'OH BOY!' SHOW # 34  (Compered by Tony Hall)

ABC CATALOGUE SHOW NUMBER 9. (OF 13)  

RESIDENT WEEKLY BAND & PERFORMERS:
Lord Rockingham's XI, 
The Dallas Boys,
Neville Taylor & The Cutters,
Cherry Wainer,
The Vernons Girls.

THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL GUESTS:
Alma Cogan
Cliff Richard & The Drifters
Marty Wilde
Mike Preston

This is the ninth show of 13 recorded for export to the United States. It is now thought that this original telerecording, once catalogued with ABC at Teddington, Middlesex until 1968, may be in the private hands of someone in the United Kingdom.

Also some of the 13 copies sent to America are known to exist and in the possession of a private collector in Arizona or New Mexico.

Red Price is in hospital and did not appear in this edition.

This is Cliff and the Drifters first appearance since 28th March. Cliff  duets with both Marty Wilde and Alma Cogan.

This is Alma Cogan’s second and final appearance in the series. She had first appeared on the 14th February edition (show no. 23)

(Above) Marty Wilde, Alma Cogan and Cliff Richard close this 2nd May edition singing "That's Love".

(Left) Two shots of a moody looking Cliff singing "Choppin' n' Changin"

(Right) 2 shots of Cliff and Marty duetting on "Tell Him No"

Cliff and Alma became good friends and they made frequent guest appearances on each others  forthcoming TV spectaculars for the ATV network in 1959 to 1961.

Jack Good books Marty Wilde for all the remaining “Oh Boy!" shows until  30th May. (the final edition.)

MEMORIES OF 2ND MAY SHOW BY STAN EDWARDS.

Former Butlins Redcoat and club entertainer Stan Edwards (pictured at left) remembers attending the Hackney Empire Theatre to see the live broadcast of the 2nd May “Oh! Boy!” show. He recalls his excitement of being seated in the front row of the gallery alongside friend and former Drifter Ian Samwell and the memorable meeting with guest star Alma Cogan backstage after the show. Stan was the man who made the earliest ‘live’ recording of Cliff Richard and The Drifters in existence during their short term residency at the Butlins Holiday Camp in Clacton–On–Sea in Essex, on the east coast of England in August 1958.

Cliff had arrived at Butlins with two school friends, drummer Terry Smart and lead guitarist Ian Samwell - the composer of Cliff’s first ever chart hit “Move It”.  Redcoat Stan was to quickly become good friends with Ian, affectionately known as ‘Sammy' , and when unemployment loomed at the end of the Summer Season, Stan moved down to London in November 1958 and shared a flat with ‘Sammy’ in Kilburn, North London, fairly close to Cliff’s own flat in the Edgeware Road.  Sammy wrote nearly all of Cliff’s early single hit recordings including “Move It” (Cliff’s first hit) “High Class Baby/My Feet Hit The Ground” (2nd single) “Mean Streak/ Never Mind” (4th single) as well as other frenetic rockers like “Dynamite” and “Choppin n' Changin”. In fact he wrote most of those tracks while he was resident at the flat with Stan. Ian invited Stan to several live “Oh Boy” shows between December 1958 and May 1959. This was a truly exciting time for Ian….seeing his own compositions performed live on national television by Britain’s fastest rising young rock star  - Cliff Richard. The 2nd May 1959 show was a particularly exciting event for Sammy as Cliff was due to perform both sides of his envisaged new single release “Choppin’ n’ Changin’ and “Dynamite” on the show… both Ian Samwell compositions! Ian had even invited Stan to the original recording sessions of both these tracks at the Abbey Road recording studios on the Monday evening of 9th March 1959. In addition, Cliff was to perform a duet with Marty Wilde and a big finale number with both Marty and that week’s star guest- Alma Cogan. "The screaming from the girls in the audience was unbelievable” said Stan. “It was such an exciting atmosphere.”  It was a welcome and long overdue return for Cliff who had been on a gruelling whistle stop tour of concerts around Britain and who had not appeared on “Oh Boy!” since 28th March. "After the show, Ian and I went backstage and we met Alma Cogan. I always remember it was quite a squeeze as Alma’s dress seemed to fill the entire dressing room” said Stan. "Choppin’ n’ Changin” never did become Cliff’s 4th single release. EMI Columbia a week later decided to release another two Ian Samwell compositions “Mean Streak” b/w “Never Mind” instead and Cliff went on to promote the single when he next appeared on “Oh Boy!” on the 23rd May. Choppin n' Changin found an eventual and much  delayed release on the  feted “Me and My Shadows” LP in October 1960 while the brilliant rocker “Dynamite” made the B side of Cliff’s 6th single  “Travellin’ Light” in October 1959.