CINDERELLA HANCOCK

Hancock's Half Hour (Radio) First Series - Programme 10

Hancock, forced to do the house-work by Bill, and forbidden to go to the National Film Ball, manages to go in disguise - as Sheik Aly Aga Khancock - in a costume rented only until midnight.

Cast
Tony Hancock
Bill Kerr
Moira Lister
Sidney James
Alan Simpson
Kenneth Williams
Dora Bryan
Paul Carpenter

Programme Guide

After Christmas - the pantomime season, with Cinderella and all the stock characters - Hancock style!

Hancock plays a "Cinderella" part in which he tries to get to the National Film Ball. The only problem being his rented costume, in which attends the ball, is due back at midnight.

The script for this show proved to be popular and was used again in the third radio series during Christmas 1955.

The guests for this programme included Dora Bryan and Paul Carpenter. Kenneth Williams was, by now, a regular supporting player.

Kenneth Williams was born in London in 1926. He first entered the world of drama during the Second World War, when he took part in army concerts in the Far East with Stanley Baxter. He debuted on the West End stage in 1952 as Slightly in "Peter Pan". His role as the Dauphin in "St. Joan" brought him to the attention of Dennis Main Wilson, who approached him with the offer of a part in "Hancock's Half Hour" - a big break in his career. For a few moments, Williams played a dangerous bluff, feigning a lack of interest, but later, in all seriousness, the deal was settled and he joined the cast.

In the Half Hours, Kenneth played character parts and gradually, he evolved his most famous one - that of a character called "Snide" in the scripts, who, against the writers' original intentions, had a catch phrase: "Ere, stop messin' about!" He gave Snide a mid-pitch nasal voice, which was delivered with nostrils so far akimbo, that a nasal spray would have hardly touched the sides.

The Snide character was very popular with the studio audience and nearly always gained applause when first saying his lines. The character was dropped at the end of the fourth radio series. Then, Kenneth went on to play pure character parts, such as judges, policemen, doctors, (or rather, vets) and perhaps one of his most successful parts was that of the photographer in "The Publicity Photograph". He left "Hancock's Half Hour" after the second show of the sixth (and final) radio series, complaining that he wasn't given enough to do.

After this, Kenneth continued his successful career in radio, working with Kenneth Horne in "Round The Horne" and "Beyond Our Ken" and was a regular panellist in "Just A Minute". On television, he compered "International Cabaret" for several years and was regularly seen on Children's television e.g. in Jackanory. He was a regular star of the "Carry On" films, where he continued his association with Sid James and Hattie Jacques. One "Carry On" contained a quartet of "Hancock's Half Hour" players - Sid, Hattie, Kenneth and Bill Kerr. On the stage, he had worked in revue, starred with Orson Welles and directed and played in the plays of Joe Orton.

Hancock didn't like the Snide character for various reasons, but as Kenneth Williams once said: "He just didn't like my style of comedy. It was as simple as that". When asked what he thought of Hancock's comedy, Kenneth said: "His great forte was building up a climax of mock heroics and then puncturing it".