Martin and Lewis were a riot...

[byslantedlight]

My internet is being seriously dodgy this morning, so every time I think I'll do something it takes me three times as long. So while I've been waiting I've been dipping into The Book... *g*

From a description of "When the Heat Cools Off":
Michael Sheard (Merton): "I'd been employed to play a small role set in Cowley's office, with the three leads, as a gun expert. The director, Ray Austin, had the clever idea that we could throw the gun to each other rather than just pass it. Martin and Lewis were a riot; each time I threw it they'd drop it, and burst into fits of laughter. They kept apologising to Ray and telling him the gun was slippery, but it's obvious they were letting it drop on purpose. It took quite a few takes to complete the scene, and in the end even Gordon Jackson was pleased when Ray was content with the final sequence and called it a wrap. I read somewhere later that Martin and Lewis didn't see eye-to-eye during the production; that I find hard to believe on what I witnessed during my day on the show!"

I love it - our lads are complete and utter eejits, but they were absolutely together in their eejiocy! *vbg* Those reports of them hating each other just doesn't fit with what we really know! *sighs happily, wanders off to see if this'll post...*

Comments

[scherwood]

thanx for the hit on my head with that great quote. i've always been feeling down over all that "didn't like eqach other crap" that's been spread around on the net. ::very happy:: :D

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think it was the newspapers/media that spread the rumour rather than the internet - at least it appears in articles from pre-internet times, though there are definitely people trying to keep it alive and well.

I think MS has been quoted a few times as saying that at first he wasn't very impressed by LC, but since LC had just replaced a friend of his that's probably understandable - and he says he apologised to LC afterwards and that everything was fine. But this was right at the very beginning, not for the whole 4 years! They've both apparently said that they were competitive too, but that doesn't mean they didn't get on. Stoopid media misrepresentation. There's far too much evidence to suggest that they got on really well, I think! And that makes me happy too... *vbg*

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, thank you for posting this[1] - that's such a lovely little story. I absolutely adore thinking about them like that - sometimes all those insinuations that they didn't get on at all spoil it a bit, if you know what I mean.

[1] I haven't ordered the book yet because I can't really afford to - if I can't afford to pay the same amount for an academic book that I actually *need*, then I'd feel really bad if I bought it! It's a shame, but hopefully my financial circumstances will change in the not-too-distant future and then I'll treat myself :)

(Not to say that all of that is untrue, but I've always rather suspected that LC must have a Liverpool kind of temprament - and anyone who knows people from Liverpool will know that it's very common to flare up quickly but also go back to being friends very quickly too. Anyway, I'll shut up now, because I could talk about things like this all day but I really should get on with some work ;) )

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

I really shouldn't have ordered the book - or CW, or Seige - but... I did... *headdesk* It may be an addiction, but it's a fun one... (Well, at least until the bailiffs turn up...) *g*

MS seems to have had quite a flare-y temper - apparently from his Bach Flower Remedies he took Impatiens most often, which is for exactly its name! And then there was that bus driver he said he got really cross with... *g*

Not sure if I've heard/read any temper-y stories about LC actually, so maybe he was just laid back enough that they were able to rub on together! Various sources (including them, again apparently) reckon that they were quite competitive, so that'd give them a lovely edge too - without meaning that they didn't like each other. Stoopid media. *vbg*

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

It's funny, you never know exactly what to make of your favourite stars, do you? I've heard a few things about MS that suggest he's not always terribly friendly, but in interviews he comes across as really nice. And I've heard a few things about LC losing his temper, but he's another one who just comes across as absolutely adorable when you see him interviewed. I guess you never really know the whole picture, but then people are complex - and it's nice hearing stories like this that really reflect how they act when they're not being particularly guarded or trying to put a particular image across. *g*

It's a shame the media try to find conflict everywhere!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Ah, tell me a story you've heard of LC losing his temper, maybe I've just forgotten them all!

Thing is, I reckon they're people just like the lot of us, and I can imagine them saying something to a reporter one day when they were feeling a bit off, or peeved with something or someone, and forgetting that the media is Chinese Whispers gone mad, and then having to spend the next dozen years of their career living it down, or trying to convince people that they didn't mean it, or didn't say it as it was reported in the first place... How many times have we all said something and then backtracked - that's just human! And we're probably a lot more media-savvy today than we were thirty years ago too, so whereas we're looking back thinking they must have expected whatever they said to come out a certain way, said it more calculatingly, they quite likely didn't at all...

