Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe (John Eric Bartholomew; 14 May 1926 – 28 May 1984) and Ernie Wise (Ernest Wiseman; 27 November 1925 – 21 March 1999), known as Morecambe and Wise (and sometimes as Eric and Ernie), were an English comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's sudden death in 1984. They have been described as "the most illustrious, and the best-loved, double-act that Britain has ever produced".[1]
"M&W" redirects here. For the gear company, see M&W Gear Co.Morecambe and Wise
- John Eric Bartholomew: 14 May 1926, Morecambe, Lancashire, England
- Ernest Wiseman: 27 November 1925, Bramley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
- 28 May 1984 (aged 58), Cheltenham General Hospital, Gloucestershire, England
- 21 March 1999 (aged 73), Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England
Film, television, stand-up, music, books
1941–1984
On a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, The Morecambe and Wise Show was placed 14th. In September 2006, they were voted by the general public as number 2 in a poll of TV's 50 Greatest Stars. Their early career was the subject of the 2011 television biopic Eric and Ernie, and their 1970s career was the subject of the television biopic Eric, Ernie and Me in 2017.
In 1976, Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise were both awarded the OBE. In 1999, they were posthumously awarded the BAFTA Fellowship. In 2013, they were honoured with a blue plaque at Teddington Studios, where their last four series of The Morecambe and Wise Show were recorded.[2]
Morecambe and Wise's friendship began in 1940 when they were each booked separately to appear in Jack Hylton's revue Youth Takes a Bow at the Nottingham Empire Theatre. At the suggestion of Eric's mother, Sadie, they worked on a double act. They made their double act debut in August 1941 at the Liverpool Empire. War service broke up the act but they reunited by chance at the Swansea Empire Theatre in 1946 when they joined forces again. They made their name in variety, appearing in a variety circus, the Windmill Theatre, the Glasgow Empire and many venues around Britain.[3] After this they made their name in radio, first in Variety Fanfare (Ronnie Taylor, Hulme Hippodrome) made by the BBC in Manchester, and then with their own radio show, You're Only Young Once, first broadcast on 9 November 1953.[4]
With national fame they transferred to television in 1954. Their debut TV show, Running Wild, was not well received and led to a damning newspaper review: "Definition of the week: TV set – the box in which they buried Morecambe and Wise." Eric apparently carried a copy of this review around with him ever afterward, and from then on the duo kept a tight control over their material. In 1956 they were offered a spot in the Winifred Atwell show with material written by Johnny Speight and this was a success. In 1959 they topped the bill in BBC TV's long-running variety show The Good Old Days in a Boxing Day edition of the programme. In later years the pair would become a Christmas TV institution in their own right.
They had a series of shows that spanned over twenty years, during which time they developed and honed their act, most notably after moving to the BBC in 1968, where they were to be teamed with their long-term writer Eddie Braben. It is this period of their careers that is widely regarded as their "glory days". Their shows were:
The pair starred in three feature films during the 1960s – The Intelligence Men (1965), That Riviera Touch (1966), and The Magnificent Two (1967). In 1983 they made their last film, Night Train to Murder. They were also guests on many television variety series; however, it was in a US series that they appeared as guests most frequently, featuring twelve times on The Ed Sullivan Show between 1963 and 1968 – more than any other British entertainers. The duo were featured in a comic book in 1977.[5]
Bring Me Sunshine was a gala concert held at the London Palladium on 28 November 1984 in the presence of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh in aid of the British Heart Foundation and was held in memory of the comedian Eric Morecambe who had died the previous May after many years of heart problems. It was hosted by Eric's long-time partner Ernie Wise and featured a host of personalities all paying their tribute to Morecambe. The show began with a dance routine, the theme for the whole evening's music being "sunshine" the dancers were accompanied by "You Are the Sunshine of My Life", which was followed by the big entrance of Ernie Wise who first spoke, and then sang the duo's signature tune. This was an emotive moment for Wise, and one that showed how big a part Morecambe had played in his life. Other stars that appeared over the course of the evening were:
There was also a sequence in which the guests of honour were announced and appeared on stage, these included the following guest stars, fans and celebrities:
The programme was filmed live and televised on ITV on Christmas Day of that year; in his summing up Des O'Connor gave a touching and heartfelt tribute to Morecambe proclaiming that "...on the way here tonight I went through Trafalgar Square and the Christmas decorations were going up. I looked at the giant tree and thought to myself 'there's going to be one less star on the tree this year.' " It was a glittering night that featured the cream of British talent paying tribute to a man who had been considered the best of the best among his peers.
The programme, made and broadcast by Thames Television was aired once and has never been repeated or made commercially available in any format. However, the segment of Bruce Forsyth's piano playing and dancing was used in a compilation programme, Heroes Of Comedy, made in 1994 for Channel 4.
Tribute album[edit]
Eric and Ernie often cited the earlier comedy team Flanagan and Allen as influences on their own work; although Morecambe and Wise never imitated or copied Flanagan and Allen, they did sometimes work explicit references to the earlier team into their own cross-talk routines and sketches. In 1971 they recorded a tribute album, Morecambe and Wise Sing Flanagan and Allen (Philips 6382 095), in which they performed some of the earlier team's more popular songs in their own style, without attempting to imitate the originals.
Personal lives[edit]
Eric Morecambe married Joan Bartlett in 1952; six weeks later, Ernie Wise married dancer Doreen Blythe, whom he had met in 1947. The Morecambes raised three children, but Wise resolved never to have a family; in Doreen's words, "Ernie always said that as soon as children are involved the wife stays home, and that's where trouble lies."[34]
Morecambe had periods of poor health, and smoked and drank heavily. He suffered a heart attack in 1968, followed by another after bypass surgery in 1979; these compelled him to stop smoking and drinking, and he became a celebrity spokesman for heart research. His fatal heart attack, in 1984, struck during a curtain call of a performance in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.[35]
After Morecambe's death, Wise fell back on his song-and-dance skills and pursued a solo career, with limited success. He ultimately gave up performing and found new success as an elder statesman of British comedy, giving interviews, telling anecdotes, and appearing at awards ceremonies.[36] Wise maintained a vacation home in Florida, where he suffered two heart attacks in November 1998. After triple bypass surgery, Wise returned to England and convalesced for five months at Nuffield Hospital in Berkshire, where he died peacefully.[37]