This feature is about ‘Curse of the Mummy’ – about the people who produced it and the work entailed by each department.

The Producer

The Producer of this particular series of ‘Mystery and Imagination’ is Reginald Collin. He is the man who has overall responsibility for the entire series.

At the start of a production, the Producer discusses the play with the Director and then remains available from the outset for consultation on all matters from interpretation to budgets and casting. It is the Producer who has the last word on any decision and it is the Producer who carries the can if any of these decisions prove to be misguided.

When the Director has done his job and the play is ready to be recorded, the Producer sits in the Control Box and, with the Story Editor, makes notes for the benefit of the Director, who is usually pleased at this stage to have comments from another practical television man on aspects of the production he may have missed.

Reginald Collin is very pleased with this particular combination of plays for ‘Mystery and Imagination’. ‘Curse of the Mummy’, ‘Sweeney Todd’, which he directed as well as produced and ‘The Suicide Club’, apart from being exceptionally well written, all have the same basic underlying theme in that they concern people who turn out to be not quite what they seem to be. This gives the series as a wholesome kind of unity.

The Director

Before describing the function of a Director – in this case Guy Verney, it may be useful to explain the difference between a Director and a Producer. The Producer is the man in charge of the programme and the Director is the man, who, under the Producer’s supervision, controls the cameras and the people taking part, i.e. selects the camera shots, the positioning of the actors, their interpretation of the script and the special effects necessary.

Special effects were an important and difficult feature of ‘Curse of the Mummy’. For example, there were scenes where no specific activity was taking place but the illusion had to be created that an evil, eerie kind of atmosphere was pervading a room. The difficulty lay in the fact that there was no tangible way of suggesting this. Finally, after consultation with the Designer, they hit on the solution of photographing, slightly out of focus, some tightly crumpled cellophane. This was then recorded on video tape, played back and gently superimposed over the scene. The result was a silver-mottled effect that kept appearing and disappearing.

This evil atmosphere was supposed to emanate from a mummified cat. To convey this, a special model of the cat was made through which smoke could be piped. Using the vision mixer, a green effect was superimposed over the smoke, which helped to intensify the suggestion of something evil entering the room.

The essence of a well directed play is good teamwork. Casting, design, technical people must all work well together as a team. Once that relationship has been established any production is guaranteed success.

The Story Editor

When a Producer has chosen a theme, the Story Editor must find a play to convey it. ‘Curse of the Mummy’, which is based on Bram Stoker’s story, ‘Jewel of the Seven Stars’, was Brian Brooke’s responsibility.

I spend a lot of my time saying “No” to writers, practising or would-be. Occasionally I allow myself a cautious “Maybe… – the jubilant “Yes!”, and the jubilation is heart-felt, believe me, is an historic rarity. I can’t, however, recall many occasions when my response has been a genuinely puzzled “Eh…?” But puzzled “Eh…?” it was, when John Russell Taylor suggested ‘Jewel of the Seven Stars’ as a follow-up to his highly successful dramatization of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’.

‘Jewel’ is the most neglected product of Stoker’s teaming imagination (if one excludes his first work in a rather different vein ‘The Duties of Clerks of Petty Sessions in Ireland’) I’d never even heard of it, to my lasting shame.

I read it, all 250 microscopically printed pages of it, and, amid a welter of plot and counter-plot involving an army of characters, numerous exotic locations, flash-backs historical and otherwise, dream sequences, etc., began to see what John was driving at. So the writer – story editor creative process began i.e. we spent a lot of time shouting at each other.

When the smoke of creative battle cleared the next step was obvious. John retired, regrouped and reappeared clutching a synopsis. A critic by profession, his great advantage, where a story editor is concerned, is his sense of dramatic structure. His synopsis was a near miracle of time-scale reduction, plot-pointing. location elimination and character amalgamation. Wisely he had followed some, if not all, of my advice – or so I shall continue to insist in the teeth of all opposition.

Then came The Lull; a period only too familiar to every story editor: the first draft was awaiting… Resisting, as Mr Stoker would say, “with every fibre of my being” almost hourly temptations to phone him in his Welsh retreat on the most trivial of pretexts to remind him of “this” or suggest “that”, I waited.

Patience, faith, fortitude, all were rewarded. Our final rehearsal script scarcely differed at all from John’s first draft. We – and I know I speak for Reg Collin, Producer, and Guy Verney, Director, as well as myself – were delighted. I hope you and our viewers will share our enthusiasm.

The Designer

Mike Hall explains some of the problems of designing for Television melodrama.

In the past few years, many attempts have been made – some successful and some not – to reproduce sets for Fort Knox, the Oval Cricket Ground, the Eiffel Tower, the Front Line Trenches and so on. Some of these sets, when written in scripts, are laughable but when analysed on paper, by a Director and Designer, their dexterity enables them to visualise ways of creating the required effect. Alternatively they can, to coin a phrase, “shoot it tight” or decide “Let’s say it happens at night and we won’t see it!”

‘2001’, a masterpiece of illusion and cinematic art, had the problem, amongst many, of building a two-hundred foot high revolving Hilton. “Surely this was an illusion – photographic tricks”, you say. Not so – they built a two-hundred foot high revolving Hilton.

