#Jim Dale

[docspock68]

Carry On Movie Quad Posters

[rwpohl]

the hunchback of notre dame, peter medak 1997

[candychasse]

HELP IVE LISTENED TO THE AUDIO BOOKS TOO MUCH AND NOW MY INTERNAL MINOGUE IS A BRITISH MANNNNN

[weirdlookindog]

Carry On Screaming! (1966)

[old-hollywood-smash-or-pass]

[valhallaimcomin]

Unidentified Fyling Oddball, or The Spaceman and King Arthur (1979)

[gatutor]

Barbara Windsor-Jim Dale "Contrólese, doctor" (Carry on again doctor) 1969, de Gerald Thomas.

[gurumog]

Carry on Screaming (1966) Anglo-Amalgamated Dir. Gerald Thomas

Harry H. Corbett as Detective Sergeant Sidney Bung Kenneth Williams as Dr. Orlando Watt Jim Dale as Albert Potter Peter Butterworth as Detective Constable Slobotham

[downthetubes]

In Memoriam: British Comic Creators we have lost in 2023

downthetubes pays tribute to major British comic creators who have passed in 2023, who included BEANO artist David Sutherland, cartoonists Bill Tidy and Tony Husband, independent comics pioneer Chris Reynolds, and 2000AD artist Ian Gibson

downthetubes pays tribute to major British comic creators who have passed in 2023, who included BEANO artist David Sutherland, cartoonists Bill Tidy and Tony Husband, independent comics pioneer Chris Reynolds, and 2000AD artist Ian Gibson

[gawsby]

JIM DALE

(James Smith)

15th August 1935 -

[news-buzz]

Exact date Britain is blasted by 21C heat pushing through Europe | UK | News News Buzz

The UK could be in for Indian summer-style conditions due to a warm blast from Morocco. Brand new maps have revealed that this country could heat up even at the beginning of November thanks to balmy conditions over on mainland Europe. Despite it officially being winter time over on the continent, the predictions show that on November 1 that mercury will hit 21C in parts of northern Spain as well…

[docspock68]

[rwpohl]

the hunchback of notre dame,  peter medak 1997

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 7th November

What's that, you say? You want to hear some really cheesy music? Like, real quatro formaggio stuff? Maybe some of it a cover of stuff we've already heard before? Well boy, do I have a week for you, that's all I'll say.

Man on Fire - Frankie Vaughan (double A-side, peaked at Number 6)

We've had some wild partying, we've had a whole lotta shaking, now we've got a "man on fire" - we're really in a run of potentially suggestive titles, here! This time, it's served up by Frankie Vaughn, who's been delightfully camp in just about every outing he's had so far - will the run continue?

Yes. Yes, it will. But first we get a huge, sweeping introduction, very cinematic, all strings and rolling timpani. This sets the tone for the whole song, which has a level of drama that's honestly impressive. At some point, you get the impression Frankie was maybe asked just how extra the track ought to be, except he misunderstood and just nodded and the arranger took it as a blank cheque.

The singing, when it comes in, fits this vibe perfectly: When youuuuuuuu're in love / You're a man on fiiiiiiiiiiiire / And a man on fiiiiiiiiiiire / Is a man to behoooooooold. There's not a line in this song where Frankie doesn't pick and hold a note slightly longer than is really necessary, and the end effect's... well, it's definitely something. It kind of sounds unreal, but it's not at any point out of tune or bad, per se. Like, he's clearly still quite a good singer, but some choices were definitely made here. Choices that I'm really not sure should have been made.

I do quite like the song, though. You've got Frankie's very OTT delivery, plus these strings that give the sense of a tango or paso doble, and then halfway through you gain an all-male backing chorus who sing along for a verse or so, then pop up sporadically to emphasise Frankie's already absurly emphatic lines with some "daah-daah" notes that come straight from the chorus line of a musical. The overall effect's very music theatre, and honestly quite fun. It's also not nearly as risqué as it actually could have been, it's more just about passion and wanting to follow the woman you love. Which is classier than making it a lust song, for sure.

And of course, with a song like this, we go for a big ending, with Frankie singing about how it is when you're burning with the flame of looooooooooooove. Plus you've just had the backing singers repeating burning, burning, burning, burning, burning, and a huge instrumental ending with all these building chords in the strings, and the return of the timpani from the start. It's no less than I'd have expected, and honestly, after the song I've just listened to, I'd feel cheated if Frankie didn't go big.

Wanderin' Eyes - Frankie Vaughan (double A-side, 6)

Okay, this is a cover, the original being a Charlie Gracie number that we saw a few months ago. So we're back to that grand old tradition of British artists doing covers of successful American songs. Usually, at this point, I note how the British version is less intense than the American version, watered-down a bit. Somehow I feel like this may not be the issue this time, though?

