Gongman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Gongman, also known as the man-with-the-gong, is a well-known company trademark. In Britain, past research has shown that 94% of households recognize the famous man-with-the-gong as the Rank Organisation's trademark symbol, used as the introduction to all Rank films (often created at their Pinewood Studios).
People who have played the Gongman:
- Carl Dane
- "Bombardier" Billy Wells
- Phil Nieman
- Ken Richmond
The intention was to achieve a simultaneous impact in vision and sound by combining the strength of a perfect physical specimen of a man with the deep resonance of a huge gong. However, the gongs were made of plaster or papier-mâché and one gongman, Billy Wells, was over 40 years old when his gongman footage was shot. The sound of the gong was created by James Blades on a Chinese instrument called a tam tam.
The Gongman was often parodied over the years. In Carry On up the Khyber, Kenneth Williams' character refers to an over-enthusiastic gongman's attitude as "rank stupidity". In addition, the opening to the ATV Thursday Picture Show used an animated version. According to Sub-TV, who has a video of the opening, "the gong-smasher here is a non-muscley man in an old-fashioned swimming costume and a cloth cap!" The man whacks an ATV logo, not a gong, and the logo smashes into pieces when it gets whacked.
[edit] External links
- Opening of the ATV Thursday Picture Show in MPEG format
- Article in The Independent about the death of final Gongman Ken Richmond and a little about the role
