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Poster: electroken Date: Sep 14, 2018 6:09am
Forum: oldtimeradio Subject: very old British comedian from 1930's and 1940's who died in late 1950's

I have an old recording of a british comedian who was sent to me in the late 1950's or early 1960's while I was trading tape disks with a person in England. He said this man was a very popular comedian and he had one of his talks on tape and sent it to me.
I am not sure if I can still find it nor if it will still be able to be copied, but I am going to try to see if it can be done.
He had a story about a workman who was going about repairing a brick chimney on a house. He noticed that the last storm had torn loose a number of bricks from the chimney so he rigged up a rope and pulley to be able to hoist up some bricks to repair the chimney. Well it is very funny and I want to know if there is already a copy of this guy doing this routine.
I am sorry but my memory fails me now as to his name. I was told he had recently died and the tape I have cannot be earlier than late 1959 or maybe 1960-61. So this person had already died by the time I got the copy.
I turned to you guys wondering if maybe someone knew of this very funny routine. I will also try to retrieve it from my tape if I can still find it.
Ken Lynes 612-331-7429 in case someone wants to call me.

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Poster: Lum Edwards Date: Sep 15, 2018 6:38am
Forum: oldtimeradio Subject: Re: very old British comedian from 1930's and 1940's who died in late 1950's

thank you for your post. i haven't heard that in many years and had quite forgotten it. its an amazing performance.
This post was modified by Lum Edwards on 2018-09-15 13:38:44

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Sep 14, 2018 6:46am
Forum: oldtimeradio Subject: Re: very old British comedian from 1930's and 1940's who died in late 1950's

Pardon my jumping pages (I'm typically annoying people over on the Grateful Dead page), but your inquiry got my attention. Not sure this helps, but this may be the person and routine you are looking for: http://www.bluegum.com/Humour/Assorted/bricks.html And from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Hoffnung: Broadcasts and concerts In 1950 Hoffnung began a career as a broadcaster for the BBC, as both raconteur and regular contestant in panel games including One Minute Please, the predecessor of Just a Minute. He was, in the words of Ingrams, "a brilliant improviser with a dry wit and a masterly sense of timing".[3] Probably the best-known example of Hoffnung as a humorous speaker is an account of a bricklayer's misfortunes when raising some bricks in a barrel to the top of a building. It was part of a speech to the Oxford Union on 4 December 1958.[12] The derivation of the story is confused, but it first arises in the 1930s. It was published in Reader's Digest in 1940 as a letter from a naval officer who had supposedly received it from an enlisted man explaining his late return from leave. Hoffnung first saw the story in The Manchester Guardian in 1957;[13] the version printed there is identical with the text used by Hoffnung, except for the location, which he changed from Barbados to Golders Green. Hoffnung used the piece to warm up the audience before each recording session of One Minute, Please. In these performances he perfected the timing before the Oxford Union speech. The story was part of his speech in a debate called Life Begins at 38 and was recorded by the BBC.[1] The tale itself was not, Ingrams comments, especially funny, but "[Hoffnung's] manner and delivery reduced his audience to hysterics".[3] Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOy2GuaP8Mo This may help you track down a recording. Good luck, SDH
This post was modified by SomeDarkHollow on 2018-09-14 13:46:49

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Poster: Harry Wilson Date: Sep 14, 2018 12:31pm
Forum: oldtimeradio Subject: Re: very old British comedian from 1930's and 1940's who died in late 1950's


https://archive.org/details/GERARDHOFFNUNGLifeBeginsAt38

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Poster: SomeDarkHollow Date: Sep 14, 2018 12:55pm
Forum: oldtimeradio Subject: Re: very old British comedian from 1930's and 1940's who died in late 1950's

And there you go.

Gotta love this place.

What DOESN'T it have?

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Poster: electroken Date: Sep 15, 2018 7:06am
Forum: oldtimeradio Subject: Re: very old British comedian from 1930's and 1940's who died in late 1950's

That was the one! Thank you very much for giving me the link. I now am able to show it to my friends and watch them laugh.
Ken Lynes