I was privileged to see Pickwick in San Francisco. Afterwards, my mother insisted we went round to the stage door. We were almost alone by the time Harry Secombe came out. He was charming to us and signed our LP. Meeting him felt like a little piece of home in foreign shores. His voice was even more amazing in reality. RIP Mr Secombe. I will never forget you.
Wonderful entertainer, funny , fabulous singer, and Welsh. Must be something in the coal dust, as many great singers hail from there- Harry Secombe, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, to name just a few.
I can still remember when he was knighted and in true "Goons" fashion he turned up to greet the news media wearing a suit of silver armour on a white horse. He was never pompous even when made a Knight of the realm.
Wales truly the land of song have produced some great singers and Bassey , Jones and the name Secombe is on that list, this song has been covered by many artists but it is truly owned by Harry .
That great English gent from Wales and the seasoned London performer from Yorkshire! I saw the revival in the 'nineties. Best live show ever I saw and I watched the Ramones in Barcelona! Sadly it was Roy Castle's last stage appearance... He was wonderful and had a 17 minute standing ovation, as we all knew the lung cancer would deprive us of a beautiful man very soon.
Just been listening to all the old The Goons Show with Harry being Neddy Seagood, grew up on them as a child and even now close to 70, I am laughing my head off. Now I can hear the friendship and love between Spike, Petter and Harry, wonderful days and show. But Harry Secombe until Pickwick Papers and this song he never got the recognition his two mates got in their lives, so I am so pleased he had this moment as ne was a great and kind guy as he showed on his Highway series, he matched Spike and Peter in comey skills as the show was really always structured around him and was just as good as the other two in off the cuff jokes at their expense but most of all that spike and Peter did not have, Harry Secombe could sing Opera and had a beautiful voice. All the best to you Neddy and thank you so much for your time as an entertainer.
There are many versions of this song but this is by far the best and I think when Dickens wrote the story of Pickwick its as if he wrote it for Harry .
I saw it at the Alexandra Theatre Birmingham......Roy Castle was already Very ill, but at curtain call, sir Harry brought him forward for a single curtain.....re the song.......we could do with a world of "Pickwick's"at the moment.....then we might get them all together at a summit a "Pickwick Picnic "....That would make this world Utopian.....and sir Harry.....I haven't forgotton the shaving brush!!!!!!!!
Recall seeing play at Paington, when a line was fluffed. Went into add lib for a bit with Harry playing it along.Then a typical Seacombe raspberry with the line tet's get back to the script.
Harry Secombe was a delight and enjoyed a really varied career to the full. He is much missed I'm sure you will agree. I would have liked to hear him in more operetta - for instance he might have made a lovely job of the role of Schubert in 'Lilac Time. ' He did record an album of operatic arias which is worth searching for in charity shops and at car boot sales if you can find it. However an operatic career requires a focus on one thing and he and we would have missed out on his wide range of skills if he had gone in that direction I think. It is a similar case with Patricia Routledge who also has a fine voice that she used in a range of ways while nor pursuing a classical career.
Good thing he didn't ..he would have been picked apart by those dreadfull opera buffs and snobs...I can see them now with their librettos in hand going over every note just drooling for a mistake here and a flat tone there....good thing he stayed away from that bunch
Am I the only one who's noticed that this British hit which faired poorly in NY has a show stopping song like "If I Ruled the World" where some of the current "hits" barely muster any musical finesse at all!
Surely one of the best songs from an English musical of that period. But where is the Secombe who could embody the part and hit the high notes. ..One reason why Pickwick isn't revived perhaps, besides a general ignorance of the treasures of our heritage. In America every school would perform it.
Was this 1965 when the Broadway version opened? I believe the BBC did a tv version of Pickwick in 1969 which has never been released on dvd/blu-ray, though it absolutely should be. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-kTJrdaSsW9c.html
