Arthur Askey: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[Calling All Stars]]'' (1937) |
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* ''[[Band Waggon]]'' (1940) |
* ''[[Band Waggon]]'' (1940) |
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* ''[[The Ghost Train]]'' (1941) |
* ''[[The Ghost Train (1941 film)|The Ghost Train]]'' (1941) |
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* ''[[I Thank You (film)|I Thank You]]'' (1941) |
* ''[[I Thank You (film)|I Thank You]]'' (1941) |
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* ''[[Back-Room Boy]]'' (1942) |
* ''[[Back-Room Boy]]'' (1942) |
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Revision as of 07:13, 22 November 2010
Arthur Askey | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Arthur Bowden Askey 6 June 1900 |
| Died | 16 November 1982 (aged 82) London, England |
| Occupation | Comedian |
| Spouse | Elizabeth May Swash (m. 1925, d. 1974) |
| Children | Anthea |
| Parent(s) | Samuel & Betsy Askey, nee Bowden |
Arthur Bowden Askey CBE (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was a prominent English comedian.
Life and career
Askey was born at 29 Moses Street, Liverpool, Lancashire, the eldest child and only son of Samuel Askey (d.1958), secretary of the firm Sugar Products of Liverpool, and his wife, Betsy Bowden (d.1949), of Knutsford, Cheshire. Six months after his birth the family moved to 90 Rosslyn Street, Liverpool. Askey was educated at St. Michael's Council School (1905–11) and the Liverpool Institute for Boys (1911–16), where he was known for winning an egg and spoon race at a school sports day. He was very small at 5' 2" (1.58 m), with a breezy, smiling personality, and wore distinctive horn-rimmed glasses.
He served in the armed forces in World War I and performed in army entertainments. After working as a clerk for Liverpool Corporation, Education Department, he was in a touring concert party and the music halls, but he rose to stardom in 1938 through his role in the first regular radio comedy series, Band Waggon on the BBC, before which radio comedy had consisted of broadcast stand-up routines. Band Waggon began as a variety show, but had been unsuccessful until Askey and his partner, Richard Murdoch, took on a larger role in the writing. Askey's humour owed much to the playfulness of the characters he portrayed, his improvising, and his use of catchphrases, as parodied by the Arthur Atkinson character in The Fast Show. His catchphrases included "Hello playmates!", "I thank you" (pronounced "Ay-Thang-Yaw"), and "Before your very eyes".
In the early 1930s, Askey appeared on an early form of BBC television — the spinning disc invented by John Logie Baird that scanned vertically and had only thirty lines. Askey had to be heavily made up for his face to be recognisable at such low resolution. When television became electronic, with 405 horizontal lines, Askey was a regular performer in variety shows.
During World War II, Askey starred in several Gainsborough Pictures comedy films, including Band Waggon (1940), based on the radio show; Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt (1940); The Ghost Train (1941); I Thank You (1941); Back Room Boy (1942); King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942); Miss London Ltd. (1943) and Bees in Paradise (1944); as well as the popular West End musical Follow the Girls. When television arrived, he made the transition well. His first TV series was Before Your Very Eyes! (1952), named after his catchphrase. In 1957 writers Sid Colin and Talbot Rothwell revived the Band Waggon format for Living It Up, a series that reunited Askey and Murdoch after 18 years. He also made many stage appearances as a pantomime dame.
His recording career included "The Bee Song", The Thing-Ummy Bob[1] and his theme tune, "Big-Hearted Arthur", (which was also his nickname). During the 1950s and 1960s he appeared in many sitcoms, including Love and Kisses, Arthur's Treasured Volumes and The Arthur Askey Show. However, in 1940 a song he intended to record, "It's Really Nice to See you Mr Hess" (after Hitler's deputy fled to Scotland), was banned by the War Office.
He continued to appear frequently on television in the 1970s, notably as a panellist on the ITV talent show New Faces, where his usually sympathetic comments would offset the harsher judgments of fellow judges Tony Hatch and Mickie Most. He also appeared on the comedy panel game Joker's Wild.
His last film was Rosie Dixon - Night Nurse (1978), starring Debbie Ash. Soon afterwards, he was forced to give up performing, and had both legs amputated owing to circulatory problems. Anthea, his daughter by his marriage to Elizabeth May Swash (m. 1925, d. 1974), was also an actress and often starred with him. For many years, he was an active member of the Savage Club (a London gentlemen's club).
Private Eye magazine in the 1970s regularly made the comment that he and the Queen Mother had "never been seen in the same room together" — referring to the fact that they were both of about the same height, and suggesting that he was the Queen Mother in drag.
Askey is buried in Putney Vale Cemetery.
Selected filmography
- Calling All Stars (1937)
- Band Waggon (1940)
- The Ghost Train (1941)
- I Thank You (1941)
- Back-Room Boy (1942)
- Miss London Ltd. (1942)
- King Arthur Was a Gentleman (1942)
- Bees in Paradise (1944)
- The Love Match (1955)
- Ramsbottom Rides Again (1956)
- Make Mine a Million (1959)
- Friends and Neighbours (1959)
- Rosie Dixon - Night Nurse (1978)
See also
References
- ^ Craig Gerrard, The Foreign Office and Finland, 1938-1940
Biographies
- Arthur Askey (autobiography). Before Your Very Eyes (London: Woburn Press, 1975) ISBN 0713001348
- Kurt Ganzl. The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (New York: Shirmer Books, 2001) pp. 75 ISBN 0028649702
External links
- Arthur Askey Britmovie British movie community
- The Radio Academy — Hall of Fame: Arthur Askey
- TV Greats: Arthur Askey
- Star Archive: Arthur Askey (1900–1982)
- Arthur Askey at IMDb