Iconic Comedian
Header Photo: Icon and Iconography. The iconic photo of Tony Hancock. If you asked people to remember Hancock in their mind's eye then I'm sure it is this shot they'd immediately think of when they recall him.
© BBC/Sportsphoto/Allstar, 2014.
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Tony Hancock ~ Biography (1924 - 1968)
A tubby, hangdog British comedian inmorose, Eeyore-like characterisations, whobecame enormously popular on radio andTV before discarding writers and co-starsalike and failing in films.
Grouchy and bag-eyed, and always heading for a fall with hishead in the clouds, Hancock is regarded bymany as the greatest radio and televisioncomedian of his day from any country.
Bornin Birmingham to a hotelier and part-timeentertainer who died when he was still aboy, Hancock had already tried stand-upcomedy at 16 and made his first radio broadcast in 1941.
During wartime service withthe RAF, he worked in ENSA concert parties and gang shows. On one of these, Hancock met Graham Stark with whomhe would later co-star in situation comedyroutines that foreshadowed the advent ofthe classic Hancock's Half Hour. After earlypost-war struggles he got a job as a comedianat the Windmill Theatre. Radio bookingsbegan to come in from 1949. His characterisation of a long-suffering Scoutmaster in Happy-Go-Lucky (Stark and Bill Kerr, bothto be associated with him, were among theScouts) was popular, as was his term astutor to the ventriloquist's dummy ArchieAndrews in Educating Archie, when his exasperated 'Flippin' kids' became a nationallyrepeated catchphrase.
Two years later, in1953, Hancock became the resident comedian on radio's All-Star Bill, working againwith Stark and, for the first time, writers Ray Gallon and Alan Simpson, who wouldcreate his 'character' and furnish him withall his best material. Egocentric and depressive, Hancock worried to an obsessivedegree about relying too much on fellowperformers. So Stark was missing when thefirst series of Hancock's Half Hour began in1954 featuring a talented cast that included Sidney James, Hattie Jacques, KennethWilliams and Bill Kerr. It soon tookoff, more than can be said for Hancock'sfirst film appearance, as a bandmaster in adeadly army comedy, Orders Are Orders. Later Hancock would tell of going to acinema to see the film and asking if they hada seat in the circle. He was told he couldhave the first 15 rows.
By great radio comedyacting, Hancock created a character ofgrandiose ambitions and huge cynicism,rooked by everyone and loved by no-one.This creation, frequently pictured inHomburg hat and astrakhan coat, wearinga predictably gloomy expression, wasdescribed by Galon and Simpson as 'a cunning, high-powered mug'. The characterof Anthony Aloysius St John Hancock III was rude, arrogant, stubborn, childish andpompous — and much-loved by millions of listeners. The show went on until 1959 andran on television from 1956, though Kerr, Williams and Jacques were phased out. TheTV programmes, many of them two-handersfor James and Hancock, were equally popular and became much-repeated classics.
In1960, at Hancock's insistence, James wasdropped and, still scripted by Gallon and Simpson, he went solo. Despite increasingdependence on alcohol, and often having toread his lines from cue cards, he turned outsome wonderful half-hours, including TheBlood Donor, The Bowmans and The RadioHam. There was another film, The Rebel,also written by Gallon and Simpson, casting Hancock as a London clerk who becomesan artist in Paris, but it was only partlysuccessful (although today it is regarded as somethng of a cult movie and one of its biggest fans is John Lydon, aka Johny Rotten. I think if my mind serves me right he owns some of the paintings from the film).
Actually, on revisiting The Rebel recently I'd like to revise that and say it's the work of absolute genius! If it was deemed 'partialy successful' at the time then that says more about the viewer/reviewer than the film. I don't know, perhaps it's one of those films you find better or funnier as you get older as I found it like a treasure trove of comedy. I haven't laughed out loud so many times as I did with this film. I mean, this gag, for example, must of passed me by before and now I find it hysterical: when Josey (Nanette Newman) informs him 'all my friends are existentialists' and he replies 'it's company' or words to that effect it made me laugh. Not so much the words but the way Hancock said them. You've got to see it.
What's interesting about its observations on the art world is how true they are. For example, can you imagine if the 'rubbish' paintings (actually I loved the childlike quality of the work) were painted by Hancock and came on the market today how much they would be worth. Not for the quality but because they emanated from or were part of a genius. There is no quality control in art nor should there be.
Direct link: The Rebel available @ amazon.co.uk
Galton and Simpson had partially written several other film ideas when Hancock decided not to work with themagain, in films or TV. Instead, he did ThePunch and Judy Man, a melancholy filmcomedy which cast him as a seaside entertainer with a nagging wife. It was too downbeat for his public, who stayed away indroves.
That was really the end, althoughthere was an abysmal TV series, Hancock's,and three episodes of a comedy series madein Australia, where he committed suicidewith a combination of alcohol and pills. Likemany other comedians, he had not knownwhen the pinnacle of achievement had beenreached.
I still think Hancock is underrated to this day. Yes, people speak fondly of him and the Blood Donor, and some say how great he was but he was better than that. He is up there with a Chaplin or Keaton.
Put simply, he was funny. Very, very funny.
Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock Dvds available @ amazon.com
Tony Hancock ~ Gallery
You won't be surprised to know but the company with the most varied of Tony Hancock repro. film posters and photos is amazon. There are a vast array of his posters there - far, far more than here.
They come in various sizes and usually work out to be less than $10 per poster which I don't think is too bad. You get an unusual and beautiful item to hang on your walls and I bet your friends won't have it.
Here, occasionally, you will find an original poster from the time of the release of the movie. They are obviously far more expensive but if you have the money they are worth it as they are works of art in their own right.
Tony Hancock prints available @ amazon.com
Links
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