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MARTY FELDMAN
Born: July 8 1934
Died: December 2 1982
by PETER TATCHELL (reprinted from LAUGH MAGAZINE #12, 1995)
For a handful of years in the late 1960s he was the funniest
man on television. But Marty Feldman wanted to be a movie
star and set off on a quest for big screen immortality which
would ultimately cause his downfall.
Marty was born in London’s East End in 1933, the son
of a Jewish dressmaker. He left school at the age of fifteen
for a life in show business. By his late teens his love of
comedy and jazz led him to form a knockabout stage act with
two friends called Morris, Marty And Mitch, very much under
the influence of Hollywood heroes like the Marx Brothers and
Olsen And Johnson. They were enthusiastic, but not a success.
He met Barry Took in 1954 and the pair found common ground
in their sense of humour. They gravitated to writing (and
occasionally appearing on) several early A.T. V. programmes
in the early days of commercial television.
By the end of the 1950s, Feldman was part of the team scripting
radio’s Educating Archie and Took was supplying material
for Beyond Our Ken and the final series of Take It From Here.
Unable to work with partner Eric Merriman, Took asked Marty
to assist him (uncredited) on the parts of the show he had
to supply, in particular the Glums segments.
As a result, Took and Feldman were also invited to contribute
scripts for the Harry Worth/Peter Jones radio pro-gramme We’re
In Business (which also featured Irene Handl and Dick Emery)
and Granada’s top-rating television series The Army
Game (then in its fourth season).
The popularity of two of that show’s characters, Sgt.
Major Claud Snudge (played by Bill Fraser) and Private Bisley
(Alfie Bass), led to a spinoff series Bootsie And Snudge,
and Feldman and Took were assigned to be the chief writers.
Re-locating the ex-army types to an exclusive London club
(with Clive Dunn as a doddery waiter and Robert Doming as
the establishment’s hon. sec.) soon had the show the
most watched on British television, but there were problems
on the horizon.
By the end of the first season (in mid-1961), Marty had become
noticeably erratic in his behaviour and eventually insisted
on working alone. Took had to bring in other writers to ensure
the required number of scripts would be forthcoming and only
after several months of frustration, did he discover his partner
was suffering a severe hyperthyroid condition.
Urgent treatment and convalescence resulted in Marty’s
full recovery, but the operation caused a noticeable bulging
of his eyes as an unavoidable side-effect. At the time, it
was most distressing, but in later years it would be a huge
advantage when he went back to performing.
Feldman resumed working with Took, and the two helped resurrect
Frankie Howerd’s flagging career with material for guest
spots and on radio. Marty eventually left Bootsie And Snudge
to his partner (preferring to confront new challenges) and
in a freelance capacity contributed a number of one-off episodes
for B.B.C. television’s Comedy Playhouse series.
Titles included Nicked At The Bottle, Good Luck Sir - You
Got A Lucky Face, Here I Come - Whoever I Am and Judgement
Day For Elijah Jones. With Barry Took he scripted The Walrus
And The Carpenter, Barnaby Spoot And The Exploding Whoopee
Cushion, Memoirs Of A Chaise Longue and two not produced for
several years Tooth And Claw and The Making Of Peregrine.
The Playhouse series was primarily a testing ground for prospective
sitcoms, but only The Walrus And The Carpenter (with Felix
Aylmer and Hugh Griffith) led to a spinoff season, although
it was a dud with viewers.
Other B.B.C. TV projects at the time included a series called
Barney Is My Darling (with Irene Handl and Bill Fraser) and
several Terry Scott specials (Scott On Birds, Scott On Money
and Scott On Food).
Took and Feldman’s most successful venture of the mid-1960s
was the B.B.C. radio programme Round The Horne, the new series
for Kenneth Horne and his Beyond Our Ken cast. It became enormously
popular and, forty years later, recordings of the show sell
in huge numbers.
In 1966, Marty was asked to be chief writer for David Frost’s
new BBCTV series The Frost Report (which launched John Cleese,
Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett on successful careers). In
a writing sense, the show included many names who also influenced
the future of British comedy … Barry Cryer, Dick Vosburgh,
Neil Shand and prospective Pythons Michael Palm and Terry
Jones, among others.
The Frost Report was a milestone for all concerned and after
an initial thirteen episode run, Frost decided to finance
his three main performers in individual projects for commercial
television. In the case of John Cleese, it was to be a sketch
comedy series called At Last The 1948 Show (the title being
a veiled dig at the procrastination of programme planners).
