pulphack

"Career"?

For better or worse, several people on this thread. And, let's face it, it could be said of anyone whose name is posited on Deathlist. It's not in many places that one could find likeminded souls who have a thing for the God-like Peter Hammill, the even-more-God-like Jason King, and actresses of a certain age (I always preferred Liza Goddard's Victoria in Take Three Girls). After all, one has to pass the time somehow...

Thanks for the thought, OoO, but no real need. Disagreements and debate (ahem) are what make this forum interesting. And as it goes, Thorpe is an enigma - he could linger long.

Splendid choice, ATJ - a class book and a cracking read. And, if you've got the 'Dennis Wheatley Library Of The Occult' edition, one of many top 70's covers in the series. If you crave more, try and find Harry's own 'Search For Truth', which - er - strains with modesty. Harry - the Barnum of the occult!

If we're any judges, it doesn't look good for the skipper, does it? Mind, his is a long-term illness, and whoever voted for Sky Saxon might be very shrewd: nutter does crazy things, forgets meds, etc.

Bugger... Syd, Arthur, the Captain can't be far behind... A few more names for your list, MIB: Chris DeBurgh, Justin Heyward, Bono... I could go on, but those and Collins might go some way towards redressing the balance. Does mean you'll have to look at their pictures or listen to them, though... It's a dirty job, but you can do it, man.

Godot - hope you enjoyed The Ascent Of Rum Doodle, which is a lovely book. If you liked it, look out for The Cruise Of The Talking Fish, which is even funnier. I didn't even know Bowman had written another one until I replaced my long since lost copy of Rum Doodle with a Pimlico volume that housed both of them, a few months back. If, by any chance, your copy has any information in it, do you know if there were more than those two?

Very, very sad - she was always my favourite Runaway (Lita Ford looked better when she went solo - look, I was a teenage boy when the were around, alright?). In terms of obits, she might not get NME these days, but she'd certainly get in Mojo, Record Collector, and Classic Rock, as they have ongoing obits section, albeit sometimes a month or two out. Do Deathlist rules state national publications, newstand publications, or are they specific about BBC, etc? She may even get a broadsheet - god knows I was astonished to see Peter Bardens of Camel get in the Guardian a few years back, even though it was about a month after the actual event (I was surprised at the time lag, even more so as I didn't know he'd died until I saw it there).

Hello, pull fack here... that sounds vaguely obscene. I like it. Oh dear, and here I was hoping The Monster Club really HAD been forgotten. The book came first, then got re-published. It was a collection by R Chetwynd Hayes, a prolific ghost & monster story writer of the sixties and seventies. The book isn't too bad, but the film... oooh! Vincent Price is a vampire who tries to take a bite out of John Carradine (playing Mr Hayes), and in recognition of his lovely stories takes him to the club where we get to hear a few stories and hear a few toons. The Pretties don't need make-up, but BA Robertson does (yes, he's crap). Phil May's hair is scary for 1980, and Dick Taylor has ALWAYS looked like that, which is scarier still. The ghoul episode and the Shadmock story are quite well done, but unfortunately that only shows up the rest of the film for how godawful it really is. One of Milton Subotsky's last films (he was half of Amicus, Hammer's main rival in the sixties, for non-horror buffs). Of course, this would be completely off topic if not for the fact that no matter how bad this film is, it's still ten times more watchable than anything the terminally dull Wisdom ever made.

Thank you, ATJ - I would claim that I got the title wrong because I was trying to blank the experience of seeing the film, but the truth is that I just couldn't be bothered to look it up. It is appalling, though, and as you rightly say, notable only for the Pretty Things (music for which I think was part of the Electric Banana sessions they did for DeWolfe music library, and cropped up on a few movies as a result). The Pretties had a habit of bad movies - anyone remember 'The Monster Club'?

I wouldn't mind betting Wisdom never did a Carry On mostly because of money. As a contract star at Rank - and big box office - he would have expected high fees. Peter Rogers is legendarily parsimonious. For early Carry On's Wisdom would have been too expensive. Later on, he would have wanted a hand in production and therefore potential profits - just as he did with 'What's Sauce For The Goose', for Tigon. Can't see Rogers reliquishing that! And when that last movie flopped, he seemed to go into semi-retirement for a few years, stung by its failure.

could very well be. was i over-reacting? i dunno, maybe some people like being called liars. my mate who went out with thorpe's carer is not prone to exaggeration, but i can't vouch for her, hence the initial qualification. having said that, she was talking about his physical degeneration, not mental. if people with the physical problems of christy brown, stephen hawking, and christy nolan can still write books - and my pet parkinson's person, betjeman was still writing to the end - then thorpe could tackle a book with help. dictation, ghosting, etc make this a relatively simple process (and not far removed from the metal equivalent of someone helping him physically, as his carers do). bollocks. didn't want to rant about it, but for someone who was accusing others of jumping to conclusions, OoO was doing the same. and i expect better of him in that sense, yes.

