Charlie in the 1960's

Cairoli in the 1960’s

Although the 1960 programme at the Tower was excellent, it was the first time that the audiences started to dwindle, probably because of the impact of television in every home. It was also Kathleen William’s last year of booking the acts – which included Gerd Siemoneit, the Bob Gerry high wire troupe, Knie’s elephant ballet and the Balcombes – two comedy painters with a revolving ladder. They did not use slosh, but their timing was excellent. Charlie was very impressed and nearly made a deal to join the act – using slosh!

For his musical entrée, Charlie introduced his new white face clown Paul King with whom he had a happy partnership until the end of the 1968 season when Paul died. Charlie played the flageolet, wearing a coat on to which had been sewn many small mirrors to create special effects in the dark when reflected in a spotlight.

Charlie also provided the water finale. He and Sammy Morris appeared as two white hunters on a "Cannibal Island". They were the victims of numerous jets and were quite dwarfed in their efforts to abandon the island in a very small canoe.

Bernard Crabtree, Mrs William’s assistant, took over in 1961 at a time when it was much more difficult to bring in the patrons. It is likely that he was also given a smaller budget.

This year, Charlie made his entry by way of the audience as a patron who was bored and wanted some comedy! He had revamped the "Stocks" routine following the television success of "Beat the Clock". The victims included Sammy Morris and Paul King as the ring boy assistant. The entrée was quite popular.

For the 1962 season, Charlie had built a "trick" table and as a waiter offered a meal to a "gouty" father with his leg in plaster, and his dreadful child. Paul King was very good at portraying older people.

Personally I was always disturbed by comedy routines which allowed older or incapacitated people to become the victims of pranks. I believe that the ordinary patrol prefers it when a young, handsome person gets his "come uppance". It seems that in this period, Charlie was not so prolific at devising new entrees.

For the 1963 season, he used the "Chinese Duel" with Little Jimmy as sparring partner. Some of the purists enjoyed it, but Blackpool audiences were disappointed as there was no slosh or water.

The musical entrée, after many sleepless nights to make it work, had a strange looking worm, named after the musical pop success of the time – "Succu-Succu". Charlie played the organ with this "worm" manipulated by Jimmy Buchanan on strings from inside the organ, popping up in unexpected places.

Bernard Crabtree had been disappointed by Charlie’s latest offering and had booked competition in the guise of the Spanish family clowns – the Rudi Llata. They offered the boxing robot entrée, a classical, but rarely seen then in England, entrée where the robot gets broken and one of the augustes had to take its place. Their timing was excellent and they were a great success. They were rebooked the following year. Charlie used his "kitchen sink" and a "whistling" kettle in the musical entrée

Charlie "got the message" and decided to return in 1964 to his sure recipes for Blackpool audiences:- water or slosh! George Sayer, who had previously been a carpet clown at the Tower in the 1940’s, had a good comedy fire engine prop. Charlie bought it from him and also contracted him to join the Company for a season. They worked as Tower firemen and had to undergo a practice run. Graham Ayeres, a young ring boy, had inadvertently started a fire at the top of the prop used in 1949 and 1952. That cost him the worst drenching of the lot near the end of the entrée.

It was a huge success, while the Rudi Llata, offering their "Automatic Restaurant" which involved only one custard pie, were not so successful. In their musical item, they used a gag about "Napoleon" which meant nothing to the British public and always fell flat. Strangely enough on the 250th show at the end of the season, they were still doing the same gag! They did not get a booking for the next year!

At the end of the season, Charlie stored his fire engine at a garage for safekeeping. He went to the States for an Ed Sullivan show. On his return he found that the garage owner had gone bankrupt and that his fire engine had been seized by the bankruptcy officials. He never manager to recover it.

