Peter Rogers' CARRY ON! Sid James Kenneth Williams Charles Hawtrey Kenneth Connor Jim Dale Joan Sims Hattie Jacques Peter Butterworth Bernard Bresslaw Barbara Windsor

From 1958 to 1978 the Carry On films held up a mirror to English society, its institutions and its rapid changes.  National Service ended, the National Health Service expanded rapidly, the sexual revolution arrived, the country faced bouts of industrial strife and working-class families started to holiday abroad.

SID JAMES

 KENNETH WILLIAMS

 CHARLES HAWTRY

KENNETH CONNOR

JOAN SIMS

HATTIE JACQUES

JIM DALE

PETER BUTTERWORTH

BERNARD BRESSLAW

BARBARA WINDSOR

The low-budget series was produced by Peter Rogers, directed by Gerald Thomas, and written initially by Norman Hudis and later by Talbot Rothwell.  The other regulars include Terry Scott, Jack Douglas, David Lodge, Leslie Phillips,  Patsy Rowlands- and guest star leads by Frankie Howerd, Eric Barker, Harry H. Corbett, Bernard Cribbins, Angela Douglas, Shirley Eaton, Liz Fraser,  Dilys Laye, Valerie Leon, Bob Monkhouse, Cecil Parker,  Jacki Piper, Norman Rossington, Wilfred Hype-White, June Whitfield, plus German Elke Sommer and American vaudeville, burlesque and television legend Phil Silvers.  The films were loose plotted and gag filled; they were basically send ups of two types: 01. institutions and genres, and 02. historic periods and figures.

 Carry On also produced 4 hugely popular record-breaking Christmas specials for tv- their debut broadcast in 1969, 1970, 1972 and 1973; and a 13 episode anthology series in 1975.  Over the years, the major (and in later shows- remaining) cast toured the regions with stage revue shows all in the comic tradition of the music halls and seaside postcards.  The nudge-nudge-wink-wink later gave way to more explicit gags- many featuring nudity- frequently by flaming Williams and sexpot Windsor.  The last in the series' long run took off on the X-rated Emmanuelle (1974) earning a R-rating.

#1 CARRY ON SERGEANT (1958)

#2 CARRY ON NURSE (1959)

#3 CARRY ON TEACHER (1959)

#4 CARRY ON CONSTABLE (1960)

#5 CARRY ON REGARDLESS (1961)

#6 CARRY ON CRUISING (1962)

#7 CARRY ON CABBY (1963)

#8 CARRY ON JACK (1963)

#9 CARRY ON SPYING (1964)

#10 CARRY ON CLEO (1964)

#11 CARRY ON COWBOY (1965)

#12 CARRY ON SCREAMING (1966)

#13 CARRY ON DON'T LOSE YOUR HEAD (1966)

#14 CARRY ON FOLLOW THAT CAMEL (1967)

#15 CARRY ON DOCTOR (1967)

#16 CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER (1968)

#17 CARRY ON CAMPING (1969)

#18 CARRY ON AGAIN DOCTOR (1969)

#19 CARRY ON UP THE JUNGLE (1970)

#20 CARRY ON LOVING (1970)

#21 CARRY ON HENRY (1971)

#22 CARRY ON AT YOUR CONVENIENCE (1971)

#23 CARRY ON MATRON (1972)

#24 CARRY ON ABROAD (1972)

#25 CARRY ON GIRLS (1973)

#26 CARRY ON DICK (1974)

#27 CARRY ON BEHIND (1975)

#28 CARRY ON ENGLAND (1976)

#29 THAT'S CARRY ON (1977)

#30 CARRY ON EMMANNUELLE (1978)

#31 CARRY ON COLUMBUS (1992)
full movie

 STOP MESSIN' ABOUT!!!

COPYRIGHT 2016 OH BOY! 3LAWNVIEWAGOGO / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MR.E.

ED SPRINGSTEAD, JR.

HALF SHOT AT SUNRISE (1930) Bert Wheeler Robert Woolsey Dorothy Lee Edna Mae Oliver

Released in 1930 by (RKO) Radio Pictures, this pre-code musical sex comedy is set during World War I; an uncredited Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle contributed to the script full of risque double-entendres written by James Ashmore Creelman- who went on to write the screenplay for KING KONG (1933).  Wheeler & Woolsey star as two AWOL doughboys in 1918 France.  Teen flapper DOROTHY LEE co-stars as the jailbait daughter of their commanding officer George MacFarlane- who is married to Edna Mae Oliver, but cheating with Leni Stengel; the sexy Tiller Sunshine Girls also appear.

