Pennies from Heaven (TV series)  

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-'''British dance band''' is a genre of popular [[jazz]] and [[dance music]] that developed in [[United Kingdom|British]] dance halls and hotel ballrooms during the 1920s and 1930s, often called a [[Golden age (metaphor)|Golden Age]] of British music prior to [[World War II]].+'''''Pennies From Heaven''''' is a 1978 [[BBC]] [[Musical film|musical]] [[drama]] serial written by [[Dennis Potter]]. The title is taken from the song "[[Pennies from Heaven (song)|Pennies from Heaven]]" written by [[Johnny Burke (lyricist)|Johnny Burke]] and [[Arthur Johnston (composer)|Arthur Johnston]]. It was one of several Potter serials (another being ''[[The Singing Detective]]'') to mix the reality of the drama with a dark fantasy content, and the earliest of his works where the characters burst into extended performances of popular songs.
-Thousands of miles away from the true origins of jazz in the [[United States]], British dance bands of this era typically played melodic, good-time music that had jazz and [[big band]] influences but also maintained a peculiarly British sense of rhythm and style which came from the [[music hall]] tradition. Often comedians of the day or music hall personalities would sing novelty recordings backed by well-known British dance band leaders. Some of the British dance band leaders and musicians went on to fame in the United States in the [[Swing music|swing]] era.+==Synopsis==
 +;"Part 1 Down Sunnyside Lane"
 +In the mid-1930s, Arthur and Joan Parker ([[Bob Hoskins]] and [[Gemma Craven]]) are an incompatible married couple living in the London suburbs. Arthur, a travelling sheet music salesman, is a passionate man who is frustrated by his wife's repressed nature. On a car journey to the Gloucester area he picks up 'the accordion man', a vagrant ([[Kenneth Colley]]) who invariably busks on the instrument in the vicinity of the other characters, but the signs of the man's mental illness soon lead Arthur to reject him after they spend several hours together. While trying to persuade a shopkeeper ([[Arnold Peters (actor)|Arnold Peters]]) to take some of his goods, Arthur notices a female customer with whom he immediately becomes besotted. Arthur and 'the accordion man' both manage to frighten the young woman. Before returning to London, Arthur has sex with Marjorie, a Gloucestershire prostitute ([[Rosemary Martin]]) in the back of his car.
-Thanks to Britain's continuing [[ballroom dancing]] tradition and its recording [[copyright]] laws, British dance music of the pre-swing era still attracts a modest audience, which American dance music of the same period does not.+;"Part 2 The Sweetest Thing"
 +Arthur's bank manager ([[Peter Cellier]]) refuses to give him a loan. Eileen Everson ([[Cheryl Campbell]]), the woman he encountered, is a junior school teacher in the Forest of Dean who lives with her widowed coal mining father and two brothers, also miners. Meanwhile, Arthur has returned to the area to trace the woman he is obsessed with. He finally encounters Eileen in a wood near the Eversons' cottage, and returns to their home where Arthur claims his wife has died in a motorcycle accident. He and Eileen eventually make love after the rest of the household have gone to bed.
-== Notable band leaders and musicians ==+;"Part 3 Easy Come, Easy Go"
-Famous British dance band leaders and musicians included (see also [[List of British big band leaders]]):+The Parkers' marriage briefly revives after Joan smears lipstick on her nipples, and appears to respond to some of her husband's sexual fantasies. Joan is persuaded to use her inheritance to finance Arthur's desire to open a record shop. Meanwhile, Eileen has discovered she is pregnant and is forced to give up her job. After unexpectedly meeting a young blind girl ([[Yolande Palfrey]]) in a field, whom he lusts after under his breath, Arthur reappears at the Everson family home, and his relationship with Eileen revives. The blind girl is raped and murdered, for which Arthur is arrested, but soon released. Eileen moves to London, and loses contact with Arthur again.
-{{col-begin}}+
-{{col-break|width=25%}}+
-* [[Bert Ambrose]]+
-* [[Bertini (Bertram Harry Gutsell)|Bertini]]+
