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You
are listening to a song written and performed by Dave O'Brien and the Lodekkas
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After the success of ON THE BUSES all the cast were much in demand
for the Pantomime season.
Here we see Bob Grant from the Panto'Jack and The
Beanstalk' in 1973. He appeared along side Stephen Lewis which meant young and old came along for an evening
of laughter and festive fun
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Baron Blakey learns the canteen meal he
has just eaten was cooked by Olive
Here are some memoires of when Al Smudge appeared
with Bob Grant as a youngster in 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL' MEMORIES OF BOB -
Way back in the mists of time my parents got a letter to say that I had been successful in an open audition at
Birmingham Rep to find young fellows to play in their Christmas season show. This was to be an adaptation of 'A Christmas
Carol'. You can imagine my great surprise in discovering that the star of the show was to be Bob Grant. Coming from a
house where 'On The Buses' was one of the TV staples, the whole family were as excited as I was.
Bob and his wife Kim were so very kind to us kids (six of us in all) and I remember them sending us all a little
gift on the first night to wish us luck. The whole period of rehearsals and performance were simply such good fun. Bob and
our fellow cast members made sure that us kids never got bored with the repetitious routines of performance. I remember one
night we were in the Green Room, awaiting our next cue, and one of the Buses films was playing on the TV in the corner. Bob,
on one of his few moments offstage, came down for a quick refresher and saw what we were watching. With his broadest grin
he turned to us and said, "Oh no - not THAT again!" with a definite twinkle in his eye.
As
I said, Bob was hardly offstage throughout each performance and this old picture is from the finale. Scrooge's house set
was a two-tier job and at the end, when Scrooge has asked the boy to go and buy the huge turkey, Bob would change upstairs
then leap out of the set down onto the stage apron in front of it - quite physically demanding and luckily he never went as
far as the orchestra pit!
Bob's patience with us was infinite. Being Bob, he had a fair
few visitors to his Dressing Room and I remember meeting Anna & Terry, Bernard Bresslaw and also seeing Peggy Mount at
our show, amongst others. Bob never minded whenever we 'happened to be passing' when his fellow professionals were
around and always made sure we got some autographs. As well as this our cast included a handful of people who went on to become
famous in their own right: Lesley Joseph (Birds of A Feather) was one of the Cratchit family, as was Mikki Magorian, who went
on to author a huge hit in 'Goodnight Mister Tom'. The boy who got the turkey at the start of the finale was none
other than Richard (Herr Flick) Gibson. Because we were across the road from the ATV television studios, one night we had
a fair few of the cast of 'Crossroads' in our eyeline, as they took in the show as part of their Christmas bash.
Another happy memory is of Bob and Kim's warmth
towards my Gran, who was one of the required Chaperones to us youngsters. Whenever it was her turn on the rota Bob (who always
called her Gran too!) said, "Make sure Gran's looked after," when she was sitting in the wings. He always ensured
she was comfy and had a cuppa close by.
Quite an experience and the memories are (still) amazing.
Smudge
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Stan is delighted to see it is Mum preparing the Christmas
buffet
and glad it is not Olive!
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Above a 'TV Times' page advertising the 1972 'All Star Comedy Carnival'
These shows were Christmas specials made by LWT and were shown over the festive period. They contained specially made
sketches of the hit tv sitcoms and shows of the time. Two of these were to include ON THE BUSES, one in 1969 and another
in 1972. The 1972 one is in exsistance but sadly the 1969 show was wiped after transmission.
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Doris Hare enjoying a festive drink with two of the
actresses who appeared in the ON THE BUSES episode 'Boxing Day Social'
On the left is Winifred Braemar
and on the right is Betty Hare, both who were Doris's sisters in real life.
(thanks Vicky B)
'Boxing
Day Social' first aired on Sunday December 26th in 1972
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Click on the poster above to see
Stephen
Lewis in Mother Goose
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Above the cast of 'Mother Goose' with
Stephen Lewis appearing
in Crewe 1982 |
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1980 Michael starred in the pantomime, "Robinson Crusoe", at the Lewisham Concert Hall. Also
in the cast was Bernie Winters, Donald Hewlett & Michael Knowles (It Ain't Half Hot Mum) and written and
Directed by Freddie Davies.
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Anna Karen enjoys a Christmas Drink. In her hand
is a bottle of Lambs Navy Rum. as seen on the poster outside The Bus Depot in the ON THE BUSES flim
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Rhyl Theatre December 2003 - January
2004
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Michael Robbins starred in a traditional pantomime Moother Goose recorded in front of a live audience
and was first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day 1981 also starring Kenneth Connor, Mollie Sugden, Bernie
Winters
The following year he starred in Dick Whittington along with Anita Harris, Kenneth Connor, Frank Thornton,
Bernie Winters, recorded in front of a live audience and first broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Christmas Day 1982
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