Introducing ― ARCHIE

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 725, 5 June 1953, Page 7

Introducing ― ARCHIE

EPLACING Take It From Here in the ZB Sunday evening programme this week will be the only BBC variety series to be built round a_ ventriloquist’s dummy. The dummy is one Archie Andrews, and the show is entitled. Educating Archie-rated by The Daily Mail as the most entertaining tadio programme of 1952. Since his BBC debut shortly after the war, Archie has become a top-liner in British entertainment, and he is treated accordingly. His clothes are made by a leading Union tailor. During the war he had his own issue of clothing coupons. Recently he was given a completely new rubber face costing hundreds of pounds. And at the home of his "handler," Peter Brough, Archie has his own room. Though it seems not to have affected him, Archie is the only British subject to have been personally decapitated by a king. This happened when George VI unscrewed Archie’s head after a performance at Windsor Castle to show the Queen what made him wink and grin. Archie is no stranger at Windsor Castle, He and the rest of the Educating Archie cast were ‘there again in 1952, as guests at the staff ball. Peter Brough, who handles Archie, first decided on his act at the age of eight, when he sat watching his grandfather doing a _ ventriloquist. act. His father was also a ventriloquist, so he

was able to get the best possible schooling. In America, Edgar Bergen with Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd had shown what could be done when a talented performer went into partnership with a dummy, and Brough set out to. develop for Archie a_ personality with the perfect appeal for British audiences. After one or two tentative try-outs on the air, the BBC gave Peter and Archie a regular date in Navy Mixture, and they stayed in the programme for more than forty consecutive weeks. The firm of Andrews and Brough was a going concern. In Educating Archie, the pair are supported by Max Bygraves, Harry Secombe, Beryl Reid, Ronald Chesney, Hattie Jacques and Peter Madden. The

show is produced by Roy Speer. As the tutor charged with shaping Archie’s personality, Max Bygraves encounters trouble not only from his rub-ber-headed pupil but also from a dreadful schoolgirl named Monica, who abets

Archie with his devastating brand of mischief. Monica is played by Beryl Reid, a comedienne who has built a reputation in such BBC shows as Variety Bandbox. Hattie Jacques, who brings to Educating Archie a highly individual line of robust comedy, will

be remembered for her role ‘in ITMA as Sophie Tuckshop, the ghastly child with the enormous appetite. Educating Archie will be broadcast at 8.15 p.m. on Sundays, starting from the four ZB stations on June 7, and from 2ZA on June 21.