Documentary - Norman Wisdom Heroes of Comedy

'Norman Wisdom - Heroes of Comedy' is a documentary about his success as a British comedian. From watching this I have learned that Norman often used experiences from his childhood to influence him. He often portrayed characters that saw himself as equal to others, despite being lower class.

"He was the master of falling over. He was brilliant at it. He did it with such style, one minute he'd be standing, then he'd be on the floor!"              

Elaine Page

"He was the most popular film star in this country. I remember going to see a film of his, I got to the cinema and they were lined up, right round the block of the while cinema. There must have been about five or six hundred, maybe even more than that, people lined up to see his latest film."

Bruce Forsyth

"That was the wonderful thing about him, that he could be right at the bottom of the social pile and he simple didn't recognise this. [he'd say] I'm as good as you lot!"

Hugh Stewart

Clown Prince of Albania

I found an article on the BBC Website that was written in 2001. It discusses Norman's success in Albania. I printed out the article and cut out all the bits I thought were most relevant. (photocopy below). This collection of information provides me with everything I need to know about his time in Albania and why the nation saw him as their idol. (Full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk)

Information from http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/09/04/big-in-albania/. This online blog article is about Norman's success in Albania. This is particularly useful to me because I will be focusing on this part of Norman's life in my dissertation. As it is a blog, this information in this article is not 100% reliable but it does give me a good basic outline of Norman's success in Albania.

Big in Albania

Posted on September 4, 2011 by Rupert Colley

A friend of mine has just returned to England after an adventurous trip around south-eastern Europe, taking in the sites of Montenegro, Croatia and Albania. She was very complimentary about the first two but rather damning about the latter. My colleague is Canadian and also fairly young, having been born in the seventies, so she asked me who was this guy the Albanians kept talking about, a guy called Norman Wisdom.
A household name
Aha, I said, Sir Norman, 95 years-old and a classic British comedy icon. OK, Wisdom’s slapstick humour looks a bit dated now and not really suited to our sophisticated tastes but he remains a household name in Britain – well, to anyone over 40. And, it seems, a household name in Albania.
During the long, forty-four year rule of Stalinist dictator, Enver Hoxha, Wisdom’s films were amongst the few bits of Western culture or entertainment that were allowed in this small, cut-off, forgotten country called Albania, or, to use its correct title of the time, the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania. Films like Trouble In Store, A Stitch In Time and The Early Bird, made in the fifties and early sixties, had Wisdom playing the hapless character, Norman Pitkin, fighting against the big men in suits smoking on cigars. Hoxha saw Pitkin as the ultimate proletarian, waging a one-man war against the capitalist world of corporations and big money. This, the dictator dictated, was appropriate Communist viewing for Albania’s comedy-starved masses and, as a result, our very own Norman became a huge hit in Albania.
Albania v England
I remember watching on TV a football match between Albania (playing at home) and England in about March 1989. By this time Hoxha was dead but the country was still a closed nation. Sir Norman came onto the pitch as a pre-match or half-time entertainment, dressed from head-to-foot in the colours of England down one half of his body; and the Albanian colours the other half. He danced across the pitch, executing his trademark trip, and then exited to huge rounds of applause. There may have been more – I can’t remember.
In 1995, after the fall of Communism, Wisdom was granted the freedom of Albania’s capital, Tirana. And during an appearance on England’s training ground in Albania in 2001, Wisdom still managed to cause great excitement. In the post-Cold War years Wisdom did much to support the many orphanages of Albania and showed great interest as the country started on its difficult journey from Communism to democracy.

The Economist

An article by the Economist about Norman's life and personality. All information from http://www.economist.com/node/17248920





