09.26.07
True greatness: The Goon Show
The Goon Show is a wonderful radio comedy. The first episode I heard was as I was driving to the Iowa City Public Library listening to KSUI, the University of Iowa radio station. It was something about a plot to smuggle solid gold saxophones, and a Hercules Gritpyppe-Thynne described one Count Jim Moriarty as the French overland saxophone champion.
I arrived at the library, turned off the car engine, and continued listening until the end of the program. From that day I tuned in every week. I soon grew to know the cast of characters, played by Spike Milligan, Harry Secombe, Peter Sellers, Ray Ellington, and, occasionally, Max Geldray and the announcer Wallace Greenslade. Just writing those names takes me back.
The Goon Show Site has lots of information on the show, and you can now buy episodes on CD, with 25 released thus far.
Here’s one scene from the show. It’s a radio programme, so the video is just distracting filler for the eyes. Try listening with your eyes closed. The two characters are Eccles, the complete idiot (for whom all those books were written), played by Spike Milligan, and the much beloved Bluebottle, played by Peter Sellers (and based, Sellers later recounted, on a scout leader he met on a train who had that very voice).