Melodrama on Television has to face up to these problems. The public must surely have rumbled now, the commonplace dodge of shooting it tight or using back-projection. If one elects to do a melodrama for Television, then the gigantic wide shot i.e. the Mummy’s Tomb, cannot be achieved by trickery. The tomb has to be built for real as the importance of the large dramatic shot is one of the underlying visuals in a melodramatic piece. The shot of Frankenstein standing on top of the mountain, Silas sitting in his large drawing-room, Dracula appearing in the church – are all visuals that cannot be shortcut. The sets for these sort of shots must be real, dramatic and overpowering. This is the demand, basically, for a Set Designer working with melodrama. His greatest challenger is the horror feature film and he has to create designs for Television that will not look like a poor man’s version, despite the fact he is working with a much smaller budget. If we are to compete with the horror feature film, huge sets are essential.

The huge set for the Mummy’s Tomb produces all the required effects. It looks both dramatic and authentic. The authenticity was acquired by studying colour photographs in magazines, purchasing books and articles on Egyptology and consulting an authority at the British Museum about weapons, lamps and other objects that were typical of the period.

The Costume Supervisor

All the costumes for ‘Curse of the Mummy’ were designed by Jill Silverside.

One of the most interesting designs is the rather spectacular and elaborate Headdress worn by Queen Tera. This evolved from visits Jill made to the British Museum and research from various books on Egyptology. The design had to combine the symbols for both Upper and Lower Egypt and, of course, be wearable in both a standing and prone position, which entailed having the head-dress and collar made in sections.

To cut down on bandaging time for the mummy, Jill decided to make a cast of Isobel Black’s figure. She was enclosed in a tube of mutton cloth and then brown sticky-tape was used to build up the cast. The back was cut away so that Isobel could get out and, after trimming, this shape was used to support the wrappings. An incidental advantage, apart from speeding up the dressing, was that it also eliminated all signs of breathing.

All the Egyptian costumes were made in Wardrobe by Jill. Several of these had to be transparent. After testing many materials for transparency in front of the colour cameras, Jill decided that the one which produced the nearest effect to the original and was most acceptable to the cameras, was pure silk chiffon, which had to be sunray pleated.

It is easy to see, by the original designs illustrating this page, that Jill’s costumes look authentic, dramatic and add as much credibility to the theme of the play as the performance of the actors who wear them.

The Production Assistant

If a Drama PA was photographed in a setting that adequately conveyed the nature of her work, she would probably be seen surrounded by a huge mound of lists, schedules, memos, scripts, tranquilisers and overworked typewriters.

From the start of rehearsals for ‘Curse of the Mummy’ through to camera-script stage, Betty Kenworthy’s job was mainly one of liaison i.e. making sure that everything murmured at odd moments by the Director, finally reached the people who needed to know about it. During the rehearsal week, Betty talked to the Graphic Artist about the style of lettering to be used, ordered captions and other graphic work; passed on to Props the Designers’ Prop List plus the Stage Manager’s additional props; ordered all practical water, gas or electrical requirements; ordered technical requirements i.e. cameras, microphones and extra lights; arranged dressing rooms for artistes; kept Wardrobe and Make-up closely informed of any changes or new ideas; booked recording and dubbing sessions; ordered effects and music and re-typed altered pages of script, changed at rehearsals.

Once in the Control Room, during camera rehearsal, the P.A. follows the blocking of shots – confirming over the microphone, the camera and shot number; times the production; rolls in film or VTR inserts and generally tries to keep ahead of the Director’s needs.

When the play is recorded, payment of artistes must be organised; lists compiled of all music, film, photographs or anything else used and a coherent editing script made up for editing and dubbing sessions. After timing the final edited version of the play, all the relevant information is sent to Transmission Control and the P.A. must start from the beginning The First Rehearsal, again on the next script!

The Casting Director

“A successful Casting Director must have a genuine knowledge of, and feeling for actors – he must know their work and know them.”

One such man is Keith Andrews, who was Casting Director for ‘Curse of the Mummy’.

A Casting Director is involved very much at the beginning of any production, when ideas are exchanged with the Producer and the Director about which actors seem right for the various roles. As soon as a list of suggestions is compiled, the Casting Director rings the agents of the actors concerned to check their availability. If the first name on the list is not available, the second name on the list is tried and eventually a complete cast is assembled. Apart from the ‘rightness’ of a particular actor for the part, choice is largely governed by budget and the availability of the people selected.

From a casting point of view, ‘Mystery and Imagination’ is a particularly fascinating series. The cast have to play extremely intriguing characters in great depth. Faces are very important if the actor is to convey the sinister quality of the plays convincingly. Even the extras, who are normally supplied by reliable agencies, must be chosen carefully. A scene set in an inn, for example, which requires a dozen extras, can only have the right atmosphere conveyed if the agency produces people of the right age, with the required physical characteristics. A batch of serene, genteel ladies, who look like left-overs from a vicar’s tea-party, are unlikely to evoke the same impression of debauched revelry as effectively, say, as a group of broken-nosed ruffians of the type Hogarth could have painted.

Casting ‘Curse of the Mummy’ was relatively simple as we were lucky enough to get all the actors we specifically wanted. There were no awkward parts to cast, as in ‘The Suicide Club’, which requires “a hunched-back dwarf, who plays the violin”.

Choosing Isobel Black to play Queen Tera was Guy Verney’s idea and the decision was unanimously approved. She read the script, liked it and agreed to play the role.

