THE FINAL SHOW OF THE SERIES!

'OH BOY!' SHOW # 38  (Compered by Tony Hall & Jimmy Henney)
ABC CATALOGUE SHOW NUMBER 13. (OF 13)  

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

THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL GUESTS:
Bill Forbes                                           
Billy Fury
Cliff Richard
'Cuddly' Dudley
Dickie Pride
Don Lang
Lorie Mann
Marty Wilde
Mike Preston
Peter Elliott

One of only two known surviving shows from the entire series. This is the show which has been played on network television in Britain during the “TV Heaven” series on Channel 4 in the  early 1980s and from which extensive clips have been taken for inclusion in numerous documentaries for more than 25 years.

Cliff Richard’s sultry take on Fabian’s 1959 hit “Turn Me Loose” has been used on television hundreds of times, one of the earliest repeat showings being on the “The Kenny Everett Video Show" (Thames TV) back in 1978.
Another clip frequently used is the novelty song “Three Cool Cats” sung by Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde and Dickie Pride with some unusual ‘seductive’ choreography provided by three of the Vernons Girls during the instrumental break. Other more memorable moments demanded as clips by producers include Billy Fury’s performance of “Don’t Knock Upon My Door” and Cliff and Marty fronting the entire “Oh Boy!” cast on “When The Saints Go Marching In”.

In this final show there are 10  featured guest artistes (in contrast to the usual 6 or 7) in addition to the resident Lord Rockingham XI band as Jack crammed in abridged highlights of all the best songs in the series to make it go out with a bang! At the end of the show co-host Jimmy Henney announces that “Oh Boy!” will be coming off for the summer season but will be back for a brand new series commencing on 12th September 1959. However when the new series did return its name was changed  to “Boy Meets Girl” . More noticeably and to its detriment, the genuine atmosphere of excitement was lost as the cast had to move from the live Hackney Empire to the sedate and reserved setting of Manchester’s ABC studios in Didsbury. Reviews of the new series said it had lost the excitement and edge which were so characteristic of the live “Oh Boy!" shows!

Cliff, Marty and the rest of the cast perform the final number sung on "Oh Boy!"

The very last image from the last few seconds of the last show

For full details of what numbers were performed and by whom, please see the Who sang what? page

'OH BOY!' SHOW # 37  (Compered by Jimmy Henney)

ABC CATALOGUE SHOW NUMBER 12. (OF 13)  

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

THIS WEEK'S SPECIAL GUESTS:
Bill Forbes
Billy Fury
Cliff Richard
Dickie Pride
Marty Wilde
Renee Martz
Terry White

This is the twelfth 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.

This show is unique at present because an extract from it survives to this day. A two minute clip of Cliff and the Drifters performing their latest single “Mean Streak” was lifted from the show for inclusion in a documentary made in April 1966 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of ABC Television.

The hour long show, called the “ABC of ABC”  which is mostly a documentary on the cultural changes in Britain from 1956 to 1966 and co-presented by Eamon Andrews and actress Billie Whitelaw, survives and is retained by the British Film Institute in London.

At present this is the only “Oh Boy!" footage found other than the two surviving editions of 4th April and 30th May 1959

See “Where Have The Shows Gone?” page for further details on this 23rd May outtake.

Jack’s attempts to secure American singer Jackie “Reet Petite” Wilson for this show did not materialize.

Jack ensured that his all-time “Oh Boy!” favourites were booked for the final two shows of the series. They included Cliff Richard, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Dickie Pride and Bill Forbes.

Renee Martz, an American teenage preacher with a deep soulful voice makes his second and final appearance in the series. He had previously appeared on the 18th April edition.

Newcomer Terry White makes his one and only appearance (see picture on right of him with Cliff and Jack Good).

Jack Good returns from his 10 day business trip to America where he clinches deals to sell his new forthcoming series and secures several famous names for forthcoming appearances.