PomPoms Up!

by Carol Cleveland

  “Not coffee, love – Uppers! – and then Downers to sleep at night.”

  When it came to drugs it seemed I was still quite naive.

  Sometimes, after a day’s filming, we girls would go home and get ourselves all dolled-up for our evenings out with the boys. We’d arrive at the Dorchester Hotel and spend half an hour or so having drinks in their suites, while they got ready. They would time everything perfectly so as to make a grand entrance wherever we went.

  One evening we were taken to a very elegant and popular restaurant in Kensington. I think it was chosen specifically because it had a large central staircase leading down to the dining area. When Sammy and Peter appeared at the top of the stairs with their entourage of Dolly Birds every face in the room turned towards us and there was applause as we slowly descended. I have to admit that I felt rather like Royalty at the time.

  The film’s director, Richard Donner, was already there along with some other friends of theirs, including the lovely actor George Saunders who I was seated next to. I had a very interesting conversation with him over dinner, but not a particularly happy one. He was not a happy man and clearly still depressed over the death of his third wife less than a year earlier. I spent most of the evening just trying to cheer him up. Therefore it was not altogether surprising when I heard of his death by suicide four years later, but it did sadden me very much.

  A few nights later some of us went with Sammy to see Judy Garland at The Talk of The Town. He didn’t tell us where we were going, as he wanted it to be a surprise. Boy, was I surprised – and ecstatically happy too! The Wizard of Oz was the first film I remember seeing and I was still in awe of her, so this would definitely be a night to remember.

  She seemed a little nervous to begin with. Her voice was not what it had been and some of the words were slurred, but it didn’t matter – here was the great star, the legend, the one-and-only Miss Judy Garland who held the audience in the palm of her hand, like no one else could. We went back stage afterwards and now it was me who felt nervous at meeting her. She was surrounded by people, so there wasn’t much time to chat and sadly she was unable to accept Sammy’s offer to join us for dinner. Maybe another time?

  At the end of filming there was a big ‘Rap’ party on the studio Set, with Sammy and Peter entertaining us all. It was another magical evening but it didn’t end there. When things started to quiet down, the boys and a few of us girls went to a nightclub where I finally had a chance to dance with Sammy. This was the moment I’d been waiting for – and no other dancing partner has ever matched up!

  I was kept quite busy over the following twelve months with several more film and TV roles and my first national stage tour – I was very happy with the way my career was progressing. I enjoyed the occasional comedy part, but I was playing mainly straight roles and that is what I thought I was best at. Then, in 1969, my career took a totally different and unexpected turn that would change things forever!

  Chapter Thirteen

  IT’S MONTY PYTHON’S FLYING CIRCUS!

  By 1969, I’d played a variety of roles and, I think – thanks to my mother’s great sense of humour, that I had luckily inherited – I could do comedy equally as well as drama. Even so, I had never thought of myself as a comedienne and that was certainly not the path I’d intended to go down. But fate has a way of changing things!

  So far the only work I’d done for BBC TV was three plays in which I had straight roles, so it came as a surprise when I was cast in an episode of the highly popular comedy show, Hark at Barker, with top British comedian Ronnie Barker. I don’t remember exactly what role I played but it must have made a good impression on somebody at the ‘Beeb’ because not long afterwards I was called in for an interview with John Howard Davies, a BBC TV producer and director.

  John told me about a new comedy sketch show, oddly entitled Monty Python’s Flying Circus, that would soon be going into production. There would eventually be thirteen episodes but only the first five had so far been written and he was looking to cast a female to be in four of them. The director of the series, Ian MacNaughton, was busy with another project at the time, so John would direct these five episodes, after which Ian would take over. My first question was:

  “Is it something to do with a circus?”

  “No, nothing like it.”

  “Well, why’s it called that?”

  “Don’t ask me! It’s just some crazy name they made up.”

  That name wasn’t their first choice however. Other names like Owl Stretching Time; A Horse, a Spoon and a Basin and Bun; Wackett, Buzzard, Stubble and Boot were all considered. The final choice, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, sort of evolved. Michael Mills, the BBC head of comedy, wanted ‘Circus’ to be included because he referred to the boys as a circus. The word ‘Flying’ was added in order to make the show sound less like a circus and ‘Monty Python’ was a name the boys liked because it sounded like a really bad theatrical agent. The title was later shortened to simply Monty Python.

  This could be very exciting as it would be the first time I’d done more than two episodes of a TV show. I rang my agent as soon as I got home and she’d already heard from the BBC that I’d been offered the job…. but we had a problem.

  Waiting for an acting job can sometimes be like waiting for a bus – two or three will come along at the same time. This offer came just when my agent and I had decided I should be doing more stage work and she had already put me up for a lead role in a play, which we were waiting to hear about. The producer had just called to say that it was between me and one other, and the decision would be made the next day. I didn’t sleep that night, thinking about this very difficult career choice that I might have to make. My agent felt I should do the play and I couldn’t help feeling she was right, as that’s what I had trained for and it was a good, dramatic part.

  Fortunately, I didn’t have to make the choice, but I often wonder how different my life might have panned out if I’d had to.

