''The Good Old Days'' is a BBC

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

light entertainment Light entertainment encompasses a broad range of television and radio programming that includes comedies, variety shows, game shows, quiz shows and the like. In Great Britain In the early days of the BBC virtually all broadcast entertainment w ...

programme produced by Barney Colehan which ran for 30 years from 20 July 1953 to 31 December 1983. It was performed at the Leeds City Varieties and recreated an authentic atmosphere of the Victorian–

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as variety. Perceptions of a distinction in Br ...

with songs and sketches of the era performed in the style of the original artistes. The audience dressed in period costume and joined in the singing, especially "

Down at the Old Bull and Bush "Under the Anheuser Bush" is a beer garden song commissioned by the Anheuser-Busch brewing company in 1903. With music by Harry Von Tilzer and words by Andrew B. Sterling, the title contains a pun on the surnames of the company's founders ("Busch" ...

" which closed the show each week. The show was compered throughout its whole run (except for the first two shows) by Leonard Sachs, who introduced the acts from a desk situated at the side of the stage. In the course of its run it featured about 2,000 performers. Each show was up to an hour long. The orchestra pit was deliberately visible in front of the main stage. The orchestra leader for many years was Bernard Herrmann (not the American film composer, but a flautist and later conductor with the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra).

History

Early in 1953 Barney Colehan devised a one-off show entitled "The Story of the Music Hall" presented by Deryck Guyler. The programme proved so popular that it was decided to create a series under the title of "The Good Old Days". The show was first broadcast on 20 July 1953 and the first two shows were compered by Don Gemmell. Early series of the show were broadcast live. The show included many regulars such as Joan Sterndale-Bennett, Tessie O'Shea, Dudley Stevens, Hattie Jacques, Loraine Hart,

Ray Alan Ray Alan (18 September 1930 – 24 May 2010) was an English ventriloquist and television entertainer from the 1950s until the 1980s. He was associated primarily with the dummies Lord Charles and Ali Kat and later with the puppets Tich and Quac ...

, Roy Castle,

Roy Hudd Roy Hudd, OBE (16 May 1936 – 15 March 2020) was an English comedian, actor, presenter, radio host, author and authority on the history of music hall entertainment. Early life Hudd was born in Croydon on 16 May 1936 to Evalina "Evie" (née ...

Ken Dodd Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd (8 November 1927 – 11 March 2018) was an English comedian, singer and occasional actor. He was described as "the last great music hall entertainer", and was primarily known for his live stand-up performances. A lifel ...

Barbara Windsor Dame Barbara Windsor (born Barbara Ann Deeks; 6 August 193710 December 2020) was an English actress, known for her roles in the Carry On (franchise), ''Carry On'' films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera, ''EastEnders''.

Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song " Santa ...

Danny La Rue Danny La Rue, (born Daniel Patrick Carroll, 26 July 1927 – 31 May 2009) was an Irish singer and entertainer, best known for his on-stage drag persona. He performed in drag and also as himself in theatrical productions, television shows and f ...

, Hylda Baker, Les Dawson, Larry Grayson, Tommy Steele, Frankie Vaughan and Arthur Askey. Critical to the show, it was not only the performers who were "in character": the entire audience was required to dress in period costume, adding greatly to the atmosphere and allowing shots of the audience to be interspersed with the acts, particularly in the multiple sing-along acts. ''The Good Old Days'' was inspired by the success of the "Ridgeway's Late Joys" at the

Players' Theatre The Players' Theatre was a London theatre which opened at 43 King Street, Covent Garden, on 18 October 1936. The club originally mounted period-style musical comedies, introducing Victorian-style music hall in December 1937. The threat of Worl ...

Club in London: a private members' club that ran fortnightly programmes of variety acts in London's West End. The club was originally founded by Leonard Sachs and business partner Peter Ridgeway. Out of 245 episodes, 108 are believed to survive complete in the archives. 63 of the surviving programmes were rebroadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

between December 2015 and February 2018. On 16 December 1983, ''Goodbye to the Good Old Days'' was shown, a documentary celebrating the end of the 30-year run that year;

Barry Cryer Barry Charles Cryer (23 March 1935 – 25 January 2022) was an English writer, comedian, and actor. As well as performing on stage, radio and television, Cryer wrote for many performers including Dave Allen, Stanley Baxter, Jack Benny, Rory ...

served as narrator for the documentary. The final show aired on New Year's Eve that year. The pattern of the performances and compering were reassuring in their regularity, normally ending with the performers of the evening coming back on stage all assembled and singing with the whole audience "

". Whilst the pattern was unwavering, the performers themselves were usually contemporary faces. However, the well-known faces were interspersed with unknown acts if they represented a traditional style: tap-dancing duos; comedy acrobatics etc.

References

External links

'1950's British TV Milestones', ''Whirligig'' (2003).
Retrieved 1 June 2005.

Retrieved 1 June 2005. * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Old Days, The 1953 British television series debuts 1983 British television series endings 1950s British television series 1960s British television series 1970s British television series 1980s British television series BBC Television shows Black-and-white British television shows English-language television shows Mass media in Leeds Mass media in Yorkshire British variety television shows Music hall