Eddie Braben's Morecambe & Wise Book
Book Review from 2013
Cover
This was true of Morecambe and Wise. Behind Eric and Ernie was the comic genius of the Eddie Braben.
Eddie started life in entertainment as a gags man and worked for some of the greats in comedy, such as Ken Dodd. When Hills and Green left after Eric’s first heart attack it was to Eddie that the BBC turned to, to write for Eric and Ernie.
Neither party were convinced it would work. Eddie was a gags man and Eric and Ernie liked sketches and cross-talk. Only time would tell what a magical combination it was.
In the past there have been a few books of Mr Braben’s scripts. These tended to be a book of scripts and little else. The odd photo and lots of words. More a reference book. This one though is different.
We were lucky enough to have spoken with Mr Braben. A wonderful man who always had time to speak about his time with Eric and Ernie. During one conversation he mentioned that he still wrote for Morecambe and Wise. He still had sketches and opening routines that would sadly go un-seen. Plays that he had wrote that would never see the light of day. Until know.
The book opens with a lovely forward from Deidre Braben, his wife, and is followed be a passage from Eddie.
Contained within are the usual suspects, for example, Cleopatra. Presented in an easy read format with some nice pictures. In between some of the sketches are passages from Eddie talking about what you are about to read, that act as a kind of introduction.
What makes this book special are the unseen scripts. New material that give a glimpse into a world of what could have been.
New front of tabs routines. New sketches. New laughs!
Think hard enough and you can see Eric and Ernie in a new sketch. The magic is still there.
A great present for any fan.
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