The programme was in effect a visual linking of the brains
behind the two top radio comedies of the 1960s . . . I’m
Sorry I’ll Read That Again (which starred Cleese and
Tim Brooke Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie) and Feldman
and Took’s Round The Horne. In addition to Cleese and
Brooke Taylor and fellow Cambridge Footlights alumnus Graham
Chapman, Cleese shocked Frost by suggesting Marty Feldman
himself should be part of the performing team.
Any reticence anyone may have had about Feldman’s looks
quickly vanished when the show got under way. His strange
little man character was a huge success and he more than held
his own in the company of his illustrious fellow cast members
(who went on to triumphs in such programmes as Monty Python’s
Flying Circus and The Goodies).
Despite being a victim of unfortunate programming decisions
on the commercial television networks around Britain (resulting
in London being the only area to get all episodes), At Last
The 1948 Show produced a remarkably high standard of material
throughout its two seasons (for a total of thirteen episodes).
Made at the end of the black-and-white era, the programme
also enjoyed screenings on Australian television.
It is particularly disappointing to note that all but one
of the recordings were subsequently junked. Happily, some
decades later, three additional episodes have surfaced, as
well as five “best-of” editions (preserved by
a Swedish TV company!). With most of the 1948 Shows out of
circulation in the years after its demise, a large number
of the scripts were performed again by The Two Ronnies (on
television) and by various Monty Python cast members in various
stage productions throughout the 1970s (see an itemisation
below).
For Feldman, At Last The 1948 Show was a huge career boost,
and he was offered his own sketch-comedy series on BBC2 the
following year. Two series of Marty were made (in colour)
with a supporting cast of Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin and
Roland Macleod. A half-hour compilation of high-lights subsequently
won an award at the Montreux festival.
Marty had a much higher budget than its Rediffusion predecessor,
and Feldman could indulge in a number of clever outdoor routines
highlighting a day in the life of a stuntman, a long-distance
golfer and a henpecked husband (all paying homage to the great
days of silent movies).
Television success led to roles on the cinema screen as well.
He appeared with an all-star cast in The Bed Sitting Room
in 1969 before starring in his own vehicle Every Home Should
Have One, about the tribulations of being an advertising executive.
It would be the last time he and Barry Took wrote together,
and the venture suffered from excesses of ego and inexperience
on both sides of the camera.
By a strange quirk of fate, Marty also made his debut on American
television soon after. Not because of his film work, but as
a result of producers there having seen copies of his BBC2
series (sent out routinely by B.B.C. Enterprises to encourage
programme bookings). Several sketches were subsequently aired
on the then-popular Dean Martin Show on N.B.C. to such acclaim
that Marty himself was invited to appear on the programme.
The sight of Feldman in dinner jacket (as was customary for
guests on the show) was quite a novelty in itself. In one
episode he and the host performed the door-to-door undertaker
skit (from At Last The 1948 Show).
He was so popular that in 1970 Marty was signed as a regular
on the Martin show’s summer-season replacement The Goiddiggers
In London, which ran for nine editions on N.B.C. until major
programming was set to resume that September.
A year later, Britain’s A.T.V. decided to capitalise
on Feldman’s success on both sides of the Atlantic by
financing a series of hour long programmes called The Marty
Feldman Comedy Machine (with a supporting cast of Spike Milligan,
Orson Welles, dancer Tommy Tune, Bob Todd and Hugh Paddick).
The result though was an uneven mix of various comedy styles
and (despite having some nice moments) had nowhere near the
consistency of his earlier efforts. A 30-minute compilation
did win another award at Montreux, however.
Taking a break from television, Marty toured Australia in
early 1972 and appeared on stage with a selection of favourite
TV routines. One of the local networks signed him for a special
during the visit as well.
Feldman was back at the B.B.C. in early 1974 for a series
called Marty Back Together Again. In an attempt to recap-ture
the glory of his earlier series, all the stops were pulled
out to promote the project . . . he even appeared on the front
cover of the Radio Times.
Despite all the hype, the show lacked the writing talent of
the 1960’s venture and was prepared to rework earlier
mate-rial (even the Undertaker resurfaced, and each episode
featured the star performing a classic Tom Lehrer composition
from a decade before). Amid some offscreen clashes of egos
during production only five editions made it to air and the
programme was not seen outside Britain.
