Show It Again Sam.

[jambutty]

With acknowledgement to Humphrey Bogart in the film Casablanca where he never actually said, “Play it again Sam.” What he said to Sam the piano player was, “You’ve played it for her, so you can play it for me.”

What three TV programmes would you like to see again and why? Not re-runs of the old ones but new versions. Although re-runs would be better than nothing.

Without a doubt the Good Old Days from the Leeds City Varieties Theatre would be my number one. Introduced by Leonard Sachs for 30 years from 1953 to 1983 and shown on BBC 1 at peak time usually on a Sunday evening, it was the longest running variety show of all time in the UK.

The audience was obliged to dress up in Victorian clothes to add authenticity to the variety show. At one time there was a two years waiting list just to get a ticket to go.

Lasting an hour on TV, the show featured acts such as a comedian like Les Dawson, a popular singer of the day like Frankie Vaughan, a novelty act of some sort, a prestidigitator (conjuror/magician), nearly always a ventriloquist and other types of typical variety show acts like the “Egyptian Sand Dance” by Wilson, Kepple and Betty. Please see http://www.dailymotion.com/cluster/fun/video/x5ane2_the-egyptian-sand-dance_fun and http://www.wikio.co.uk/video/266297 Basically there was something for everyone. Many of the singers would end their act with a selection of old time musical hall songs where the audience were encouraged to join in the chorus and it did with great gusto. The whole show usually ended with the whole cast on stage singing the old time popular songs accompanied by the audience.

At the end of the programme when you went away to make your cup of tea or whatever, you did so satisfied that you had been entertained for an hour for FREE. Not only satisfied but wanting more and looking forward to the next Sunday.

Jeux Sans Frontières ("Games Without Borders") the European version of “It’s A Knockout” is my second choice. See http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1966/tv1.shtml

Jeux Sans Frontières was laughter all the way and you can get a flavour of what it was like at

[jambutty]

I don’t know what went wrong but half my post is missing and You Tube has appeared twice.

There are many more ‘flavours’ to sample. Stuart Hall’s laughter is so infectious I defy anyone not to join in. Only the morose and miserable wouldn’t laugh at the antics.

Take Your Pick originally hosted by Michael Miles and then by Des O’Connor would be my third choice.

Take Your Pick was a simple game show where invited contestants from the audience first had to go through the “yes” “no” interlude. It was here that the host asked the contestant a series of questions for 60 seconds, the answers to which must not contain either the words “yes” or “no”. Nodding or shaking the head was not allowed either. Not as easy as it may seem. Try it with family and friends.

Those who succeeded in not saying “yes” or “no” qualified for the next part of the game where they were asked three simple questions. If they got them right they would get a key to a box of their choice out of the ten shown. One of the boxes held the “star” prize and a couple had a booby prize in them. The other boxes held a decent prize. Michael Miles would offer them money for the key and the contestant could either accept the offer or reject it. If the offer was rejected Michael Miles would offer them more money. Very few people accepted the money and eventually they would be invited to open the box and went away with whatever was in it.

[West Ender]

Originally Posted by jambutty

Stuart Hall’s laughter is so infectious I defy anyone not to join in.

We once went to see "It's a Knockout" at Charnock Richard, it must be about 25 years ago. It was a miserably wet day, drizzled all afternoon, and the show that used to be on TV for an hour took over 4 hours to record. Despite the weather there was a huge crowd of spectators and a lot of them had brought whistles and kept blowing them. The contestants kept getting false starts and finishes because of it.

Stuart Hall was on the field, dressed as a ring-master, the whole afternoon, trying to get the games done properly. He went right up in my estimation because he had the patience of a saint. He kept asking people not to blow the whistles, and being ignored, and remained good humoured and laughing to the end, wet through as he was. I would have had several tantrums and gone round belting half the audience if I'd had to put up with it.

I liked that show but it was "of its time" and I'm not sure it would work now.