When you eventually see the play and observe the faces of the actors it should be easy to see why each one was an ideal choice for each part.

Credits

In such a limited space it is impossible to cover every aspect of a production and several areas of work have not been mentioned. The technical side of the play was the responsibility of Peter Howell, Cameras; Andy Andrews, Lighting; Ron Ferris, Sound and Del Randell, Technical Supervisor. Carol Bright supervised Make-up, the Floor Manager was Denver Thornton and the Stage Manager, Betty Crowe.

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The ITA have recently announced that advertising revenue for all companies during June 1969 is down on June 1968 by £886,504 even before the present government levy of varying rates up to 47½% is deducted. Current Company policy is to conserve and not waste money. The sales functions at Teddington in no way contradict this policy. They fall into three main categories. (1) Advertisers or agents using our premises for Sales Conferences. (2) Entertaining people who may be of use to the Company. (3) Promoting Thames to advertising agencies by using slides and other visual aids accompanied by a commentary persuading them that the most profitable way of advertising is to spend money with Thames. These functions include an escorted tour of the Studios, which seems commonplace to us but is of immense interest to people outside Television.

The first example mentioned involves Thames in the provision of facilities and organising the function. The second requires organising and costs the Company a small amount of expenditure on refreshments but the possible return of attracting future clients completely justifies this. The third function is obviously more expensive and financed by our promotion budgets.

Our dealings with Qantas Airways is an excellent illustration of how we profit from these occasions. They held a reception for all the leading travel agencies on MV ‘Iris’ to celebrate the opening of their television advertising campaign with commercials featuring Warren (Alf Garnett) Mitchell. Organising this function resulted in us gaining the exclusive advertising contract, which is worth approximately £100,000 between July 1969 and February 1970.

On 30 July fourteen women connected with advertising in London and belonging to a club called Adwomen were entertained at Teddington. In the future any one of them could be in a position to influence advertising with Thames.

In conclusion it should be emphasized that our major source of income is commercials and anything which we can do to increase that revenue benefits us all.

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We were well prepared. Each car carried a survival heater, “A must”, said the locals, stressing the point with tales of motorists stranded on the prairies and frozen to death. We also had insulated underwear, gloves and socks.

Two hundred miles south of Rapid City we crossed the border of the Reservation. It was not typified by the tepees and feathered Indians depicted in Hollywood films. Pine Ridge is a shanty town of shacks, unpaved roads, garbage dumps, wrecked cars and the occasional dead, frozen dog. Inside a typical log shack one finds the walls crudely lined with newspaper or cardboard in an attempt to stop freezing winds whistling through the gaps between the logs. It is an exceptional home that has electricity to provide heat and light.

The inactivity of the town is striking. Most of the Indians are unemployed. They stroll around the reservation aimlessly, with blank expressions on their faces, or lounge in the corridors of the local government office, where they draw their welfare cheques. One thing they have in common with the whites is the American addiction to jeans, T-shirts and chewing gum. The buckskins, beads and feathers have long since been stored away in family treasure chests to be brought out as a tourist attraction in the summer.

The Indians have given up hope of getting a fair deal from the white man and it was hardly suprising that at first we were treated with great caution and suspicion. Each member of the unit had his share of public relations work to do.

It was not unusual to arrive at an Indian home ready for a day’s filming to find a note on the door: “Had to go to visit my mother today”, or to drive fifty miles to film a Pow Wow only to find the hall in darkness and to be told by a lone Indian to “try Monday, maybe we have Pow Wow then.”

We experienced a kickback of the commercially exploited Sioux on our second Reservation – the Rosebud. Henry Crowdog, a revered elder of the tribe eventually agreed to arrange a Ghost dance for us to film. After much haggling over price, a date was set. In their own time the dancers arrived announcing a “rehearsal day” for which they required “rehearsal fees”. Marshalling their forces took most of the day and the rehearsal lasted half-an-hour.

We presented ourselves hopefully early on the second day. The Indians arrived an hour later and spent two gleeful hours making each other up in the lurid colours of the Ghost Dance. After 20 minutes filming they announced a lunch break. Hadn’t they danced long enough? After all it was a 2 minute film sequence and they’d danced for more than 2 minutes! Ross assumed the title “Big Thundercloud” when he discovered that during, lunch they had washed off their make-up and couldn’t remember who had worn w hat colours…!

During this location we lived off the reservation, just over the border in Rushville, Nebraska – the heart of the Bible Belt of the Mid-West. The town is populated with the sleek, well-fed citizens of the American Dream who looked up from their malted milks only long enough to wrinkle their Conservative noses at the mention of the “tragic” Indians 20 miles away. They preferred not to discuss the problem. “We give them social security don’t we – and all they do is get drunk on it!” However, having revised their original opinion that we were hippies from California, the people of Rushville welcomed us with open arms. Some of them assumed that we constituted the whole of THAMES’ staff and were a local station. We explained that THAMES Television broadcast “coast-to-coast” in Britain and has a cast of hundreds… This, together with coming from London, England, put us in the celebrity bracket and they rallied round to give us any help we needed.

Our VIP status was somewhat shattered, however, by one of the Indians, who, at the end of the trip said: “Where is England anyway?”

