Don and friends Cyril, Steve and Edwin are bus mechanics at the huge London Transport bus overhaul works in Aldenham, Hertfordshire. During a miserably wet British summer lunch break, Don arrives, having persuaded London Transport to lend him and his friends an AEC Regent III RT double-decker bus. They convert the bus into a holiday caravan, which they drive across continental Europe, intending to reach the South of France. On the way, they are joined by a trio of young women Sandy, Angie and Mimsie, who are a singing group Do-Re-Mi, and change their destination to Athens in Greece, which means passing through Yugoslavia. They are also joined by a runaway singer Barbara pretending to be a boy, herself being pursued by her mother Stella and agent Jerry.
London Transport AEC Regent III RT bus, the model featured in the film
The original director was Sidney Furie but he was held up on The Boys. He was replaced by John Krish. Eventually Peter Yates directed the film.[4][5]
In April 1962, Associated British Picture Corporation of Elstree bought three used RT double-decker buses (RT2305 (KGU334), RT2366 (KGU395), and RT4326 (NLE990)) from London Transport. They were all converted to look like RT1881 (with a fake registration number, WLB991) so they could be used for filming different segments.[6]
The opening ten minutes, which were shot in black-and-white, were filmed at the Aldenham Works, Elstree, where Cliff's character and friends are mechanics at the main bus servicing depot for London Transport. While on lunch one rainy day, they come up with the idea of converting an old RT bus into a mobile home. They enlist the help of their workmates in a musical segment that uses the track Seven Days to a Holiday. The scenes were shot at the works in 1962, during its annual summer shutdown.[7] Filming included large parts of the works as well as numerous actual employees as extras.[8]
There are 16 song and musical numbers in the film: "Seven Days to a Holiday", "Let Us Take You for a Ride", "Stranger in Town", "Swinging Affair", "Really Waltzing", "Yugoslavian Wedding", "All At Once", "Summer Holiday", "Bachelor Boy", "Dancing Shoes", "Foot Tapper", "Big News", "The Next Time", "Les Girls", "Round and Round", and "Orlando's Mime".
The film's producers felt that female lead in the film, Lauri Peters, was not a strong enough singer after several test recording sessions, and all of her parts, both in the film and on the soundtrack album, were dubbed by session vocalist Grazina Frame. Frame had overdubbed female singing voices in Cliff Richard's earlier film The Young Ones.[10]
Cliff Richard, Melvyn Hayes, and the Shadows were recalled to Elstree some weeks after completion of shooting to record Bachelor Boy, as the distributors felt the film was too short.
Release
The film had its world premiere at the Warner Theatre in London's West End on 10 January 1963.[11] A crowd of 3,000 people turned up to Leicester Square and Cliff Richard was unable to exit his car due to the crowds, so did not attend the opening.[12]
Box-office
The film was a box-office hit, repeating the success of Cliff Richard's previous film The Young Ones (1961).
Cliff Richard and the Shadows, April 1962
Summer Holiday was the second most popular movie at the British box office in 1963, after the James Bond feature From Russia with Love, with comedy film Tom Jones coming third.
The film's release helped Cliff Richard to be voted by exhibitors as the most popular star at the British box-office in the same year.[13][14] The film was not a commercial success in the United States.[15]
Cultural impact
The majority of the numbers integrated dance with song – not merely serving as scenes to promote a number of "hit-parade" songs. Ross, an American choreographer later became a film director in his own right.
The film suggested to the photographer Daniel Meadows a way in which he might emulate Benjamin Stone and travel around and photograph Britain from 1973 to 1974.[16]
Stage adaptations
Summer Holiday was adapted into a stage musical in the mid-1990s, starring Darren Day in the role that Cliff Richard played. It premiered for a summer season at The Opera House in Blackpool in 1996, and then later toured nationally, before returning to Blackpool in 1998. The cast for these included Claire Buckfield, Isla Fisher, Faith Brown, Ross King, Peter Baldwin, and René Zagger. It was also recorded and released on video, entitled "Summer Holiday - The Hits", which was all the musical numbers strung together by clips of Darren Day writing postcards to his friends, and describing what was happening in the story as he wrote.
The stage musical differs in a number of respects from the film version. For example, the route to Athens is via Italy in the stage version rather than the original film route via Yugoslavia. The songs also differ, and include a number of songs from Cliff Richard's other early back catalogue, such as "The Young Ones".
It was revived in 2003, starring Stefan Booth, but later starred Darren Day again. This production also included Day's future partner Suzanne Shaw (from the pop group Hear'say) as Bobby, and Aimi MacDonald as Bobby's mother. The production toured the UK. A further production in 2018 toured the UK with Ray Quinn in the Cliff Richard role and Bobby Crush as "Jerry", the agent.
A revival of the stage musical toured East Anglia in Summer 2022, featuring a professional cast of actor-musicians augmented by local dancers. The production toured the Suffolk and Norfolk coasts, starting in Southwold before heading to Sheringham and finishing in Great Yarmouth.
Related Research Articles
Sir Cliff Richard is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley.