Soon after the television disappointment, Marty Feldman embarked
on a significant career change. Mel Brooks signed him to play
the hunchback to Gene Wilder’s hero in his burlesque
of horror movies, Young Frankenstein. And Marty was in his
element, a film star on a Hollywood backlot appearing in a
major motion picture by a leading American director.
Young Frankenstein was a successful moneyearner for 20th Century-Fox
and Wilder asked him to take part in his first directorial
effort soon after, The Adventure Of Sherlock Holmes’
Smarter Brother. Marty also appeared in a segment of the Italian
40° In The Shade (aka Sex With A Smile). Brooks wanted
Feldman for his next production Silent Movie, a loving lampoon
of an even earlier genre of tinseltown. This time Marty was
cast as a Ben Turpin-like clown whose eyes are his most notable
comedic asset.
Having made three major motion pictures, Marty Feldman was
now ready to sit in the director’s chair himself and
convinced Universal to finance several projects, beginning
with The Last Remake Of Beau Geste. With Michael York, Terry-Thomas,
Peter Ustinov, Spike Milligan and Feldman himself, it was
more of a remake of The Three Feathers than the title suggested,
and was notable for a clever piece of editing which saw Marty
having a conversation with Gary Cooper in foot-age from the
original. The device would later be used in the Steve Martin
film, Dead Men Don‘t Wear Plaid.
With only a modest return from his first venture, Universal
hoped the follow-up In God We Trust (a religious satire) might
be better received. Unfortunately, not all roads down the
Life Of Brian trail were paved with yellow brick, and the
movie turned out to be a disaster.
Feldman was distraught when Universal cancelled the con-tract
for future projects and in his despair he swallowed an overdose
of pills as a quick way out. Luckily, medical help was able
to revive him, but his career in Hollywood was over.
As he tried to rebuild his life, he agreed to take minor roles
in a couple of forthcoming productions . . . the Jerry Lewis/Madeline
Kahn Slapstick (Of Another Kind) and then in his At Last 1948
Show friend Graham Chapman’s pirate sendup Yellowbeard.
Both ended up unsuccessful vehicles for their participants,
but in Marty’s case it didn’t matter. The day
after he’d completed his scenes on the Chapman venture,
he suffered a heart attack in his Mexico hotel room and died,
aged forty-nine. A decade of living the Hollywood life (with
its drink and drugs) had caught up with the gifted funnyman
and any future plaudits would have to come from recordings
of the great moments of his heyday in the 1960s.
AT LAST THE 1948 SHOW
(Associated-Rediffusion) b/w
Cast: Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Marty Feldman and Aimi MacDonald
Series #1: February 15 to March 22 1967 (6 x 25 min)
Series #2: September 26 to November 7 1967 (7 x 25 min)
(see separate file for itemizations and merchandising)
MARTY
(BBC2) colour
Cast: Marty Feldman, Tim Brooke-Taylor, John Junkin, Roland Macleod and Mary Miller
Series #1: April 29 to June 3 1968 (6 x 30 min)
1 Ticket Agency/Bishop/The Candidate/Police 6⅞/Vet’s Waiting Room/A Hard Day’s Night
2 Irritation/Little Old Couple - Travel Agency/A Day In The Life Of A Stuntman/Parliamentary Report/Lady Chatterly/Eat Your Prunes/Tabletop Battleground/Whiffenpoof Song
3 Weather Report/No-one’s Perfect (song)/Royalty At Soccer Match/Traffic/Salome/Headmaster Visits/The Yechh/Feet (song)
4 Dr. Jeckyl/The Little Old Couple 2: Marriage Councellor/Weighing Machine/The Wedding/Egyptian Statues/Bullfighter Policeman/Ballet/My Father’s Shirt (song)
5 Eye-O-Fry/The Gnome/The Sentry/House Files/Who Are The Black And White Minstrels?/Father And Son/Opera Without Music
