There's a letter in last week's Spectator from someone who is chairman of the Sarah Thorne Theatre Club, Broadstairs in which he writes "we have been treated abysmally by the arts mafia because we still believe in putting on what the public wants to see...." Bully for them. I looked up their website and saw that their next show is a one man performance by Dave Sealey called "The Cheekie Chappie". Max Miller no less.
I never saw him in the flesh but heard him many times on radio (from which he was banned for a few years for being too cheeky) and saw him in a film which I think was called "Educated Evans" in which he played a bookie. Can't recall anything of the plot but remember him well. Throughout the film he talked, talked, talked until just at the very end his voice gave out. I think it was based on a story or novel or play by Edgar Wallace.
John Osborne said he liked to go, with friends, to see Miller because "he was the dirtiest of them all". He must have had him in mind when he wrote "The Entertainer" though, played by Laurence Olivier, there was a nastiness to the character that wasn't I believe in Miller's nature who, by many accounts was a quiet and gentle sort of guy off stage.
John Betjeman thought he was "a genius". Agreed.
1 comment:
I wish them well with their show but they shouldn't expect to get a good review. It is unlikely that a young critic will understand the artistry involved, particularly that Maxie was an innovator and original comedian who broke the mould in his day and created a generation of impersonators. I saw him at the Chiswick Empire.
Generally, there is usually no relationship between what the artsy art critics write and what the general public thinks. I have seen many shows, other artists, where the audience was lapping it up, roaring with laughter, only to read in some critic's column next day what a rotten show it was.
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