''Oh Boy!'' was the first teenage all-music show on British TV, airing in 1958 and 1959. It was produced by Jack Good for ITV.

Synopsis

Good had previously produced ''

Six-Five Special ''Six-Five Special'' is a British television programme launched in February 1957 when both television and rock and roll were in their infancy in Britain. Description ''Six-Five Special'' was the BBC's first attempt at a rock-and-roll programme. ...

'' for the BBC Television, but wanted to drop the sport and public-service content from this show and concentrate on the music. The BBC would not accept this, so Good resigned.

ABC Weekend TV ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...

allowed Good to make two pilot all-music shows, which were broadcast on the ITV network, 10.50-11.20pm, on Sunday 15 and Sunday 29 June 1958. These pilots were successful, so the programme was given an ITV slot on Saturday evenings, from 6.00pm – 6.30pm, in direct competition with ''6.5 Special'', but starting slightly earlier. The hosts were Tony Hall, a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

record producer and critic, and Jimmy Henney, and the artists covered a broad spectrum of music including ballads, jazz, skiffle and rock and roll. The show was broadcast live from the

Hackney Empire Hackney Empire is a theatre on Mare Street, in the London Borough of Hackney. Originally designed by Frank Matcham it was built in 1901 as a music hall, and expanded in 2001. Described by ''The Guardian'' as ‘the most beautiful theatre in L ...

. Each week ''Oh Boy!'' featured resident artists plus a selection of special guests. The residents included Cuddly Dudley, who sang on 21 shows,

Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

(20 shows), the Drifters (later to become

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

) (17 shows),

Marty Wilde Marty Wilde, (born Reginald Leonard Smith; 15 April 1939) is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, scoring several 1950s hit singles including " Endless Sl ...

(17 shows) and

the Dallas Boys The Dallas Boys were a five-piece vocal group from Leicester, England who were regular performers on British television in the 1950s and 1960s. They have been described as "Britain's first boy band". History The group formed in Leicester and com ...

(10 shows). Guests included

Billy Fury Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known as Billy Fury, was an English singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. An early star of rock and roll, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 we ...

Dickie Pride Dickie Pride (born Richard Charles Kneller; 21 October 1941 – 26 March 1969) was an English singer. He was one of Larry Parnes' stable of pop music stars, who didn't achieve the same successful career as some of his contemporaries. Early li ...

Tony Sheridan Anthony Esmond Sheridan McGinnity (21 May 1940 – 16 February 2013), known professionally as Tony Sheridan, was an English rock and roll guitarist who spent much of his adult life in Germany. He was best known as an early collaborator of th ...

, Shirley Bassey and

Lonnie Donegan Anthony James Donegan (29 April 1931 – 3 November 2002), known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the " King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scot ...

; with occasional US

stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...

, such as

the Inkspots The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style presaged the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ...

, Conway Twitty and

Brenda Lee Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Performing rockabilly, pop and country music, she had 47 US chart hits during the 1960s and is ranked fourth in that decade, surpassed onl ...

. The solo artists were supported by a specially created house band

Lord Rockingham's XI Lord Rockingham's XI was a group of British session musicians, led by Harry Robinson (1932–1996), who had a No. 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart in 1958 with " Hoots Mon". The group was created to perform as the resident band on the pop TV pr ...

, who went on to have hits in their own right, including a No 1 single "

Hoots Mon "Hoots Mon" is a song written by Harry Robinson, and performed by Lord Rockingham's XI. It was a number-one hit single for three weeks in 1958 on the UK Singles Chart. It is based on the old Scottish folk song " A Hundred Pipers". It was also o ...

". Performers were also supported by the singing and dancing of

the Vernons Girls The Vernons Girls were an English musical ensemble of female vocalists. They were formed at the Vernons football pools companyLarkin C., ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), , p. 461 in the 1950s in Liverpool, settlin ...

, the Dallas Boys and Neville Taylor's Cutters Eight episodes were re-broadcast in the US, but only three of the 38 shows (or 40 shows including the two pilots) still exist. The last of these original shows was broadcast on 30 May 1959.IMDB article on Oh Boy!
Retrieved 9 December 2008 The slot was soon taken by another music show produced by Good, ''

Boy Meets Girls ''Boy Meets Girls'' was a UK popular music TV show which was launched in September 1959 replacing the earlier show '' Oh Boy!''. The show was presented and produced by Jack Good. Marty Wilde was the principal resident male artist and The Verno ...

'', which starred Marty Wilde and started on 12 September 1959. The show was revived in 1979 for the retro rock and roll stars of the day. This time the show included

Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, althoug ...

, Alvin Stardust, Joe Brown,

Lulu Lulu may refer to: Companies * LuLu, an early automobile manufacturer * Lulu.com, an online e-books and print self-publishing platform, distributor, and retailer * Lulu Hypermarket, a retail chain in Asia * Lululemon Athletica or simply Lulu, ...

Mr. Lee Grant Bogdan Kominowski (born 22 April 1945) is a New Zealand former pop star and actor. He is also known by his stage name, Mr. Lee Grant. He has had a successful singing and acting career, having starred in stage shows such as '' Jesus Christ Super ...

, Freddie 'Fingers' Lee, Les Gray, Johnny Storm (now performing with the Johnny Storm Band), the Shades and Fumble. Joe Brown was the only one of the artists who was performing across the UK in the 1950s to appear on the 1970s ''Oh Boy!'' show. Alvin Stardust first emerged on the 1950s scene as Shane Fenton and the Fentones. The presenter of the show was "GBH", alias Scottish actor

Billy Hartman Billy Hartman (born 1957) is a Scottish actor, well known for playing the part of Terry Woods on ITV's ''Emmerdale'' from 1995 until his character was killed off in 2011 after 16 years. Career Together with ''Emmerdale'' co-stars Steve Ha ...

. Following the ''Oh Boy!'' TV show, a similar series, ''Let's Rock'', was created also by Good. The shows were broadcast across Europe and in the US in the early 1980s.

Jack Good's ''Oh Boy!'' (album)

Jack Good's ''Oh Boy!'' is a live album made up of tracks by various artists featured on the Oh Boy! TV series. The artists include

the John Barry Seven The John Barry Seven was a band formed by John Barry in 1957, after he abandoned his original career path of arranging for big bands. Origins Barry contacted three musicians with whom he had served in the Army and three local musicians and in ...

Vince Eager Vince Eager (born Roy Taylor, 4 June 1940, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England) is an English pop singer. He was widely promoted by impresario Larry Parnes, but later quarrelled with him over his commercialising of Eddie Cochran's tragic early dea ...

, Cuddly Dudley, Neville Taylor and the Cutters, Peter Elliot and

. The album was arranged by ''Oh Boy!'' musical director Harry Robinson and recorded by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

Norman Newell Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shi ...

before a live audience on 19 October 1958, except for Cliff Richard's vocal tracks which were recorded two nights later by EMI's Malcolm Addey and added to the backing tracks recorded at the earlier session. The recordings were made at EMI's Abbey Road Studios.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0052498, Oh Boy!
Oh Boy! Episode Guide
1950s British music television series 1958 British television series debuts 1959 British television series endings Television shows produced by ABC Weekend TV Television series by ITV Studios English-language television shows Pop music television series