| James Casey (Variety Artist) | |
|---|---|
| Born | James Casey 16 August 1922 Stockton-on-Tees, England |
| Died | 23 April 2011 (aged 88) Stockton-on-Tees, England |
| Occupation | stage comedian, BBC radio scriptwriter and producer |
| Spouse | Joan, son David Casey |
James Casey (16 August 1922 – 23 April 2011) was at various times during his long career a Variety comedian on the English music-halls, a scriptwriter for BBC Radio's variety shows and situation comedies, and a senior BBC Radio Light Entertainment producer.[1]
He was the son of the English Variety comedian Jimmy James, and cousin of comedian Eli Woods.
In the 1940s, he and Eli appeared as a member of his father's variety act, known as Jimmy James and Co, and after retiring from the BBC in the 1980s he resurrected the act and toured the surviving variety theatres performing it with Eli for the following twenty years.
His most notable discoveries during his career at BBC Radio in Manchester, between 1954 and 1982, were the radio comedian Jimmy Clitheroe, the comedian Les Dawson, the comedian Ken Dodd, and the comedy double-act known professionally as Hinge and Bracket, each of whom he launched into a career in radio light entertainment with their own BBC series.
His most successful series for BBC Radio was creating, producing and co-writing The Clitheroe Kid, starring the diminutive comic Jimmy Clitheroe, which ran continuously for sixteen years on the BBC Light Programme and BBC Radio 2, running from 1957 to 1972 inclusive, based on a chance meeting with Jimmy Clitheroe on a Variety bill in 1952.
During the Second World War he served as an officer in the Durham Light Infantry, landing on the Normandy beaches on D-Day in 1944.
James Casey, born in 1922 at Stockton-on-Tees in England, was the son of the variety comedian Jimmy James. While his two children were still small, he moved to London; but within a couple of years his wife's favourite aunt was taken seriously ill, so the family moved to Liverpool to take care of her. It was here Casey began writing comedy for the BBC Light Entertainment Department, submitting scripts under the pen name Cass James to BBC Radio's North Region. These were such a success that he would spend the next 26 years commuting between Crosby on Merseyside and BBC Broadcasting House in Manchester.
In the spirit of the theatre, James Casey was metaphorically born in a trunk, and lived literally in a wicker basket whilst his father and mother performed on stage, one of them looking after him in the wings or in the dressing room while the other was performing a few feet away. If they were both on stage together, he was simply left in his basket in the wings! As he grew older, however, he was not allowed a speaking part in the act, because his father wanted him to become a lawyer rather than go on the stage with all its uncertainties.
A career in the law was not to be, though, and when he came out of the Army at the end of the war he tried to sort out his father's disastrous financial affairs. As a comedian his dad was brilliant, but as a businessman he was hopeless. Although teetotal, he was a compulsive gambler, and was bankrupted three times. A comedian never has a sad ending, though. The final occasion on which he faced the bankruptcy court, completely deadpan, he announced to the surprised assembly: "I presume I have now won the Official Receiver outright!" Before he died in 1965, Jimmy James was earning £275 a week as top of the bill at Skegness; a huge sum for the time, and scarcely a failure at 72 years of age.
It was during the late Forties that James Casey first joined the act, in three-handed sketches: with his father in the centre bouncing gags off him on one side and his cousin, Jack Casey (who originally used the stage name Bretton Woods, but was later better known as Eli Woods), on the other. James junior was more than competent, under his stage name of Cass James; but he quickly discovered a greater talent for writing the sketches. So when his father moved into radio, James Casey ended up writing everything, including editions showcasing other comedians in the radio series Northern Variety Parade - comedians such as Norman Evans, for whom Casey wrote Over the Garden Wall style sketches. Jimmy James’s radio appearances written by his son were in radio series such as The Mayor's Parlour and Home James; and, since each series pulled in huge audiences, Casey was offered a staff job as a BBC producer.
He also teamed up with a promising young comedian called Jimmy Clitheroe, who already had film experience and had worked with Jimmy James. Only 4’3” tall, before he became famous Clitheroe played Frank Randle’s dummy in ventriloquist sketches, shocking and completely fooling the audience when he finally jumped from the fake ventriloquist’s knee and ran off into the wings. In 1955, at Casey’s prompting, Clitheroe appeared in Call Boy, a radio variety series featuring popular stars of the day including Ted Lune, Margery Manners and Dennis Goodwin. Written mainly by Cass James, assisted by Frank Roscoe or Ronnie Taylor, the initial sketches featuring Jimmy Clitheroe were short 8 minute items, but within three years had expanded into the full-length situation comedy The Clitheroe Kid, written mainly - and produced entirely - by James Casey, who was now writing and producing under his real name.
