COR!
T H E
C O M E D Y
M A G A Z I N E
Last of the
Summer Wine Issue 2
FEBRUARY 2021
Jacki Piper Interview
Contents Burns & Allen An affectionate celebration of the beloved couple
page 4 Summer Wine Memories A centenary salute to Frank Thornton and Peter Sallis
page 12 The Cor! Interview Welcome to Cor! Magazine. Editor: Robert Ross Designer: Gemma Fanning
Robert Ross exclusively chats  comedy husbands with Jacki Piper
page 18
HELLO CHUMS!
Editor's note Well, issue two and they said it would never last! I cracked that gag in 1993 for the original issue two of Cor! and nobody laughed then either. Oh, well. Many thanks for joining us for a second celebration of all things comedy, still deep in lockdown but happily insisting that this year comedy is the answer. Again! As it’s the month of Valentine’s, there’s a lot of love in the air for issue 2 of Cor! - The Comedy Magazine. There’s an affectionate, whistle stop kiss to the laughter legacy of on-stage and off partnership George Burns and Gracie Allen. We are also delighted to present an exclusive interview with the effervescent Jacki Piper, who happily spills the beans on a myriad of favourite screen and stage husbands! The year 2021 marks the 100th birthdays of two beloved comedy actors: Frank Thornton and Peter Sallis. Of course, both brought laconic joy to Last of the Summer Wine, the world’s longest-running situation comedy, and as a centenary salute I share a few precious memories from my charmed life up on location in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire. Happy days.
Oh, and talking of love. Our Hall of Fame this issue, again mirroring the old print version of Cor! from the 1990s, is my all-time favourite comedy hero: Mr. Sidney James. Back in the day, I showcased a late fifties Sid. Here he is as petty crook, Sid Carter, from production on Carry On Matron, in the Autumn of 1971. Love it. Obviously! And if you are enjoying Cor!, I urge you to join us across the social medias for our Daily Comedy fun on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, as well as the Comedy Historian live shows. Sign up to the free and fun monthly newsletter for all the latest news. It’s a laughter-filled, family-feel to our chats and hopefully you are gleaning a little bit of happiness during these most unusual of times. Remember, together we’ll be Okay.
Robert x 3
The COR! Interview! Mr. & Mrs. In Comedy
Jacki Piper
As it’s the month of Valentine's and love is in the air I thought it would be an apt pleasure to chat to Jacki Piper: a dear friend of mine who has had more than her fair share of husbands in a lifetime in stage and screen comedy. I wondered first of all whether Jacki could remember who played her first husband. ‘Gosh! I’m trying to think. I was in weekly repertory theatre in Rhyl, doing a different play each and every week. I remember the first play I did was written by Roy Plomley - he of Desert Island Discs fame - and it was a comedy about the most unlikely of subjects: Income Tax! As far as I can remember it was called Tax Free. It wasn’t that much of a play, to be honest, but I was playing the maid and it was a wonderful part.’ But was she married! ‘Heavens! I honestly can’t remember. I doubt it very much. All I know is I was getting lots of lovely laughter, plus I was being paid two pounds a week! At the end of that season I was off to Colwyn Bay, where I was going to be paid ten pounds a week. A fortune!’ Hobson’s Choice was a few years later, wasn’t it, but you were certainly playing a married woman in that: ‘Yes, that was much later. I was Maggie in that. Another terrific part, with the wonderful Bill Maynard playing my father. My Willie Mossop was Don Crann. He was a wonderful actor. He became well known for playing Postman Pat on stage. Such a good actor.’
Another good actor to play your husband was David Jason. ‘Ah! Yes, of course. A very good actor, on a very good script. When you are working on a script by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson, you know you are on safe ground.’ That was the Galton and Simpson Comedy episode Don’t Dilly Dally on the Way: ‘That’s right. Jimmy Edwards was the star comic. David and I were playing newlyweds who have bought Jimmy’s house, only to find that his wife, played by the always brilliant Pat Coombs, refuses to leave it for sentimental reasons. It was a lovely piece. It was a very early television role for David. And for me, come to that, and he was clearly brilliant. Happy memories, but that was a quick rehearsal. You record it. Then you go home. We only met that one time. It’s funny but of course you don’t get to know someone that well on a one-off television. It’s not like a theatre husband!’
The Cor! Interview