  My contract arrived for Monty Python’s Flying Circus and I was delighted that I’d be getting fifty pounds an episode – quite a lot of money back then! Of course, had it read that I was signing up to do a ‘CULT TV series’ I would have asked for a darn sight more!

  The script for the first episode followed soon after, which I had to read several times in order to try and make some sense of it. The sketches ended strangely or sometimes didn’t seem to end at all! Others had an odd beginning too. It certainly wasn’t the sort of humour I was used to and I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it all. I hoped that all would become clear when, the following month, I went to the BBC rehearsal rooms for our first read-through. Standing around the coffee table were the six men who would be responsible for changing my life forever!

  Eric Idle, John Cleese and Graham Chapman were all at Cambridge University together and were part of the famous Cambridge Footlights Revue, while Michael Palin and Terry Jones had formed their writing partnership at Oxford University. The animator – who would eventually also become the sixth performer – was Terry Gilliam, an American Occidental College graduate who was a friend of John’s. They were all well-established on TV as both writers and performers and I was a fan of the other shows I’d seen them in, like At Last the 1948 Show and Do Not Adjust Your Set, but I’d never worked with or even met any of them before, so I was feeling a little nervous.

  They all welcomed me with open arms and immediately put my fears to rest. John was rather flirty; Michael seemed rather shy; Terry Jones was very jolly; Eric was a tiny bit aloof; Graham was very polite and Terry Gilliam was very loud and a bit manic. I felt an immediate rapport with him, as we were both Americans.

  I now discovered that the sketches would be linked together with Terry Gilliam’s animations, which explained why they didn’t have a proper beginning or end, but as nobody knew exactly what these animations would be – including Terry – it still left me a little confused during the read-through. I was none the wiser after we’d done a run-throug
h of it! These were all highly educated university chaps, but you wouldn’t know it judging by their schoolboy antics that day. They just laughed their way through the script! I returned home and called my mother to say,

  “You know…. I’m not sure this will last more than five episodes.”

  How wrong I was!

  Until now, I was unaware that it was Barry Took, a BBC producer, who had brought them all together for this first time to do, “some sort of comedy show.” They’d been given completely free range to write whatever they wanted…. no concept, no executive structure…. they just had to keep it in the range of common law. I think the boys at the Beeb subsequently rued the day that they had given them quite so much freedom, as there were a fair number of complaints from viewers during the first series! They came from religious and homophobic groups, as well as pet lovers. One of my favourites came from a lady who complained that a member of the team was a homosexual and went on to quote from the bible that, “any man who lies with a man should be taken out and stoned.” Eric wrote back to her and said:

  “We’ve found out who it is and we’ve taken him out and killed him.”

  There was a sketch where John sits on a cat and another where a cat is being swung around by its tail. In another, Terry Jones is a xylophone player who uses his wooden mallet to strike mice which squeak out the tune Bells of St Mary’s. Come to think of it…. I’m not surprised there were complaints! It certainly wasn’t very PC and they got away with things that would never be allowed today, like naming a character ‘Mrs Nigger Baiter’!

  I had very little to do in my first episode – in fact, I didn’t even speak! Instead I made various sounds. First I was a lamb who thinks it’s a bird and is attempting to fly out of a tree, with little success. I’m not seen, but heard (baaaaaah…. thump!). Then, in the Marriage Guidance Counsellor sketch, I’m described in the script as, “a beautiful blond buxom wench, in the full bloom of her young womanhood.” All I had to do was look coy and sexy, flirt outrageously with Eric and then go behind a screen with him and do a lot of giggling. The boys liked my giggle, especially John, and it was incorporated into several more sketches later.

  They felt badly in the beginning that they had so little to offer me in the way of interesting characters, but then they weren’t to know what I could offer them. By the time I’d recorded my third episode I think they realised that I wasn’t just a pretty face, but someone who had a real flare for comedy, could take direction well and was prepared to be as silly and outrageous as they wanted me to be. It was then that Michael came up to me and said:

  “I’m so sorry we don’t have better material for you, Carol. It’s just that we’re not very good at writing parts for women.”

  He put it down to their public school upbringing. He was right, of course – in the beginning my roles were rather airy, whilst theirs were much more full-bodied. They also played the older women – the Pepperpots – far better than I ever could. Things did improve as time went on and with each series I was given more and better things to do.

  After that third episode I had a week off and it was during that week that I was supposed to go to Rome to film a scene with Robert Wagner. I couldn’t believe my luck, in that the timing was so perfect and I was much looking forward to working with Mr Wagner and going to Rome too. But, it wasn’t to be. The casting agent called to say that the scene would now be shot two weeks later. As my agent and I had assumed that I would be in the remainder of the Monty Python series, we had to turn down the film. Later that day she contacted the BBC to finalise the rest of my contract, only to be told that there was NO further contract! She immediately called the film people back, but it was too late…. they’d already re-cast my part.

  I was miserable – not only had I lost the film role, but it appeared I wasn’t needed for the rest of the TV series either.