Vaudeville comics paired in 1928 by empresario Florenz Ziegfeld for the hit Broadway musical "Rio Rita," BERT WHEELER (Patterson NJ; April 7, 1895- Jan. 18, 1968)

and ROBERT WOOLSEY (Oakland, CA.; Aug. 14, 1889 - Oct. 31, 1938)

then moved to Hollywood to make the film version.  It was to be Radio Picture debut release - but the lavish production ending up being released second.  They were the studio's leading comedy stars- up until the bespectacled Woolsey's diagnosed terminal illness in 1937 and subsequent death from kidney failure in 1938.

They worked with top comedy directors Edward Cline, Norman Taurog, Mark Sandrich, as well as William A Seiter, Fred Guiol, and twice with George Stevens!  Among their films, Diplomaniacs, co-written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz from his original story, can be considered a companion piece to the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup (also 1933); the films even shared urbane bad guy Louis Calhern.
Their films are surprisingly racy; the aforementioned contains a musical number with showgirls outfitted in thigh high stockings and french maid uniforms that would satisfy anyone today with the fetish.  So This is Africa, a one-shot for Columbia, was heavily censored by local authorities upon its release; consequently, it's not sure whether a print exists today in it's complete form.

DOROTHY LEE (L.A., CA; May 23, 1911 – June 24, 1999) was their favorite and frequent good-girl love interest; she appeared with the team 14 times, and once more with Wheeler alone.  In the first of their sexually charged pairings, Wheeler was 35 romancing on screen the 17 year old good-time party girl, Lee.

Apparently, Betty Grable was 15 when she appeared in Hold em Jail- Wheeler was 37; and Marjorie Lord was just 18 when she shot her love scenes in On Again, Off Again- opposite a 42 year old Wheeler.

THE FILMS OF WHEELER & WOOLSEY:
features (all for RKO Radio Pictures except where noted):

01.  Rio Rita (1929) w/ Bebe Daniels, Dorothy Lee
02.  The Cuckoos (1930) co-starring Dorothy Lee
03.  Dixiana (1930) w/ Bebe Daniels, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Dorothy Lee
04.  Half Shot at Sunrise (1930) w/ Edna Mae Oliver, co-starring Dorothy Lee
05.  Hook, Line, and Sinker (1930) co-starring Dorothy Lee
06.  Cracked Nuts (1931) co-starring Dorothy Lee
short  The Stolen Jools (Paramount/National Screen Service1931) all-star w/ Dorothy Lee
07.  Caught Plastered (1931) co-starring Dorothy Lee
short  Oh! Oh! Cleopatra (1931)
08.  Peach O'Reno (1931) co-starring Dorothy Lee
09.  Girl Crazy (1932) w/ Eddie Quillan, co-starring Dorothy Lee
10.  Hold Em Jail (1932) w/Betty Grable, Edna Mae Oliver, Edgar Kennedy
11.  So This Is Africa (Columbia; 1933)
12.  Diplomaniacs (1933) w/ Louis Calhern, Edgar Kennedy, Hugh Herbert, Vernon Dent
13.  Hips Hips Hooray (1934) w/ Thelma Todd, co-starring Dorothy Lee
14.  Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934) w/Thelma Todd, co-starring Dorothy Lee
15.  Kentucky Kernals (1934) w/ George "Spanky" MacFarland, Noah Beery, Margaret Dumont, Willie "Sleep n Eat" Best
16.  The Nitwits (1935) w/ Betty Grable, Arthur Treacher
17.  The Rainmakers (1935) co-starring Dorothy Lee
18.  Silly Billies (1936) co-starring Dorothy Lee
19.  Mummy's Boys (1936) w/ Barbara Pepper, Willie "Sleep n Eat" Best
20.  On Again, Off Again (1937) w/ Marjorie Lord
21.  High Flyers (1937) w/ Marjorie Lord, Lupe Velez, Margaret Dumont

Bert Wheeler alone:
short  Small Timers (Warner Bros.-Vitaphone; 1929)
01.  Too Many Cooks (Radio; 1931) w/ Dorothy Lee
 

02.  Cowboy Quarterback (Warner Bros; 1939) w/Marie Wilson
03.  Las Vegas Nights (Paramount; 1941) w/Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey and his band
short  Innocently Guilty (Columbia; 1950) producer Jules White
short  The Awful Sleuth (Columbia; 1951) producer Jules White

COPYRIGHT 2016 OH BOY! 3LAWNVIEWAGOGO / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MR.E.

ED SPRINGSTEAD, JR.