6 Is It True What They Say About Dixie?/Hospital Visitor/Driving Instructor/Backchat/Woodworm/Country Tavern/Florist Jungle
Series #2: December 9 1968 to January 13 1969 (6 x 30 min)
1 B.B.C. Apology/May I Paint You In The Nude?/Lightning Coach Tour/Soccer Commentator/The Loneliness OfA Long-Distance Golfer/Newspaper Expose/The Battle Of Britain’s Taxis
2 Dixon Of Dock Green/Little Old Couple 3 - Post Office/Fritz von Angst/Serbian Restaurant/The Stuntman On Holiday/My Kingdom For A Horse/The Seance
3 Z-Cars/Insurance Policy/Kiss Me Hardy/Super Midwife/The Shooting Of Flicka/Holiday Movies/Population Explosion/Henry V/Late Night Call From Mother/Is It Wrong To Love An Elephant? (song)/The Curse Of The Mandervilles/Flying Rabbi
4 Orchestrated Coughing/Television Censorship/Obituary To David Frost/Telephone Callers/Pas De Deux/Danny Gruntfuttock/Carols
5 Mr. Christian/House Welcomer/Clothists/Football Reunion/Headmaster’s Office/French Song For Sauce Lovers/Auction/Newsreader/A Life In The Clergy/Hospital Visitor
6 Call Marty Feldman/Wine Treaders/The Fly/Short-sighted Driver/Science Lecture/Cost Of Living/Punch And Judy
Montreux Edition: March 17 1969 (30m “best of”)
incl. Lightning Coach Tour/Vet’s Waiting Room/A Day In The Life Of A Stuntman/No-one’s Perfect (song)/May I PaintYou In The Nude?/The Loneliness Of A Long-Distance Golfer/ A Hard Day ‘5 Night
MARTY AMOK: BBC1 March 30 1970 (45m)
Restaurant/Bookshop/Long-Distance Bowler/Judge/Royal Handicap/Cockpit/Atilla The Hun/Buying A Double Bed/Changing Cubicles/Reality In The Cinema
*** only two complete episodes (1/2 and 1/5) plus the sketches italicized exist from series 1.
The second season, the Montreux edition, plus the italicized sketches from Marty Amok also survive.
RECORDINGS
Marty
Pye LP NPL 18258
Irritation
Weighing Machine
Ticket Agency
Father And Son
Police Notice
God
Woodworm
Headmaster
Lady Chatterly
Weather Forecast
Funny He Never Married
Eye-O-Fry
Travel Agency
Parliamentary Report
Eat Your Prunes
Bishop
Ballet
Salome
Funny He Never Married/Travel Agency
Pye single 7N 17643
I Feel A Song Going Off
Decca LP LK/SKL 4983, SPA 134 (The Crazy World Of Marty Feldman)
studio vocals of songs, several of which were featured in
MARTY:
Waltzing With You
District Nurse Hargreaves
The World’s In Rhyme
The Elephant Song
Eurovision Song
Ilford Town Hall
Kensington High Street
La Sauce
There’s A Little Part Of Me
Psychedelic Rubbish
The Five To Eleven Waltz
Mavis Wavertree
You Without Me
The Great Bell
Death
The Back Of Your Neck
My Father’s Shirt
Please Let Me Love You
Bayswater Road
Cautious Love Song
French Folk-song
No Nuts
Loo
Eternity
A Joyous Time Of Year/The B Side
Decca single F 17285
VIDEO/DVD
It’s Marty
B.B.C. Video BBCV 5360 (reissued as DVD)(64m)
Irritation
A Day In The Life Of A Stuntman
Bishop
Newspaper Expose
The Loneliness Of A Long Distance Golfer
May I Paint You In The Nude?
Travel Agency
Wine Treading
The Gnome
World Cup 1966
Vet’s Waiting Room
Florist Jungle
Lightning Coach Tour
Eat Your Prunes
A Hard Day’s Night
French Song For Sauce Lovers
Long Distance Bowler
Restaurant
The Battle Of Britain’s Taxis
Later Television Work
THE GOLDDIGGERS IN LONDON
N.B.C. July 16 to September 10 1970 (9 x 50 min)
Cast: Charles Nelson Reilly, Marty Feldman, Tommy Tune, Julian
Chagrin and the Golddiggers
MARTY ABROAD
BBC2 January 1 1971 (40 min)
THE MARTY FELDMAN COMEDY MACHINE
A.T.V. October 1 1971 to January 14 1972 (14 x 50 min)
Cast: Marty Feldman, Spike Milligan, Orson Welles, Hugh Paddick
and Bob Todd
Montreux edition: February 15 1972 (30 min “best of”)
THE MARTY FELDMAN SPECIAL
9 Network, Australia July 31 1972 (60 min)
MARTY BACK TOGETHER AGAIN
BBC1 February 20 to March 27 1974 (not on Mar 6) (5 x 30 min)
Cast: Marty Feldman, James Villiers and Derek Griffiths
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