The world premiere of ‘The Dam Busters’: an Associated British picture, was held at The Empire Theatre, Leicester Square… Monday, May 16th 1955

BELOW – Richard Todd signs autographs for quite a lot of young fans during the filming of ‘The Dam Busters’ – this could have been at Waddington Lincolnshire – not sure on that.

Interesting to see on a film of the occasion, Princess Margaret attended and introducing some of the RAF personnel was Lord Tedder accompanied by his wife Lady Tedder.

She seems to have been a great film fan – a few years earlier she had visited Denham Studios to see filming of ‘Treasure Island’ and is seen here enjoying a drink with Robert Newton =- in costume in his memorable role as Long John Silver – and Walt Disney himself.

ABOVE:  Robert Newton in costume as Long John Silver with Walt Disney and Lady Tedder

You have got to hand it to Talking Pictures, they unearth and show films that would never see the light of day again – I have a feeling that this is a good example.

In The Lost Lagoon, Charlie Walker is a hard-working man with a lot of responsibilities but when he is washed overboard in a storm and is washed up in the Bahamas, he comes to realise that he no longer likes his old life and disappears to a new life as a hotel manager with pretty, young Liz Moore. They fall in love and the hotel becomes successful, life seems idyllic

LOST LAGOON is a mixture of Caribbean romance and melodrama. When he is washed up on the island, Jeffrey Lynn is nursed back to health by the small island’s population, including Liz Moore

Leila Barry – in her only film tole as Liz Moore looks quite beautiful

Jeffrey Lynn as Charlie, gives a fine performance, full of melancholia and soul searching and because of this the film is a better-than-average effort although it did have a quite meagre budget.

Unfortunately, later in the film we come to learn that his life insurance requires proof of death, and so in comes a curious insurance adjuster c (Peter Donat) looking for that proof.

The script is credited to Mr. Lynn and director John Rawlins

“Lost Lagoon” is a very low-budget film that still is very much worth seeing – it does very well considering the money available to make it.

Apparently this is the only production by Bermuda Studio Production and the leading lady never appeared in another film – nor can I find out any more about her after this. A pity – she looked so good.

Last evening I strolled up to our local pub for a drink, and as it happens taking place there was a pool match between our village and a team from the local town

The visitors were very friendly, amiable people and it was a pleasure to welcome them there. However they looked to me as the most heavily tattooed crowd I have ever seen and it got me to thinking back to the film world – something I do all the time.

I thought that Queequeg from Moby Dick 1956 who seemed very strange indeed at the time, would have fitted in very well with this team. His tattoos would probably have made him the star of the team I reckon

Queequeg played by Friedrich von Ledebur

Queequeg is the best harpooner aboad the Pequod sailing ship. He predicted death in chasing the big white whale and did not survive the sinking of the Pequod, in Herman Melville‘s literary masterpiece Moby Dick.

Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab, the obsessed master of the Pequod, in the 1956 movie: Moby Dick.

Last night at the local and in many other areas these days, Queequeg would certainly not seem out of place

Well I am repeating an earlier post below and in it I have written that no photographs are known to exist from this film, let alone a print of the film itself. I wish I could say we have found the film but as yet no luck.

This bit of luck came my way though – a still from the film showing Richard Todd in RAF uniform and his colleague. who I think is either David Markham or Peter Marinka – from the cast list coupled with process of elimination

It arrived in my possession today and I am so pleased.

This film had a very strong cast – Gillian Raine who Richard Todd recommended for the part, Patrick Barr who had been with him in The Story of Robin Hood, Sonia Dresdel, Susan Jameson and Malcolm Tierney – all seasoned and polished actors with a lot of experience in films.

What a pity this Technicolor Film cannot be found – I have a feeling that it would be quite special – maybe even a mini classic

RE- PRINT Below :-

Well, I don’t know anyone who has ever seen this film – and I do know that even the star of the film Richard Todd never saw it.

There seem to be no pictures or film stills for us to use from this film

It starts out in a curious fashion in October of 1967.  Richard Todd was staying at his flat in London one evening when a knock came at the door and he opened it to quite a forlorn looking character who was Peter Everett. He had written a script for a film and was producing and directing it. He begged Richard Todd to read the script which Richard did later that night.  

The following evening Peter Everett came round again and was almost in tears and imploring Richard Todd to take the leading role in his film – he explained that Richard was vital to the film.

Richard Todd had , however been very impressed by the script that Peter Everett had written – they story centred on a former RAF fighter pilot who had seen much action in the War, and now the War was over seemed unable to adjust to the realities of post war life. He became more and more engrossed with memories of those finest hours and about the colleagues who had perished – he became lost in a hideous dream world much to the contempt of his son and the agony of his long suffering wife.   He had in the story, taken on a Pub close to a Wartime airfield in Kent – and proceeded to cram it with memorabilia of the conflict.

