jim henson

'Rutland Weekend Television' ran for two seasons in the UK in 1975 and '76 (a total of 14 episodes) on BBC2.

It featured Eric Idle and Bonzo Dog Band member Neil Innes, with a supporting cast of players.

But for the wealth of musical numbers provided by Innes, the show was similar in content to 'Monty Python's Flying Circus', and was Idle's first project following the end of the Python TV series in 1974.

RWT is best remembered these days as having provided the debut of Innes and Idle's creation, The Rutles.

- Follow the link to an article about 'Rutland Weekend Television' appearing at Neil Innes' website.

For more of Neil Innes, see also:
- Words of Innespiration - The Lyrics & Unplanned Career of Neil Innes

- The Doo Dah Diaries: "A year-by-year account of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band"





The run of RWT also spawned an accompanying book, 'The Rutland Dirty Weekend Book' and this LP. ⬇

On the few musical tracks I've provided from the LP, the personnel is:

Neil Innes - vocals, piano
Andy Roberts - guitar
Dave Richards - bass
Roger Swallow - drums

- - except on 'Testing' and 'The Hard To Get':

Roger Rettig and Billy Bremner - guitars
Brian Hodgson - bass
John Halsey - drums





From 'The Rutland Weekend Songbook' LP (Passport Records, 1976),
Listen to the following Neil Innes tracks:

Front Loader
Star Time with Stoop Solo
Testing
Boring
The Hard To Get

(click for audio)

- - And for redundancy's sake, here are some YouTube links to the corresponding video clips from RWT, just for the cause of being repetitious in presenting the matching television excerpts of the songs listed above as they appeared in video form on Rutland Weekend Television:

Front Loader
Stoop Solo
Testing
Boring
The Hard To Get

Happily, you can currently find dozens of other Rutland Weekend Television clips available at YouTube.

- - And several full-length episodes can be seen at Veoh.

For those who care, the songs used on the 'Songbook' LP were recorded in sessions separate from what aired on the show.

While working with troubled youths in the 1940's, psychiatrist and author Dr. Fredric Wertham (1895 - 1981) began turning his clinical focus towards the possible detrimental influences of mass media and popular culture.
His articles published on the subject became very influential.

By the 1950's his study was concerned almost exclusively with comic books. The height of his influence came in 1954 with the release of his book 'Seduction of the Innocent'.

The book made a big splash, and so Dr. Wertham was called upon to give testimony that year at the congressional hearings that would put many comics publishers out of business and would give rise to the formation of the
content-regulating Comics Code Authority.

The article shown below ran in the November, 1953 issue of Ladies Home Journal ("The Magazine Women Believe In").

I found a copy of the issue recently and wanted to share the opportunity to see the article in (something similar to) the manner in which America first saw it.

The magazine piece served as something of a preview to 'Seduction of the Innocent' and played a large part in paving a path to the fame and credibility Dr. Wertham was afforded.

Even as comic books became demonized at the time, so over the years has Fredric Wertham to many comics fans the world over. It's just barely possible that both reactions were a bit extreme and unfortunate...

⬆ Photo of Dr. Fredric Wertham at work. ⬆

See also:
- Transcripts of 1954 Senate Subcommittee Hearings into Juvenile Delinquency, with a special focus on Comic Books.

Specifically, you may wish to read from the afternoon session of April 21st - - Testimony of Dr. Fredric Wertham.

- 'Fredric Wertham - Anti-Comics Crusader Who Turned Advocate' - an article detailing Wertham's writings and dealings with the comics medium, and his apparent about-face in the 1970's.

In 1974, In his book 'The World of Fanzines: A Special Form of Communication', "...Dr. Wertham was praising the efforts of comic-book readers, and presenting (their) internal hobby publications as the very model of non-violent communication by bright young people."




































⬆ Cover, Ladies Home Journal, November 1953

⬅ 'About The Author' inset from Table of Contents page













































⬅ Click on page images to ENLARGE to a readable proportion in a new window - -

- - OR click on page numbers below... ⬇

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ADDENDUM, 11/25/07: Many many thanks to Rogelio T for sending along a link to an archived radio broadcast from a March 2, 1948 episode of 'America's Town Meeting of the Air'.

'What's Wrong with the Comics?' featured a discussion with Al Capp, George Hecht, John Mason Brown and Marya Mannes.

It was later featured in the March 20, 1948 issue of Saturday Review of Literature as 'The Case for the Comics'.

"It's not Wertham, but the same subject", says Rogelio.

Follow the links to listen...
Reel 1 of 2
Reel 2 of 2

(Via American Voices)

The story goes that when the 'Chaos' novelty 45 was released it sold 10,000 copies in three days, but then was banned from radio airplay on the fourth day.

Radio stations had decided that its barbed lampoon of the prevalent Top 40 Radio format was not very complimentary.

Bob Arbogast started his radio career in 1951 in Kansas City. By the time 'Chaos' was released he'd become popular in the Chicago area for his evening broadcasts.

He continued in radio into the 1960's, and branched out more into writing for radio and television and working in advertising. Heading into the 1970's and '80's he was also doing voice work in animated TV programs.

Stan Ross had a background in advertising but by the mid-1960's had made a mark writing and developing television programs.

In addition to writing credits on 'Batman', 'The Monkees', 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' and 'All In The Family', Ross wrote and produced the "...Thrill of victory, the agony of defeat..." opening for ABC's 'Wide World of Sports'.

In the early 1960's Stan Ross released an LP, 'My Son The Copy Cat', which parodied the hugely succesful early novelty albums by
Allan Sherman. Stan Ross co-wrote the album with Bob Arbogast.

⬅ Stan Ross (like Arbogast) also acted in a number of small film and TV roles, and kept busy with voice-acting in the eighties.





Listen to:
Arbogast & Ross - Chaos - Part 1
Arbogast & Ross - Chaos - Part 2
Liberty Records 45, 1959

(click for audio)

See also:
- Archived audio excerpts from The Arbogast Show on WMAQ, Chicago, circa 1953

- ADDENDUM, 5/26/08; Picture sleeve art added!! Ganked with love and admiration from LP Cover Lover.