1961-06-02 — Page 6

Pogo 6

THE CHINA MAIL, FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 1961.

Patricia Lewis

QUARTET

IN A QUANDARY

FOUR

AS BROADWAY BECKONS,

THE PART-TIME SATIRISTS GET

A FEEL FOR FULL-TIME RICHES

(The way it turpa oul you'd never guess admiration had anything to do with 11.)

seems to be an uncommonly companionable crowd of chaps. The on Horsemen of the Apocalypse were four... the Musketeers were four likewise the Just Men and the Freshmen.

So perhaps it's a lurking respect for tradition that causes the paean- praised performers in that most untraditional revue "Beyond the Fringe" hailed by colleague Bernard Levin as not only "brilliant, adult, hard- boiled, accurate" and "merciless" but also as "witty, unexpected, alive, exhilarating, cleansing, right true and good" (a view happily shared by most of the critic's circle) to play out this precious piece as a quartet.

They range

in age from 23 to 27, in origin from Devon to

Dagenham, in careers trom jon

planist to pathologist, with simply their youth, their under- graduate years, and u stocking sense of satire in cominon,

1

-

can't

expense-agedunt lunch.... remember ut whose expense, but I think it was

Jurs,

"You see John Baneti got us organised. He was working at the Edinburgh Festival last

year....

The natural leader seems to be Jonathan Miller. a long, puzzled, auburn-haired, kookie- cut clown who won acclaim "There are always groups of In the Cambridge Foot amateurs who go up to the lights Revue five years ago, but Festival and work sort-of on the turned down professional offers fringe," said Bennett. "So John gol us to write our own show to to qualify as a doctor.

be put on fate

night after

Then there's

Alan Bennell, the Old Vic company. We play 21, spectacled, blond hybrid of ed for a week. Fuck

and Friar. Tuck

who

Jectures in history at Oxford. "....with great success," said loves to sit hugging his knees. Cook.

and says of most things, "It's a myth."

1

"I, for instance,

“He's right" went on Miller. "We're

with nol concerned politics In the way the Royal

a show hip' jokes about Ian Mikardo

I

Court will put on

we're just generalit amused by the habits of society."

Four from the Fringe.

to

"All my marriages are before me," he foughed. "So I have le smoothed, then removed no problems about working 1:1 his striped Madros cotton the States and I'd ke Jacket, worn with a similarly enormously because the oppar» "Actually tunities to play jazz there are NO can lough 3l striped shirt and tle. anything, but f feel that our I'm dying to do a plece in the exciling." way of satirising things like the show about the sub-technicians H-bomb and the Aldermaston --you know the types who wear ties outside Fair Isla marchers may well be the most red Affective political action there sweaters with lovat trousers is. After all, Atort Sahl doesn't who talk in Goon-voices and we make people think of there on scooters to rallies In Burn-

of

thein

issues there and theshe just hom Beeches.....

៧៧ undertow produces scepticism which makes think later...."

"....but scepticism in Eri- 18 almost shoulder- tain shrugging." put u Alan. laziness, really."

Reaction

nodded. "Like

Owlish

Mr Bennett, meanwhile, had burled himself under a pile et cushions. He emerged owlish'y when

asked I

him about America.

דיי

don't

want to do this

With "Beyond the Fring?" expected to run a year in Lön- don and 11 Broadway SCAGO11 to follow, the four friends are revue-thing permanently," he to a chorus of "Oohs!" inced with disturbing questions Bald

Though and "Aahs!" "I'd rather go on their "It's about

they all have ties in the way of here academically. At present 1 work, Jonathan Miller Is the only lecture for three hours a week, but if I was offered a decent job I'd rather slay.”

future.

only one who is married.

"start in the laboratory of

"But, Alan," protested Miller, "....with

backdrop

teaching hospital in June," ao me we of

States Co to the

i'll Miller weighed the value of said. "And I'll be working for make us rich for a long time... recne-shifters sleeping in

chairs" XV

Anished this and

a higher examination at the it give us such academie free- Hitler kad addressed a crowd in

same time. If we go to New. dom we can Trafalgar Square, I suppose the York I hope to get a job at the unpaid job for a year... renetion might well have been Columbia University it's 'Buzz oft....."

good thing to have worked

Bennett remained unimpresa- in the States,

Unlike Alan, who appears to Louis have happened into show busi- Mller.

you scives.

ness by losing his way ("umok- Everyone "corpsed" them- ing Concerts In college, know"), the remaining do have connections.

couple

Peter Cook, 23 "the boully Kood-looking one"), 15 valved" in writing revues Woe "Pieces of Eight," and Dudley Moure, 28, leads his own Jazz- combo and composes fim scores.