-* [[Billy Cotton]]+
-* [[Fred Elizalde]]+
-* [[Roy Fox]]+
-* [[Geraldo (bandleader)|Geraldo]]+
-* [[Carroll Gibbons]]+
-* [[Nat Gonella]]+
-* [[Henry Hall (bandleader)|Henry Hall]]+
-{{col-break}}+
-* [[Jack Harris (bandleader)|Jack Harris]]+
-* [[Bobby Howell (musician)|Bobby Howell]]+
-* [[Jack Hylton]]+
-* [[Jack Jackson (British radio)|Jack Jackson]]+
-* [[Charlie Kunz]]+
-* [[Sidney Kyte]]+
-* [[Sidney Lipton]]+
-* [[Joe Loss]]+
-* [[Percival Mackey]]+
-{{col-break}}+
-* [[Mantovani]]+
-* [[Billy Merrin]]+
-* [[Ray Noble (musician)|Ray Noble]]+
-* [[Jack Payne (bandleader)|Jack Payne]]+
-* [[Lou Preager]]+
-* [[Oscar Rabin]]+
-* [[Edmundo Ros]]+
-* [[Harry Roy]]+
-* [[Victor Silvester]]+
-{{col-break}}+
-* [[Debroy Somers]]+
-* [[Lew Stone]]+
-* [[Billy Ternent]]+
-* [[Billy Thorburn]]+
-* [[Jay Whidden]]+
-* [[Jay Wilbur]]+
-* [[Maurice Winnick]]+
-{{col-end}}+
-== Notable vocalists ==+;"Part 4 Better Think Twice"
-Many popular singers rose to fame as vocalists on recordings by the British dance bands. They are not always attributed on the record label, except for the description "with vocal refrain", but an experienced listener can usually identify the voices of these otherwise anonymous singers. Famous British dance band vocalists included:+Almost destitute, Eileen eats little and is in arrears for her cheap hotel room. She meets the superficially sympathetic Tom ([[Hywel Bennett]]), a wealthy man with no obvious occupation, and becomes dependent upon him. Arthur opens his new record shop, but he has very few customers, an exception being Tom. The two men get along very well, and Arthur delivers some records to the apartment where Eileen is recovering from an (illegal) abortion paid for by Tom, but the couple are not reunited. Arthur later glimpses Eileen in the pub where she had met Tom, and they leave for the record shop. Unaware of Arthur's connection to Tom, Eileen explains that the man who paid for her abortion now has a hold over her, and he intends to be her pimp. The couple decide they have to escape from London, and shatter Arthur's stock of fragile shellac discs.
-{{col-begin}}+
-{{col-break|width=25%}}+
-* [[Al Bowlly]]+
-* [[Alan Breeze]]+
-* [[Sam Browne (musician)|Sam Browne]]+
-* [[Elsie Carlisle]]+
-{{col-break}}+
-* [[Sam Costa]]+
-* [[Evelyn Dall]]+
-* [[Frances Day]]+
-* [[Denny Dennis]]+
-{{col-break}}+
-* [[Chick Henderson (singer)|Chick Henderson]]+
-* [[Anne Lenner]]+
-* [[Vera Lynn]]+
-* [[Pat McCormack (singer)|Pat McCormack]]+
-{{col-break}}+
-* [[Val Rosing]]+
-* [[J. Pat O'Malley|Pat O'Malley]]+
-{{col-end}}+
-== British service dance bands ==+;"Part 5 Painting the Clouds"
-[[The Squadronaires]] are a [[Royal Air Force]] band which became the best known of the British service dance bands during [[World War II]], with hits like "There's Something in the Air" and "South Rampart Street Parade". They played at dances and concerts for service personnel, broadcast on the [[BBC]] and recorded on the Decca label. Many of the members formerly played as side men in [[Bert Ambrose]]’s band, and they continued to be popular after the war under the leadership of [[Ronnie Aldrich]]. Other British service dance bands included the Blue Mariners, the Blue Rockets and the Skyrockets.+A police inspector ([[Dave King (actor)|Dave King]]) visits Joan after Arthur's unexplained disappearance and the destruction of his retail stock. Her comments about Arthur's sexual tastes, particularly his wish for his wife to move around the house without wearing her knickers, lead the police to make a connection with the murder of the blind girl whose undergarment had been removed. 'The accordion man' is haunted by her image and his responsibility for the murder. (It is clear he is not delusional over this event.) He is disorientated when running into Eileen while she is street walking; the dead girl bears a resemblance to her. Arthur is now living off Eileen's immoral earnings, and she is a client of a Conservative MP, Major Archibald Paxville ([[Ronald Fraser (actor)|Ronald Fraser]]), who she unsuccessfully attempts to blackmail. 'The accordion man' commits suicide, probably by throwing himself off [[Hammersmith Bridge]] (which also features ominously in ''[[The Singing Detective]]''), and his corpse is discovered. Arthur and Eileen's false optimism for the future is dashed when they see a newspaper headline indicating he is wanted for murder.
