Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42621 in Books
• Published on: 1999-05-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
This thorough and thoroughly enjoyable biography of Britain's best- loved double act opens with the phenomena that was their 1977 Christmas Day television show. An unequalled audience of 29 million viewers watched Eric and Ernie do their stuff while Angela Rippon high kicked, Eddie Waring turned back flips, and a confused Elton John complained of having been "all over the place" looking for the studio. "In that suit?", replied an incredulous Eric. This was the last great flowering of the music halls transported to nearly every sitting room in the UK. Graham McCann evocatively recreates the now lost world of entertainment where the young Eric Barthlomew and Ernie Wiseman learned their trade. But it was when they escaped sharing a bill with unicyclists and paper tearers and got on the box that they were finally crowned as a national institution.

McCann does not hide the exhausting hard work that went into their shows, or stint in his praise for their scriptwriters, but it is in recalling their genius for making people of all classes laugh--apparently including the Queen who watched in 1977--that this book is a most affectionate and fitting tribute to two men who really did bring sunshine to millions. --Nick Wroe

Synopsis
The dual biography of the great British comedy double-act and the rise and fall of mass audience television by the respected biographer of Cary Grant . Following the success of Cary Grant -- A Class Apart, Graham McCann has now created an intricate portrait of Eric Morcambe and Ernie Wise, possibly the most famous Bristish comedy double-act of all time. This book charts the progress of the duo from a conventional working class music hall act to a mass-audience television team to a national institution. From northern working men's clubs at the beginning of their career to the 1977 Christmas special that had an audience of 28 million, Morecambe and Wise were a double act continually changing the dynamics of their relationship to reflect their influences and their times. Their shows were like nostalgic reflections on a century of popular entertainment, an entertainment that was inclusive to a wide audience and paid homage to the past. McCann's study is also an investigation in the background of mass audience entertainment from which Morecambe and Wise rose. Morecambe & Wise is the definitive biography of one of the most-loved double acts as well as a history of their times.

From the Author
An outline of the paperback edition.
This is a revised and updated version of my 1998 biography.The book goes from the last days of English music-hall to the era of satellite,cable and digital technology,and tells the story of how Morecambe&Wise met,developed their double-act and eventually became the nation`s best-loved entertainers.Material is included from the BBC archives and from interviews with family,friends and colleagues.The book comes with a complete record of Eric and Ernie`s radio and tv shows,along with their movie and album/single releases.

Customer Reviews

Everything I wanted to know...and more!
I never did this before, but I wanted to let people know about this book and my love for Morecambe and Wise. Being probably the only dutch fan in The Netherlands, I have become to rely on the internet on information about this famous double-act. So after I bought every tape/DVD I could get my hands on (including all volumes of Two A Kind-serie), my hunger was not stilled, that's why I bought my very first book here at Amazon.Co.UK. It was a very revealing-experience for me. I must admit that some of the words I did not know, but reading around them I learned a lot about those two I love so much. I know I don't have the emotional attachment you people have with Morecambe & Wise seeing them "live" on TV, when you grew up, but they found their place in my life and now and again I need a shot of Morecambe and Wise and play of their tapes. Fortunately for me, they are re-releasing all of the complete original series in the right running order on DVD and I intend to buy the all and play the often. On the first DVD set I watched I only saw 2 minutes of material I recognised, everything else was completely new for me.
Having read this book I understand them so much better. Where they came from, what their impact has been (or maybe still is) on people living the UK, how difficult their early years have been, the little did-you-know-facts about routines I know so well, why they worked together so well, how much the relied on their writers and what made them so incredibly funny.
My advise? Buy this book, when you think you know them already from your childhood and want to learn more about them. Buy this book when you know nothing about them, because you were simply born in the "wrong country". Or buy beacause this book is almost mandatory reading material, when you love good timeless comedy.
The book is tells their stories from their birth, untill the second half of double-act has passed away. It sometimes makes small detoures, but makes them understandably and they always enriches the general flow of the story instead of confusing things. And because Morecambe And Wise were so funny, this book is also at times very funny. I found meself laughing out loud on several places, because it would recall routines I know by heart. (like the Andre Preview-sketch).
Thanks to this book I know my heroes so much better and appriciate them so much more. Thanks!

Spanjeganger

What Do You Think Of It So Far?
I grew up with Eric and Ern; the tall one with the specs and the little one with 'short, hairy legs'. Drawing on years of interviews with 'the boys' as well as scriptwriter Eddie Braben, producers John Ammonds and Ernest Maxin, head of light entertainment Bill Cotton and many others, this book is an Aladdin's cave of information and manages to be wonderfully entertaining in the process.

From their humble origins as club comics in the pre and post-war years, McCann takes the reader through the '50's - and their disastrous television debut 'Running Wild' - to the '60's - when they struck gold at A.T.V. - beyond into the '70s - their golden years at the B.B.C. - and the '80's when they committed professional suicide by moving to Thames. 'Night-Train To Murder' was an unqualified disaster.

Eric's death in 1984 ( Ernie passed away in 1999 ) ended a memorable chapter in British comedy. No-one will ever take their place. They were the best.

Their unsuccessful attempts at cracking America and the movies they made for Rank are analysed but the highlight of this book for me was the chapter devoted to their legendary Christmas shows. The 1977 one alone was viewed by a staggering 28 million viewers! I'm glad I was one of them.

excellent
I didn't know too much about this great British double act,but a friend introduced me to them via video a few years ago during a stay in London and I became hooked.This book really hits the spot.The research is really awesome.It tells a fascinating story,and tells it very well.Now I appreciate so much more of the comedy.