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The family moved to London when her father was appointed Musical Director of the B.B.C. Many subsequent moves, especially during the war, continually interrupted her education. “I didn’t particularly care for school any way – except for end of term plays and concerts. I wanted to be an actress or musical comedy star and irritated my school friends beyond words by taking over rehearsals and bossing them unbearably.”

After taking a secretarial course, on parental advice, she joined her sister in the Near East Department of the BBC. Another sister. Hazel, was in the Variety Department and the eldest, Joan Winters, was doing several radio shows. “It was rumoured that the Board of Governors were considering changing the Corporation’s name to the Shadwell Broadcasting System!”

“As an outlet for my theatrical ambitions, I went in for amateur dramatics in a big way and also took private tuition for the L.A.M.D.A. exams. Appearances at the New Lindsey and Fortune Theatres tempted me to go fully professional but regular pay cheques and a family conference dissuaded me.”

Daphne’s first job in Television was as a Production Secretary on Children’s Programmes. “There was no training scheme. I just arrived at Lime Grove one morning, was introduced to a poor, unsuspecting Producer, who handed me a stop-watch, led me into a dark room and said, ‘You did know I had a programme today?’ I’d never been in a Television Studio in my life, let alone a gallery, and had no idea what to do. The programme was called ‘Simon, the Simple Sardine’. The only simple thing about that day was me but it led to two productive and fascinating years with BBC Television.”

Daphne joined Rediffusion Television in 1955 as Secretary to Lloyd Williams. She started directing in 1956 on Women’s Programmes under Mary Hill followed by a wide and varied career embracing almost every department – Children’s, Advertising Magazines, Light Entertainment, Drama and Outside Broadcasts. One of her most horrific memories concerns the Drama Department. “Towards the end of a ‘live’ play, confusion arose in the action. Trying to save the day, my leading lady leapt to the telephone and improvised a speech, completely forgetting we had just finished a traumatic scene about the telephone wires being cut.”

Shortly before the changeover of companies, Daphne started directing ‘Do Not Adjust Your Sets’, which won the Prix Jeunesse at the Munich Television Festival. The series gave birth to ‘Captain Fantastic’, with whose life she has been closely bonded since the start of Thames. “There is no shortage of variety in Children’s Programmes and in the last year I have also directed ‘Sexton Blake’, ‘The Paper Bag Players’, ‘Once Upon a Time’ stories, not to mention twenty-six ‘Sooty’s’. As long as there are good professional people to work with and I can continue working as a team with my crews, I shall remain happy in my work.”

The post Where they once were: Daphne Shadwell appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

The subject is then brought on stage and Eamonn begins the show proper in front of an audience of about 150 to provide a reaction as the story unfolds and each guest makes his or her contribution to it.

Eamonn Andrews successfully hosted this series on BBC Television for many years. The series finished on BBC Television five years ago when Eamonn signed a contract with ABC Television, a contract which has carried him through to Thames Television. Throughout those five years Eamonn has received a lot of letters from viewers asking for the return of the series and suggesting people who could feature as This Is Your Life’ subjects. Says Eamonn, “I think ‘This Is Your Life’ is a very interesting project and the time is right for it to return to the screens. It isn’t a very safe programme to work on. A lot of research is involved preparing the show. You assemble the guests and then you are totally dependent on one person showing up, taking the surprise in his or her stride and agreeing to go on stage.”

In the following articles Eamonn reflects on some of his experiences during the original series, Robert Tyrrell, Producer, accounts for the series’ former success, and Nina Powell, Programme Organiser, explains how the show is put together from the early planning stage through to transmission night.

Eamonn Andrews

Eamonn Andrews has had the unique experience amongst those associated with the ‘This is Your Life’ team of having actually been one of its subjects in the original series. This situation arose when the ‘Daily Sketch’ broke the story that Stanley Matthews had been chosen for the programme. Although Matthews was on a fishing holiday at the time there was no way of ensuring that he had not seen the article. With only days left before they were due to go on the air an emergency conference was called to discuss an alternative subject. During this, unbeknown to Eamonn, Ralph Edwards walked behind his chair and indicated to the others that Eamonn would be a good choice. Hastily they got rid of Eamonn on the pretext of having to attend another meeting elsewhere and arranged to see him later. Immediately they started to research into Eamonn’s background and then told him that Freddie Mills, a friend of his, had been chosen. A dummy sports programme was arranged and Eamonn instructed to keep Mills occupied for the whole day. Mills was, of course, let into the secret and the two of them spent the entire day trying to keep a straight face, each believing that the evening programme was about the other.

One incident that almost gave the game away was when Eamonn invited Mills back to his home for dinner – Eamonn’s wife was in the process of getting ready to appear on the show and half an hour before the programme was due to begin a car arrived to take her to the studio. She had to go to the door, send the car away and then hastily concoct a story for Eamonn about who had called.

Finally, it was time for the confrontation scene. Eamonn sat beaming in the audience beside Mills anticipating with amusement the surprise awaiting his friend. Ralph Edwards walked through the audience, stopped beside Eamonn and asked him to read out the name on the book. Smiling, Eamonn looked at his friend and started to read aloud – “‘This Is Your Life’ … Eamonn Andrews!”

I asked Eamonn what his reaction was. “It was a big surprise – and a shattering experience. I’d no sooner absorbed the shock of meeting one person when the next was brought on. My entire family had been flown over from Ireland – even my Mother who’s terrified of flying. To this day I’ll never know how they persuaded her to get on a plane!”