Borehamwood is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, 12 miles (19 km) from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 36,322, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known as Elstree Studios.
Wonderful Life is a 1964 British film made as a vehicle for pop star Cliff Richard. It is the third in a series of film musicals following The Young Ones (1961) and Summer Holiday (1963).
Brian Laurence Bennett, is an English drummer, pianist, composer and producer of popular music. He is best known as the drummer of the UK rock and roll group the Shadows. He is the father of musician and Shadows band member Warren Bennett.
Melvyn Hayes is an English actor and voice-over performer. He is best known for playing the effeminate Gunner "Gloria" Beaumont in the 1970s BBC sitcom It Ain't Half Hot Mum, for appearing in the Cliff Richard musical films The Young Ones, Summer Holiday and Wonderful Life as well as Here Come the Double Deckers (1970–1971).
Summer holiday may refer to:
Bushey Heath was a proposed, but unbuilt, London Underground station in Bushey Heath, Hertfordshire, England. The planned location of the station was at the junction of the A41 and A411 roads.
Lauri Peters is an American actress, dancer, singer, drama teacher, and author.
The AEC Regent III RT was one of the variants of the AEC Regent III. It was a double-decker bus produced jointly between AEC and London Transport. It was the standard red London bus in the 1950s and continued to outnumber the better-known Routemaster throughout the 1960s.
The Young Ones is a 1961 British comedy musical film directed by Sidney J. Furie and starring Cliff Richard, Robert Morley as his character's father, Carole Gray as his love interest, and the Shadows as his band. The screenplay was written by Peter Myers and Ronald Cass, who also wrote most of the songs. Herbert Ross choreographed the dance scenes.
"The Next Time" backed with "Bachelor Boy" was the first of three number one hit singles from the Cliff Richard musical, Summer Holiday. Both sides were marketed as songs with chart potential, and the release is viewed retroactively as a double A-side single. However, technically double A-sides were not regarded as such until 1965, so "The Next Time" was pressed as the A-side, with "Bachelor Boy" the B-side. The song was succeeded at number one by The Shadows' "Dance On!".
"Summer Holiday" is a song recorded by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, written by rhythm guitarist Bruce Welch and drummer Brian Bennett. It is taken from the film of the same name, and was released as the second single from the film in February 1963. It went to number one in the UK Singles Chart for a total of two weeks. After that, the Shadows' instrumental "Foot Tapper"—also from the same film—took over the top spot for one week, before "Summer Holiday" returned to the top spot for one further week. The track is one of Richard's best known titles and it remains a staple of his live shows. It was one of six hits Richard performed at his spontaneous gig at the 1996 Wimbledon Championships when rain stopped the tennis.
"Foot Tapper" is an instrumental by British guitar group the Shadows, released as a single in February 1963. It went to number one in the UK Singles Chart, and was the Shadows' last UK number-one hit.
Summer Holiday is a soundtrack album by Cliff Richard and The Shadows to the film of the same name. It is their second film soundtrack album and Richard's eighth album overall. The album topped the UK Albums Chart for 14 weeks. Three singles from the album were released. Before the album release both "The Next Time" and "Bachelor Boy" had already been hits. This was followed by "Summer Holiday" and lastly "Foot Tapper". All three singles topped the UK Singles Chart.
"Bachelor Boy" is a song by Cliff Richard and the Shadows, written by Richard and Bruce Welch. It became a hit when it was released as the B-side of Richard's single "The Next Time". Both sides of the single were regarded as having chart potential so both sides were promoted and in many markets "Bachelor Boy" became the bigger hit. The single spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1963 and was a major hit internationally, although it only reached No. 99 in the US. Both sides of the single were included on the accompanying soundtrack album Summer Holiday. On the soundtrack album the Michael Sammes Singers were credited as backing singers, although they were not credited on the single.
What a Crazy World is a 1963 film directed by Michael Carreras and starring Joe Brown and Sausan Maughan. The script is by Carreras and Alan Klein, from the latter's stage play. It is a pop musical featuring a number of late 1950s and early 1960s musical performers, including an appearance by Freddie and the Dreamers.
The Aldenham Works, or Aldenham Bus Overhaul Works, was the main London Transport bus overhaul works. It was located on the edge of the Hertfordshire village of Elstree and not in Aldenham. In its heyday, 50 buses a week were overhauled there, and it was the most comprehensive bus overhaul operation in the world. It opened in 1956 and closed in November 1986. The buildings were demolished in 1996.
Kenneth Harper (1913–1998) was an English film producer. He produced 13 films between 1954 and 1973. He was a member of the jury at the 21st Berlin International Film Festival.
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Grazina Frame is an English stage and screen actress, singer and voice double
↑ "Cliff Richard Misses Own Preem Due To Mob". Variety. 16 January 1963. p.23.
↑ "Most Popular Films Of 1963". The Times. London. 3 January 1964. p.4.
↑ Scheuer, Philip K. (31 January 1964). "'Cleo' Returns Put at $15.7 Million: Other Champ Grossers Told; Cliff Richard British Favorite". Los Angeles Times. p.C9.
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