-== Notable venues ==+;"Part 6 Says My Heart"
-Cafés, clubs, hotels and restaurants in London noted for British dance band music during the Golden Age included:+Arthur and Eileen are on the run. They spend the night in a barn, but Eileen's attempt to find help eventually leads her to shoot dead a lonely and deranged farmer ([[Philip Locke]]). They feed and clean themselves in his farmhouse, and scavenge through the man's possessions for money and things they can sell. Leaving the farm Arthur stops, thinking he has seen 'the accordion man', but cannot restart their stolen car. Passing police take the couple in for questioning, and Arthur is charged with the murder of the blind girl. In the crown court inconsistencies in Arthur's various accounts, and a witness unwittingly confusing Arthur's fixation on Eileen for an obsession with the blind girl lead to his conviction and execution. After Eileen notes the time set for his hanging has passed, Arthur reappears and a happy ending is announced by the two characters.
-* The Ambassadors Club, Conduit Street+It should be noted that Arthur displays the character of an [[unreliable narrator]] and may in reality be a mass kidnapper and murderer who hallucinates people to offload the blame for his crimes.
-* [[London Astoria|The Astoria Ballroom]], 157, Charing Cross Road, WC2+
-* Bat Club+
-* [[The Bag O'Nails]], [[Kingly Street]]+
-* [[The Berkeley|Berkeley Hotel]], Piccadilly+
-* Café Anglais, Leicester Square+
-* [[Café de Paris (London)|Café de Paris]], Coventry Street+
-* [[Carlton Hotel, London|Carlton Hotel]], 90, Belgrave Road, Victoria+
-* Casani Club, Imperial House, Regent Street+
-* [[Hotel Cecil (London)|Hotel Cecil]], Strand+
-* Ciro’s Club, Orange Street, off Haymarket+
-* Devonshire House, Piccadilly+
-* [[The Dorchester]], Park Lane+
-* Embassy Club, Old Bond Street+
-{{col-break}}+
-* Fischer's Restaurant, Bond Street+
-* [[Grosvenor House Hotel]], Park Lane+
-* Hatchettes, Piccadilly+
-* Hollywood restaurant, Piccadilly+
-* [[Odeon Haymarket|Kit-Cat Club]], Haymarket+
-* Monseigneur grill restaurant, 16-17 Jermyn Street, SW1+
-* [[The May Fair]], Berkeley Square+
-* Murray's Club, Beak Street+
-* New Princes, Piccadilly+
-* [[Le Méridien Piccadilly Hotel|Piccadilly Hotel]], Piccadilly+
-* [[Quaglino's]], Bury Street+
-* Romano's, Strand+
-* [[Savoy Hotel]], Strand+
-* [[The Waldorf Hilton, London]], The Aldwych+
-== In popular culture ==+==See also==
-* The 1935 British musical comedy film [[She Shall Have Music]] featured Jack Hylton as himself in a speaking role, and his orchestra.+*[[Al Bowlly]], song composer used extensively throughout the series
-* The 1937 British musical comedy film [[Calling All Stars]] featured Bert Ambrose, Carroll Gibbons and Evelyn Dall.+
-* The 1938 British musical comedy film [[Kicking the Moon Around]] featured Bert Ambrose and Evelyn Dall.+
-* The BBC Radio programme ''[[Dance Band Days]]'' ran from 1969 to 1995 with a playlist of British dance band music. It was presented by [[Alan Dell]], and subsequently by [[Malcolm Laycock]]. The programme was later transferred to [[Sunday Night at 10]], until the British dance band content was dropped by the BBC in 2008.+
-* The BBC Radio programme ''Thanks For The Memory'' presented by [[Hubert Gregg]] regularly featured British dance band music, and ran for 35 years until his death in 2004.+
-* The English television dramatist [[Dennis Potter]] was responsible for repopularizing music from the British dance band era in several of his works, with his actors miming period songs in [[Pennies from Heaven (TV series)|''Pennies From Heaven'']] (1978) and ''[[The Singing Detective]]'' (1986).+
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Pennies From Heaven is a 1978 BBC musical drama serial written by Dennis Potter. The title is taken from the song "Pennies from Heaven" written by Johnny Burke and Arthur Johnston. It was one of several Potter serials (another being The Singing Detective) to mix the reality of the drama with a dark fantasy content, and the earliest of his works where the characters burst into extended performances of popular songs.

