Sold Date: April 25, 2021
Start Date: May 25, 2020
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 AN EXCELLENT COPY OF THIS CLASSIC UK #7 CHART HIT FOR MAX BYGRAVES ON A UK HMV 78

Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellenbogen by the Sea

Max Bygraves OBE (born 16 October 1922 in London as Walter William Bygraves) is a comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs. Shows he presented included the game show Family Fortunes.

Max Bygraves was the son of poor parents in southeast London docklands. His father was a professional boxer known as Battling Tom Smith, and a casual dockworker. Max went to St. Joseph's Primary School in Rotherhithe. He showed talent as a child singer and performed a solo in Westminster Cathedral. He left school at 14 and became a messenger for W. S. Crawford, an advertising agency in High Holborn. When World War Two broke out the advertising business collapsed and Max learnt the trade of a carpenter and then volunteered for the RAF. It was his impression of Max Miller that earned him the nickname Max from other airmen. He was increasingly called upon to perform in concert parties wherever he was posted. He married WAAF sergeant Blossom Murray in 1942.

After the war the BBC asked him to perform in a demobilisation show called They're Out with other wartime new talent such as Frankie Howerd, Benny Hill, Jimmy Edwards, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan.

This opened the way to a career in light entertainment. In 1951 he appeared at the London Palladium. Comedian Eric Sykes became his scriptwriter. He got the part of the tutor in the BBC radio comedy show Educating Archie, where Archie was a ventriloquist's dummy. This made his name nationally and he appeared in a Royal Variety Show. Judy Garland invited him to support her for a season in New York.

He acted in several films, notably as Charley Moon in the film of the same name.

Music and song was always an important part of the Bygraves repertoire. His first act was made up of impressions of singers like Hutch and the Ink Spots who were the super stars of the day.

His first record was made early in his career, featuring a medley of Al Jolson numbers with the Carol Gibbons Band, but the song most closely associated with Max is one he wrote himself, ‘You Need Hands’ which won him the Ivor Novello Award as ‘Songwriter of the Year’ in 1958.

Many of the top recordings that dominated the pop scene in that innocent decade before the onset of rock and roll and the present day hit parade were the work of Max Bygraves. ‘You ‘Gotta have Rain’, ‘Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea’, ‘Meet me on the Corner’, ‘Out of Town’, ‘Tulips from Amsterdam’, ‘Fings Ain’t What They Used T’be’, ‘Consider Yourself’, ‘You’re my Everything’, ‘Deck of Cards’, and of course ‘Toothbrush’.

Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea ENTERED THE UK CHARTS 10 SEPT 1954 AND WAS IN THE CHARTS 8 WEEKS REACHING # 7

DISC DETAILS:

UK HMV B 10734    10" 78rpm  SHELLAC

SIDE 1: - Gilly Gilly Ossenfeffer Katzenellen Bogen by the Sea

SIDE 2:-  Third Little Turning 

CONDITION -  E-

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