WHAT a chirpy little fellow that Norman was! All puppy eyes, rubber legs and innocent smiles, even when the world was crashing round him. Show him a grand piano, and he’d have to dive into it. Suggest a manhole, and he’d plummet straight down it. Run a cable across the road and he’d go flying into next week. He’d fall over his own shadow, or box it into a pulp behind the sofa; he’d fall over his own feet, and saunter on singing.
It’s true they didn’t find him uproarious everywhere. He’d rock them in the aisles in Blackpool, but raise only a shrug in New York. His mime of eating a sandwich on a fast-moving train would leave them cold in Glasgow, but make them fall about in Tehran—and in Moscow and Buenos Aires and, very oddly, in Tirana, where perhaps the only possible reason was that they were as mad as himself.
He was born grinning, it seemed. He was certainly born small, and never made much progress after. The littlest in his gang at school, the tiny cabin boy aboard the Maindy Court sailing for Argentina, almost the scrawniest in his regiment in India in the 1930s. Everyone’s mascot, jester, dogsbody, hoping to foil the punches by rolling over and begging for a pat on the head. He was five-foot-four on a good day, easily dwarfed by bosses, army sergeants, aristocrats or rivals for the willowy girls who strolled into his life. When his second wife walked out on him in 1968 he couldn’t help remarking, bitterly, that she had left him for someone handsomer and taller.
Smallness shaped Little Norm, but poverty taught him something, too. As a boy, thrown out by his drunken father, he slept rough in London and stole to eat. The gutter wasn’t a bad place, considering. He learned things there, such as how to lift eggs very nimbly and delicately from a stall and secrete them, uncracked, in his pockets. He also acquired the trick of making his lower lip tremble when asking, his pathetic face only just above the counter, for a free pie from a coffee stall. By the time of his first hugely successful film, “Trouble in Store” (1953), he could stretch the pathos really far: to the point where, soaking wet after a tumble into a duck-pond, he sadly serenaded his love in a teashop, and then found he had nothing in his pockets to pay with except one small, wriggling fish.

Norman Wisdom - A Very British Icon

Below is an article I found on a blog site. This is useful to me because the blogger talks about why the British people took to Norman Wisdom and why he was a success not only here in Great Britain but in Albania and Iran, also. He also talks about how British comedy has changed. (Article from paulowensblog.blogspot.com)

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

RIP Norman Wisdom: A Very British Icon

His films weren't sophisticated or especially original. But Norman Wisdom was one of those stars the public held a special place for in their hearts and not just in Albania where he was famously a superstar. According to Shappi Khorsandi he was just as big a star in Iran. Perhaps it's because we grew up with him. Perhaps it was because his films were innocently entertaining and were so quintessentially British, the triumph of the little man against the bullies. His particular type of comedy eventually went out of fashion when the cool 60s came along, but it is telling that they remained popular on TV and with successive generations of kids in the same way that the likes of Laurel and Hardy continued to entertain us long after they had passed into cinematic history.

Most of us have seen them and, though they may not rank as cinematic classics in the true sense of the word, they somehow gained a place in our affections. We've all seen On the Beat in which he was too short to be a policeman but donned his father's old uniform anyway causing chaos; The Early Bird in which he was a milkman fighting off the nasty corporate interloper alongside the famous Mr Grimsdale; or Up in the World in which he was a window cleaner and subjected to tickle torture by his employer's son. Like I say, sophisticated he was not. But then he never claimed to be. He just tried to entertain.

He was one of those actors who had the gift to appear normal and like the rest of us. Perhaps it wasn't a gift at all. Perhaps that was just what he was. For all of his wealth and success he never seemed like a star in the normal sense of the word. One can't imagine Norman making demands for huge trailers, food flown in from afar and drinks at a specific temperature. He was just the working man made good, one of us who got lucky. His ability to project that on screen was what made him so huge.

But he was also a brilliant clown and physical comedian. That trademark walk and the trips and falls were the hallmark of a man who could make people laugh with a minimum of effort. Such comedy was looked down on for many years. But it is no accident that it remains lodged in our memories and inspires our affection. Indeed when he was knighted in 2000 he did one of his trademark trips. The Queen was amused.

Now we live in an age of celebrity, when actors and singers can become iconic figures and identifiable by a single name. Norman Wisdom became a very British version of that, without really trying. Somehow it seems wrong to refer to him by his surname. He was just Norman, the little man in the cap, the classic British underdog; and that's why we loved him.

Nothing but Trouble

This article that I found on tcm.com is useful to my project because it is mostly about Norman's first film 'Trouble in Store'. This is helpful because it is one of my focus films. Also, this article mentions Norman's 'Gump' character. His appearance will be a large part of my dissertation so any information on this is important.