Organised

"Actually, the first

to

"No, we don't intend to be specifically didactic." sald Cook, rushing for a which sent me -

dictionary (IL means "10 teach").

that theirs

(Corpsed: to kill voe celf with laughter.)

changed But the mood serious the moment I suggested was the greatest "send-up" show of all time.

Miller' shook his horse-head. We send each other - which

up makes us corpse.

and works to the detri ment of the company," scolded Bennett.

14

.and I'm not interested la politics at all," pronounced Moore, "I just like to satiris the things like most.

"For

Benjamin Instance

par-

"....And pathology is ticularly easy because all your patients are dead anyway............”

(The "corpsing" at this stage was, perhaps, more appropriate) "Well, if everyone is demand- ng special conditions to play New York," announced Cook, "then I shall only go if I get

ed.

take Even

30

"What happens if New York is only interested in putting you on as the original quartei?" I askeri.

for once the audience remains unmoved

And ·I Jeft them hopefully up at the sky.

HUNK ON

gazing Between quaffs and bites and

THE HORIZON

With Bogart, Gable, and now Cooper gone, I've been lament- ing the last of "he"-men.

After all, most of the young stars-(Holden and Sinatra are in their forties)package their woman appeal with weakness (viz. Messes Perkins, Clift, and Bogarde) rather than strength.

But there's a new hunk on the horizon, Stuart Whiuean, who might well bridge this gap.

I came trpen

the gentleman one recent noon when he

wus dazedly trying to cancel out the effects of an eleven-to-elevenises party (all Scotch and no sleep) with a sex 15 of sandwiches--- from Chub to melted cheese-- accompanied by iced beer and big-bund records turned up the loudest.

Red-eyed

to

"Hiya." sald he, trying shake the red out of his eyes, and despite the adverse sunlight I could see why he's wanted for Marilyn Monroe's next film.

"Then we'll have to marry each other." chuckled Cook.

"Anyway, I can't see the show playing that long," said Miller.

He is tall and big-his clothes "But I've suddenly

got tho were clearly Anding the strain

with green eyex, not-too- Moore.

obvious teeth, and

straight "Well, there's always space grey-sprinkled hair falling in a

süld Couk.

neat lock.

time we and vary things," put in Cook, Britten is my favourite British post in the Kennedy Adminis feel for money...." complained of 1821. about 821b. too much

all met was in a 'cuyf'

....we just improvise a bit

defensively.

iration."

in

ler. "We joined together for

composer and Peter Pears is my "Irreverence as such doesn't favourite tenor, and so I take make as laugh," went on Miller, great delight in taking them

"How about you?" I askeó Moore

Warren-street,” explains Mil-

THE CLENCHED FIST

OF MISS PEYTON PLACE

RACE METALIOUS

Gris an unprepossess- ing looking American housewife who has stir- red up more dust with her pen than any other woman in the history of epic literature.

She is the woman who thought

of packing every ugly aspect of

THAT'S LOVE, SAYS GRACE METALIOUS

By.

SALLY VINCENT

humanity into one book and She was married at 17. hnd calling it "Peyton Place.”

Her

three children, and then ran away to marry a dise jockey, formula, which she has She then divorced the disc repeated in two other books, lins jockey and remarried her first made her something in the hazy husband, rezions of a million pounds, and

she is now the best selling best She was extremely eager seller writer

in the Western to tabulate her mistakes; to world.

make it quite clear that there

fain.

The

smokes I fearned Whitinan

that Mr

bull-

A "operated dezer" for An earth-moving company before becoming an to

netor, and that he thinks his

role "The Mark" (Britain's

the entry for

Cannes Em Festival) one of the best things he's done in 10 years of acting.

"And now," he said. "mỹ ambition

to do the Jack Dempsey story.

"There hasn't been a good boxing nim for a long time and his is perfect.

