MUCH forgotten music hall comedian Frank Randle has been brought back into the limelight as one of his films is now available to buy.

The 1942 film 'Somewhere in Camp' stars the irrepressible northern comedian on his best misbehaviour at army camp - and Ashton-under-Lyne brothers Philip and David Williams have 200 video copies for sale.

Randle appeared in many films made by John E Blakeley and the Mancunian Film Corporation in John's Rusholme studios, known affectionately as 'Jollywood'. Until now, none of Randle's films or any Mancunian film has been available.

John E Blakeley lived for many years in Stockport and his shoestring-budget films featured such great northern music hall entertainers as Jewel and Warriss, Duggie Wakefield and George Formby.

Last year, the Williams brothers produced a book on 'Jollywood', which told the story of Mr Blakeley and Mancunian Film Corporation, and our nostalgia article on it produced quite a reaction.

David Williams said: "After being mentioned in the Stockport Express, many people were phoning to enquire where they could obtain these films."

Philip added: "Unfortunately, Randle's films have never been available for home viewing and don't even crop up on TV these days. So we decided to do something about it."

They licensed the video rights for 'Somewhere in Camp' which also stars Harry Korris and Robbie Vincent from BBC Radio's 'Happidrome'. It is one of ten films that Randle made throughout his career, eight of which were produced and directed by John E Blakeley.

The video is only available via mail order, priced at £12 plus £1 post and package and copies of the book 'Hooray for Jollywood' are also available.

Call David Williams on 0161 343 3928 for details.

TWENTY YEARS AGO
War was declared on 'Space Invaders' by a group of local councillors. Members of the Heatons Reddish committee were determined to stamp out the trend towards installing space invader machines in sweet shops and newsagents. Councillor David Foulkes said: "If we don't stop it now it is going to drown us". The committee recommended an enforcement action should be taken to secure the removal of three such machines at a Reddish sweet shop. Engineer Christine Green made it to the final of the 'Girl Technician of the Year' national competition for her work on the Nimrod early warning aircraft. Mrs Green, of Hazel Grove, worked at Woodford as part of a team dealing with navigation systems and central computers of the Nimrod. She would now compete with five other finalists for the £250 prize and rose bowl, to be presented by the Duke of Kent.

THIRTY YEARS AGO
Stockport corporation banned a local cabaret promoter from using the town hall after hundreds of angry ticket holders were locked out at a weekend concert. Police were called to the town hall after trouble broke out and the corporation said the problems were caused by the over-booking of the venue. Promoter Harry Varden denied the accusations and said he was refunding money on all unused tickets. A Bredbury man claimed he had never received a gas bill since having central heating installed 18 months ago. Mr Morgan reckoned he owed around £200 and said he had made repeated requests to the Gas Board but to no avail. Mrs Morgan said: "They have told us we were officially non-existent". The Gas Board said the bill would be on its way soon and were looking into the reasons for the delay.

FORTY YEARS AGO
The 100-year-old brewery of Richard Clarke & Co, one of the last family brewing firms in Stockport, was to accept a take-over bid from Boddingtons. The firm started in 1864 in premises next to the Ash Hotel in Reddish and later moved to the Sandy Lane site. It was founded by Richard Clarke, and two of his grandsons, Sir Richard Clarke and his cousin Edward Clarke were directors at the time of the proposed take-over. Twenty pupils from Marple Secondary School would leave in April for the cruise of a lifetime, which would take them to Tangier and Casablanca among other places. They were taking part in the educational 14-day cruise along with 780 other British schoolchildren. In charge of the Marple party would be Mr Brown, head of English, who the previous year took a party of 47 students on a trip to Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Leningrad.

Published December 11, 2002