As the document is quite hard to read, I have posted the link below.

http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/183279%7C0/Trouble-in-Store.html

Little Big Man

Below is an article I found online that sums up Norman's career. It also talks about his success in Albania which is important to my project.

Internet Extracts

Below are extracts I have found on the internet that I think will be useful to me. Mostly, they are about Norman's rise to fame in the 1940's. Most of these sources are online newspapers so they are reliable sources for me to use as research.

www.economist.com

www.dailymail.co.uk

www.dailymail.co.uk 'How Norman really did laugh all the way to his grave'

www.hollywood.com Norman Wisdom Biography

Norman Wisdom interview in The Mirror in 2000

www.hollywood.com Norman Wisdom Biography

Theatre Posters

The images below are some theatre posters I have found (from sirnormanwisdom.co.uk). I thought they were quite interesting because they represent the start of Norman's career. They help me to get a better idea of the type of performance he did before becoming a film star.  

The Guardian

This information is from The Guardian website. I chose to include this as one of my sources because it talks a lot about Wisdom's rise to fame and how his career began.

Norman Wisdom - Theatre Tours

I have began my secondary research with internet sources. This first source is on sirnormanwisdom.com, it is about Norman's theatre career. I thought this would be a good source to look at as it focuses on a different aspect of his career, which is where it started.

Secondary Sources

I feel I have researched enough into primary sources now, so I am moving on to secondary sources. These will include internet sources, documentaries, fansites and biographies.

Will Hay

Another comedian I have looked into is Will Hay. His films are also good for comparison as he was successful British comedian who was around in the 1930's and 40's. I have looked at scenes from both 'Ask a Policeman' and 'Oh, Mr. Porter'.

George Formby - Let George Do It

Although I will mostly be concentrating on Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chaplin when comparing comedians, I thought it might be a good idea to look at other comedians that were about at the same time as Norman. Here is a scene from 'Let George Do It' which starred George Formby. He is often compared to Wisdom because of his 'childish' performances.

Chaplin, Wisdom, Laurel and Hardy - Golf Scenes

Here are another 3 scenes I have found that I think are similar. They all contain the theme of golf and show how the comedians cause havok in this situation. I think that the Norman Wisdom version (from the film, Early Bird) is a great example of how his character likes to annoy the upper class. This is something that is also demonstrated in both the Charlie Chaplin scene and the Laurel and Hardy scene. I have also found that they all did boxing scenes too.

Norman Wisdom - Bayonet Practice

I think it is important for me to look at these similar scenes because it gives me an idea of where Norman got his inspiration from and it shows me how British comedy developed.

Charlie Chaplin - March Past

The more I am researching into Charlie Chaplin, the more similarities I find. For example, in this scene below, Chaplin is causing caos while practicing army duties. This is very similar to a scene from The Square Peg where Norman is also causing havok. 

Norman Wisdom - Dentist

This is the final scene I have looked at which, although it is slightly different as he plays a dentist rather than a barber, I find very similar to the other two, in terms of performance.

Laurel and Hardy - Beard Scene

This is the scene from a Laurel and Hardy film that I thought was very similar to the Charlie Chaplin one below.

Chalie Chaplin - The Barber

Norman Wisdom is often compared to other comedians such as Charlie Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy. I've started to research into these comedians and have come across 3 scenes from the comedians that I think are quite similar. The first one is a scene from a Charlie Chaplin film:

Trouble On Tour

Product Description from Play.com:

 

"Norman tries to make it "his show" but he is not getting much help from his band or straight-laced man Tony Fayne. It's nothing but Trouble On Tour for Norman. Spur him on as he gets his own back with gags, music and stunts guaranteed to have you roaring with laughter time and time again !
The inspiration for generations of British comics and one of this country's best-loved performers, Norman shows he is not just original - he is still the funniest!"

'Trouble On Tour' was intially one of my primary resources but having done some more research into the DVD I think it is not particularly relevant to my project. It was made in 1994, well after Norman's peak in his career and therefore it is unlikely to show him at his best. Having said this, it does show how his 'gump' image and foolish nature continued to be his trademark throughout his career.

