TWO GREAT AND RARELY SEEN photographs taken when Peter Cushing appeared on his SECOND 'Morecambe and Wise' show, the 1970 Christmas Show! It
was also the beginning and first time the 'I want my money' gag
appeared too! The long running gag of Cushing making guest appearances,
'begging' for the cheque that he was never paid for his first guest star
appearance in the 1969 show. This was also the show that gave Eric, the
chance to “saw a Peter Cushing in half”. In this photograph we see,
Eric and Ernie, actor Eric Porter (“A drunk’s just come on. Play it
cool. Don’t worry about it”) . . . William Franklyn, who appeared with
Cushing in #Hammerfilms, 'The Satanic Rites of #Dracula' ..all here performing a very funny sketch loosely adapted from #TheThreeMusketeers.
ONE THE SUBJECT of the 'MONEY' ...
many people forget PC was paid in a sketch that stretched through a
Christmas Show on ITV in 1980. Eric and Ernie were Carol Singers, and PC
snatched the collection box from them!
IN FACT PETER WAS ALMOST PAID TWICE!... on Peter's 'This is Your Life' in 1990, Ernie as a guest tried to pay PC, in
a little 'bit of business'. But in trying to do a bit of 'patter' with Peter, PC improvised and totally lost the plot ...
the gag was derailed, and Ernie improvised and took the 20 quid away!!
Ernie was trying the well known, 'I'll lend you 20 pounds 'gag...which PC
no doubt knew at one time... but not then! 😀😛 It was a bit of a mess
with Cushing calling Joyce Broughton his secretary 'Ernie' at one point, when unable to do the
math in his head. Understandable... even though PC knew about the show,
it was no secret to him. But as many interviews knew at this time, PC could be a little
unpredictable 😊.