"You know,

every time this guy fought he wound up giving someone a permanent Injury.

"I've talked to him about it sume of his sparring partners. It reems I'm almost à double for him in looks and I used to be a boxer,"

"How many Bghta?" "Thirty-two-ns on amateur in the Services."

"How many, did you win " "All but one. I wanted to

tut professional but my dad refused to let ine-I was a minor at the time,"

Boxing

the

No need

suffer this desert

in

"It made me feel like reading the Bible nit ever again," sho said. talking n. Jerusalem.

But Span Wading intends to do more than that.

location, she has

After accompanying her hus- band Michael to Israel on a fun returned so with the country's impressed natural beauty, and the Jewish spirit, that she wants to help Iract's tourism.

"I'

a like to op

small hole in the Beersheba desert,” she told me,

The drive there is marvel- lous, through groves of orange trees and minosa,

"The trouble is there's hardly ' anywhere

to stay.

except a State hostel, where we

accommodated.

We

"It was very quaint-only one bardom to 20 rooms--but a lot of people who go there on holiday don't want to rutter. And really there's no reason to suffer.

"I'd like to build a 50-rcom "Do you box now? I mean

hotel-with Kosher would you actually do

food if necessary-ond provide a bath Dempsey fght-scenes yourself?"

"Sure I

to each room," do atl

own my

As (1 result, Mrs slunts," he replied.

Wilding finds herself torn in two direc And his mouth opened to tions, between opening an Letate receive the tallest three-decker office in Beverly Hills, sandwich Pve ever seen.

Like me,

Mr Whitman be- company about the site for her negotiating with. an Isruell lieves that empty gaps are for latest ambition. the bridging,

London Express Service).

Royal Household bowlers get ready

WINDSOR CASTLE IS THEIR HEADQUARTERS

By DENNIS LEE

Miss Metalious is all for the accidents are out there in the THE most exclusive "works" bowls side in the country is settling down

fist.

strect and sometimes you see onc. You can't pretend they don't happen,

KIDDING

"Basically," she went on, "I'm against pain and ugliness and discomfort. I think it's better to keep out of everyone'a

way than to inflict them on others. But when it's unavoidable you Just have to live through it." "The trouble with me,” she

"I would much rather belleve It was beginning to sound said, "was that I'd always had like self-punishment, for Miss the whole world was a beautiful someone to look after me, Metallous suddenly exclaimed: paradise populated by kind, left home to get married and "I'm a pretty retten, innature wonderful people. Only If then my husband took care of

escapist," When he went into the Forces, I went back home and There ใบ lived with my parents again.

"Then George

1310.

came back

not.

ป embarrassed "I try to kid myself it isn't silence, then an explanation a lousy world by pretending it (which anyone who was offend- isn't there. Only I know it is ed by "Peyton Place" will and sometimes I have to go out probably be grateful for). and take a look at it.

**Then I come back and "I would much rather," she write about it and that zels Till the next "Then I wrote 'Peyton Place Bald, frowning carefully to the rid of it for me.

left of hotel dower arrange time."

and focloey....and the ment, "look at carnations

Watch any rate, don't roses than some ghastly auto- look forward to.

London Express Servico).

The other day she came to Dri- had been a king-sized error in from the war and looked after her life that she couldn't bear me again. I never tried my to think about, but which she wings. She is a small, plump person wished to expound just the comfortably and badly dressed, name,

with a round, cırrant-eyed, Judy

"That second marriage was a

and was zuccessful, and I met this disc

rauch

Garland face, shoulder-length complete dasco," she asid, "a hair that is curled at the enda nightmare, a ludicrous incident, templation to cut loose was too mobile accident, But automobile

and decorated with a gilt Allee a ghastly, terrible mistake.

band, and an expression that

ranges from tento to agonised.

She is 30 years old.

In contrast to her neurotie

appearance and raw welting, her

voice in flat and controlled and

her phraseology glib.