Norman Wisdom: Live on Stage

My next primary resource is 'Norman Wisdom: Live on Stage'. I have chosen to look at this because I want to research into all aspects of his career. Although this was made later on in his career, it still helps me to find out more about him as a comedian and a musician rather than just a film star.

In this part of the DVD, Norman is acting along side another man. His role is very similar to the character that Jerry Desmond would often play in Norman's films. It is the role of a man in higher authority or a higher class that contrasts with Norman's lower class character. This shows me that this a trait that he uses on the stage as well as in film.

Throughout the DVD, Norman performs many songs. Some are his best loved songs while others are his own compositions. He also plays various instruments such as the piano, drums, trumpet and saxophone. I think these are important scenes for me to look into because Norman was a very successful singer, songwriter and musician as well as an actor.

The product description says that "Live on Stage captures the essence of the king of the clowns - a mixture of pathos and side-splitting comedy." Overall, I think this resource is useful to me because it helps me to reasearch into a different aspect of Norman's Career.  

Lucky Little Devil

Product Description from Amazon:

"In this book, which includes previously unpublished photographs from his own treasured collection, Sir Norman Wisdom proudly welcomes the reader into the Isle of Man home he designed himself and takes you on a round-island tour to some of his favourite places. Lavishly illustrated with stunning photographs of the Island and Sir Norman's career, the book also tells the amazing rise of one of Britain's greatest comedy legends."

Although this book is mostly about Norman's life on the Isle of Man, some parts of it would have been relevant to my project as it also contains sections about his rise to fame. Despite this, I have had trouble trying to get hold of this book as it does not seem to be available to me anywhere. Therefore, I have to dismiss this source from my investigation. 

'Cos I'm A Fool

'Cos I'm A Fool' was published to commemorate Norman Wisdom's fifty years as a professional entertainer. It is the second volume of memoirs, following 'Don't Laugh At Me'. This volume focus on his early life, his more successful times and his showbusiness life. It also talks about Norman's more serious side, including his experiences of Chernobyl and Eastern Europe.

After researching into the book, I have found that it mostly talks about Norman's early life. Although this may be important to my project, both previous books I have looked into (My Turn and Don't Laugh At Me) both discuss his childhood so this book is most likely to be just another version of what I have already read. Also this book is very difficult to get hold of. Therefore, I am dismissing this source from my research.

Don't Laugh At Me!

'Don't Laugh At Me' is another autobiography by Norman Wisdom. It is very similar to 'My Turn' so it may not be very useful to me as a lot of it is repeated. This book is currently only available to me online so I can only read certain sections. Here are some extracts that may be useful to me.

 This first extract talks about some of the other British and American stars that were around at the time of Norman's rise to fame. I think this is useful because it allows me to get an idea of the other stars that were around at the time which is useful for comparision.

This extract is about the film 'On The Beat'. As this is one of my focus films, I want to discuss parts of it in my essay because some scenes are good examaples of Norman's typical 'gump' character.

In this extract, Norman is talking about his role in 'Square Peg'. As this is one of my focus films, Norman's view on this role is very useful to me.

This extract discusses Norman's 'gump' character and also mentions George Formby who I will be researching into later on. This is a good basis for comparing the two. It also allows me to understant Norman's view on him and how he may have influenced him. 

This extract has taught me about 'A Date With A Dream' which was Norman's first film. I think this may be worth looking into despite its lack of success. This film may give me a better understanding of how Norman developed his chatracters.

 Overall, I think this source was useful in teaching me certain things about Norman that I didn't already know. However, it is very similar to 'My Turn' so at the moment I am not too sure how useful this book will be to my project as a lot of it is repeated in both books.

My Turn: An Autobiography

My Turn is an autobiography written in 2002. It looks into Norman's childhood and how he rose to fame. This is a great primary source as it was written by Norman himself and therefore, is a very reliable source of information. It also is helpful in finding out Norman's personal view on his life. The following photocopies are pages I feel will be useful to my project.

 The photocopy above is useful to me because it mentions how Norman took inspiration from Charlie Chaplin. It also talks a lot about 'Trouble In Store' which is one of my feature films that I will be focusing on. Norman talks about his favourite scenes from this film which helps me to get an idea of his own opinion on it.

 The page above is very useful for this project because Norman explains exactly where his 'gump' character and image came from. This is relevant because it is a trait of Norman's that helped to make him a British comedy icon.

