Hancock's Hour and a Half
Over the weekend, as a little treat, I attended a screening of three episodes of Hancock's Half Hour at London's Riverside Studios, which was the location of their shooting some sixty-six years earlier; I'm down with the kids (of 1957).
The event was staged by the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society, of which I'm a member, and was the third screening at the venue, though I couldn't make the previous two due to the recent rail strike hoo-ha. So this trip was a case of third-time lucky for me. My last visit to the studios was in 2008, when Glyn and I filmed a promotional interview for our first Edinburgh show, The Balloon Debate (footage I recall seeing once at the time, but never since). Being TV nerds, we were excited to be at the former site of TFI Friday for work reasons. We probably even hummed the opening riff to The Riverboat Song as we walked around the building.
It's no secret that I love Hancock's Half Hour. Why would it be? The writing's timeless, and I'm astounded by the comedy strike rate. Tony Hancock's acting ability is also sorely underrated. For some reason, the myth prevails that Galton and Simpson's scripts masked his lesser abilities, which sells him short. While they were undeniably his best creative match, and Hancock's quest to break America and his crippling self-analysis contributed to his decline after he split from them, by then, he was also battling depression and alcoholism. But at his peak, his timing was impeccable. Sid James said no one else came close, and he worked with everybody. And before Tony began relying on cue cards in those later years, his ability to listen and react truthfully to his co-stars while drawing out big laughs was a comic masterclass that Galton & Simpson's writing only knocked into a cocked hat.
(I enjoy 1950s phrases as much as 1950s comedy.)
It's worth noting how good Sid was in HHH too, when unhindered by all that patchy Carry On material. It seems Galton & Simpson brought the best out of everybody.
While I always enjoy an excuse to watch Tony and Sid working, the undoubted highlight of the day was meeting the 98-year-old Hancock co-star Laurie Webb, who was a surprise special guest. Laurie featured in two of the three episodes shown - The Reunion Party and The Cruise* - and nine episodes in total, and was also in Galton & Simpson's spinoff vehicle for Sid, Citizen James. He was remarkably sprightly for a man two years shy of a hundred and even dismissed the offer of a microphone to speak to the room, relying on old-fashioned vocal projection instead like the pro he is. He talked of how jobs like Hancock were mere daytime fillers to squeeze around his packed theatre diary (which took in seventeen West End musicals and many tours) and how he'd occasionally play golf with Sid James when they were on the road together.
As people left the auditorium, I held back, knowing that if I didn't say hello, I would regret it. Webb was kind and friendly, and when I mentioned I was also an actor, he asked if I was working. I had a quick chat with his son too and said how lovely it must be to see a younger version of his dad in action. When Laurie turned up for those shoots in the late 1950s, he would have had no inkling that we'd still be watching his performances over sixty years later. But how lovely that we are, and that he's still here to watch them with us.
*The third episode shown was The Alpine Holiday.
