THENORTH- WEST GEORGE FORMBY Newsletter 9 Volume 1, No.9 March 1996 Specially Produced for the North- West Branches of The George Formby Society by Stap Evans, The Hollies, 19 Hall Nook, Penketh, Warringtou Cheshire W A5 2HN Tel or Fax 01925 727102 2 \Velcome to Newsletter N-o.9 and what have we got this month? Well it's been hectic during February and some days the telephone has been Red-Hot! (Well not quite) In the centre pages we report the sale of George's family home in Warrington, "Hillcrest." The agents told the Newspapers that George was born there but, as we know, he wasn't. He was born at No.3 Westminster St, Wigan in 1904. He moved to Warrington around 1917. Although the roads have been blocked with .snow I am pleased that this hasn't prevented the members getting to the meetings. The highlight in February was the showing of "Goodnight Sweetheart" on BBC TV, Feb 5th. Leading up to the showing the phom ~ was busy again with members ringing to tell me that it was "all about George & Beryl." What a disappointment! It was an insult to George & Beryl and all Formby fans. After the showing, no less than 20 faxes went out to Newspapers and Radio Stations. Now Read All About It In TheN. West George Formby Newsletter. ***************** "Goodnight Sweetheart" BBC 1 TV 5th Feb. What a load of old RUBBISH. The BBC must be shoti of material to produce such tripe. Usually it is a good entertaining programme and each week the hero "has a go" at our George - which is acceptable as we don't expect everybody to be a Formby fan. However, this particular episode was concentrated on a barmy, dragon of a Beryl and a drunken, half-brained, idiotic George. Apparently the producers knew absolutely nothing of their subjects. The following morning I faxed about 20 newspapers and radio stations to complain. A fax went to the Producers: Alomo Productions, Teddington Studios, London and also to "Points Of View," which incidently is in the same building as the BBC. Roger Phillips~ on Radio Merseyside, rang back and my complaint r·eached a few thousand listeners. He said that he would try to get the producers on the same line but apparently they refused to comment. We also did a few minutes broadcast on Radio Lancashire and the Manchester Evening News gave a report. Now I've never given much praise to members of parliament but it's three cheers for Roy Hattersley as he condemned the particular episode as trash. Read All About It On Page 4 & 5. 3 Ni<~e Letter from Mollie Jennings- Liverpool. Dear Stan, Just a few lines to tell you that I worked with George Formby in Pantomime in 1937, when I was one of the Dancing Group, and later tht! same ~· ear in Variety. I am now 78, but it just seems like yesterday. I thought he was a lovely man, and he loved talking to the girls, but I'm af•·aid Beryl didn't like that. She always t•·avelled with him to keep her eye on him!! On the other hand I think he needed her. I had a little uke at th<! time- I still have it- and he showed me a few chords. He wasn't vel')' good at tuning the uke so he had several on the side of the stage in case he needed a change of key. Our thanks to Mollie for the letter. A copy of the Newsletter will he sent to her. George most certain(r did need BeryL It must he remembered that the entertainment business is notorious for split-ups in marriages and Beryl made sure that they stayed together until death parted them. George could tune his ukes hut- like the GFS members- preferred having extra ukes on stage to save changing chords. Nowt complicated about George! ***********************************************************************+ From R J Pepper in 1944 I was scn•ing on H M S Ambitious, a ferr:r shitl which had been converted.to use as a "Minesweeping Headquarters Ship" on D Day. On the night of June 5th & 6th we went to France with the sweepers. Things must have gone better than anyone could have dreamt of because within a couple of da~· s we moored inside the assembled Mulberry Harbour, and by Saturday, June lOth we were sent back to Portsmouth to pick up a concert part~· · George Formby, his wife, Bei)·J, and two others. By Sunda)' morning we were back at Mulbe1·Q· and George told us that they had been in the Southampton area for 3 weeks before D Da~· and all he · wanted was a packet of fags because the)' were rationed in Southampton. After giving 2 o•· 3 impromptu conce11s to Sweeper Crews on boud "Ambitious" his party went ashore into France to entertain the