For 1965, Charlie used slosh again for the slapstick entrée and would alternate with water for the following years. The occasion was a wedding party in which he was the waiter in charge. Jimmy Buchanan was a typical Lancashire bride with curlers and Paul King the gouty husband. Two circusettes were bridesmaids and id not escape the pie throwing. As usual Henry Lytton, the ringmaster since 1954, was a perfect foil and "Faire valoire" (straight man) for the team. Unfortunately he died at the end of the season and Norman Barrett followed him with much success in the part until 196 6. Norman had a lot of experience as he was from a circus family, had performed in his father’s circus and later at Bertram Mills Circus.

The 1966 slapstick routine revolved round a group of scouts looking for "A bob a job!" The sight of grown men dressed as scouts in shorts is always a recipe for good laughs. Asked to clean the mess on the floor spilled by mistake by the head ring boy, Al Belew, they renewed the very successful 1954 entrée but without using the sinking ring. Instead, they used a tank (Plastic bin used by the bar staff for collecting empty bottles) which was full of water, to drench their victims and particularly Al Bellew!

In The musical item, Little Jimmy interrupted the proceedings with a fake bomb while an invisible dog on a lead held by Charlie caused some trouble for Norman Barrett.

In these years, the Tower management were presenting "Wrestling Bouts" on Sundays with great success. Charlie decided that he could use the popularity of these shows for the slapstick entrée. He was "Batman", Little Jimmy was "Robin" and Fred Desmond and Jack Marks were Russian spies. There was no water or slosh and none of them was a convincing wrestler. The professionals on Sunday were always involved in pre-arranged comedy in their "Bouts". Charlie’s sketch fell flat and he had to find a new entrée in the first fortnight.

This was "First Aid" with Paul King as a doctor, giving a lecture to the public with the "assistance" of Jimmy as a male nurse. Unfortunately the microphone was not working properly and the Tower technician (Charlie) was called to the rescue during his lunch hour! He was not very happy with his extra work and also he had damaged his finger. What better excuse to demonstrate his First Aid technique (with plenty of pomade!)

In the Winter, Charlie and Co., joined the Wembley Pantomime on Ice. The capacity of Wembley was huge (6000 seats). Charlie’s salary was much higher than usual in the circus or even the theatre pantomimes.

This compensated for Charlie’s difficulties in keeping the attention of the public in such a big place so far away from the audience. Although he was getting his laughs, it was nothing like the warm atmosphere of the Tower Circus.

The 1968 water entrée was another brilliant idea – his team of cleaners were called to clean a large "Candelabra" above the ring. They did not mind interrupting a spot of Scottish dancing by Fred Desmond and a circusette. Charlie also found new ways of getting water spilled around with planks and stepladders. The candelabra itself became an excellent prop when Jimmy lost his balance at the top of a ladder and managed to grasp it for safety! This left him suspended high above the ring as if on a trapeze! Anthony Bartnik started a long collaboration as ring boy stooge, getting the worst drenchings I have ever seen.

The London Palladium management were very impressed with this entree and booked Charlie to reproduce it for their Christmas Pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk starring Jimmy Tarbuck. However, whether because of the stage inclination which would make running water a problem, or because of television "cross talk" comedians having a veto on slapstick items, it was never seen and was replaced with a poor decorating sketch.

In the 1940’s and 1950’s, Charlie was the star of the pantomime. From the 1960’s the star had to be a successful comedian from the television to bring in the crowds.

For 1969, Charlie returned to slosh. Harold Wilson was prime minister, and his "supposed" two sons, Little Jimmy and Paul Connor had to present a slapstick item for their annual "Rag" and had come to Charlie for some practice. They appeared as "Hippies" and, to Charlie’s discomfort quickly became quite expert. This year the slapstick entrée was presented in the first half of the show on the coconut mat as in 1965. Slosh entrees were not as messy as they are today.

The musical item provided another opportunity for Anthony to get wet whilst assisting in some magic with a goldfish bowl. The bowl, with the water and fish, ending up inside his trousers! In January 1969, Thames Television dedicated one of their "This is Your Life" programmes to Charlie Cairoli. I understand that this was considered one of the most successful programmes of the series. It certainly was a nice conclusion to another great decade in his long career.

Daniel Potier