1st Broadcast 2nd June to 7th July 1990 on BBC Radio 4
Dirk Maggs
Dirk Maggs
Mark Brisenden
BBC Radio Light Entertainment BBC Radio 4/2
Something of an event in radio comedy history: a selection of recovered scripts
from this 1930s Marx Brothers radio show,
written by Nat Perrin and Arthur Sheekman and first broadcast on the American NBC network, were adapted and performed before modern audiences.
This experiment proved highly successful, and there were 3 series in total produced.
The Stolen Rembrandt. In which Flywheel and Ravelli investigate a Crime.
Show Recorded on 30/01/1990
First BBC Broadcast : BBC Radio 4, 1030-1130 Saturday 2nd June, 1990
Based on the Nat Perrin & Arthur Sheekman script for FSF Episodes 17 &
23, 20th March and 1st May 1933
Song: Sugar In The Morning (Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music)
Signature Tune & Links: Hooray For Captain Spaulding (Bert Kalmar &
Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music)
Flywheel And Juliet. In which Flywheel Treads The Boards.
Show Recorded on 20/05/1990
First BBC Broadcast : BBC Radio 4, 1030-1130 Saturday 9th June, 1990
Based on the Nat Perrin & Arthur Sheekman script for FSF
Episode 14, 27th February 1933
Song: Lydia the Tattooed Lady (Arlen/Harburg, pub. EMI)
Signature Tune & Links: Hooray For Captain Spaulding (Bert Kalmar &
Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music)
Big Joe Crookley. In which Ravelli is kidnappped.
Show Recorded on 13/05/1990
First BBC Broadcast: BBC Radio 4, 1030-1130 Saturday 16th June, 1990
Based on the Nat Perrin & Arthur Sheekman script for FSF Episodes 17 &
23 , 20th March and 1st May 1933
Song: Everyone Says I Love You (Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros
Music)
Signature Tune & Links: Hooray For Captain Spaulding (Bert Kalmar &
Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music)
Finding Foo Foo. In which Flywheel and Ravelli become Dog Catchers.
Show Recorded on 10/06/1990
First BBC Broadcast: BBC Radio 4, 1030-1130 Saturday 23rd June, 1990
Based on the Nat Perrin & Arthur Sheekman script for FSF
Episode12, 12th February 1933
Song: Show Me A Rose (Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music
Signature Tune & Links: Hooray For Captain Spaulding (Bert Kalmar &
Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music)
One Round Gombatz. In which Ravelli takes it on the chin.
Show Recorded on 20/05/1990
First BBC Broadcast: BBC Radio 4, 1030-1130 Saturday 30th June, 1990
Recording attended by Anne Kaufman, wife of Irving Schneider,
daughter of George S, Kaufman.
Based on the Nat Perrin & Arthur Sheekman script for FSF Episode 10, 30th
January 1933
Songs: Pizzicato Polka (Strauss II/Josef Strauss arr Firman); Monkey Doodle
Doo (Irving Berlin pub. Francis, Day & Hunter)
Signature Tune & Links: Hooray For Captain Spaulding (Bert Kalmar &
Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music)
The Election. In which Flywheel and Ravelli fix some votes.
Show Recorded on 10/06/1990
First BBC Broadcast: BBC Radio 4, 1030-1130 Saturday 7th July, 1990
Based on the Nat Perrin & Arthur Sheekman script for FSF
Episode16, 13th March 1933
Song: Whatever It Is I’m Against It (Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby, pub. Famous
Music corp
Signature Tune & Links: Hooray For Captain Spaulding (Bert Kalmar &
Harry Ruby, pub. Harmo Bros Music)
| Character |
Actor |
The Announcer |
|
Groucho Marx |
Michael Roberts |
Chico Marx |
Frank Lazarus |
Miss Dimple |
|
Mrs Thorndike |
|
Meadows The Butler |
|
Miss Priscilla
Kent |
|
Mr McBride The
Landlord |
|
Reginald Francis |
|
Doorman |
Vincent Marzello |
Bertram T. Bardwell |
|
Clerk Of The Court |
|
Big Joe Crookley |
Kerry Shale |
Mrs Dalloway |
|
Mr Gruber The Tailor |
|
Job Applicant |
Vincent Marzello |
Streetcar Conductor |
Vincent Marzello |
Judge |
Kerry Shale |
Delivery Boy |
Vincent Marzello |
Taxi Driver |
Vincent Marzello |
Mrs Willoughby |
|
One Round Gombatz |
|
Judge Maxwell |
|
Mean Waitress |
|
Reporter |
Vincent Marzello |
Moderator |
Vincent Marzello |
Boss Plunkett |
Garrick Hagon |
Waldorf T Flywheel |
Michael Roberts |
Emmanuel Ravelli |
Frank Lazarus |
David Firman
Maureen Trotman
BBC The Paris Studio, Lower Regent Street, London England
My favourite audience series was a re-creation of long-lost Marx Brothers shows of the early 1930s. Although some of the old shows have since come to light, at the time we recorded these it was like opening Tutankhamun’s tomb, a treasure horde of delightfully crazy humour. The great thing about audience shows is doing the effects live on stage. BBC Radio Light Entertainment tended to have the effects operator hidden away behind curtains so they wouldn’t distract the audience! A few Light Entertainment Producers like me have reasoned over the years that the spot effects are part of the entertainment so we brought the operator out front. And in the case of ‘Flywheel’ we dressed him or her up as Harpo! Michael Roberts who played Groucho came out with such good ad libs that I was always happy to cut scripted gags to keep them ...one great one was when he and Frank as Flywheel and Ravelli find themselves in a pigsty - the rest of the cast pushed in to make pig voices - and Mike ad libbed, 'Imagine - two nice Jewish boys surrounded by ham' - it brought the house down.
I was very proud that same show won a Gold
Medal at the 1992 New York Festivals.
6 Episodes in series 30 Minutes long
Flywheel, Shyster & Flywheel Series 1
Flywheel, Shyster & Flywheel Series 2
Flywheel, Shyster & Flywheel Series 3
Orginal Programme Script for Episode 12
Regular Cast Members in Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel
L-R, Lorelei King, Frank Lazarus, Dick Vosburgh, Michael Roberts, Spike Milligan,
Graham
Hoadly
Photo Graham Hoadly
 |
 |
Lorelei King |
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