The Tower Circus Fire Brigade 1964
Ringmaster: Henry Lytton
Chief: Charlie Cairoli
Crew: George Sayer, Little Jimmy, and Paul King the apprentice
Ring Boy: Mostly Graham Ayres
All were dressed in dark boiler suits, except George Sayer who wore oversized trousers (though these were not used for gags).
Props:
- George Sayer’s own old-time fire engine (rented by Charlie for the season)
- A loose fire hose prepared in advance with water under pressure
- A special chair previously used in the 1952 Queen Bee entrée
Charlie’s slapstick entrées had been declining slightly since 1961, and Bernard Crabtree had booked Los Rudi Llatas—the famous Spanish clown troupe—for the 1963 season to create some competition between the two groups.
In fact, Los Rudi Llatas, with their “Automatic Boxing Machine,” earned more laughs in 1963 than Charlie.
This pushed Charlie to come back strongly in 1964. He completely eclipsed Los Rudi Llatas, who managed only one custard pie in their “Automatic Restaurant,” while Charlie manipulated buckets of water in the following sketch.
The Story
Ringmaster Henry had decided to organise a training session for the Tower Fire Brigade to check their fitness. A mock fire was started at the top of the chair by a small apprentice, who lit some petrol in a little pan and then retreated behind the ring doors.
The fire alarm rang and the crew entered the ring on the fire engine. (Strangely enough, no gags were used with the engine itself.) As they dismounted, Jimmy immediately fell flat on his face.
They lined up for drill practice, which developed into a very funny cod-dancing routine that Charlie often featured. Henry brought them back to order, and they grabbed the pressurised hose just as Paul emerged from under the engine with a blackened face after a loud bang.
Jimmy realised the other end of the hose was also loose and pretended to direct it at Charlie, who was laughing because he thought it wasn’t connected. Naturally, Charlie was drenched when Jimmy turned it on.
Meanwhile, the ring boys had brought in several buckets of water.
The fire blazed high on top of the chair, and with no ladder available, the crew’s attempts to put it out were hopeless. Everyone got thoroughly drenched.
Charlie placed a matchbox on Jimmy’s head and took a massive mouthful of water from a bucket he was holding to his chest—getting even wetter during the process—and blasted the matchbox off Jimmy’s head with a powerful jet from his mouth. This drenched everyone yet again.
A bucket with a hole in the bottom steadily soaked George.
The Apprentice’s Moment
Frustrated, Henry called the apprentice back to see whether he could perform any better. The apprentice climbed the chair while the crew gathered below.
He extinguished the fire simply by placing a lid over the pan, cutting off the oxygen.
Proud of himself, he sat on the chair while Henry scolded the crew for being hopeless and praised the apprentice for being brilliant.
The crew were relentless in their reactions.
George picked up the remaining bucket and threw the contents over the apprentice at point-blank range.
Charlie then pulled a lever that released a contraption above the chair, dumping five gallons of water over the unfortunate apprentice.
The act ended with the fire brigade leaving the ring… and the ring boy left behind, very wet and bedraggled.
