Benny Hill: The Lost Years
Benny & The Jests

Benny Hill

Benny Hill: The Lost Years

This is a collection of three programs from the years that Benny was with the British Broadcasting Corporation. They cover a ten-year period from 1958 - 1968. They are all in B&W and each program runs just over an hour. Benny was using many of the routines and gags he would later use in his color shows for Thames Television. There are only a couple of people who worked alongside Benny in these programs that would go on to work with him in his color shows, including Patricia Hayes and Hugh Paddick. I did ask for permission from Warner Online Marketing to take screen captures, but was told I could only use the photos they provided. Unfortunately, these captures are of sketches/programs that are not in the Lost Years collection. At any rate I am still providing this review because we do get a look at Benny's earliest years in Television. Enjoy!

Note: I have now added William Brown's notes for this program. You'll find William's notes in brackets sprinkled throughout the review below. Many thanks to William for his tireless research!

Benny & The Jests

B&W

[71:18]

Opening Sequence
24 Hours
Jean-P Scuttle's The Knock
Emily Biscuit Horsewoman
Soap Box Jury
Funboy Club
Household Cha-Cha
The Stamp Collector
Hollywood Partners
Unscripted Monologue
Cinema Fantasy
End Credits

Cast: Benny Hill with (in order of appearance) Vivienne Martin, Terry Day, The Silhouettes, June Whitfield, Jeremy Hawk, Peter Vernon, Patricia Hayes, Sylvia Tysick, Doris Hare, Felix Bowness, John Derrick, Gwendolen Watts, Joanna Ford, Ruth Harrison & Janie Marden. Also appearing: Hugh Paddick

Written by: Benny Hill & Dave Freeman.

Producers: Kenneth Carter & John Street.

Highlights: Cinema Fantasy, Household Cha-Cha, Jean-P Scuttle's The Knock, The Stamp Collector.

This one starts off with Benny stepping out on stage in the Opening Sequence as the host of a game show. A young girl is brought out to rearrange some words on a board to form the title "The Benny Hill Show", which starts up this program. (This sequence originated from March 4, 1961. The young girl was Vivienne Martin; the fat lady was Terry Day who later appeared in the "Cotillion Dancing" segment of Benny's fourth Thames show in 1970. The sequence was apparently a parody of a long-running game show called "Beat the Clock." - William Brown).

In 24 Hours Benny hosts a news program which features clips from a convention promoting "Anglo-German Friendship", with an older man giving a speech and Benny as a man who let a German soldier go free. Next, a gag that Benny would later remake, where film footage for two stories is reversed. Then another item that features Benny as a young painter who paints a "nakid" lady and gentlemen, embarrassing his school teacher! (This classic (I.M.H.O.) sketch - a takeoff of an actual news program of the same name - originated from April 20, 1968 (his last surviving complete BBC special; the last three shows he did - within which Henry McGee, Bob Todd, Jackie Wright and Jenny Lee-Wright first joined the Hill stock company - were destroyed upon Mr. Hill's moving to Thames).

As in his "Tonight" parody within "Bo-Peep Variations" and the later "Holiday" sketch, Benny was impersonating British news anchor Cliff Michelmore. The older man who spoke at the Anglo-German Friendship banquet was Hugh Paddick (the older lady next to him was Doris Rogers); and the school teacher embarrassed by Benny's "na-kid" painting was June Whitfield, who appeared in three of the last four BBC shows as well as some of his earlier programs. I also thought I detected Ken Sedd as among the dinner guests in the "Anglo-German Friendship" soiree. - William Brown).

Then, Jeremy Hawk interviews the young director, Fred Scuttle in Jean-P Scuttle's The Knock. They discuss current film trends and then we see a clip called "The Knock". Benny plays a young milkman in this one who has no luck at all when it came to women, until he met Patricia Hayes! This is the story of their courtship and marriage. (This was probably from Nov. 6, 1965. In the original VHS release of this collection, they went directly from the Scuttle interview, bypassing the actual film takeoff - William Brown) to... Emily Biscuit Horsewoman is actually a program called "Sportsview" with Benny as the host of a BBC Sports Program, "Peter Dimmock". Peter Vernon (Benny's straight man from 1957-58 to 1961 on TV and 1964 to 1966 on radio, as mentioned above - William Brown), interviews Emily Biscuit (Benny in drag) as a show jumper. This sketch was remade during Benny's time at Thames. This includes the classic moment where Benny attempts to administer a pill to his horse with unexpected results! (This was from his earliest known surviving BBC show, which aired on April 26, 1958.