Anyway... Happy Friday! *g*

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

Ooh, let's see... I'm not very good with stories because I never seem to remember their provenance (so note to anyone reading - don't take this as read but check up on the facts because I may be misremembering), but I seem to remember MS saying something about LC scaring him by flying off the handle about something trivial (possibly saying something along the lines of 'I'm going to kill you! kind of thing??)... and then there were all those reports about LC letting a gun off at his home sometime in the 80s (though I think different reports were contradictory)... That was the kind of thing I was thinking of anyway.

Of course, you're right - actors are just normal people, and it must be difficult to have such a status that something you say without thinking might last forever because you're famous, so people take note of it, or because it's recorded.

Happy Friday! It's already feeling like the weekend *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hiya! Half an hour until home time - that's the weekend! *vbg*

I know the story you mean - I'm afraid it was MS himself who threatened to kill LC though, not the other way around! They had a disagreement about something, and LC said summat (can't remember what it was now) and MS said he was so mad he turned and walked away, but then he turned back and said to LC "If you ever say that again I'll kill you." And then he was really appalled at what he'd said, and they made up (*sighs happily*) but while they were apparently both angry, the threat was MS's...

I think him letting off his gun at home (that's in The Book - he was away from filming for a day while at the court case!) was to scare someone off or something, too? I don't think I remember anything about it being done in anger though (though of course it might have been!) I mean, presumably he's got a temper like any of us, but I've never heard of it being particularly hot or flare-y I'm afraid - I think of the two that's MS rather than LC... *g*

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

I'll have to read up again on things like this. I tend to go on article-reading sprees and so not remember all the information terribly well (I should clearly make notes like I do when read academic stuff! *g*). I could have sworn that there was a story about LC that was very similar to the one about MS - I wasn't actually confusing who had reportedly done the threatening, I thought this was a separate incident. I feel so sure that I read somewhere that LC and MS had independently said similar things about each other... Maybe I read it on the Safehouse somewhere... No, I give up! But if I ever find it again I'll let you know *g*

Right, it's time I went and made the dinner before we starve to death here!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh, see below from Angel - I wonder if that was what you're remembering? I'd forgotten about that part to the same interview!

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

Aha, now the two things being in the same article would explain why I thought I read them at the same time *g*

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It would indeed! *g*

[angel-ci5.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sorry for butting in *g*, but funnily enough I'm pretty sure it's in that same interview that MS refers to when LC went ballistic at him, and he says he was scared cos LC was built like a brick shithouse (or words to that affect!), and (iirc) he put it down to the stress of their schedule making them react like that... obviously it was all fine afterwards!
(I shall have to try and dig out the article now to check! *g*)

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Yes! Bizarrely enough I've just read it in The Book! Page 189. *g* I'd forgotten that second half of it! As far as I know there are still more stories about MS losing his temper though? What d'you think - can you remember any others about LC being hot-tempered?

Actually, something else I've just read, from Hiding to Nothing sound recordist who was leaving series: "Anyway, it was nice to get away from Martin and Lewis constantly moaning and bickering, or messing about holding up production."! But then other crew members say the lads were really nice - I guess no one gets on with everyone all the time!

[angel-ci5.livejournal.com]

Oh it's in the Book! Haha! Well done finding it!
But yes, I think overall LC seems more laid back.

Flicking through the book, I got the impresssion from snippets that some of the crew were extremely loyal to LC and MS, which tells a story I think.

Changing the subject slightly, how gorgeous is the letter LC wrote to Ray Menmuir after holding up production!

[linnhie.livejournal.com]

I think overall LC seems more laid back.

Don't forget we're talking about Mr. Gemini here! Here's a quote from Lew on the subject:

"I can be very difficult to live because I'm moody and sometimes get violent if things aren't going my way, smashing things up."