  The following week, I returned to the BBC rehearsal rooms to join the boys for what I now knew would be my last episode with them. As soon as I arrived, Michael came over to me and said:

  “Carol darling, we’ve been doing some more writing and we have a great part for you in episode seven – we’ve written it with you in mind. It’s about….”

  Before he could finish, I told him that my contract had not been renewed. He was amazed and said:

  “What? That can’t be!”

  He then went over to tell the others and they all came back to find out if this was true. Apparently they had also assumed I would be in the rest of the series. They said that I mustn’t worry because as far as they were concerned it was me they wanted and nobody else. They then put their mighty Python foot down and I was re-instated.

  It turned out that our new director, Ian MacNaughton, had always planned on having different ladies in each episode, rather than one regular one. I think he may have had a lot of friends that he’d promised work to. It was now agreed that he could cast any minor female roles himself, but I would do all the major ones. Thanks guys!

  I have to admit that I was a little in awe of the boys to begin with, not just because of their talent, but because they were all so darn smart! They were all university graduates and I was just a Californian high school girl. While they were studying Greek mythology I was still reading movie magazines! I consider myself to be fairly intelligent but I’m not nearly as quick of mind as they are and I don’t have their vast knowledge. Consequently I used to worry that I might not reach their high standards. I needn’t have worried of course, as they always treated me as an equal. As time went on I became much more self-assured and now I’m totally confident that I can hold my own against them in any situation.

  I never got involved in the writing, but I’m sure that if I had come up with an idea for a sketch they would have certainly considered it. Their Pythonesque humour was quite unique and, even though I came to understand it well enough to perform it, I couldn’t have begun to create it.

  As the first series progressed I found it was John who I got on best with and who made me laugh the most. I thought he was quite attractive and there was something about him that reminded me of the comedian Jerry Lewis – who I’d been a great fan of as a teenager – especially when he did his silly walk. Here was this intellectual who could pull some very funny faces and do very strange things with his body. He would also giggle like a girl sometimes! I think he was the most logical, a bit moody and certainly complex. He was the one who would change the most during the course of Python.

  He was married to Connie Booth at the time and was clearly attracted to American women. To date, he’s married four of them! I think I can safely say that he was a ‘breast’ man, judging by the way I would sometimes catch him standing behind me, looking down my cleavage. Near the end of the series he suggested to me that I should have a cabaret act and he offered to write it for me. He said I could be another Aimi MacDonald – who he’d worked with in a previous TV series. It was meant as a compliment but I didn’t want to be another Aimi MacDonald – I wanted to be ME! I didn’t see myself as a cabaret artist so I never took him up on his offer…. which I rather regret now.

  Surprisingly, I hadn’t immediately sussed that Graham was gay! I’d been working with him for about two months before John told me the story of how he himself had only found out after he’d known Graham for a much longer period than that. Apparently, Graham had kept it a secret from everybody and finally announced it at a party…. stunning all his close friends. He then introduced his new partner, David Sherlock. David would be with him until the day he died.

  Graham was a lovely kind man with a big heart, but it took me a while to feel totally relaxed with him, not just because of his overt homosexuality, but mainly because of his heavy drinking that could be quite worrying at times. Graham did everything to excess. I would never have a drink myself before a show on recording day and I don’t think the other boys did either…. except for Graham. Graham would have not just one but several drinks in the BBC bar prior to going downstairs to record the show in front
of a live audience. I was astounded that he was able to do this. There was a set, limited time for the recording and not much allowance for re-takes, but we’d often have to do a scene several times because Graham was quite tipsy. On one occasion we had to do up to something like twenty takes because he was slurring his words so badly. I was always surprised that he was allowed to get away with it. Such was the power of Python!

  Terry Gilliam was pretty laid back in comparison with the others and he had his own unique and rather bizarre sense of humour. In the early days he didn’t do any performing, but just supplied the weird and wonderful animations that would become an integral part of the show. Hence I didn’t see as much of him as I did the others. After the read-through of each episode he would disappear and we wouldn’t see him again until recording day. While we were doing a technical rehearsal, he’d be putting the final touches to his off-beat cartoon characters. He’d suddenly appear and grab whoever had a free moment to go upstairs with him, to add a voice to his creations. We’d be shown the final result at the end of rehearsal and only then would we see how cleverly his animations would link the sketches together. There was no point in objecting to any of it – too late…. it was done! I will always remember the first time I saw them. I stood staring at the TV monitor with my mouth open and muttering, “Oh, my God!” as the top of a smiling man’s head opened up and his brains flew out in all directions!

  I liked Terry a lot because he was a bit loopy, always smiling, and because he was a straight talker. I didn’t feel I had to be careful about what I said around him and if I had a concern about anything he’d usually be the one I’d talk to about it. Early into the series Terry phoned me one evening at home to ask me out on a date. He was the only one who wasn’t in a relationship at the time and he didn’t know about Valentino. I told him I was engaged to a very jealous Italian who fortunately wasn’t at home when he called. I think it would have been a fun date…. and who knows what might have come of it had I been single too? As it is, he’s been married to the lovely Maggie – who was our Monty Python make-up lady – for many years now. They actually got married while we were doing MPFC, but kept it a secret from all of us for some reason!