FROM 1960, Peter Cushing, Yvonne Mitchell, writer Nigel Kneale and director Rudolph Cartier reflect on the huge reaction to the live broadcast of the BBC Sunday Night Drama, '1984' aired 12th December 1954. For any television broadcast to prompt any reaction from the government at this time, was indeed quite rare. But watching Peter, Yvonne Mitchell and Morell here, gives a pretty good idea of THEIR fears too... To an extent it changed drama on the BBC and put Cushing into a another area of work all together, for many years to come... It's a short feature and certainly worth watching...
#CHRISTOPHERLEESATURDAY! THIS WEEKEND much of our time is more than taken making a short journey through the film 'HORROR EXPRESS' from 1972. It was film that both Christopher Lee and Cushing enjoyed making. Even though, as you will read above, Cushing was still much effected by the terrible loss of his wife, Helen, Lee managed to have Peter focus on the production at hand. The result is a film that was appreciated back then on it's release, and even today. Recent DVD and BLU RAY releases have sold well, and gained even more appreciation. The two roles that Lee and Cushing play, come over well. A change from their usual roles of one destroying the other, here we have interesting characters who are in competition, but have to pull together to destroy someone else and all their supporters!
BELOW: THIS SUNDAY sees CALLUM MCKELVIE's weekly feature focus on, HORROR EXPRESS TOO. A personal spin on his first memory of watching the feature plus we'll be uploading the ENTIRE film from our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL, with many images and supporting images through out the feature. JOIN US TOMORROW! We will also be posting the FOUR WINNERS of our CINEFICCION MAGAZINE prizes!
BRITISH ACTRESS YVONNE MITCHELL was first and foremost a stage actress who
began her career quite early as a teen. By the time of her death, she
had performed under the theatre lights for over four decades. Her output
in films and TV paled in comparison, but the work she put out in those
mediums were of unusually high quality with mature themes. The
dark-haired actress made her film debut in a key role in The Queen of Spades
(1949) and proceeded to become a moving, thoughtful, often anguished
presence throughout the 1950s, winning the British Film Award for her
touching, sterling performance as the biological mother of a foster
child in The Divided Heart (1954). A year before that, she appeared with PETER CUSHING in the BBC production of '1984' as Julia. The broadcast gained much publicity for both her and Cushing, stirring the public in it's two live performances.
THE PUBLIC WERE so upset by Orwell's story and the BBC almost uncensored production that a debate in the government House of Commons, after the first LIVE show and the planned second live broadcast, debated if the broadcast should go ahead at all. It did. It certainly didn't mar her career, but for Cushing it set the motion of his career forever becoming tilted towards the Horror and Fantasy genre, on both the big screen and tv. Yvonne's slovenly, cuckolded wife in Woman in a Dressing Gown (1957) won her the Berlin International Film Festival Award. Other important films included Escapade (1955), Sapphire (1959), The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) and Johnny Nobody
(1961). On the sly, Yvonne was a novelist of both children and adult
books and an award-winning playwright. She also penned an enormously
successful biography entitled "Colette--A Taste for Life" based on the
famed French writer. The wife of film and stage critic Derek Monsey, she wrote her biography in 1957.
YVONNE MITCHELL, changed her name legally in 1946 from Yvonne Frances Joseph to Yvonne
Mitchell (Mitchell was her mother's maiden name). She also deducted a
decade from her age, which is why many sources have listed 1925 as her
birth year. She married author and critic Derek Monsey
in 1952, the couple would later divorce, only to be reconciled. They
would remarry in late 1978, just months before Monsey died of a heart
attack on 13 February 1979, with Mitchell dying of cancer just over a
month later.
#MOMENTSOFTERRORMONDAY!
BACK IN 1954, Peter Cushing Cushing's appeared in a little BBC
television drama entitled, 1984 . . .based on the novel by George
Orwell. The show went out LIVE on December 12th and 16th December 1954.
Such was the response to the first broadcast, the government at the time
met at discussed if the show show be repeated after the initial
broadcast.... it made a star of Peter Cushing, and sent his career in
path that would change the public perception of the meekest of
actors...
THIS LATE NIGHT LINE UP program was broadcast by the BBC in order to
meet the huge reaction to the show. Interviewed are Peter Cushing his co
star's Andre Morell, Yvonne Mitchell, director Rudolph Catier and the
writer and script adapter, Nigel Kneale.... Television was never the
same, and Peter's Winston Smith helped lead the way......
REMEMBERING Lttle Ern' 🙂
Born today, Ernest Wiseman, one half of probably the most successful
comedy duo to ever come out of the UK... Morecambe and Wise. A good
friend of Peter Cushing's, who attended Peter's 80th birthday bash and
if the scripts are to believed... kept Peter short of his appearance
fee, and provided us with probably one of the funniest and longest
running gags, in the whole Eric and Ernie repertoire! When Eric his
partner passed in 1984, no one looked more lost than Ernie.
BUT HE CARRIED ON, working, doing
interviews, panto..until his retirement. The Eric and Ernie, even though
they claimed it was based on their heroes work, Abbott and Costello,
they were certainly stamped well, as Britain's favourite comedians,
Christmas isn't the same without at-least one of their many repeated
shows on tv. Happy Birthday, Little Ern, God Bless your short 'fat-hairy
legs', and that 'join' you could never see.
How many times did Peter appear on the Morecambe and Wise Show? Which is
your favourite appearance routine? and Do you remember HOW Peter
Cushing finally managed to GET his MONEY??? You can find ALL of Peter's routines on the Morecambe and Wise Show in a playlist at our PCAS YOUTUBE CHANNEL PLAYLIST!
IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.
Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help
us . . Keep The Memory Alive!. The
Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and
youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS
coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA .
#GETTHECUSHIONSUNDAY! Last week we shared an interview clip, with Peter Cushing speaking about the impact of the live BBC production of George Orwell's 1984 and THIS scene was probably the one that upset the viewers of 1954 even more so... I think it fits our weekly Sunday theme perfectly! How do you think this scene has aged? Does it still deliver an impact?
If you LIKE what you find posted here . . Please visit us at our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE and help Keep The Memory Alive!
The
Peter Cushing Appreciation Society website, facebook fan page and
youtube channel are managed, edited and written by Marcus Brooks, PCAS
coordinator since 1979. PCAS is based in the UK and USA.
Peter Cushing as Winston Smith in the BBC adaption of George Orwell's '1984' was one of many powerful live television drama performances that Cushing did for the BBC from the early 1950's.
IF YOU LIKE what you see here at our website, you'll love our daily themed posts at our PCAS FACEBOOK FAN PAGE.
Just click that blue LINK and click LIKE when you get there, and help
us reach our 30K following total for Peter Cushing BIRTHDAY on MAY 26th
2017 AND Help Keep The Memory Alive!
Peter Cushing's portrayal of Winston Smith in
the 1954 BBC production of George Orwell's '1984'... stills holds a
special place in most Cushing fans hearts. So maybe the last thing you
want to read are the words 'remake - Kristen - Stewart..!' Find out more : HERE
