Eurovision 1977 - Stewart Morris talkback
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- Опубликовано: 12 сен 2024
- This is a slight upgrade of a wonderful clip that's been on here for yonks, in which a TV producer/director battles bad foldback, misunderstandings and wayward OB credit rollers to keep the Eurovision Song Contest going. It's the duck principle at work. On the surface all seems smooth, but here's the frantic paddling. The shouting man is Stewart Morris, one of the great BBC light entertainment producers. Some might think such behaviour is unprofessional. That's not a word ever to be used with reference to Stewart.
"There's fuck all sound in here"
One of the greatest lines ever spoken in the history of the BBC.
Every year I revisit this. Every year it makes me grateful I chose to work in live television.
😀
The stress of this must have been severe with all of Europe watching. Still, I really don't think I could have worked for Stewart Morris. Bloody hell!
'Network one' was the network playout booth of BBC One in those days. The "cow" he is referring to is either the Network Director or Continuity Announcer whose voice was being carried over their own talkback into the Eurovision gallery.
thank you! I'd wondered
Brilliant! "Run the fucking roller…!"
Angela Rippon commented that this was probably one of the worst organized and rehearsed Eurovisions there has ever been, and that she was largely left alone on stage to figure out by herself what was happening. There was also a problem with the scoring when Holland disputed their score!
To be fair there was a technicians strike 5 weeks before it was due to be so I'm not surprised there was no rehearsal. And, to be fair, she hasn't seen half of the shit i've seen in my 18 yrs covering the contest!
@@oneuropeindeed. And then there’s 1991, which requires no introduction. At least the end captions came.
Ah yes, the delightful Stewart Morris. 1979 on attachment to TV I was warned to keep away from him but have tales to tell. Told to Janet Smith Committee investigating the Saville era.
I was never shouted at by Stewart, but I knew people that were ;-)
I worked on lots of "Live' programmes - including General Elections and Apollo Moon shots and no-one in one of our galleries EVER behaved like Stewart Morris!
This was a rare insight of an organistion having swan syndrome. On the surface all is serene and peaceful and two inches below it's utter chaos!
Like any live TV production!
Wow, Jay from Bucks Fizz commented on this - I am in awe!!
Love some of the comments from people who've obviously never worked on this sort of event. I've done similar shows and then afterwards we hug, have a laugh and go for a drink and everything is good. The chat right at the end says it all.
Explain "done". In what position? This director does it wrong in all ways.
@@drwhoe Pyrotechnics on large outdoor shows with performers, aerialists and audiences of thousands obviously a lot a stack safety wise and a lot of stress (which can be a good thing as it helps keep you focused) I something isn't going to plan then yes things can get heated but afterwards everyone calmly discusses what went wrong how we can learn from it for next time and no blame is thrown around that's the bit you don't see in the video, other comments here have said or hinted at similar experiences.
@@mfx1 Martin, believe me, the way this director is working has nothing to do with "things that can go wrong" but anything with a lack of professionalism, bad cueing, bad rehearsals, wrong attitude and projection of his own insecurities that infect a crew in the baddest way. Live entertainment can be directed this way because of missing rehearsal time, improvisation, etc. A live show like the eurovison songcontest not.
(Very cool what you do and make in your videos !!)
@@drwhoe Remember this was 1977 and different workplace cultures
@@pdrg That is absolutely true.
Being the Gentleman he was, he conducted a short post-mortem after the show then laughs it off.
WOW !!! thanks for uploading this is huge
truly
Fantastic - I remember watching that show! Stewart Morris had his name on some of the BBC's finest hours. For those below who think it's boorish or unprofessional, you obviously don't work in live telly with audiences of 200+ million watching your every move. Local stations in America may be very polite, when everything is digital and works properly and is largely automated; this was 1977, a different time - and as PDRG says, there were no repercussions afterwards. All he wanted was a slick production, and sometimes if people aren't performing to their best (for whatever reason) a bit of shouting focuses everyone's mind. Nothing personal - just control from a total pro.
He would have made a great raid leader.
