“BIG HEARTED" ARTHUR IN THE AIR

Evening Star, Issue 23681, 14 September 1940, Page 5

“BIG HEARTED" ARTHUR IN THE AIR

Comedian Arthur Askey lias taken up flying, but not the kincl with which one is partly deafened by the roar of petrol engines. Arthur has completed his first G.B.D. film, 1 Band Wagon,’ in company with Jack Hylton and Richard Murdoch, at Gaumont-British Studios, Shepherd’s Bush. Director Marcel Varnel considered that after the comedian had performed his famous ‘ Petty Bird ’ song he should do some flying just to create the right impression. So he called in a flying ballot expert, the man who regularly carries ■ out the fairy scenes for ‘ Peter Pan,’ and up went Arthur, dress suit and all! But before being elevated to heights undreamed of, Arthur/Askey gave most lifelike impressions of a ballet dancer in his prime. Then at a given signal he was hoisted up 40ft into the air, the camera trained on him, and gently let down on to terra firma again to finish his-number in the manner of a dying swan.

The invasion of Norway complicated the last Form by film, ‘ Gunner George,’ as the locale of much of the story was Bergen, a neutral centre of Nazi espionage. A sub-title has been inserted reading ‘ Scandinavia. 1939 —Before Hitler Came.’