The full "Sportsview" sketch also had a segment (not included here) in which Roger Avon was interviewing Fred Scuttle as the leader of a fitness class - an early variation of his Feb. 23, 1972 "Keep Fit Brigade" sketch. The complete show (which also featured the earliest known rendition of his perennial "Pepys' Diary" which he performed twice in the Thames years, in the last of the B&W shows in 1971 and his final show in 1989; as well as a sketch which started with Benny and then-writing partner Dave Freeman playing "angry young men" writers and at one point, one of them replied, "Oh, I thought you said ' '[h]ungry' " - as seen in the "Laughter & Controversy" biography, I believe) has been seen by me quite a few times at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. - William Brown).

Soap Box Jury is a game show hosted by Benny where a group of panelists (all played by Benny) who listen to pop tunes and give their opinions as to whether the tunes will be "hits" or misses". Benny also plays several people in the studio audience, including a woman who cracks up when the camera hits her. Look for Benny tapping and shuffling his feet! (This ground-breaking sketch - shot on 35mm film over a period of several days - was originally aired on March 4, 1961. It was to be the first time there'd be multiple Bennys on the screen at once (the shot at the end). This was a parody of an actual program, "Juke Box Jury," which was hosted by David Jacobs (who'd been Mr. Hill's straight man in the early 1950's; not the last time Benny would impersonate a former straight man - just ask Nicholas Parsons). "Fred Curry" was a Hill-ization of Pete Murray, a radio disc jockey in England who was a panelist on the actual "Juke Box Jury" at one time. The name "Ted Grumble" would later be reused for the leader of the "Dalton Abbott Railway Porter Choir" sketch of March 29, 1973. - William Brown).

Benny then introduces Jeremy Hawk who interviews Fred Scuttle in Funboy Club which features Scuttle as the proprietor of a club which features young girls dressed as Teddy Bears, an obvious send-up of Hugh Heffner's famous playboy clubs. Patricia Hayes plays a young "teddy bear". This was later remade with Nicholas Parsons as the interviewer. (This is one sketch where I'm unfamiliar as to the exact air date, except it was from the 1965-66 period. - William Brown). Next is the very clever and original Household Cha-Cha which features Benny and two girls in the kitchen. The radio plays and every action, from slicing the bread, lighting a match, starting the stove, closing the door are all "timed" to the rhythm of the music on the radio. I don't recognise the two ladies with Benny at all. This was also remade when Benny was with Thames. (This sketch, from April 10, 1965, featured Sylvia Tysick as the wife and Doris Hare as the mother. Ms. Hare would go on to play "Mum" in the early 1970's Britcom "On the Buses." - William Brown).

Next, Benny introduces a "newer" film from Thames, The Stamp Collector. This would obviously be the first time Benny did this sketch. When he later did this sketch for Thames, Stella Moray played the Stamp Collector who drugs Benny in a restaurant and brings him home to add to her collection. Benny awakens to find himself a prisoner in her home. (This was from Nov. 27, 1965. Benny's actor's name in this was called "Terence Hill." However, when he redid this parody in 1975, there was already a Terence Hill acting - hence, in the later version, his being referred to as "Terence Damp." One of the patrons at the bar in this embryonic version at the beginning was Felix Bowness. - William Brown).

Hollywood Partners is actually called "Hollywood and The Stars" with Benny first spoofing the Marx Brothers. They even chase a pretty girl who has stolen some Microfilm and this could very well be the first chase scene that Benny did, eventually leading to the classic chases at the end of many of his Thames shows. Next, he impersonates both Richard Burton & Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Lavinia Woolf". Then, it's the team of Laurel & Hardy as Bill Posters, with Benny as "Ollie". Next, a send-up of Casablanca with Benny playing an excellent Sydney Greenstreet as well as Peter Lorre. Then it's Benny and an unknown girl singing "Lover Come Back To Me", which he later re-did with Pat Ashton on Feb. 22, 1973.

