Morecambe and Wise Untold

Book Review from 2008

Morecambe and Wise Untold is, by the authors own admission, a kind of follow-up to the equally impressive Unseen.

Although it doesn’t follow on chronologically, it is of the same high quality and style, with many many photographs, most of which are published for the first time.

The book begins with a letter. A short, yet insightful letter from Eric to Ronnie Barker written in 1983. In it Eric, uncharacteristically asks “what have I achieved?” and “What has happened to showbusiness?” as well as giving some insightful comments on his health.

The author begins then to describe the very early days of variety, the theatres and characters, and finished the chapter asking some questions of his own regarding those early Morecambe and Wise years. “What was their world like?”, “How did it shape them?” and “Who were the other acts and what happened to them?”

A childhood biography of Eric and Ern comes next, describing there very first moments in front of an audience before they had met. Eric with his large lollipop and tag “I’m not all there” and Ernie, touring the northern clubs with his father as Carson and Kid. It was Ernie who entered the professional circuit first, working for Jack Hyton, and it was Ernie who watched Eric audition for the same touring show.

These early days working as separate acts, and later as a very young double act, saw them mingle with hardened performers who drank or gambled their earnings away. Luckily they saw the dangers and how it affected the other cast members, and instead began to save for leaner times.

Through brief glimpses of other artist’s lives and memories, the reader becomes familiar with these early days. The dreadful digs, the bad theatres, people who helped them and people they repaid years later in their own show. Agents who wouldn’t consider them until they had a booking, theatres who wouldn’t book them because they did have an agent and of course the guest house landladies all get a look in.

They of course finally managed a few small gigs which set them on their journey, but it was still an arduous time. They took what they could, even touring with a travelling circus trying to get a name for themselves. They appeared in the popular nude reviews, playing to dirty old men in coats who were only there to get a quick flash of flesh. Hardly surprising then that it did them no favours.

Using other comic’s gags, and one-liners from the likes of Abbot and Castello, they managed to keep going until one day they were asked to fill in for an act that couldn’t fill their allotted ten minute slot. Quickly they had to write something, and it was here they began to change from the usual gag comic to something closer to their own style. It was a hit, and they were quickly booked onto the Moss Empire circuit.

Panto followed, along with two girls who they’d met during the tours. Despite not seeing each other for weeks on end, the romance still remained and eventually they became Mrs. Morecambe and Mrs. Wise.

The book is full of many stories from these early days with comments from people who remembered them. Stan Stennet, Ken Dodd and Bruce Forsythe recall events, as do Gary and Gail. The picture slowly builds in the reader’s mind of the hardship, the disappointments and the dark times. But we also get to see how it bonded them, how they managed to change and grow, and eventually break away from variety just as it crumbled. Taking their act to radio and later to television.

Packed with great pictures, this is a highly recommended book well worth reading. Even to a Morecambe & Wise fan, there are some things that surprise, but I’ll leave it to you to find them out.

Get it now.


© morecambeandwise.com 2008


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