Forgotten army remembers how to make us laugh
Jun 14 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal
FOR a priceless legacy of laughter we all owe Jimmy Perry big time. DAVID WHETSTONE talks to the creator of Dad’s Army as the show returns to the North East stage.
“A British officer stood at the side of the stage and translated.”
You can imagine how funny that would have been. But Jimmy insists Gurkhas do have a keen sense of humour and they “nodded and laughed quite a lot”.
Jimmy was still based in the Far East at the end of the war and did not get a rapid demob.
“I had to wait in India for two years while it got its independence and then there were the terrible Hindu/Moslem riots. It was the very last days of the Raj and it was a very difficult time.
“They weren’t bothering too much about British soldiers because they were killing each other. All I wanted to do was get home.”
On his eventual return he took advantage of a Government scheme to help demobbed soldiers go to university. He asked if he could go instead to Rada (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art) and was told he could if he passed the audition, which he did.
Graduating in 1950, he worked as an actor for 20 years, spending a rewarding period with Joan Littlewood in her pioneering Theatre Workshop (later famous for creating Oh! What a Lovely War).
Jimmy recalls that life as an actor was “a struggle”.
He appeared in the 1960s sitcom Hugh and I with Terry Scott and Hugh Lloyd and considered that one of the more watchable ones.
One day it dawned on him that he could probably do better.
“I decided to write a pilot for a sitcom with a good part in it for myself.”
He called it The Fighting Tigers, which he now concedes is an “awful title”, and showed it to David Croft, the BBC producer of Hugh and I. “He loved it and suggested we should do it together. The BBC were very supportive.”
Jimmy was happy with the first few episodes but reckons it took a while for them to get into their stride as a writing partnership. Then there was no stopping them. Not only It Ain’t Half Hot, Mum but Hi-de-Hi – inspired by Jimmy’s time as a Butlin’s Redcoat – would follow, gilding their reputation.
Jimmy says the first stage version of Dad’s Army happened in 1975 with the original TV cast, led by Arthur Lowe (Mainwaring).
It proved very popular but Jimmy remembers that the initial critical response to Dad’s Army on television was a bit mixed.
I recall my own grandparents, who had been through the war, being in two minds, not sure if the new series was a bit too impertinent (eventually they loved it, like everyone else).
The current stage manifestation of Dad’s Army proves its enduring popularity with a cast including Leslie Grantham as Private Walker and Timothy Kightley as Captain Mainwaring.
“The last time we were at the Theatre Royal we took £120,000 in a week which was extraordinary,” says Jimmy, who has fond memories of the venue from his acting days.
On its return this week it is up against the World Cup, but if anything can pull in the punters it is this evergreen favourite, for which the versatile Jimmy Perry even wrote the famous theme song, a wartime pastiche that asks: “Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?”
I ask if Jimmy’s still writing and he makes reference to ingrained ageism at the BBC.
But he concedes: “I’m rather ancient now. I’ve got ideas – so many ideas – but to tell you the truth, I haven’t got the energy any more.
“I have a very nice, quiet domestic life with Mary (Mrs Perry).
“I have a lot of friends and I belong to the Grand Order of Water Rats, which was set up to help actors down on their luck.
“There comes a time when you’ve got to say: ‘I’d better put my feet up’.”
I’m not sure it’s a sentiment to which Capt Mainwaring would have subscribed, but Jimmy’s retirement is obviously well deserved.
Dad’s Army is at the Theatre Royal, Newcastle, from today until Saturday. Tickets: 08448 112121 or www.theatreroyal.co.uk