The second time he says 'cue the revolve' it really does sound like he's saying 'cue the roll'. Certainly is not the fault of the cameramen
I'd love to hear the 1981 talkback at RTE when the Eurovision scoreboard went wrong and the presenter Doireann burst out laughing, Ireland's score went up in error by a factor of 10 temporarily
Stewart John Southan Morris was his full name. He was a true showman of the kind we'll never see again.
And if you thought THAT was bad - you should have been in a GRANDSTAND gallery more or less EVERY Saturday with Brian Venner or Bryan Cowgill - unbelievable!!!!!!
janisgoldring yes
janisgoldring yes
I wasn't around in the 70s, so how was this video of Eurovision with this audio found. Surely it wasn't broadcast with the live show.
@@scootergrant8683 No it wouldn't have been broadcast so I have no idea how it would have been found or why it would still exist (would have thought they would wipe this long ago).
@@BBC600 Well what we can conclude is someone thought it funny enough to keep. 70k+ views later and here we are.
Oh dear. I hope the budget for the roller wasn't a huge waste of money!
What’s a roller?
@@joshuanesbit A device used to display the credits at the end of the show. Until electronic caption generators were common, they'd use a spool of black canvas with all the show credits printed on it in white text, connected to an electric motor which would roll the credits when it was cued. One of the cameras on the floor would be positioned so that they could pan over to the credit roller when it was time to use it, and the control room would use electronic effects to make the black background of the credit roller transparent so that it could be superimposed over the video. And bingo, we have credits!
@@mubd1234sAussieMediaArchive they could do chroma key back then??
@@joshuanesbit Yes, but the keying used for credit rolls would be 'luma key' because (that is, keying based on the brightness level - not colour hue). It's a lot less complex to implement than chroma key, and was used from the late 1950s onwards because it worked well with black and white TV.
Most people who have mde comments on here clearly don't know much about Stewart Morris. People saying that he should be disciplined etc don't realise how bog a cheese Stewart Morris was! He wasn't just some random BBC bloke. He was MASSIVE. He was head of variety at the BBC for time. He was physically large imtimidating. He had a lot of clout at the Beeb. I know people who worked for him on stage and he was ruthless! That said, he was a massive talent. For all the shouting, he was also quick to praise people who were good at what they did.
+Humanahum I absolutely agree. Stewart knew 'the business' of television inside out & back to front.
There are so few of his kind left!
It's also clearly people that have never run an event before. Just running as a stage manager on a live show, this is how things get sometimes. It's not like he's screaming out them out of malice. You've got zero time to make mistakes during live shows. It's chaotic.
And we hear the most tense minutes of a two hour live broadcast to the whole of Europe and beyond...
I never tire of this.
Up there with the Troggs tapes.
RUN THE ROLLER!!!
He did say "cue the roll" the second time.
what's a roll?
@@ESCMattUK88 The end credits which were meant to roll across the screen.
@@MatgoStyles ... as in 'roller caption'.
Actually he seemed to be in the service of Marie and wanted the best for her
OB BLOODY ROLLERS - EVERY TIME!
2 OF 'EM!
EURH!
I was working for a facility house and was recording this show down the line and only hearing a limited amount of the Talk back being fed to us from the gallery and rememberi wondering what "The Heck!" But it was an OB from Wembley Conference Centre and there where several trucks involved (I was recording VT 7 if that's anything to go by) and not at the TV Centre, where everything always flowed smoothly ?? **@##?
@crazyclive No it was not!!! Stewart Morris, and certain individuals in Sports Dept, a law unto themselves.
@crazyclive Hmm, sorry, prefer not to name names really. I'm sure with a bit of cleverly worded searching on here you would get there though. I only got to see this clip (this time) because it popped up at the end of a David Coleman rant I'd been watching (ruclips.net/video/GaL5sOClpBc/видео.html). I was the Vision Mixer on the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest from Harrogate, so I'm in a position to compare like with like. I'm sure we must have had our moments but I can honestly say that our director Michael Hurll's talkback was nothing, nothing like that.
@crazyclive Yes!!!! There were a couple of others too, but he was the worst.
