And They Said It Wouldnt Last (My 50 Years in Music)
The film has been adapted into a stage musical by John Plews, which premiered atUpstairs at the Gatehousein London in December 2007.[13]The stage adaptation follows the film story closely, but includes several additional songs. In February 2013 it premiered in Scotland at Eastwood Park Theatre in Giffnock, performed by the EROS Musical Society.[14]
Not to be confused withThe Young Ones (TV series).
Notes and pictures of locations from Reel Streets website
Money-Making Films Of 1962. Times [London, England] 4 Jan. 1963: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012.
soundtrack album track listing, Columbia 33SX 1384
Scenes set both outside and inside the fictional Countess Theatre (bought by Nickys father Hamilton Black in the film) were filmed on location at the Finsbury Park Empire Theatre.[3][4]In the film, a medley of songs known as theVaudevilleroutine,[5]framed by the song What DYou Know, Weve Got A Show,[6]is performed by Nicky and his friends. The entire sequence was recorded in one day (9 August 1961) at theAbbey Roadstudios, London.[7]While session singers – theMike Sammes Singers- were used on thealbum, the film version deployed the actors.[8]
The British Pop Music Film: The Beatles and Beyond
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Brian Kendal, A Childs Eye View of the Finsbury Park Empire on the Theatres in Finsbury Park section of Arthur Lloyds website of Music Hall and Theatre History. Accessed 3 January 2016.
The standing set constructed for this film remainedin situfor well over a decade, featuring in many television productions filmed at Elstree throughout the 60s and early 70s includingThe Avengers,The Saint,The Baron,UFOandThe Protectors.[2]
Ken Roe, Finsbury Park Empire Theatre on Cinema Treasures website. Accessed 3 January 2016.
The Cliff Richard Recording Catalogue
The members decide to put on a show to raise the money needed to buy a lease renewal. The twist in the story is that Nicky in reality is Hamilton Blacks son, something he keeps secret from his friends until some of them try to kidnap Hamilton Black, to prevent him from stopping the show. Although he is fighting his father over the future of the youth club, Nicky cannot allow them to harm him, so he attacks the attackers and frees his father.
Lawrence Napper, British Gaiety: Musical Cinema and the Theatrical Tradition in British film, in Stephen Cohan, ed.
The film was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1961, followingThe Guns of Navarone.[12]
1963, by British PathThis 10-minute reel shows Robert Morley and Cliff Richard being coached for the fight in the bar. Also there are some shots of Richard filming various parts of the show that he and friends put on in the theatre.
Reunited Cliff Richard and The Shadows
This page was last edited on 17 May 2018, at 19:17.
at theBritish Film InstituteScreenonline
The title of the film was also used for the British television seriesThe Young Ones(1982-1984), which contained many references to Cliff Richard throughout its twelve episode run.
The eclectic references in the sequence includes vaudeville,melodrama, thecountry house mysteryandAstaireandRogers.[10]At the end, Nicky, to a rapturous reception from screaming female fans, high-kicking his way centre-stage, sings the chorus ofLiving Doll.[10]Thus the quotations from the performers of yesteryear merge with self-quotation by Cliff.[10]This weaving of the present into the nostalgia creates a sense of continuity and forges a common bond.[10]Napper reads the reprise of theEdwardian-inspired number at the end, complete with a reconciled Hamilton Black onstage, as the point at which the generational conflict of the film is resolved, significantly through a continuity of entertainment values and styles.[11]
This was Cliff Richards third film, followingSerious ChargeandExpresso Bongo. ProducerKenneth HarperhiredSidney J. Furieas director andRonald Cassand Peter Myers as writers, and during a meeting in Harpers flat, the four agreed to borrow the storyline of the film musicalBabes In Arms(1939), where youngstersMickey RooneyandJudy Garlandput on a show with their friends to raise money.[1]
The story is about ayouth clubmember, and aspiring singer, Nicky and his friends, who try to save their club inLondons West End from an unscrupulous millionaire property developer Hamilton Black, who plans to tear it down to make room for a large office block.
A number of actresses were considered to be Cliff Richards co-star. An early suggestion from the films choreographerHerbert Rosswas a New York performer namedBarbra Streisand. Harper flew to New York and saw her in a show, but did not think that she was suitable.[1]Another early consideration was the German actressHeidi Bruhl, while Richard himself in an interview expressed an interest in engaging the very youngHelen Shapirofor the role. In May 1961 it was announced that a 21-year-old actress from Londons East End, Annette Robinson (aka Robertson), would be the female co-star, but within weeks the part was given toCarole Gray, a dancer fromBulawayoinRhodesia (todays Zimbabwe), while Robinson was given the smaller role of Barbara.[1]When Carole Gray sings in the film, it is actually the voice ofGrazina Frame, who also provided the singing voice forLauri Petersin Cliff Richards next filmSummer Holiday(1963).[1]
The film was produced by theAssociated British Picture Corporationand shot at theirElstree Studios. It had its World Premiere on December 13, 1961 at theWarner Theatrein Londons West End.
For the Luis Buñuel English language film, seeThe Young One.
The film was originally intended to feature the Shadows in acting roles, but it was decided that more professional young actors needed to be cast instead, so the roles originally intended forHank MarvinandJet Harriswere given toRichard OSullivanandMelvyn Hayes, while the Shadows themselves appear only as non-speaking band members.[1]
, 2nd edition (Victor Rust, 2013), p. 719
As Victor Rust describes it: having broken into the dilapidated Finsbury Park Theatre, the members of the youth club, initially despondent, pick up the props, wardrobe, scenery and lighting, and enter into an extensive song and dance routine that features slapstick routines, jokes, songs and dancing.[9]It is this mixture of performance techniques that characterisesVaudeville.
Ovation presents The Young OnesLinked 2014-01-08
Sheila Levine Is Dead and Living in New York
The Young Ones(US title:Its Wonderful to Be Young!) is a 1961 British film musical, directed bySidney J. Furieand featuringCliff RichardRobert Morleyas his characters father,Carole Grayas his love interest, andThe Shadowsas his band. The screenplay was written by Peter Myers andRonald Cass, who also wrote most of the songs.Herbert Rosschoreographed the dance scenes.
Meanwhile, Hamilton Black has realised that his son is the mystery singer that all of London is talking about, after the youth club members have done some pirate broadcasts to promote their show. So, although he has just bought the theatre where the show is to take place, in order to be able to stop it, the proud father decides that the show must go on. At the end, he joins the youth club members on stage, dancing and singing, after having promised to build them a new youth club.
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Article about the film by Bill Harry of the Liverpool music newspaper Mersey Beat