restoration_comedy Benny Hill - "Curtain Call" (ATN-7, 1960) http://youtu.be/Wo98UTCw_h0