@polpkorn Actually it isnt Polp - that's real gallery talkback and it's not changed in 34 years :D
I absoloutly LOVE this. A man that KNEW what he was doing. Thank you.
This director doesn't know what he is doing. Wrong way of directing in every aspect imaginable.
This is how live TV gets made - the pressure is immense, immense for something like Eurovision where it is playing out live to the biggest audience of any live show. Note Stewart Morris shouts and is very terse in what he wants - but when there is a problem he works around it... then a few moments later makes a joke of it. Live TV is huge pressure but the relief once it is in the can is wonderful (and addictive)
this is gold
Good ol BBC VT
the irony is if it it didn't work, like the roller, who out of the viewing public would know?
Hmm, no end credit's on a Eurovision transmission, going out to about a third to half of the possible viewers across a continent, there probably are still a bunch. Don't forget they had TWO different rollers ready to do credits, and still it failed..
And now you hear the commentary from a two hour plus live...
wow he had a paddy on !
His bark was much worse than his bite, Jay. He could be very charming.
Like Brass Eye :)
Also in 1981 the wires got crossed when they were trying to get the results from the Yugoslavia jury
I remember that moment. It was where Doireann NiBhrainn said "Good evening, Yugoslavia, can I have your votes please?" And the Yugoslav juror (who turned out to be the late Croatian broadcaster Helga Vlahovic) replied "I don't have it."
This is hilarious. And we all know it.
That screaming is nothing more than a projection of that "director's" own insecurity and lack of professionalism. Infecting the whole crew with that chaos of him. All his raging cues are vague or came too late, not even announced. Only reason i can think of is that they didn't rehearse the show at all. Best example of the baddest way you direct a live show.
Agreed. "Take the lights down... TAKE THE LIGHTS... HOUSE LIGHTS!" Whatever his reputation generally, that was a mess.
It was the winning act , so full rehearsal was not possible , it was run using both the acts performance cues with the added compexity of different revolve and added roller cues to finish on time
Can you imagine being on a flight and your pilot acting like this? Now which job is more stressful? This guy might "know what he's doing" as his apologists say, but he has ZERO interpersonal skills, which are required to IMPART that knowledge. When you see that your boss is calm and in control, you feel that way too. And you do a better job.
@@BrianDarrah Still no excuses. You know the winning act which was already rehearsed ànd performed the same show. And you know the show is going to end and rehearsed that too in advance...
@@drwhoe There was another excuse, there was a strike at the BBC just a few days before which probably didn't helped the rehearsels... ruclips.net/video/VmPdhd8pQzo/видео.html
Who are network 1 and what are they trying to shut up?
Network One is the main presentation area for BBC1 in the U.K. They sort out all of the timings of the shows amongst other things.
New public management?
Just the way a TV Director should always be. In control. heh heh.
I'm not sure it sounds like he _is_ in control, to be honest.
@@caldair We only hear six minutes of a two hour plus live transmission to a complete continent. And at the end there wasn't end credits going out...
me is happy
What a legend :D
Was this brodcasted live for all to hear it like that?
No, this is an audio recording made privately by a member of the production team.
There is no way on Earth that this would have been broadcast across Europe!
@@stickytapenrust6869 ..... intentionally!!!
@@angelawilson9232 It wasn’t broadcast across Europe at all. A crew member used a tape recorder and plugged it into the crew’s talkback system. That’s why the sound quality isn’t as good as broadcast quality sound.
@@stickytapenrust6869 No I'm fully aware that it wasn't. That was supposed to be a joke.:-(
be a good floor manager actually
Pretty poor show! You can say what you like, that kind of behaviour doesn’t instill confidence in anyone and is reflective of personal failing - possibly through a lack of rehearsal - and a propensity to blame it on others. The sad thing is that everyone at the time would simply have accepted it for fear of losing their jobs.
Hey is that real??? haha
Yes
boo
A triumph. Reality is ugly sometimes.
legned
All drunk.
Propaganda halt /Fake , bullshit usw.
Yeah, you tell 'em Poldimaster.