The death of Tommy Cooper in 1984 and the behind the scenes chaos that caused meant the "in front of the curtain" area was dramatically reduced while the incident was dealt with - a true example of "the show must go on" when one of your peers is on the other end of a defibrillator behind the curtain you're in front of...
A lot of modern day people or TV in particular don't seem to have the skill to pad effectively. See any time the quiz TV channels phone systems packed up and the presenter has to fill and it's fairly painful to watch. The likes of Forsyth and Monkhouse thrived on this and were masters at filling on any medium - sadly a lost talent now in an era where a production is effectively computerised.
The death of Tommy Cooper in 1984 and the behind the scenes chaos that caused meant the "in front of the curtain" area was dramatically reduced while the incident was dealt with - a true example of "the show must go on" when one of your peers is on the other end of a defibrillator behind the curtain you're in front of...
A lot of modern day people or TV in particular don't seem to have the skill to pad effectively. See any time the quiz TV channels phone systems packed up and the presenter has to fill and it's fairly painful to watch. The likes of Forsyth and Monkhouse thrived on this and were masters at filling on any medium - sadly a lost talent now in an era where a production is
effectively computerised
.
I think perhaps the phrase you're looking for is
over produced
I also think that entertainers from that era made their name in theatres, where no director was telling them what to do in their ear if something went wrong. As a result, ad libbing was perfected and they looked like nothing could phase them. Compare that to today where presenters are trained with autocues and earpieces.
Tarby, Bob Monkhouse, Bruce, all classic 'front of curtain' variety performers, used to filling while the scenery was reset behind the front curtain for the next act. A very special skill and they made it look effortless, and not 'filling' at all. Little and Large, Cannon and Ball, Les Dennis and Dustin Gee all found their feet performing in front of the curtain between acts, all becoming big acts themselves.
And yes, Bruce was on one of the very earliest BBC tv broadcasts pre World War II!
Unless I've totally missed it -
I'm glad I'm not the only one to find a lack of a quotable tribute about Sir Bruce from Des over the past week a bit strange.
Even if there was some 'history' between them, I'd still think that O'Connor would have still praised SBF in the days after his demise.
Even if there wasn't it's not necessary for every celebrity to make public statements to pay tribute to their peers.
TL
toby lerone 2016
Can I ask perhaps a stupid question as I was only 2 in 1994 so I don't know the answer. I know Brucie went frequently between the BBC & ITV during his career and maybe it's wrong but according to Wikipedia Bruce Forsyth presented 16 episodes of Play Your Cards Right from March-July 1994 then presented 16 episodes of the Generation Game between September-December 1994 so was he able to do both especially back in 1994 when you seen people and how was he able to as back then you were exclusively on one channel and was there any falling out between Bruce and the BBC which made him go back to ITV in the 90s like the falling out later which made him leave ITV in the early 2000s.
:-(
A former member
That's depends on when he recorded them. Also if none of his contact had any exclusive right. Then he could do as he pleased. Ant and Dec did the same in 2001 with also bang/smtv on itv and friends likes these on bbc at the same time.
There was no falling out between him and the bbc as far as I know.
Thing was he had done the gem game before so probley wanted to move on. Itv come knocking with two offers.
He may have dislike gameshows but there paid the bills and could be burned off in days.
ITV were quite upset that A&D were on both networks and told them they had to choose between them, which in turn, led to their golden handcuffs contract.
Can I ask perhaps a stupid question as I was only 2 in 1994 so I don't know the answer. I know Brucie went frequently between the BBC & ITV during his career and maybe it's wrong but according to Wikipedia Bruce Forsyth presented 16 episodes of Play Your Cards Right from March-July 1994 then presented 16 episodes of the Generation Game between September-December 1994 so was he able to do both especially back in 1994 when you seen people and how was he able to as back then you were exclusively on one channel and was there any falling out between Bruce and the BBC which made him go back to ITV in the 90s like the falling out later which made him leave ITV in the early 2000s.
If you saw the repeat of When Miranda Met Bruce (see
here
) Forsyth mentioned that one could record an entire series of a gameshow in just two weeks at (I think he said) two a day over four days and then have four months off abroad somewhere. Don't forget the gap between recording and original transmission could be months and by the time that show originally aired another series of something else may be in the works.