EVEN KEEL

"Oh, I thinje marriako is here "The most terrifying day

to stay," she says.

more of a let-down,

need security,"

of

when I admitted And even my life wan

"Women my mistake to myself, It rocked

RAN AWAY

Miss Metaltors, who might have been expected to drop some bright wemiaricu on the sub- Jest of love, even said:

"When you are really in love

It grows and improves all the

me, 1 had to ask myself when I made the mistake, if I had been wrong to think I was in Jovo;

"Yes, it's a pretty bad thing

to have to admit You wero

"I had to do it nome time in bod my life, I just chose a moment. And fan purny 10W,

'Marrying George again wOB the best thing I ever did,” she said, as George sat quietly in the corner of the room.

A MIDDLE-AGED mother and her son were fined £16 THE FAMILY wall at their new bungalow with bricks they had stolon.

and £3 at Brighton after being caught building «

She became soberly senti- wrong from the beginning, It mental about the beauty of the make you doubt your powers family unit. of thought."

She clenched her fat. ***Thin," who said, close a family_la,"

Miss Metallous now claims to be living life on an even keel, She's back on the tells and grateful they didn't buckle while

she wen www.3.

And tho bricks belonged to---Family Proportion Limited..

ABLE SEAMAN PETER CLARKE, of the frigste Loupard,

has gone back to sea after pallacting two entries 'ori

U18 how his chevy crime shem. Offences: riding a bicycle without

a light. Semn night, some road, meme policeman. Finn

at Odiham, Hampshire, rocantly's £2 fint time, |23 zerani.

Then, extending her Angren,

and this is what it's ale to

bo mparate people,”

to a busy 50-match summer programme. Their patron-the Queen; their president-the Duke of Gloucester; the club-the Royal Household Bowling Club for members of the staff at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.

Their headquarters are at indror Castle in the private

Heane high railings.

If you keeper

Bob

Secretary is 54-year-old

On the wall in the lounge jaro Park, bounded by 1

Crisp, who chict cabot pletures of past and present stone wall ond

spiked maker at the Castle is respon- patrons and presidents no club

rible for the maintenance of the in the world can

match.. can pass the gate-

furniture. Around his neck, the King George V and in a gloss the two woods, highly at the ornamental en- club tie of scarlet, gold and polished, with which he opened trance in Staines Road-highly purple the Queen's racing the green in 1920- Queen Mary;

case

on his breast King George VI, the Queen and the Prince Philip; the Duke of Gloucester; and the club's first President then Prince of Wales, now the Duke of Windsor.

unlikely if you are not expert- colours and ed-there is a

chib badge, Journey through pucket the pleasant parkland and gardens, House of Windsor crest. along winding gravel Janea, un- criss-crossing algriposted and in a bewildering maze.

Picnic paradise

Champion

The club has a playing mem- bership of 40 men and 23 wo- mea.

Stor member

As club singles champion he holds the solid silver King George VI Cup, and a smaller A fine herd of frieslans

replica presented by the Queen each year to the champion. looked after by dairyman Jim Walthamstow-born Mr Crisp. Forsyth, a keen bowler in a slightly-built with a liking for a .distant Daddock,

sengers, of glass of bitter and rolling his groups flowering shrubs hedging this

algarettes, has been lancs, and closely clipped grase Kayl service for 40 years, start make it a plenic paradise-ifing as a bay of 14 at Sandring- you dareti.

hmm. He came to Windsor in 1930,

own

Although some of the Buck- Ingham Palace staff - mes- silver pantry and Royal MwS workers jūro play at London clubs and travel member, most, for convenience,

o Windsor only for matches.

Strangely, the If there is the quiet air of a

star momber of the club does not workin churchyard it_18. not altogether In a comfortable lounge it was the Royal household. Shoo out of place, for not more thon Bill Rawlings', week to serve Joyco Lucking, 1909 wynan's 100 yards from the clab pevälión behind the well-equipped bar. National singles champion, who, and preco is the mausoleum, Mr Nawlings, 63-year-old stove- as the wife

of Superintendent containing the bodies of Quem smith, tells of the trip he made Stan

Lucking, qualifies for. Vietoria, the Prince Consort and with the loyal Household Club membership. other manibers of the Royal inst year to play the prisoners Joently,

in London fall. Me Crisp Mr Crisp's wife, also a mem recounts the same match the ber, has won the Berkshire But there is no quiet, ale ubcut yuar before and the time he pala and rinks in previous

jctobers of the Royal played the inmates at Broadl years. Household,

~~(London Express Karości),

the

moor,