Finally almost deranged he dons his RAF uniform and wanders on to the airfield, surrounded in his mind by ghosts of the past.  His son finds him and at last seems to understand his inner turmoil and quietly talks him back to safety.    This is a touching scene that bridges the generations.

Richard Todd was profoundly disturbed by the script – however he found it beautifully written by Peter Everett who was a novelist and poet.

Richard Todd agreed to do it – he had by this time been told that filming would start in a few days time down at Hawkinge in Kent – and he learned that quite a strong cast of well-known British actors had been lined up including Patrick Barr, David Markham, Sonia Dresdel, Sue Jameson and Malcolm Tierney.  Then a  new cast member Gillian Raine was brought in to play the Airman’s wife – on Richard Todd’s recommendation. He said that he loved working with her.

The first day’s filming proved a nightmare of incompetence and chaos – a young cameraman had been assigned who had been a still specialist and no experience of this type of work.  That evening Richard Todd phoned up contacts he had and an experienced film cameraman and crew arrived on set  the next day.

Scenes in the local Pub at Paddlesworth went well –

Other studio scenes were done in a converted Hangar at Panshanger, a former RAF airfield Nr Welwyn.

This film was finished in November 1967. Richard Todd thought that they had managed to produce something really good.

However, he added ‘ What happened to ‘The last of the Long Haired Boys’ I don’t know’ 

Apparently he was out of the country when it was due for release – and he never saw any share of the profits from the film – if indeed there were any.

However one day some time afterwards he was sitting in a Restaurant in London when an old acting friend Trevor Howard came up to him and said ‘ Just seen your film Ther Last of the Long Haired Boys.  Bloody marvellous, Dicky old boy’

As Richard said ‘ I could not have asked for a finer accolade than that from my screen hero’

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If anyone out there knows of – or has seen this film please let me know. I have searched around for years for it – but to no avail. There must be a 16 mm or 35 mm copy somewhere

“Running from 1953 to 1983, *The Good Old Days* featured 108 episodes out of 245 that have survived.

Over its run, the show presented approximately 2000 acts, each episode lasting one hour and always concluding with the audience singing along to ‘Down At The Old Bull And Bush’ with the artists.

Leonard Sachs, who introduced each evening’s acts, meticulously reviewed nearly all episodes.

The audience and performers donned Victorian and Edwardian costumes, creating a unique atmosphere. The show featured a wide array of acts, including notable names such as Roy Hudd, Les Dawson, Roy Castle, Barbara Windsor, Hattie Jacques, Ken Dodd, Hylda Baker, Larry Grayson, and Danny La Rue, among others. Filmed at Leeds City Varieties,

*The Good Old Days* remains a cherished part of television history.

The Good Old Days

In 1953 Producer Barney Colehan, proposed outside broadcasts from the Leeds City Varieties Theatre.

The BBC were already transmitting a series called ‘Music Hall’ which began in 1950.

The idea was to send the cameras into an audience-filled music hall show in the hope of picking up and relaying into people’s homes the same sense of atmosphere of people having a night out.

‘Music Hall’ had been broadcast from the Scala in London’s West End before an audience. One of the Music Hall programmes was staged in the Bourneville Hall, Birmingham, thus giving the Midland TV audience their first local relay of television variety; another from the Theatre Royal Leeds, opened TV programmes for the North.

Barney Colehan’s idea was to have a master of ceremonies who would compere proceedings and the show would include more audience participation, singing along to the popular music hall songs of yesteryear.

Derek Guyler hosted the series which was called City Varieties. But that same year it changed its title and got a new host: Don Gemmell, who after only three shows.

On a personal note – In the late Sixties, I lodged on the opposite side of the road to where Derek Guyler lived in Norbury, South London. Never saw much of him though

Anyway back to the original story, Don Gemmell then handed over to Leonard Sachs who was on familiar territory hosting The Good Old Days. In 1936 along with Peter Ridgeway he had acquired premises on the top floor of 43 Kings Street, Covent Garden and rapidly established the Players’ Theatre Club. In 1937, they presented an evening of Music Hall entertainment. The show was an instant success.

Leonard Sachs had a gift for discovering new talent and in those early days he introduced to audiences the likes of Patricia Hayes, Megs Jenkins, Bernard Miles and Peter Ustinov – who made his professional debut just twelve hours after his audition. The Players’ quickly established itself by public and critics as ‘The most original entertainment in London’

Destined to become household names, Hattie Jacques, Ian Carmichael, Clive Dunn, Patsy Rowlands and Maggie Smith all walked out for the first time on its hallowed floorboards.

Sachs was soon asked to present a similar show at the Festival Gardens, for the Festival of Britain. So favourable was the response, that the great theatre chain of the time, Moss Empires, invited Sachs to undertake a long tour of all the major variety theatres in the United Kingdom. It was only natural that the BBC should be the next to make an approach.

His impact on The Good Old Days was instantaneous and the show, which was originally scheduled for four outings, was then extended to thirteen, then twenty-six weekly editions. It remained a part of the BBC light entertainment for 30 years.