The combination of Casey’s versatile scripts and Jimmy’s impetuous cheek proved a winner. Stalwarts Patricia Burke as mother, and Peter Sinclair as grandad, were complemented by Diana Day as Jimmy’s older sister Susan (nicknamed “Scraggy Neck”), her gormless boy friend “Daft Alfie” played by Danny Ross, and Tony Melody as Mr Higginbottom, their rough hewn neighbour. In theory it could have failed, though, because, according to Casey himself, the scripts sometimes arrived too late for any kind of proper rehearsal. Maybe he reprimanded himself occasionally, but in practice it did not matter at all.
Whereas Life with the Lyons had no fewer than eight dry runs, before the ninth went out live, the professionals in The Clitheroe Kid had no such luxury. Only rarely, however, did any of them miss a cue or come in early. Nevertheless, they could occasionally be heard stifling a laugh, at Jimmy’s preposterous comments or Danny Ross’s brilliant splutterings as he became tongue-tied. and came out with ridiculous statements and gaffes. A sharp cry of “Ooh me leg!” meant Jimmy had just kicked him before he spilt the beans.
Two famous comedians owe their professional careers almost entirely to Casey, who discovered, honed and marketed them. When he spotted Les Dawson in a Manchester club he immediately recognised great talent; but it took five years to persuade the BBC to try him on radio. The rest is history, with Casey writing the jokes for Listen with Les for 12 years. When he first saw the scripts Dawson remarked they were more like him than he was himself!
Casey spotted Ken Dodd at the Sunderland Empire on the same bill as his father. Knowing another sure fire radio winner, he challenged the BBC’s initial assessment that Dodd was suitable only for television. He knew better, and after Ken’s early successes on radio's Workers’ Playtime he went from strength to strength. Much later, David Hatch asked James Casey if he would again produce Ken Dodd on radio, because he was the only person the now world-famous comedian trusted. He did, but insisted Dodd should not initially sing with a full orchestra; so a compromise was reached, whereby Ken recorded several lengthy live shows which Casey edited almost non-stop over a period of 24 days, the resulting six programmes being a terrific success.
Dodd was often two hours late for rehearsals, and nothing seemed to change this, so everyone else was deputed to turn up at a specific time, while Ken was asked to turn up two hours earlier. He was still late, however! But once he discovered the ploy, it had to be abandoned. Early finishes never happened either, as everyone who has ever attended one of his stage shows will testify.
Another successful comedy series which Casey produced was Hinge and Bracket, whom he initially thought were two old ladies. It was Mike Craig who, highly amused, pointed out they were actually men in drag! The maiden ladies delighted everyone with their falsetto singing and back biting comments, with the closing credits including a reference to producer “Gentleman James Casey”, a typically Northern epithet, which was both amusing and accurate for Jim Casey.
A great Des O’Connor radio show was ruined by the authorities reneging on the promise of a prime weekend slot; but both Mike Yarwood and the young Morecambe and Wise also profited from Casey’s witty jottings. He also worked closely with their later successful script-writer Eddie Braben.
James Casey also produced Roy Castle on radio, and discovered and promoted Alison Steadman; but in 1982 he retired from the BBC, just before Ken Dodd asked him to produce yet more radio shows. Putting his feet up was never really in his nature, though, and, after a hilarious act on The Michael Parkinson Show, he appeared with Castle and Eli Woods in a Royal Variety Show, possibly the only son to appear independently of his father in front of royalty. Eli, of course worked with both father and son, i.e. uncle and cousin; and they thereafter worked the surviving variety theatres for the next 20 years.
As a measure of his stature within the comedy profession, the following list of famous stars all willingly acted as the stooge in his stage act: Ray Alan, Jimmy Cricket, Roy Hudd, Paul Shane, Reg Varney, Les Dawson, Roy Castle, Mike Craig, Don McLean, Charlie Williams, Dave Evans and Johnny Casson.
James Casey was a creative genius. It is still possible to hear The Clitheroe Kid, as well as Hinge and Bracket, on BBC Radio 4 Extra.[2]