OoO - just followed that link and couldn't see anything about thorpe on it? what's he been doing? i never said what i was told was authoratitve, just through a couple of people. i might be nitpicking here, but then so are you. and anyway, when does being able to dictate a message to someone have anyhing to do with kidney function or wiping your own arse? betjeman, for instance, was lucid to then end, and even did a great interview (any regrets, john? 'I wish i'd had more sex') when his body was packing up. mind and body don't always keep step with parkinsons. 'shoots' and 'exclusive' were things i tried to steer clear of with what i stressed were word of mouth accounts - please don't put words into mine.

No other bugger's had the good grace to say it, so WELL DONE MADAME! And please spare our eyes and sanirty... alright, eyes, then.

Laura is a fine specimen of womanhood. Anyone who can be that inventive with the word 'C**t' is more than alright by me, and should be inducted in here immediately - no, more than that, we should pay her! By God, if mrs pulphack wouldn't object so much, I'd ask you to marry me right now! And I don't even care enough about Iain to hate him...

And I bet he never had a harmony duo act with his brother.

deja vu - is your empathy with iain turning you (ulp) into him?

Wasn't it Carter who saw a UFO? And was also attacked by a killer rabbit?

That's quite an interesting suggestion, Madame... I was wondering if it was the last Velvets line-up, minus even Lou but with the Yule brothers. Doesn't really look like any pictures I could find of them, and if that IS a woman (and not Geddy Lee, as Mary suggested... jokingly, I hope, or else Mrs Mary should be worried) then it's the prettiest picture of Mo Tucker I've ever seen! And she's smiling! Unheard of... And yes, the evil bugger really is enjoying this.

Mary - good point about the NME. You'd sort to expect them to acknowledge him, but then to stop and think about just how long it is since his last recorded output... you can hear him in every fey-voiced and winsome singer from the last 30 years of indie-oriented rock, from Peter Perrett (who woulda thought 'Another Girl Another Planet' on an ad?) through to... well, name anyone around now in that sphere. So, considering his body of work is erratic, to say the least at times (let's face it, anyone who took those chances in their work was going to fall flat sometimes), and very slim (one and a bit Floyd LP's, two solo, that iffy collection in the late eighties), it's some tribute to the uniqueness of his vision. Changing tack - The Heartbreakers were a thought for that bloody picture, but I found some early pre-haircut pics, and they didn't seem to match. Not the Ramones is a perfect choice, mind (only 50% seem to fit). C'mon, put us out of our misery!

Apologies for being tardy in adding my condolences. Don't know you well enough to say anything else of worth, but having lost a parent a long time ago now, I can remember how awful it felt.

Bruno - Alf Pearson was half of Bob & Alf Pearson, a British vaudeville act pre-war who also did a lot of radio. One sang, the other did harmonies and played piano. Their theme tune ran 'we bring you melodies from out of the sky... my brother and I'. I guess they were at their peak in the fifties, as they were featured artists on 'Ray's A Laugh', a long-running radio show fronted by comic Ted Ray. One of them was also a pretty good voice mimic and light comic (not sure which, may have been Alf) who also featured as a foil for Ray in a number of the sketches and continuing features. Heard some a while back, and it hasn't really dated that well, but some of the sketches can still amuse. I guess he's the equivalent of someone like Eddie Anderson - a second banana and support, but never the star.

just got back to find no-one's got it yet. don't think i'm right, either, but the one on the left looks like johnny ramone with a moustache, and the guy on the right might be deedee in a bad light - i've ruined my F*****g eyes staring at this thing - it's not the ramones in very early days is it?

you're a naughty man, godot, but a very amusing one. i thought of you last night while i was reading one of your posts, so perhaps mrs godot should check you're still alive... my avatar guess is badfinger, specially as two of 'em are dead (or is it three, now?) - partly for that, and partly 'cause i think i recognise pete ham on the right. beefheart - been very ill for years, hasn't he? last i heard was that he couldn't move around his large canvases to paint, rather he had someone (probably his long suffering missus) move the canvas for him. this was some years ago, when mike barnes' biography came out. mike used to get all kinds of calls from the beefheart camp alternately offering help and then threatening legal action during the time he was writing it. haven't seen him for a few years now, but if anyone would be au fait with how DVV is these days, he would - so perhaps an e-mail to the wire would be in order?

RIP syd, as you didn't get much peace in life, it seems. not inside your head, anyway. an unexpected outcome to this debate, though...