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Post by Arthur Pringle on Mar 8, 2021 22:11:18 GMT
There is quite a bit of racial stuff in Milligan's 'Q', including material that would probably be considered offensive to Jewish people today, though regular cast member John Bluthal was Jewish. I think you have to look at the writer's pedigree, Johnny Speight certainly wasn't racist, anyone who has seen his tv play 'If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have To Invent Them' can see that he was trying to expose prejudice as something irrational & harmful. Trouble is audiences often take things literally ( especially today ) without thinking about context.
'Curry And Chips' Eric Sykes apparently held racist views however, a vocal supporter of Ian Smith's White Minority Rhodesia government, he toured there with Jimmy Edwards & was a fan of the controversial novelist Ayn Rand.
Neil Shand wrote for Jim Davidson as well as performers you don't associate with racist views. Attitudes then were obviously very different with performers you would today think of as being liberal doing material that would now be considered racist, John Bird for instance who was featured about 3 times on 'It Was Alright In the 1970s' doing blackface & mimicking Africans. He & Alan Coren did an LP satirising Idi Amin, some would say it was satirical whilst others might claim it was racist.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Mar 14, 2021 20:09:20 GMT
Ayn Rand was completely barking mad. She wrote a book called The Fountsinhead which was made into a film, she also seemed to attract attention from the extreme right and wanted to basically abolish all public services.
Ironically, late in life she became ill and incapacitated and became totally reliant on them.
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Three Litre
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Post by Three Litre on Mar 14, 2021 21:12:25 GMT
There is quite a bit of racial stuff in Milligan's 'Q', including material that would probably be considered offensive to Jewish people today, though regular cast member John Bluthal was Jewish. I think you have to look at the writer's pedigree, Johnny Speight certainly wasn't racist, anyone who has seen his tv play 'If There Weren't Any Blacks You'd Have To Invent Them' can see that he was trying to expose prejudice as something irrational & harmful. Trouble is audiences often take things literally ( especially today ) without thinking about context.
'Curry And Chips' Eric Sykes apparently held racist views however, a vocal supporter of Ian Smith's White Minority Rhodesia government, he toured there with Jimmy Edwards & was a fan of the controversial novelist Ayn Rand.
Neil Shand wrote for Jim Davidson as well as performers you don't associate with racist views. Attitudes then were obviously very different with performers you would today think of as being liberal doing material that would now be considered racist, John Bird for instance who was featured about 3 times on 'It Was Alright In the 1970s' doing blackface & mimicking Africans. He & Alan Coren did an LP satirising Idi Amin, some would say it was satirical whilst others might claim it was racist.
There's quite a bit of blackface in the Two Ronnies. Frankly I'm not sure it was done to take the mickey out the race in question. Of course Michael Bates did it in It Ain't Half Hot Mum which will never see the light of day on the BBC ever again. The problem is that making jokes does inevitably meaning making them at someones expense at least some of the time, which seems to be getting less and less acceptable.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Mar 14, 2021 21:45:27 GMT
It ain't half hot Mum I didn't think was particularly good, personally. Only Windsor Davies made it just about watchable, it's another one for the list of programmes you watched at the time, but wouldn't now.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Mar 14, 2021 23:02:15 GMT
Trouble is they seem to be inconsistent with what they deem offensive. A White actor playing an Indian is unacceptable but a gay stereotype like Mr Humphries from AYBS is ok.
The 'blackface' argument I understand if it involves demeaning or cruel racial caricature, the most obvious example being the Black & White Minstrels, but isn't transformation through make up & costume part & parcel of a performer's art? Several Asian actors appeared in IAHHM including Renu Setna who has praised Michael Bates performance. Ironically the show was one of the few tv programmes at the time to feature Indian characters, whatever you think about the content at least it was providing acting opportunities for Asian actors & presumably attracted an Asian audience.
Surely that show, like 'Dad's Army', is mostly about poking fun at the British. What's more Bates was born in India, was a Gurkha & apparently spoke Urdu fluently so it wasn't a case of casting any old actor in the part. This is what bothers me about these complaints, it assumes that the producers of the show were unsympathetic & ignorant.
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Post by Cartman on Mar 15, 2021 7:42:23 GMT
I agree with you on this Arthur, I don't consider It ain't half hot Mum offensive, the reason why I don't rate it is simply because I didn't think it was particularly funny. Dad's Army worked better because there were several well written, well acted characters, whereas It ain't half hot Mum didn't have this, it was really just Windsor Davies carrying it on his own
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2021 9:55:34 GMT
Does anyone remember watching the Gemini man in the 70s! Used to love it as a kid! About this dude who had this invisible watch and could go invisible for a few minutes once he pressed it!! However if he did it to long then he would remain invisible!! Ive never seen or heard anything about this program since it was first shown way back then! It stared Ben Murphy who used to be in Alias Smith & Jones! another short series!
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Post by Charles Bronson on Mar 15, 2021 12:01:11 GMT
I remember it vaguely GC. Dont recall watching an episode though. It mustn't have done very well as I haven't heard it mentioned since it was on originally. I do remember Ben Murphy from Alias Smith And Jones. Which I watched regularly.
Charles.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on May 20, 2021 21:28:09 GMT
Sparky's thread of promotional tv material included 'Tropic', here is a TV Times article from July 1979, the first episode being shown on July 29th.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on May 20, 2021 22:02:09 GMT
Bit more from the next issue, Tropic cover star Bobbie Brown best remembered for playing Gareth Hunt's secretary in Minder episode 'The Son Also Rises'-
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