Gary Morecambe - You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone - The life and work of Eric Morecambe

For my mother, Joan, because I’ve never taken the time to say thank you for everything.

In memory of my friend and former colleague Eddie Waters who died suddenly this year.

‘I remain one thing and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.’ Charlie Chaplin

‘It takes courage and openness to achieve authenticity—to be able to say to yourself and to the world, “Like it or not, this is who I am,” and then to live that truth.’

DAN MILLMAN

‘[Morecambe and Wise are] the greatest double act in the history of British television.’ THE INDEPENDENT

Cover Page

Title Page You’ll Miss Me When I’m Gone A Celebration of the Life and Work of Eric Morecambe GARY MORECAMBE

Dedication For my mother, Joan, because I’ve never taken the time to say thank you for everything. In memory of my friend and former colleague Eddie Waters who died suddenly this year.

Epigraph ‘I remain one thing and one thing only, and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician.’ Charlie Chaplin ‘It takes courage and openness to achieve authenticity—to be able to say to yourself and to the world, “Like it or not, this is who I am,” and then to live that truth.’ DAN MILLMAN ‘[Morecambe and Wise are] the greatest double act in the history of British television.’ THE INDEPENDENT

Foreword Foreword by Dame Judi Dench OBE Like everybody else, I was completed bewitched by The Morecambe and Wise Show . It was the highlight of the week to watch and never to be missed. When the glorious moment came of being invited to appear on the show, I could not wait. I was SO excited! Among other things, we did Ernie’s version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde . I remember Eric walking through the set of a foggy London with three legs! We laughed until we wept. He also kept calling me ‘young man’. Eric and Ernie were the most amazing complement to each other. My late husband, the actor Michael Williams, and I saw quite a lot of Eric afterwards and he often came to our house for a meal. The first time this happened, Eric asked me what was for dinner. When I told him it was salmon, he said he would just have the vegetables, and I thought it was a joke. It turned out that he really did not like salmon and did just eat the vegetables. The next time, he brought with him a whole salmon that he had caught himself—and still just had the vegetables! Eric was genuinely funny, but never unkind with his humour. I still miss him and shall never forget him. This book, commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Eric’s passing, is the most wonderful tribute to an extraordinary man. DAME JUDI DENCH OBE

Letter from Ronnie Corbett OBE

PART ONE: Remembering Eric

This Boy’s a Fool

From Morecambe Bay to Broadway

The Early Days A Very Good Place to Start

The Bash Street Kids

Meet the Folks

When Eric Met Ernie

Eric’s World War

Goodbye Theatreland, Hello TV

Heroes and Villains

Healthy, Wealthy… and Wise

New York!

Makin’ Movies

Makin’ Movies (Part Two)

Curtain Call

PART TWO: Wit and Wisdom

In Eric and Ernie’s Words

In Eric’s words

Acknowledgements

Sources

Index

Copyright

About the Publisher

by Dame Judi Dench OBE

Like everybody else, I was completed bewitched by The Morecambe and Wise Show . It was the highlight of the week to watch and never to be missed. When the glorious moment came of being invited to appear on the show, I could not wait. I was SO excited! Among other things, we did Ernie’s version of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde . I remember Eric walking through the set of a foggy London with three legs! We laughed until we wept. He also kept calling me ‘young man’. Eric and Ernie were the most amazing complement to each other.

My late husband, the actor Michael Williams, and I saw quite a lot of Eric afterwards and he often came to our house for a meal. The first time this happened, Eric asked me what was for dinner. When I told him it was salmon, he said he would just have the vegetables, and I thought it was a joke. It turned out that he really did not like salmon and did just eat the vegetables. The next time, he brought with him a whole salmon that he had caught himself—and still just had the vegetables!

Eric was genuinely funny, but never unkind with his humour. I still miss him and shall never forget him. This book, commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of Eric’s passing, is the most wonderful tribute to an extraordinary man.

DAME JUDI DENCH OBE

Dear Gary, Of course I knew Eric very well indeed. We were both members of the Lord’sTaverners at the same time, and of course saw each other quite a lot at their functions, and their dinners and their balls etc., and Joan and he were always a delight to bump into, and Joan remains so of course.

I probably didn’t know Eric nearly as well as Ronnie B did, because I have been a South London boy, although I’m a Scotsman of course, but I have lived in South London all my life. Ronnie lived always up in the Hatch End area, and Eric also living North of London saw somewhat more of him I think; they even had dinners together at their homes, so Ron was more of an expert than me on him, but of course I am a huge admirer of Eric.

He still remains, doesn’t he, in anything you read, top of the list at a time when comics were great, dear, clean and very funny, like Tommy Cooper, and Ken Dodd remains to this day. So Ronnie and I were existing in a very keenly expert world.

We were in no way competitive, because we were quite different. Eric and Ernie grew up together, they developed together. I think they may have known each other from being 14 or 15, whereas Ron and I didn’t really come together until we were about 37, so there was not a spiritual coming together in the same way, which was an important difference, and a very classic fact.

Ron and I were brought together as two single artists, who got on well and worked very, very comfortably together, and enjoyed it tremendously, but we weren’t joined in the same way emotionally from teenage years as Eric and Ernie were, and I think it probably made for the crucial difference in our styles. Ron and I were both great admirers of Eric and Ernie. We often rehearsed in the same building, the Acton Hilton, and used to bump into each other now and again there. We rehearsed at different times, but we tended to start a bit earlier in the day I think, and they went on a little bit later, and if I remember correctly, we drove ourselves, and Eric and Ernie were very often chauffeured. A mild distinction I daresay.

As far as being socially funny, Eric was wondrous. In company he was absolutely sparklingly contemporarily original. He couldn’t help himself in a way, and I often wondered if there was a strain which eventually took its toll.

He wasn’t one, I do remember, to stand up and say much on his own, because of course he did miss Ernie if they weren’t together, because he felt he had someone to lean on, or someone to refer to, so he wasn’t that sort of animal, but as you sat at a dinner table, or mingled with a few drinks before dinner, he sparkled, and he was the most winning of people in company.