A series such as this always provides a fund of stories about awkward or amusing incidents. They are funny on reflection but at the time one can imagine what a source of anxiety, frustration and strain on the nervous system they could cause. Eamonn recollected one incident when the subject chosen had to arrive at the Shepherd’s Bush Television Theatre. As the programme was ‘live’, timing was crucial. The subject was attending a conference nearby and at a prearranged secret signal by telephone he was to be brought to the theatre. Instead of leaving instantly, as was expected, quite a hiatus arose when the decoy said “Let’s go” and the subject decided to go to the loo first – a reaction no one had anticipated and consequently allocated no time for!

One of the most amusing subjects Eamonn ever dealt with was the actor, A. E. Mathews. Although well into his nineties he kidded Eamonn throughout the entire show. “He walked off the stage, returned, lay down on the couch and did everything he could to put me off balance.”

The best story, however, concerns Stephen Behan, father of Brendan Behan. The programme was done in Dublin as there was no way of making him leave the place. He had never been seen anywhere without his pipe and before the show began, someone had removed his overcoat, in which he kept his tobacco. A Researcher realised that he wasn’t smoking and went through his pockets looking for the tobacco. He found a white paper bag and proceeded to crawl across the stage, out of the range of the cameras, to hand the package to him. Stephen Behan was a house decorator and the Researcher was unfamiliar with that profession’s habit of carrying supplies of tea and sugar mixed together to use during tea-breaks. It was this concoction the Researcher had handed him – not tobacco, and Behan consequently filled his pipe and tried to smoke it.

In the few minutes before Eamonn is to announce to someone – ‘This is Your Life’ his reaction is one of ‘sheer terror’. “It is a terrific strain on the nerves – so many things can go wrong – the timing, the fact that they may say no, or just respond in a totally unpredictable way.”

Eamonn emphasises what every person on this team has engraved on their hearts – that the most important part is the maintenance of secrecy. “No person must suspect they have been chosen or they lose half the fun. The surprise element is an essential ingredient and no matter what the cost in terms of money or weeks of preparation, a programme is immediately cancelled if this element is lost.”

On a personal basis, Eamonn has gained much from his association with ‘This Is Your Life’. “I have seen a side of certain people that would not have been possible under any other circumstances, made many friends and enjoyed evenings that have been great socially, both during and after the show. ‘This Is Your Life’ is, I think, the only really natural television programme – nearly all the others could be done just as well on radio, in newspapers or through any other media.”

Robert Tyrrell

If you want to make your fortune, think of a better idea for a television series than ‘This Is Your Life’. Mr Howard Thomas and sundry other gentlemen will welcome you with open cheque books.

But the chances are you will fail for ‘This Is Your Life’ is probably a unique classic in the history of Television. No other show combines so much under one umbrella – surprises, drama, laughter, pathos, sheer human story-telling. Even after years off the air it still sparks off instant response from both viewers and professionals.

When we began to think of it, we tried to pull it apart and see what else we could do with it, but like the little boy with the alarm clock we discovered that it didn’t tick any more. So we’ve put the works back together the way they always were.

The big difference between our show and the BBC’s will not be in the mechanics – they’re near perfect – but in the choice of subject and the presentation. Wild horses would not drag from us the names of the subjects, because the old rule still applies. If the secret gets out to the subject in advance, we cancel the show -and nobody wants to see all those weeks of investigation go down the drain. That’s why if you overhear our conversation in Betty’s Bar (now one of our chief conference rooms) it is peppered with code names, hints, nods and winks. We don’t even tell our wives, lovers or mothers.

Apart from that the team (most of us new to Thames) are talkative enough. Jack Crawshaw and John Stapleton, late of Fleet Street, do our interviewing and report-writing; Mary McAnnally, late of BBC ‘Man Alive’, does research; Nina Powell, from Anglia Television, organises, administrates and looks after guests, while Tom Brennand and Roy Bottomley edit the scripts. Marjorie Baker directs and Margaret Thistle is PA.

Oh, and there’s a chap called Andrews comes into it somewhere…

Our moment of truth will be at 7 p.m. on Wednesday 19 November, during the first week of colour transmissions. On that day, someone will walk blinking into the lights to be told ‘This Is Your Life!’ Next week, who knows – it might even be you!

Nina Powell

The CIA, FBI, MI5, Special Branch and any similar organisation could learn a great deal from the maintenance of security by the ‘This Is Your Life’ team.

Programme Organiser, Nina Powell, plays an important role in connection with security. Because, for obvious reasons, the security of a programme of this nature is so tight, it was difficult to obtain detailed information about what goes on behind the scenes. However, after knocking three times, asking for Nina, inventing a password and swearing on oath that my great-greatgrandfather was not a ‘Commie’ or in any way connected with the ‘other’ channel, I was eventually allowed into their inner sanctum and given an outline of how the team operates.

All planning starts with a regular Thursday meeting in the Board Room behind locked doors, having previously ascertained that the room has not been bugged and any unwanted intruder has been removed from under the table. At the meeting possible subjects are discussed with emphasis placed on choosing a balanced selection of people, i.e. they don’t do ten shows on pop singers, followed by ten shows on actors, followed by ten shows on comedians. When a possible subject has been chosen as much information as possible is obtained from back issues of newspapers by Mary McAnnally. From these she compiles a skeleton biography. Then the Investigators take over and without referring to the programme by name, they ring up the people closely associated with the subject. From these enquiries the most suitable guests are chosen and sworn to secrecy. To add an element of surprise a guest is sought, close to the subject, but who has not been seen for many years; on alternatively a person much admired by the subject but one whom he has never had an opportunity to meet.

