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The Crazy Gang had been film stars of the war years but by the time of this
series (produced for Associated-Rediffusion under the wing of impresario Jack
Hylton, and following a similarly named showcase for Terry-Thomas), they had become more or less permanent fixtures on the London stage in a succession of sell-out revues. Reduced by now to five members (Chesney Allen,
who outlived them all, had retired due to ill-health) they made little attempt
to tailor their act to television, each show looking like it had been
photographed live from the stalls (and making generous use of material from
their revue Jokers Wild).
The show presented here begins with a prim female continuity announcer being unexpectedly drenched with water, setting the tone for much of the good-natured chaos to come, which includes two song numbers, a balloon dance, an extended final 'Scarlet Pimpernel' sketch and their famous 'crossing gags' in which
they walk briskly across the stage delivering a quick visual or verbal
joke, followed without pause by another (for instance, one of the Gang enters in
a diving suit accompanied by a mermaid holding two babies, and Knox explains,
"That is what happens on the bed of the ocean"). The rigidly theatrical nature
of the performance is maintained by having some of the Gang performing on stage
while others interrupt from box seats.
The shows effectively convey the most 'modern' aspect of their act, which is
its breathless pace. Usually even the most sympathetic modern audiences must
make some adjustment for the more sedate tempos of 1950s TV comedy, but the
Crazy Gang need no such special handling. They maintain a frantic barrage of
corny gags, puns, visual jokes, vulgarity and topical references (with Diana
Dors, Fabian of the Yard (BBC, 1954-56) and even the Suez crisis finding their
way into the scripts). As usual, some of the jokes seem fairly risqué for the
time, as when a woman explains that she concealed her emeralds in her bustle
during a highway robbery and is met with the observation "Pity your mother
wasn't here, she might have saved the cart."
Where the programme seems least modern (aside from the guest spots) is in the
appearance of the stars themselves: all were over sixty when the shows were made
and it is a rare (and nowadays unheard-of) treat to see such energetic, wild
comedy being performed by obviously old men.
Matthew Coniam
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1. Crossing gags (3:10)
