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Tommy Cooper's jokes in his last perfomance

(July 2020)

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VM
VMPhil
Certainly, if someone was having a heart attack, I'd have expected them to possibly clutch their chest, gasp for breath; with Tommy Cooper, when he fell, it sounded like, and one point, he was snoring.


That's what happens when you graduate in medical training from the University of Hollywood's Film & TV Cliche course

JF
JonF
Further to some of the comments and questions about the live broadcast, I was a teenager watching with my parents and grandmother. We had a 26inch TV with the full picture so as Tommy lay against the curtain I thought it was part of the act. Then my dad blithely said he's not well. I watched intently and the cue dot, which usually stayed on for a while and dropped out to confirm the return to regions, came up quickly and noticeably in that moment went far sooner than normal.
As the programme title slide cut in I remember saying to dad that the curtain had been pushed over him. The adverts went on and we let it drop. After the break Les Dennis and Dustin Gee did a routine front of cloth - a few times there appeared verbal slips and quips to cover. Then Howard Keel came on and sounded as poor as he ever had, my grandmother commenting that he was probably past his best. In the last section Donnie Osmand sang and danced, at one point saying he was out of breath. It seemed odd. (Obviously we didn't know the stresses they were going through).
At the end, we turned over to BBC news on one, they announced his death.
Some have queried it being so quick, but according to contemporaneous comments when asked about making the announcement, the family(?) thought it was later in the evening and it would be in the morning papers. They'd overlooked the fact that the show went out at 7:45 on ITV. On breakfast time the next day there was footage of Jimmy Tarbuck commenting as he left Her Majesty's theatre - so yes there were cameras but not live reports.
On the Monday evening at 7pm, Thames had just resurrected What's My Line? At the end of the live broadcast I remember as Eamonn Andrews said goodnight, he finished off by saying, "Sleep well Tommy". That really moved me - little knowing that Eric Morecambe, who was on the panel, would also be gone within six weeks.
SO
Steven O
I remember watching Tommy's final act with my parents that evening, and them remarking that something wasn't right when the show cut to the commercial break early. I also remember my dad going through to the kitchen to put the kettle on after the show finished, and my mum shouting through to him just as the ITN news started and Trevor McDonald announced Tommy's death. My recollection is of it being the lead item, rather than it being right at the end, and the feeling amongst us was one of shock and disbelief.

I was only nine at the time, but can still remember it clearly as it was the first time I'd seen someone collapse and die. That night, and the following day, felt very surreal.

Incidentally, when the news broke six weeks later of Eric Morecambe's death in almost identical circumstances (though, thankfully, not on live television, I remember thinking "not another one - we've not long lost Tommy Cooper."
IS
Inspector Sands
As I said a few pages ago about false memories, everyone has a slightly different memory about events that evening. We'll probably never know for sure what news did what and when, the only thing that would be definitive is a copy of the bulletin.

All that is definite is that the news did follow the show: https://tvrdb.com/listings/1984-04-15 and one not long after on BBC1: https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbcone/london/1984-04-15

Odd to see that that was the only ITN bulletin that day (or was there one in Weekend World)



Incidentally, when the news broke six weeks later of Eric Morecambe's death in almost identical circumstances (though, thankfully, not on live television, I remember thinking "not another one - we've not long lost Tommy Cooper."

Similar. He had a heart attack after coming off stage and died hours later in hospital. His third heart attack.

It happened twice to Dustin Gee, who was also on that episode of Live from Her Majesties. He fell ill on stage a year later with a minor heart attack. He then had another one while performing panto at the beginning of 1996 and passed away in hospital a few days later


Tommy's death always reminds me of a line from an early episode of Knowing Me Knowing You when Alan Partridge is trying to explain Tommy Cooper to a guest who's an American comedian:

'you know. Tommy Cooper, he died at e Palladium'

'Alan, we've all died at The Palladium!'
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 27 July 2020 7:18am - 2 times in total
JW
JamesWorldNews
ITN News is listed at 17:20 and 20:45.

But, yes, there was a 5 minute bulletin during Weekend World.
IS
Inspector Sands
ITN News is listed at 17:20 and 20:45.

Arse, missed that one somehow.

Seems odd now that there's no news after 9:15 on a Sunday night.
VM
VMPhil
False memories do seem to be a problem when remembering TV events. On the Live Aid documentary (repeat) a few weeks ago, there was a section about how a lot of people conflate two different things Bob Geldof said ('There are people dying now , so give me the money' and 'F**k the address, let's get the numbers') into something that sounds a lot more exciting ('Give me your f***ing money')
TVMan and bilky asko gave kudos
JW
JamesWorldNews
ITN News is listed at 17:20 and 20:45.

Arse, missed that one somehow.

Seems odd now that there's no news after 9:15 on a Sunday night.


Are you really Father Jack Hackett?
IS
Inspector Sands
Yes and there are people who say they remember seeing the man die in the stunt on the Late Late Breakfast Show. When of course it wasn't live, but there was a stunt that went wrong live on the programme but thankfully everyone survived

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_memory?wprov=sfla1
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 27 July 2020 8:14am
BH
BillyH Founding member
Challenger blowing up “live on air” on Newsround is another one falsely remembered, as is the second plane hitting the World Trade Center on BBC1 - both had happened shortly before and were shown when the programme started.
AN
another_beauty
I remember one of the towers collapsing live on ITV. There was a guy on the phone and commented as it collapsed. It was in my mind as I had just come home from school and switched on the TV. This would have been about 3:20pm UK time, but I could never work out if the timings matched up or it was a false memory!
LL
Larry the Loafer
I had memories of them showing the first plane hit when the news was breaking, and my young self being amazed that they let the word "s**t" go out uncensored. Of course, now I know that it was an impossibility, because that clip wasn't released until later on.

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