The 'Oh Boy!' UK ABC Television show first appeared as two trial broadcasts in the Midlands region. The show then went nationwide and was televised each Saturday evening, live from the Hackney Empire, in direct competition to the BBC's '6.5 Special' teen show. Within the first 6 weeks, the show became a smash hit and the number of viewers had doubled. Many top British vocalists who went on to achieve international fame made their early TV appearances on the show. Cliff Richard, Shirley Bassey, John Barry, Marty Wilde and Billy Fury are some examples. The cast listings read like a who's who of UK 'Hit Paraders' of the time and were household names - The Dallas Boys; Ronnie Carroll; The Vernons Girls; Emile Ford; The King Brothers; Lonnie Donegan; Vince Eager; Dickie Valentine and Alma Cogan. The show was even blessed with appearances by non British acts: The Inkspots; Conway Twitty and Brenda Lee from the USA and the Marino Marini Quartet from Italy all appearing to promote their latest recordings. Jimmy Henney and Tony Hall would take it in turns each week to compere the show.
In an interview for TV Times in 1958, Jimmy Henney explained how he came to be a compere for the show: "I'd known Jack Good as a telephone voice for years, but I'd never actually met him. One day he came over to my house and, during our conversation, he asked: 'Why don't you do some TV?' I replied that if someone liked to ask me I'd be only too happy. Jack said he'd try and do something about that, and when this show came up he gave me a camera test." He added "I'd never done a show like this, and was a bit worried. But it was so exciting that I couldn't have felt happier once it started."
The recording for the album was made in one session on the evening of October 19, 1958, the day before ABC Television had transmitted the sixth edition of 'Oh Boy!' and already the show was a smash hit. The number of viewers had doubled. Stage shows and films were being mooted. And now the L.P. In six short weeks 'Oh Boy!' had grown to the stature that '6.5 Special' had taken nine months to achieve. For, by an odd coincidence, October 19, 1958 marked to a day the first anniversary of the session at which the '6.5 Special' LP was made. And at that time '6.5 Special' had been running nine months. Both discs were made by Norman Newell and at both sessions I held a watching brief as producer of the television programme concerned. The difference of these two occasions formed a clear reflection of the changes that have taken place in the world of popular music.
02. Vernon Girls - Little Jonah
03. Cliff Richard - Rockin' Robin
04. John Barry Seven - When The Saints Go Marching In
05. Vince Eagar - Buzz, Buzz, Buzz
06. Neville Taylor & The Cutters - Good Good
07. Cliff Richard - High School Confidential
08. Vernons Girls - Bad Motorcycle
09. Cuddly Dudley - Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey
10. Dallas Boys - Zing Went The Strings Of My Heart
11. Peter Elliott - Your Hands, Your Heart, Your Love
12. Cliff Richard - Early In The Morning
13. Cliff Richard - King Creole
14. Two Vernons Girls - There's Never Been A Night
15. Neville Taylor & The Dallas Boys - Leroy
16. John Barry - Seven Pancho
17. Vince Eager - Blue Ribbon Baby
18. Neville Taylor & The Cutters - Little Miss Ruby
19. Cliff Richard - I'll Try
20. Vernons Girls - Don't Look Now, But
21. Cuddly Dudley - Let's Rock While The Rocking's Good
22. Dallas Boys - Joshua
23. Peter Elliott - The End
24. Cliff Richard - Somebody Touched Me
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4 berichten:
This is a great post.
A very rare LP that many Cliff fans don't know about.
Many thanks.
b9r
A very interesting website!
The Oh Boy album is brilliant. I stumbled across it as a discarded LP some years ago. I liked it so much that I got someone to copy it on to CD for me before it was officially released as a CD many years later.
It shows Cliff Richard in his early days and John Barry - who went on to write many film tunes, including the James Bond ones - as well as some other great British singers who sadly did not make it quite as high i.e. The Dallas Boys and Peter Elliott whose version of a ballad called "The End" sounds very good.
As ithis album's now been released on CD for about £4.99 it's definately worth buying and can be ordered from any high street CD store.
Another album I came across many years ago which influenced my taste in music was Alan Freeman's History of Pop which was a double LP with 40 great tracks from the mid fifties going through to the mid to late sixties with artists ranging from Tennessee Ernie Ford to Cliff Richard, Jim Dale to The Animals, Kay Starr to The Yardbirds, etc. definately worth looking out for and hopefully it will one day be released on CD.
Kind regards
JUST TO LET ALL YOU READERS KNOW THAT A RARE ORIGINAL 1959 SHOW HAS TURNED UP AND IS SHORTLY GOING TO BE MADE INTO A FILM/DOC WITH A MIDLANDS SCREENING FOR MORE INFO TEL SAM ON 07969449745 MORE INFO WILL BE POSTED AS AND WHEN AVAILABLE SAM LAVINGTON FILM HISTORIAN
Nostalgie. Was born in 1947 and a Cliff fan.
Don't have this.
thx
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