Mar 10, 2023
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Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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A few weeks back I heard John Cooper Clarke’s “Post War Glamour Girl” on radiooooo.com, and I’ve been listening to it ever since. Something about the Lancashire accent makes it feel like an R-rated version of “Albert and the Lion” or “Sam Goes to It.” Yesterday I looked up the lyrics, and googling the opening words “Expresso (sic) Bongo” revealed this as the title of a 1959 film directed by Val Guest and starring Cliff Richard. Apparently even several years before The Beatles became famous, the British music industry’s search for home-grown teen rock idols was already heated enough to prompt this sharp musical satire in which a never-lucky, ever-hopeful agent (Laurence Harvey) discovers a handsome kid (Richard) playing bongos in a Soho coffee shop. Cynical hijinks ensue. Everybody’s accent, but especially Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne in Lithuania, according to Wikipedia)’s slides around fascinatingly depending on the situation or whether they’re singing the usually-brief musical numbers or speaking ad the speed of Hollywood Pre-code comedy. Sylvia Syms is adorable as the agent’s long-suffering girlfriend desperate to be a British Judy Garland (The first line we hear her say once she’s off the burlesque stage is “How’d you like my new voice?”). Yolanda Donland is oddly touching as an aging American star desperate to hitch her wagon to Richard’s “Bongo Herbert” but also, I think genuinely fond of the innocently heartless youth. I know everyone for decades has assumed Richards to be closeted, and I’ve no idea what his orientation is in real life, but here he really comes across as a beautiful young man who much to everyone’s confusion is genuinely aroace. Meier Tzelniker is a record-producer with an ulcer, who really wishes classical music were still where it’s at but knows which side his bread is buttered. I think Bert Kwok is a teenage passerby in the opening credits sequence.
Expresso Bongo (1959 Film)
This British comedy/drama is probably best known as Cliff Richard’s first film. Cliff makes a promising debut as a talented, but naive, singer and performs a few songs along the way. It is, however, mainly a satire on the entertainment industry.
The starring role goes to the always excellent Laurence Harvey as Johnny Jackson, an entrepreneur who makes Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses look honest. Yolande Donlan is equally excellent as experienced singer Dixie Collins and she dominates every scene in which she appears. Television personality Gilbert Harding makes a cameo appearance as himself. The satire is based on whom you can and cannot trust in the entertainment industry. It should be compulsory viewing for every aspiring professional entertainer.
Warning: some will be offended by what approaches “Page 3 nudity” in a small Soho nightclub, although the show there is intentionally bad. There is a little swearing: nothing very strong, but not for children. It was classified as an “A” when released, i.e. people under 16 could see it at the cinema only when accompanied by someone aged 16 or above.
(03/04/2019)
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Expresso Bongo (1959)
Expresso Bongo | Val Guest | 1959
Expresso Bongo | Val Guest | 1959
Cliff Richard