Now that's what I call hot-tempered...or maybe it was PMS! I used to get in a rage and smash things too. Maybe he should have tried Evening Primrose Oil!!!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Mr Gemini? (Oh wait, his star sign?! Is that supposed to be a violent one?) He might say that, but how often do we actually hear of him losing his temper? Or specific incidents? I dunno, I think alot of us get cross like that at times, and probably think we're the only ones who do... (Lol - makes it sound as though we admire people who lose their tempers!)

[linnhie.livejournal.com]

Mr Gemini? (Oh wait, his star sign?! Is that supposed to be a violent one?)

More the split-personality one, y'know, the twins, two differing aspects an' all that. I think a lot of that was true with Lew, what with the outgoing/confident bloke v. the shy/sensitive bloke. And the scores of girls v. the wife and kids, so I can easily believe the happy, larking about Lew v. a moody and temperamental one.

But as you say, we can get like that at times!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Oh the twins, that's it!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Hee - total accident that I found it, especially today! And yes I think it really does say something that the crew were both so loyal - they don't need to be, especially this long after the event...

And yes! Very gorgeous! And have you read his story about parachuting?! *vbg*

[rochvelleth.livejournal.com]

Aha, thank you for that! Yes, that's exactly what I was talking about - I even remember the phrase 'brick shithouse' being used *g*

Many big thank yous!

[heliophile-oxon.livejournal.com]

This is lovely - and very much like the relationship we see on-screen a lot of the time, too! Competitive/humorous/very together (dare you to piss off the director - no, dare you - no, I dare piss him off more, and I'm going to get away with it by pretending it was an accident .... and both of them cracking up laughing. Can't help loving it!

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Isn't it just fab! And yes! It's so what we see in the eps between B/D, isn't it, and oh it just makes me smile! *sighs happily*

[sunray45.livejournal.com]

I know I read somewhere on here, ages ago, something about when they finished filming the last episode, MS said he would miss working with LC, because he always made him (MS) laugh.

Also have heard of them always playing tricks on each other or the crew, and then there's the byplay often seen in the episodes. They did get on famously and bah to the media who said otherwise.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

It really does sound more like they did than didn't, doesn't it! I'm sure I've heard MS talking about joking around and laughing alot on the Pros set even relatively recently too. Bah! to the media indeed! *vbg*

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered how they could look at each other like they do (you know what I mean *g*), if they really don't get along at all in RL.
Being good actors can cover a lot, but still! And all those candid pics of them goofing around. It can't *all* have been staged, right?

Am I the only one who got confused with having a "Ray" (the director) in this little story?

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

Definitely can't all have been staged! And why would they have gone back to LC's place to play guitar and write songs together if they didn't really like each other? Or the jokey pic where Lew is falling all over MS who's holding him up? Or the piggyback? Or - just everything?!

And my gods you should see the rest of the book - there's not an original name between the lot of them! There's Rays and Martins and Shaws in particular all over the place! But that "Ray" really does throw me - gargh!

[siskiou.livejournal.com]

I've never heard about them playing guitar and writing songs together!

And believe me, I'd love to read this book, but it's not going to happen. :(

I love hearing about it, though!
Thanks for sharing the joy! :)

PS: is the "jokey pic" available for viewing anywhere?

[callistosh65.livejournal.com]

Now if only someone had kept the camera turned on, eh?? Thank you for sharing this here, it's lovely to imagine that behind-the-scenes fun.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

There must be so many other jokey shots around too, cos the book also says that the stills cameraman was "usually around to catch all the funny moments" - oh, where are they?! And there's a pic of Lew on set with a new toy he'd got - his own movie camera! Want to see the shots!

[constant-muse.livejournal.com]

You got The Book! Hooray! Brilliant of you to share the highlights.

To justify the expense, I've asked for it for my birthday present, but that means it's now been hidden in the wardrobe so I don't know where it is (*vbg*) for 3 weeks.

Now, how can I justify 'The Siege' and CW? They're sitting in my Amazon shopping basket, just a couple of clicks away...

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

And you're not breaking into the wardrobe? How good are you?!

You can justify The Siege and Cuckoo Waltz by them being under a tenner for the two? Um... because you work for your pay? *g* The Siege is historical. And so is Cuckoo Waltz actually, it's an excellent example of social history, in particular that which was considered appropriate for public consumption at the time. Compare and contrast with views in Richard III's day... *g* Well I think it'd make a great article!