Al Read - Variety Bandbox excerpt ("The Garden Gate") (17/12/1951)

• Report rights infringement
• published: 29 Jun 2012
• views: 13436

The Al Read Show ran on BBC radio between 1950 and 1966. This is a rare appearance of Al Read on another show, Variety Bandbox, in December 1951. Al Read (3 March 1909 -- 9 September 1987) was a British radio comedian active throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Read was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire and was a sausage maker in his father's business. He became known as a popular after-dinner speaker with wry and well-observed humour in clubs. In 1950 Read made his radio début on the BBC. His comedy was based around the monologue form, but he also became known for dialogues in which he played both voices. His humour was observational and was about northern English working class people, often in a domestic situation. The Al Read Show was one of the most popular radio comedy shows in the UK in the 1950s and 1960s. Up to 35 million people listened to it each week. His catchphrases "Right Monkey" and "You'll be lucky, I say you'll be lucky!" were well known. In 1963 he headed a variety format for ITV called Life and Al Read which was apparently unscripted and was broadcast live. In 1966 another ITV series called Al Read Says What a Life! was broadcast. He also worked extensively on the variety stage. It was generally considered that sound radio was his best medium. In 1954 he appeared high on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium. In 1959 he appeared with comedian Jimmy Clitheroe in the Royal Northern Variety Performance, in the presence of the Queen Mother, at the Palace Theatre, Manchester. The introduction to his radio show was usually "Al Read: introducing us to ourselves"; and he himself described his work as "pictures of life". His monologues were perceptive about the human condition, and many monologue recordings are still available from the BBC. Variety Bandbox was a British radio variety show transmitted by BBC Radio on the Light Programme. Featuring a mixture of comic performances and music, the show helped to launch the careers of a number of leading British performers. Variety Bandbox was first broadcast in 1941 and, presented by Philip Slessor, became a feature of Sunday evenings until the early 1950s. Hosting duties would later be taken over by Derek Roy. Amongst those who launched their careers on the show was Frankie Howerd, who first appeared on Variety Bandbox in 1947 following a provincial tour. Howerd was to become a fixture of the show and honed his catch phrase-driven comedic style in these appearances. Tony Hancock also featured on the show early in his career. March 1950 saw the debut of a fortnightly series within the show called Blessem Hall which featured several characters vocied by a young Peter Sellers in one of his earliest performances, alongside Miriam Karlin. Arthur English, who debuted on the show in 1949, also gained fame through his broadcasts and was for a time 'resident comedian' on the show, despite his tendency to upset the producers by also including visual gags in his act. The show also provided Bill Kerr with his first break in the UK whilst Max Wall was a regular performer on the show. Although not a performer on Variety Bandbox, Eric Sykes cut his comedy teeth as a scriptwriter on the show. As well as comedy Variety Bandbox also featured big band music with the likes of Ted Heath, Geraldo, Ambrose, Woolf Phillips and Joe Loss all leading their orchestras.