When the Researchers and Investigators have completed their work, the information is passed to the Scriptwriters. His draft script is discussed and when finally approved, Mary McAnnally searches for stills or any other material required to illustrate the final story.

This is a fairly superficial outline of how the operation works but because of the stringent security precautions imposed there was little else Nina could reveal. It’s a bit like the man in the commercial for a drink that shall remain nameless, who clambers into a telephone kiosk and starts to whisper, “The secret of Sch… is…” and is suddenly whisked away to an unknown destination by a mysterious enemy. In dealing with this department, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing so if you are unfortunate enough to discover something you shouldn’t, keep quiet about it – and stay out of telephone kiosks!

The post “Somewhere, Someone – This Is Your Life” appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

The Entertainments Committee are organising a ‘MISS THAMES 1970’ Competition to find a woman with sufficient poise, personality and figure to satisfy a panel of judges. Contestants must be employees of THAMES and can be nominated by any other member of staff. With a First prize of £50, a Second prize of £25 and a Third prize of £10, the competition is well worth entering.

Contestants will be asked to appear before the Judges in cocktail dresses.

There will be an eliminating round at a dance to be held at Teddington on Saturday, 6 December with music provided by the New Era Jazz Band.

Finalists go forward to the crowning ceremony, which will be held during THAMES Staff Party at the Lyceum on 9 January. The Evening Press will cover this event.

Nomination forms are available from Peter Goodwin at Teddington and Hazel Warburton at Television House.

The post Miss Thames 1970 appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Certainly they fulfil requirements which are various and not always obvious. Many programmes are far from dead after their first transmission. They are sold all over the world for later screening and Alys provides the scripts that have to go with them. It is often necessary, too, to refer back to programmes to find out who appeared in them, who made them, where they were made, what was said, how long they took to make, and how much they cost. The impressive coverage by ‘This Week’ of the invasion of Czechoslovakia, for example, provided material for the much acclaimed ‘Report’ documentary, ‘Remember Czechoslovakia’. Current affairs programmes, in particular, create more than transient interest among viewers. Requests for information are frequent and take in a wide spectrum of people from comprehensive scholars to university professors; some of the latter including an increasing number of academics who are making special studies of television as a communications medium.

Alys is, like all archivists, preoccupied with considerations of space – where to put everything, what is to be kept or thrown away. And now space becomes even more important. In her corner of the Cottage at Teddington she is in the process of centralising the Company’s technical books and in setting up, as a branch of the Information Section, a small comprehensive library of standard reference books for the use of all departments based at Teddington.

In character with all libraries, the value of the Company archives will continue to increase with time.

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Brian was born in London on 19 February, 1929 and educated at Chiswick County School for Boys, where he was awarded a State Scholarship to Oxford. Before starting his degree course he served in the Royal Artillery and was seconded to the Forces Broadcasting Service Station in Trieste.

At Oxford Brian read English Literature and Language at Exeter College and received a BA First Class Honours Degree with the highest marks of his year in that subject, later becoming an MA.

His career in Television started with the BBC Television Training School for Producers. After producing and directing his first television programme – a musical show starring Pat Kirkwood, Brian continued to devise, produce and direct every kind of Light Entertainment for the next four years. In 1954 he won the National Television Award for devising, producing and directing ‘Ask Pickles’, which was voted “the most entertaining series of the year”.

In 1957 Brian joined Associated Television and won the National Guild of Television Producers and Directors Award as Light Entertainment Producer of the Year.

Three years later Brian became ABC Television’s Supervisor of Features and Light Entertainment. In 1962 he was appointed Programme Controller, in 1965 was appointed to the Board of ABC and in 1968 became Director of Programmes on the Board of Thames Television.

The post Where they once were: Brian Tesler appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Bryan’s day starts with an alarm call at 7.45 a.m. when he staggers into the kitchen, falls over the cat, turns on Tony Blackburn, hastily drinks his coffee and makes an early departure to search for the first available parking meter.

Before going into the office he visits the nearest tobacconist to stock-up on the day’s supply of cigarettes and cigars – how substantial a supply you can judge from the photographs.

The day begins with the morning papers, a large intake of nicotine, five cups of coffee and a conference with Producer, Nicolas Mellersh. Bryan is responsible for all the Light Entertainment items of ‘Today’, and much of the morning is taken up with booking people in advance for future programmes.

After a final conference with Tom Steel, Associate Producer, Bryan retires to the White Horse for fortification – if desperate, other alternatives are sought and Reg, pictured below, must guard his refreshments with zeal.

The afternoons are spent in the studio when the pace becomes much more hectic.

According to Bryan, a director’s most essential quality is the ability to con people – to convince them that you know more than them, that you are in complete control and know exactly what you are doing. “If I wasn’t a Director, I’d make a super con-man!”

“A Director is responsible for presentation. If we compare a Producer to the manager of a shop, a Director would be his window-dresser. The Producer decides what goods are to be displayed and the Director decides how they are shown, where they are shown and what lighting effects should be used.”