[edit]

Synopsis

"Part 1 Down Sunnyside Lane"

In the mid-1930s, Arthur and Joan Parker (Bob Hoskins and Gemma Craven) are an incompatible married couple living in the London suburbs. Arthur, a travelling sheet music salesman, is a passionate man who is frustrated by his wife's repressed nature. On a car journey to the Gloucester area he picks up 'the accordion man', a vagrant (Kenneth Colley) who invariably busks on the instrument in the vicinity of the other characters, but the signs of the man's mental illness soon lead Arthur to reject him after they spend several hours together. While trying to persuade a shopkeeper (Arnold Peters) to take some of his goods, Arthur notices a female customer with whom he immediately becomes besotted. Arthur and 'the accordion man' both manage to frighten the young woman. Before returning to London, Arthur has sex with Marjorie, a Gloucestershire prostitute (Rosemary Martin) in the back of his car.

"Part 2 The Sweetest Thing"

Arthur's bank manager (Peter Cellier) refuses to give him a loan. Eileen Everson (Cheryl Campbell), the woman he encountered, is a junior school teacher in the Forest of Dean who lives with her widowed coal mining father and two brothers, also miners. Meanwhile, Arthur has returned to the area to trace the woman he is obsessed with. He finally encounters Eileen in a wood near the Eversons' cottage, and returns to their home where Arthur claims his wife has died in a motorcycle accident. He and Eileen eventually make love after the rest of the household have gone to bed.

"Part 3 Easy Come, Easy Go"

The Parkers' marriage briefly revives after Joan smears lipstick on her nipples, and appears to respond to some of her husband's sexual fantasies. Joan is persuaded to use her inheritance to finance Arthur's desire to open a record shop. Meanwhile, Eileen has discovered she is pregnant and is forced to give up her job. After unexpectedly meeting a young blind girl (Yolande Palfrey) in a field, whom he lusts after under his breath, Arthur reappears at the Everson family home, and his relationship with Eileen revives. The blind girl is raped and murdered, for which Arthur is arrested, but soon released. Eileen moves to London, and loses contact with Arthur again.

"Part 4 Better Think Twice"

Almost destitute, Eileen eats little and is in arrears for her cheap hotel room. She meets the superficially sympathetic Tom (Hywel Bennett), a wealthy man with no obvious occupation, and becomes dependent upon him. Arthur opens his new record shop, but he has very few customers, an exception being Tom. The two men get along very well, and Arthur delivers some records to the apartment where Eileen is recovering from an (illegal) abortion paid for by Tom, but the couple are not reunited. Arthur later glimpses Eileen in the pub where she had met Tom, and they leave for the record shop. Unaware of Arthur's connection to Tom, Eileen explains that the man who paid for her abortion now has a hold over her, and he intends to be her pimp. The couple decide they have to escape from London, and shatter Arthur's stock of fragile shellac discs.

"Part 5 Painting the Clouds"

A police inspector (Dave King) visits Joan after Arthur's unexplained disappearance and the destruction of his retail stock. Her comments about Arthur's sexual tastes, particularly his wish for his wife to move around the house without wearing her knickers, lead the police to make a connection with the murder of the blind girl whose undergarment had been removed. 'The accordion man' is haunted by her image and his responsibility for the murder. (It is clear he is not delusional over this event.) He is disorientated when running into Eileen while she is street walking; the dead girl bears a resemblance to her. Arthur is now living off Eileen's immoral earnings, and she is a client of a Conservative MP, Major Archibald Paxville (Ronald Fraser), who she unsuccessfully attempts to blackmail. 'The accordion man' commits suicide, probably by throwing himself off Hammersmith Bridge (which also features ominously in The Singing Detective), and his corpse is discovered. Arthur and Eileen's false optimism for the future is dashed when they see a newspaper headline indicating he is wanted for murder.

"Part 6 Says My Heart"

Arthur and Eileen are on the run. They spend the night in a barn, but Eileen's attempt to find help eventually leads her to shoot dead a lonely and deranged farmer (Philip Locke). They feed and clean themselves in his farmhouse, and scavenge through the man's possessions for money and things they can sell. Leaving the farm Arthur stops, thinking he has seen 'the accordion man', but cannot restart their stolen car. Passing police take the couple in for questioning, and Arthur is charged with the murder of the blind girl. In the crown court inconsistencies in Arthur's various accounts, and a witness unwittingly confusing Arthur's fixation on Eileen for an obsession with the blind girl lead to his conviction and execution. After Eileen notes the time set for his hanging has passed, Arthur reappears and a happy ending is announced by the two characters.

It should be noted that Arthur displays the character of an unreliable narrator and may in reality be a mass kidnapper and murderer who hallucinates people to offload the blame for his crimes.

[edit]

See also

  • Al Bowlly, song composer used extensively throughout the series


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