Next, it's "On The Waterfront" with Benny impersonating both Rod Steiger and Marlon Brando. Listen to Benny talk as Brando with food in his mouth! Then, it's the team of Mae West and W. C. Fields and Benny in both parts. This would later be remade as "Lulubelle" with Cherri Gilham in the role of Mae West. (This sketch - regarded by many British Benny Hill fans as an all-time classic - originated from April 20, 1968. A few notes: (1) The gist of the Burton-Taylor parody here would be reworked in the poem that followed "Poor Prunella" after the "Scuttlevision" sketch of March 22, 1972. (2) In the Laurel & Hardy Bill Posters sequence, I've gauged Stan Laurel to be played by Harry Seltzer. (3) The girl singing "Lover Come Back To Me" with Benny in this version was Janie Marden, a popular singer and musical-comedy star in Britain in the 1950's and '60's. Ms. Marden was also in three of Mr. Hill's 1961 editions, all now (truly) lost. (4) The cab driver in the "On the Waterfront" parody and the bartender in this first "My Little Chickadee" takeoff was in fact Hugh Paddick, who later appeared on Mr. Hill's Oct. 25, 1972 Thames special. (Jeremy Hawk's last TBHS appearance was Jan. 8, 1966.) - William Brown).

Unscripted Monologue features Benny telling the story of a 97 year old train driver who wakes everyone up at 5:00 in the morning blowing his train whistle. He also talks about the Indians of that area and their yearly festival. Benny then sings a song to the tune of "Jose's Cantina". (This also came from April 20, 1968. - William Brown). Cinema Fantasy features Benny in a movie theatre as he mimes along to the action we can hear from the movie screen. This is probably the first time Benny did this sketch which he later redid as "Fun At The Flicks". As with the later version, Benny gets caught up in the action on-screen, not realising he's disrupting the other patrons until he's upset them by throwing drinks, taking candy from the girl next to him, and so on. Perhaps not as good as the version he did for Thames, but definitely a highlight in this program and indeed, this collection. (From April 10, 1965, based upon Gwendolyn Watts' presence (she sat to Benny's left) as well as that of Jeremy Hawk who threw Benny out at the end of this sketch. Judging from the picture quality it appears to have come from a kinescope of the May 6, 1967 repeat of the Nov. 6, 1965 edition. - William Brown). The last chapter includes the End Credits with a still shot of Benny in drag.

Screen Captures

The Following images were provided by Warner Online Marketing. Unfortunately, these images are not taken from the "Lost Years" DVD, but from other programs that Benny did over the years with the BBC. For a larger version of each image, click on the thumbnails below and each image will open in a new window. Thanks to William Brown for the info on each image!

From left: Priscilla Morgan (as Maid) and Benny, from the "Benny Hill" episode "The Mystery of Black Bog Manor" (first aired Nov. 30, 1962)

From left: Joan Ingram (as Princess von Puffenberg) and Benny, from the "Benny Hill" episode "Cry of Innocence" (first aired Dec. 7, 1962).

From left: Moyra Fraser (as Lady Fenella Twinge) and Benny, from the "Benny Hill" episode "Mervyn's Christmas Pudding" (first aired Dec. 21, 1962).

From the "Benny Hill" episode "The Constant Viewer" (first aired March 9, 1962).

From left: Jennifer Browne(?) and Benny, from the "Benny Hill" episode "The Constant Viewer" (first aired March 9, 1962).

From Nov. 20, 1968; "Fire Brigade Choir" from left: unknown, Sue (of The Kaye Sisters), June Whitfield, Carol (of The Kaye Sisters), Henry McGee, Shan (of The Kaye Sisters), Benny & unknown.

From Nov. 20, 1968; from left: Henry McGee and Benny.

From Nov. 20, 1968; Benny as an executive script editor on the phone with a certain William Shakespeare.

From Nov. 20, 1968; "Fire Brigade Choir" from left: Benny, unknown, Sue (of The Kaye Sisters, a singing group who were among the musical guests of that show), June Whitfield (at the microphone), Carol (of The Kaye Sisters), Henry McGee, Shan (of The Kaye Sisters) & unknown.

From Nov. 20, 1968; from left: Benny and Henry McGee.

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