For Bryan, the most rewarding aspect of directing is editing: “I adore editing because when all your material is there you can retire with a Film Editor, select all the best bits and put it all together in a creative, imaginative way. I hate ‘live’ television as it is impossible to attain the same standards of perfection.”

His greatest compliment to date came from a Light Entertainment Producer who said, “You’re too much of a perfectionist, Bryan.” The most constructive comment, however, came from his doctor, who said, “You smoke too much Bryan!”

The post A ‘Today’ in the life of an Izzard appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Pauline who lives in West Norwood, has had a fairly chequered career in Television. She began by typing scripts, spent a few days in Presentation, transferred to Accounts, then Sales Records, then Research followed by a short spell of audio typing and finally settled in Reg Courtney Brown’s Information Section.

Her hobbies are mainly centred on ‘Pub-crawling and Jazz’ but Pauline is also keen to start an evening course in Sociology and is interested in the Open University Scheme. “I’m a terrific hoarder, too, and have a mania for collecting things like coins, stones, shells and postcards.”

She plans to spend Christmas in New York this year so that she can visit her mother and brother. The idea of living there permanently however, does not appeal. During her stay Pauline wants to visit the ghettos of New York and Chicago to judge for herself what conditions there are really like. Pauline has been saving for this trip since July. The return fare is £75. After paying a deposit of £30 she put away £4 a week to make up the difference and cover spending money.

Pauline finds Television an interesting and exciting medium to work in but rather boring to watch. The only exception to this rule is THAMES ‘It Takes A Thief’ series, starring Robert Wagner. When that’s on she drinks at home instead!

At one time Pauline gained some modelling experience. On an amateur basis she used to model at Ealing Technical College. She loves modem clothes and after carefully budgeting expenditure on cigarettes, social activities and jazz records has managed to build up a fairly extensive and suitably ‘with it’ wardrobe.

The post Close up: Pauline Fay James appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

It is this aspect of working in Television that makes interviewing people so interesting. You never really know what unexpected ambition, interest or achievement you’ll be surprised with next.

What this long, rambling introduction is leading up to is that there is a 24-year-old poet working in Promotion. Kevin Morgan, who recently left the Wardrobe Department at Teddington to become a Promotion Scriptwriter at Television House, is having some of his poetry published by Corgi in an anthology compiled by a Scot called Pete Morgan. Two of Kevin’s poems have been used on John Peel’s radio show and he has written lyrics that have been accepted by the Herd pop group.

Kevin’s writing success is not confined to poetry. He has also had television scripts used on Mike and Bernie’s show and ‘Do Not Adjust Your Set’. Two of his plays – one a drama and the other a comedy are currently being considered and another may be used by his brother, who runs a theatre in Edinburgh.

Kevin eventually wants to write full-time, specialising in drama rather than comedy but experimenting with every medium.

Printed below is a small selection of his poetry.

Happy Hippies

A day in the Park
with a multitude of youth
with a multitude of mind
with no trouble of any kind
listening to the sound
sitting on the ground
feeling the tones
of the Rolling Stones
in concert… in freedom … in the Park.

Imperial War Museum

Images on film once men, now dead.
Stare at the living with glassy eyes
From their position on the wall.
Over the heads of the crowds they can
See the weapons of their destruction Housed in this very same hall.
Living crowds mingle with the tanks and guns
That brought death for so many.
They are polished with loving care
By a caretaker who was never there
To see the death masks of disembowelled
Troops: He does not smell the sadness in
This monument to mens madness…

I think of you

When I see beauty expressed in flowers
I think of you.
For you have seen that beauty too.

When I see love expressed by a smile
I think of you.
For I have had that smile from you.

When I hear music that’s softened my soul
I think of you.
For I know you have loved it too.

When I see sorrow, sadness and grief
I think of you.
You have had your share of sorrow too.

Switch me

Switch me on and switch me off
Turn me round and set me back
Switch off my brain and lock my eyes.
Thoughts and ideas I have no lack
But you shut me up because you are wise
If I cannot speak I tell no lies
And if I cannot speak I tell no truth.
So wind me up and run me down
Switch me on and switch me off.

The post Close up: Kevin Morgan – poet appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Peter was educated as a boarder at St. George’s College, Weybridge. “It was the sort of place you can’t stand when you’re actually there but which is nice to look back on – mainly because one was never bored.”

Even now he has little time to be bored with a wide range of interests that include skiing, rowing, hiking, plays, films and studying psychology.

Peter has just returned to live with his parents in Teddington after paying “a palace rent for doss house facilities” but is looking for another more reasonable flat. He is also saving for a car – “Nothing very grand. Just an old banger I can muck about with until I learn something about mechanics.”

Despite the fact that he gives a credible imitation of a professional male model in this photograph, Peter says that, although he takes an interest in his clothes and general appearance, he is not particularly narcissistic. “In fact I can go a whole twenty minutes without having to dash to the nearest mirror and gloat.”

During the course of the interview, the conversation led to the delicate topic of women. For all female readers waiting with bated breath to discover if they are Peter’s ideal type, he likes them “old, sophisticated and mature”. “Old” covers anything over twenty-five but all senile, aged thirty-year-olds need not despair. A forthcoming issue will no doubt have this space occupied by an “old, sophisticated, mature” male!

