I loved this. Brought back memories of driving around the west of scotland as a 19 year old playing my accordion and singing in bars, clubs and hotels. But that voice - amazing, Mr Kennedy!.
It is important to appreciate that this was originally intended as a serious documentary showing the life of a touring variety company. The problems were unplanned and not staged. The BBC director realized that what he was filming was evolving into a slow motion disaster movie, and so changed the theme of the documentary after completing the filming. This caused Calum Kennedy to engage in extended litigation to try and prevent the screening of the documentary, but eventually it was screened, albeit in heavily edited form. My sense is that there was a lot more footage that would have shown even more problems and issues - for example, at one stage one of the two lady bus drivers talks about the bus getting stuck the previous day, but we never saw the footage of the bus getting stuck - a shame, as I'm sure it would have added still more to the comedy of errors. It is very hard to realize that what we are seeing is a true commentary on how touring variety shows actually were undertaken. Believe it or not, Calum Kennedy was one of the last 'great' touring variety artists.
Many thanks for posting. I am old enough to remember when this was first broadcast. Many times I have searched the Internet for it with no success until today.
ive never seen this before but was gret viewing and an insight about all the travvelling these artists had to do and long distantces as well, david gow.
Lou Grant passed away in 2020 at the age of 83. He never became a nationally known " star " but was loved and is fondly remembered by those who knew him or saw him perform . esp on West Sound Radio . i wonder what memories he had of this tour in later years. ? Fond ones I'm sure. 40 years later people still recall it .
A rare & exceptional documentary giving an insight into “life on the road” in the raw - all unrehearsed & unscripted. Did those who fled into the night, never to be seen or heard of again, do so because they were uncomfortable with the intrusive nature of cameras following their every move & the questions being asked - or was it simply the lack of heating on the bus to blame for their desertions ? Credit to those who stayed the course & brought entertainment to those far flung places & outposts, despite the weather, travel conditions & their own suffering & loss of personal comforts.
Calum was a parody of himself anyway, a loveable rogue. Everyone I know in Scottish music who came into contact with him will tell you that he was a 'character'. He was always suing or being sued. He was happy to use publicity when needed,
I loved this. Brought back memories of driving around the west of scotland as a 19 year old playing my accordion and singing in bars, clubs and hotels. But that voice - amazing, Mr Kennedy!.
Callum was a true entertainer in back in the sixties and he gave pleasure to a great many
It is important to appreciate that this was originally intended as a serious documentary showing the life of a touring variety company. The problems were unplanned and not staged.
The BBC director realized that what he was filming was evolving into a slow motion disaster movie, and so changed the theme of the documentary after completing the filming. This caused Calum Kennedy to engage in extended litigation to try and prevent the screening of the documentary, but eventually it was screened, albeit in heavily edited form.
My sense is that there was a lot more footage that would have shown even more problems and issues - for example, at one stage one of the two lady bus drivers talks about the bus getting stuck the previous day, but we never saw the footage of the bus getting stuck - a shame, as I'm sure it would have added still more to the comedy of errors.
It is very hard to realize that what we are seeing is a true commentary on how touring variety shows actually were undertaken. Believe it or not, Calum Kennedy was one of the last 'great' touring variety artists.
David Rowell )(
Somewhere I have a full (as far as I know) copy of the original production on vcr. It is brilliant.
@@Canniejanedo you have the full version, we would really love to see it.
Many thanks for posting. I am old enough to remember when this was first broadcast. Many times I have searched the Internet for it with no success until today.
superb!
ive never seen this before but was gret viewing and an insight about all the travvelling these artists had to do and long distantces as well, david gow.
Lou Grant passed away in 2020 at the age of 83. He never became a nationally
known " star " but was loved and is fondly remembered by those who knew him
or saw him perform . esp on West Sound Radio . i wonder what memories he
had of this tour in later years. ? Fond ones I'm sure. 40 years later people still
recall it .
A rare & exceptional documentary giving an insight into “life on the road” in the raw - all unrehearsed & unscripted. Did those who fled into the night, never to be seen or heard of again, do so because they were uncomfortable with the intrusive nature of cameras following their every move & the questions being asked - or was it simply the lack of heating on the bus to blame for their desertions ? Credit to those who stayed the course & brought entertainment to those far flung places & outposts, despite the weather, travel conditions & their own suffering & loss of personal comforts.
The spinal tap documentary of Scotland.
A brilliant documentary, thanks for posting this. Where did you find it?
Great stuff. Boy, it looked like hard work. Good on them.
20:38 Jesus, the ambulance looks and sounds as bad as the feking bus !!!!
Brilliant, come on let’s have this rescheduled will give us a rainbow during this awful period of time. BBC or STV.
That’s my papa xxxxx
Who is your Papa ?
Typical patronising crap from the London media. It doesn’t take away the talented singer that Calum Kennedy was.
I loved the music wanted to go but was a builder felt they was all too posh for me dont think they got through to the working class such a shame
London having a good laugh at Scotland.........or maybe just Scotland laughing at itself.....we're just one big bloody joke.
Calum was a parody of himself anyway, a loveable rogue. Everyone I know in Scottish music who came into contact with him will tell you that he was a 'character'. He was always suing or being sued. He was happy to use publicity when needed,