troops. We did not sec him again after that. The reason I am writing this Jette•· is because I feel sure that he and his part~· must have been the first entertainers into France after D Day. I am 72 now and I've given ~· ou the facts as I remember them. I have never seen, or hea•·d, retJorts that George was the first over there but I am sure that he was. ************************************************************************ Bradford Museum- Pictureville. On the 20th ofFcbruan· a new exhibition -A CENTURY OF BRITISH SCREEN- started at the Bradford Museum and one of the stars covered is Out· George. Among the items on show will be George's Will Van Allen uke/banjo which was the vcn fi•·st UB to be played in his films- Off The Dole. · · One hundred ~· cars of movie stardom will be brought to life and visitors will receiw a st~· · studded.~ide through the films, their stars and creative talents responsible for puttmg the Bnt1sh film indu.str~· on the world map. For further details you can ring 01274 773399. Hope ~' ou en,10~' the show. 4 Jo ai s tes OR years I have feared watched in amazement as Mrs Beryl that Goodnight Sweet­ Formby pointlessly pushed everyone The around. The nearest that we got to a heart (BBCI) was too joke was George himself wanting to media subtle and sophisti­ sing a Beatles song. It is not easy to appear to cated a series for. sim­ build a whole half hour's programme Fpletons like me to enjoy. Last on an anachronism. take great night's episode ended my We are, I know, a nostalgic nation. jo~· io And memories of the war remain anxiety. green. But pictures of King George V destroying There's nothing wrong with my hanging on the bar parlour wall, BeQ·l's powers of perception. Goodnight policemen with gas masks and steel name and Sweetheart is not as bad as I helmets, the sound of sirens and ARP believed it to be. It is far worse. Wardens shouting "put that light our', gh·ing her The idea on which it is built - hero have a limited appeal. Yer~· little Gary (Nicholas Lyndhurst) suddenly And the White Cliffs of Dover senti­ transported back in time to the Britain mentality was constantly disturbed by credit for of the Forties - is just not capable of sudden leaps through time from bomb the great sustaining half an hour of entertain­ shelter to coffee bar, and the principal ment. Ani:! the inter­ character changing, work she vening moments, as if by magic, from did in which are set in the double-breasted suit promoting present day, are a with waist and pad­ mishmash of what ded shoulders to George. somebody believes to jeans and sweat be contemporary shirts. Without cliches. There is something Viewers who do not badly wrong with BeQ·I there fall down laughing at British television if would be the mention of gen­ the real George no GFS der awareness work­ Formby - leaning shops and male on a lamp-post at the toda~· , so it bonding, are more corner of the street is essential likely to laugh at - is more entertain­ Channel 4's natural ing than a contempo­ that we history seminar, The rary sitcom which is defend her, Sexual Imperative. CLICHES: Nicholas Lyndhurst supposed to carica­ at all cost. Perhaps we should ture him. feel sympathy for scriptwriters who were driven mto the hope that they could make something funny out of George Formby (Phil Nice) and his little ukulele. George - crying "turned out nice again" every 30 sec­ onds - visited the wartime pub before makin~ a guest appearance at the local mus1c hall. Elderly viewers may have remem­ bered that his wife, Beryl (Polly Hem­ ingway), was a martinet who tyran­ nised and dominated her feeble husband. Anyone under 50 who was unlucky enough to switch on, must have DAILY EXPRESS Tuesday Fe bruary 6 1996 5 .."lilANCHESTER EVENING. NEWS Turned ****************************************** out not so 10/2/96 Just Received an apology from the nice for producers of "Goodnight Sweetheart," ALOMO PRODUCTIONS LTD, who say:- George Dear Mr Evans, Many thanks for your letter A BBC sit-com has about last Monday's episode of Goodnight earned the wrath of fans of a wartime comic Sweetheart. I'm sorry you felt that the portrayal hero. of George & Beryl fell short of the mark, and that Fans of Wigan-born George Formby have pro­ your members were disturbed by it. The tested over the portrayal characterisation was based on biographies and in the Nicholas Lyndhurst time-travel comedy series, anecdotes about the Formbys, and we would argue Goodnight Sweetheart.