 The next photocopy (above) is a page in the book where Norman talks briefly about his character that he created. However, the majority of this extract is about Norman's home in the Isle of Man. This isn't particularly relevant to my project. Having said this, Norman does talk about the trophies he had collected over the years. This helps me to get an idea of Norman's achievements as a British Comedian.

The final extract I have looked at from the book focuses on Norman's knighhood. This doesn't tell me much about Norman as a British comedy icon but it is useful in telling me about his achievements in the entertainment industry.

Other than these 4 examples, I have also looked at Norman's childhood. This is because he often talks about how his childhood inspired his performances. For example, he says that the abuse he got from his father taught him how to fall. This would later become a trait of Norman Pitkin.

On The Beat, 1962

'On The Beat' is my third and final focus film. It was made in 1962. I have chosen to look at this film because it is more 'British' than the other two. By this, I mean that it focuses on typical British lifestyle which will help me to discuss Norman as a British comedy icon. Also, I have chosen this film because there are several scene which truely show the character of 'Norman Pitkin' so it is a great source to discuss in terms of Wisdom as a comedian.

The first scene I will be looking at is the car wash scene. This is a typical slapstick comedy scene and would be great for comparing to other comedians such as Laurel and Hardy. This is one of the most famous sequences from Norman's films and shows how his character gets himself into these situations. Similarly to a scene from 'Square Peg', it is an example of how Norman's character doesn't really understand what is going on around him, which is very 'childlike'.   

 The next scene I have looked at is where Norman refferees a group of young boy's football match. I have selected this scene because it depicts typical 1950's Britain. This is particularly shown through the locations and the the clothing. I think these things are important becuase I am looking at Norman as a British icon therefore it is relevant for me to look at the way Britain is portrayed within his films. Also, this scene is great for discussing Norman's image which reflects his childlike character.

The third scene I have looked at is the medical check-up scene. I initially chose this scene because it shows the characters determination to get into the police force. Although this is a common theme in many of Norman's films (determination) I feel it may not be completely relevant to my investigation. Having said this, it is a good way of explaining the characters determination to be equal to others and to fit in with the upper classes.



The final scene I have selected is where Norman has to impersonate another character. I chose this scene because it is a great example of the character's foolish nature and how it impacts those around him. Norman's childlike performance is seen in mnay of his films and is a common trait of the 'Norman Pitkin' character. I think this scene will be useful for me to discuss this acting style.

Trouble In Store, 1953

My second focus film in 'Trouble In Store' which was made in 1953. This was Norman's first film. I have chosen to look at his film in particular because it was the start of his career as a British Comedy icon. Also, I have chosen it because it contains many scenes that would be great to discuss in my essay. Norman also made a commentary for this film which is very useful to me as it helps me to understand the film from Norman's own personal point of view. This is a very reliable source.

The first scene I have chosen to look at is where Norman fools about in the cheifs new office (image on left). I have picked this scene because it is a great example of Norman's slapstick comedy style. Also, I have selected it because it is one of Norman's favourite scenes from this film (according to his autobiography). This is useful because it helps me to better understand him as a comedian and how he liked to perform.

The next scene I have chosen to look at is the opening scene. According to his autobiography, this is another one of Norman's favourite scenes from this film. This scene is a great example of Norman's 'gump' character. In many of his films, Norman's character views himself as equal to others even if they are of a higher authority. This is a trait of his films that audiences came to love, especially Albanian audiences. Therefore, this is a good example of where the trait started and how Norman developed the character.                                 


                        

The next scene I have looked at is where Norman performs his song 'Don't Laugh At Me'. This is one of the most well known scenes from all of his films. It is particularly important for me to look at this scene because this song was incredibly popular with audiences and was in the top ten in the charts for 9 months. This is a relevant scene for me to look at because it shows how Norman's popularity grew after the films release.

The final scene I have looked at is the window dressing scene. This scene is a good choice for my project because Norman and the director had a dispute about the way Norman should act in this scene. They decided to let Norman perform the way he wanted and see if audiences liked it. When the scene was a huge success, the director appologised to Norman. This is important for me to look at because it shows how Norman put his own stamp on his performance.