The post Close up: Peter Errington appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

The most reliable audiences are those who hire coaches and these parties usually comprise two-thirds of the total number of people invited because the party organiser will endeavour to make sure the coach is full to cover hire costs. Of course, at Television House people can be “dragged in” off the street, willingly or unwillingly, to fill a studio but at Teddington the small number of passers-by would make this a long job and, anyway, such audiences cannot be expected to be the most suitable for the show.

With productions scheduled at Euston in November, June Chaplin and Carol Kyd decided that it would be a good idea to get to know the neighbours. During August they spent several profitable days calling on the Personnel Officers and Social Club Secretaries of large companies near Thames Television House. Receiving a friendly reception everywhere they found themselves answering many questions about Thames productions and future plans. They now have a long list of people eager to attend shows during the day, or early in the evening, the times when it is difficult to arrange for suitable coach parties to travel into Central London.

June and Carol also collected information which may interest those shortly to move to Euston. Thames Television House is situated between Great Portland Street and Warren Street Underground stations. There is a Post Office directly opposite the building and several banks have branches in the vicinity. Practically next door is a Wimpy Bar with a ladies’ hairdresser above and the pub just around the comer, ‘The Cock’, looks pleasant. Tesco’s supermarket in Goodge Street is only a 15 minute walk but most of the housewives working in the area shop in Camden High Street. This is a short ride on a No. 27 or 137 bus, a frequent service from right outside our front door.

And if you feel like a laugh one lunch hour, grab your beads, your favourite record, and visit ‘Cornucopia’ at the comer of Ridinghouse and Nassau Streets!

The post The Girls of Viewer Correspondence Go Out and About Euston appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

Pictured above is a typical random selection of THAMES resident manpower. Flexing their muscles and with upper lips suitably stiff are, from left to right in the back row: Phil Pollard, Construction; Mick Robertson, ‘Magpie’ Researcher; David Boardman, ‘Today’ Researcher; Derek Rhys, Props; David Barber, Cameras; Martin Robertson, ‘Magpie’ Researcher and Ian Stottard, ‘Report’ Researcher. The front row comprises Malcolm Harrison, Lighting; Harry Clarke, Design; Fred Fabian, Construction; Barry Shack, Props; Ian Coward, Props; Derek Wood, Construction.

The post The Likely Lads appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

By Saturday night some order was beginning to appear out of apparent chaos. Operational crews reported early on Sunday morning and prepared for the full-scale dry run transmission in the afternoon. Concurrent with the activity in Master Control and Presentation similar scenes were taking place in Telecine, VTR and the mobile control room attached to Studio 5. Whilst Master Control Engineers were trying to locate all their pieces of equipment and set them up correctly they were also endeavouring to deal with such requests as, “Studio 5 – Master, can I have Telecine 7 please?” The usual reply was, “Yes, when I find Telecine 7.”

The fact that tempers did not reach boiling point, though they were sometimes slightly frayed, reflects considerable credit on the Canteen, which managed to cope with incessant demands for large quantities of coffee and tea.

The run-through started according to schedule and was going so smoothly that by 4.30 p.m. a secret decision was taken to create a breakdown since no serious problems were occurring as a result of the new installation. At 5 p.m. a mains failure “occurred” on the Presentation Mixer. We were “back on the air” in 33 seconds – under the circumstances a remarkable achievement. Included in the dry run was a ‘Today’ programme “live” from the Studio.

At 6.30 p.m. everyone retired to the Canteen for a well-earned glass of beer with the Managing Director. At 7.00 p.m. a meeting between interested parties took place in Studio 5 and as a result, Installation Engineers worked yet another night to correct minor discrepancies which had arisen.

Now, one week later we are firmly on the air and our audience have not noticed the minor faults which have caused major headaches for Presentation and Technical Staff. Considerable credit is due to all Thames Staff who were involved in making everything operate successfully on Colour Day.

The post First Colour Day at Euston appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.

By Monday the building was transformed into an efficiently operating Television Studio.

Jane’s new reception area in the foyer is designed to impress. Jane, herself, describes it as, “Rather elegant.” The wall behind her is lined in sage-green suede. “The first few days,” says Jane, “have been hectic but fun. This area is still buzzing with workmen and the foyer becomes increasingly impressive daily as yet another section is completed.”

The new Switchboard (pictured above) under Mrs Laycock’s supervision is much more compact than the one at Television House. For the time being the Switchboard is operated by four girls – with Mrs Laycock in the photograph are Sheila Noonan and Christine Rayment.

The ‘Today’ team also appear delighted with their new wall-to-wall carpeted surroundings and their room is already well endowed with ‘Today’s’ unmistakable stamp of busy chaos.

Opposite ‘Today’ on the third floor, Graphics have a bright spacious office. It seems to have inspired an unexpected house-proud streak in Jim Bainbridge, which has even brought a smile to the lips on his wastepaper basket.

A temporary canteen has been installed on the fifth floor under the supervision of Miss Lovell. The canteen is catering for approximately 164 people but Miss Lovell is still trying to work out how that number consumed 400 cups of coffee on the first morning!

Much of the building is still incomplete as the bottom central picture of the fifth floor illustrates. The reaction so far from people now working at Euston has been one of approval. When the workmen have finished, the building will not only be functionally well designed but also an impressive showpiece.

The post Day Number One at Euston appeared first on THIS IS THAMES from Transdiffusion.