Yeah, we're definitely going big here. The big held notes, thankfully, are gone, replaced by a very camp delivery, with Frankie attacking each and every line with all the gusto he can muster. Which is quite a lot of gusto. He does some little hiccups on the end of lines when singing about "eyes" and "lies", leans hard into the how would you like it line that I didn't love in Charlie's version, then practically slurs the bit about him doing some wanderin of my own. It's a weird delivery, but never a boring one.

We've also got the same fun backing singers, who flip manically between echoing the final word of various lines, adding in ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba bits and otherwise just making odd noises in the background. I particularly like the bit where Frankie clarifies that his love is feeding him lines that I wish they're true, and the backing singers just have to chip in with a helpful "but they're lies" clarification. Because yes, Frankie really needed you all telling him that. Uh-huh.

The instrumentation is also notable, not least because it's just kind of weird and cheap-sounding, but in a sort of appealing way. You've got this plucky electric guitar playing, the brass section from a big band that hasn't realised that we've hit the rock and roll era yet, and then on top of it all, these bashy drums that are just a bit too loud, and sound like they've got something rattling around inside of them. And somewhere there's also some percussion (?) instrument making this distinctive "bam-bam" noise that's kind of like a drum beat, but just kind of jarring and metallic.

I still don't love the lyrics - they're kind of creepy, with the "how would you like it" as a particular stinker - but some of Frankie's camp and the sheer chaotic energy of this version takes the edge off for me. Still, it's a weird one, a song that feels like it was written quite some time ago, and is now trying its best to be rock and roll, but hasn't quite figured out the formula yet. I don't hate it, but it's definitely odd.

Be My Girl - Jim Lane (2)

This is on the surface much more of a competent rock and roll song. For one, it's not sung in Frankie's odd sort-of-croon. Also, it's genuine striaghtforward rock music, no misplaced horn sections or sweeping strings here, just a singer, a guitar, some drums and a bass. Also a piano, but we'll get there.

We start with backing singers, but Jim's pretty quickly in there, with some charmingly straightforward lyrics about how My baby, I need you, / To hug you and squeeze you, / Wanna do things for you, / Be my girl. Sophisticated these lyrics aren't, but that's kind of what you want when marketing songs to teens. Especially in a market that's not exactly inundated with teen love songs, this probably felt fresh and relatable, like the sort of thing a 1950s secondary school pupil might actually want to say to their crush.

Through it all, Jim's performance is great. He's got this way of sort of adding extra notes to the end of his lines, while stopping short of yodelling, so you get lines about how But with you it's somebody new ev'ry da-a-a-a-ay / And with me I wanna be here to sta-a-a-a-ay. It's entertaining, and I like it.

Notably, despite being British, he does sound passably American, at least to me, both in little words like "wanna" and in the little Elvis-impersonator moments where he starts lines with a little "well-uh". Which, at the end of the day, might be what sets Jim apart from artists like Frankie. Frankie sounded like many things, but an American wasn't one of them - and unfortunately, the future seems to be American, at least for now. Where Frankie sounded odd and stilted, Jim sounds fresh, young and relaxed, with his slangy Americanisms and teen swagger.

Interestingly, you've also got a guitar solo in the middle that reminds me of nothing more than Cliff Richard and the Shadows - who've got to be somewhere round the corner at this point, right? Jim didn't hang around on the musical scene - he wanted to focus on comedy, and went on to have a career in acting - but you can absolutely imagine people who were into him at this point later getting into Cliff. And the solo really sounds like something from Summer Holiday, all steely guitar with a bit of echo and then this rinky-dink little riff on something that sounds kind of like an electric harpsichord? Like, I don't think it is that, but it's a cool sound, nonetheless.

I'm under no illusions that this is a "lost classic" or anything, but it's a very competent piece of music, and has definitely aged better than this week's other offerings.

I do kind of think it's interesting to see how these different British artists are responding to the wave of American pop and rock and roll music - with varying degrees of success, evidently. Of the two of these, one of them definitely sounds fresher and more promising - and it's interesting to note just how American Jim sounds as he does it. Where Frankie's adapting the new American sound to the sort of songs he wants to sing, Jim's just straight up adopting it and putting out some rock and roll sounds of his own. And yeah, it just about works - and thus the spectre of Cliff edges a step closer...

Favourite song of the bunch: Be My Girl

[weirdlookindog]

Carry On Screaming! (1966)

[filosofablogger]

♫ Georgy Girl ♫ (Redux)

There are certain situations that seem to open my mind/heart to songs … in the shower and washing dishes seem to be the two most prevalent of those ‘situations’!  So, this afternoon as I was handwashing a few dishes, this one popped into my head and absolutely refused to leave!  Some 12 hours later, it is still looping through the corners of my mind, so … time to share it with you guys so that it…