Carry On Cabby
Encyclopedia
Carry On Cabby is the seventh Carry On film
. Released in 1963, it was the first one written by series mainstay Talbot Rothwell
(although the first screenplay "Tolly" submitted to Peter Rogers was developed as Carry On Jack
) from a story by Sid Green and Dick Hills (later to be script writers for Morecambe and Wise
). This was the first film in the series to feature Carry On regular Jim Dale
, though it is notable for not including Kenneth Williams
. Regulars Sid James
, Hattie Jacques
, Kenneth Connor
and Charles Hawtrey
are all present and correct. Liz Fraser
makes her third appearance (although she'd have to wait 13 years for her next Carry On) and Esma Cannon
makes her fourth and final appearance. The previous film in the series, Carry On Cruising
, was filmed in technicolor
, but this movie marked the series' return to a black and white format. Carry On Cabby was originally planned as a non-Carry On film, called Call Me A Cab (after a stage play) but midway through it became part of the Carry On series.
), is the workaholic owner of Speedee Taxis, but his wife Peggy (Hattie Jacques
) feels neglected by him. When Charlie misses their fifteenth wedding anniversary
, because he's out cabbing, she decides to punish him. Telling Charlie that she's going to 'get a job', she establishes a rival company, GlamCabs. The cars are brand new Ford Cortina
Mk1's and driven by attractive girls in provocative uniforms. Flo, the girlfriend of one of Charlie's drivers, similarly neglected, gets the post of office manager.
Charlie continues to coach his mainly inept (and largely ex-army) drivers, including accident-prone Terry "Pintpot" Tankard, whilst Peggy refuses to tell Charlie what her new 'job' is. Charlie feigns a lack of interest, but he's dying to know. As Charlie unsuccessfully struggles to cope with his wife's absences, and realises just what she had to endure, Peggy's company becomes a thriving success due to the large number of male taxi passengers preferring to ogle her sexy drivers during journeys. Speedee rapidly starts losing money and faces bankruptcy
. Peggy feels terrible for what she has done. Charlie and his drivers attempt to sabotage
the rival company, but they are chased off.
In desperation, Charlie suggests a merger with his rivals, but is furious to discover who the real owner is and storms off.
A month later, Peggy is living at the office and Charlie has turned to drink, allowing his company to collapse around him. Peggy and Flo are hijacked
by bank robbers. Peggy manages to use the taxi
radio to subtly reveal their situation and location. Charlie intercepts the broadcast and rallies the other Speedee drivers in pursuit. The robbers are cornered and captured.
Peggy and Charlie are reconciled, especially over the fact that she is expecting a baby.
Interiors:
Exteriors:
who also created Dixon of Dock Green
for the BBC in the 1950s, Jack Rosenthal
also scripted a few episodes and Bill Owen appeared as the Cab firm's co-owner Fred Cudell with Ray Brooks as driver Terry Mills. There were 12 episodes broadcast between 1963 and 1964 on BBC One.
Carry On films
The Carry On films are a series of low-budget British comedy films, directed by Gerald Thomas and produced by Peter Rogers. They are an energetic mix of parody, farce, slapstick and double entendres....
. Released in 1963, it was the first one written by series mainstay Talbot Rothwell
Talbot Rothwell
Talbot Nelson Conn Rothwell, OBE was an English screenwriter.Rothwell was born in Bromley, Kent, England. He had a variety of jobs during his early life: town clerk, police officer, and Royal Air Force pilot....
(although the first screenplay "Tolly" submitted to Peter Rogers was developed as Carry On Jack
Carry On Jack
Carry on Jack is the eighth movie in the Carry On film series and was released in 1963. Most of the usual Carry On team are missing from this film: only Kenneth Williams and Charles Hawtrey appear throughout. Bernard Cribbins makes the first of his three appearances in a Carry On...
) from a story by Sid Green and Dick Hills (later to be script writers for Morecambe and Wise
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...
). This was the first film in the series to feature Carry On regular Jim Dale
Jim Dale
Jim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
, though it is notable for not including Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Williams
Kenneth Charles Williams was an English comic actor and comedian. He was one of the main ensemble in 26 of the Carry On films, and appeared in numerous British television shows, and radio comedies with Tony Hancock and Kenneth Horne.-Life and career:Kenneth Charles Williams was born on 22 February...
. Regulars Sid James
Sid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
, Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques
Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
, Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor
Kenneth Connor MBE was an English comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films.-Career:...
and Charles Hawtrey
Charles Hawtrey (film actor)
George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...
are all present and correct. Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser
Liz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...
makes her third appearance (although she'd have to wait 13 years for her next Carry On) and Esma Cannon
Esma Cannon
Esma Ellen Charlotte Cannon was a diminutive Australian-born character actress, who moved to England in the early 1930s.-Career:...
makes her fourth and final appearance. The previous film in the series, Carry On Cruising
Carry On Cruising
Carry On Cruising is the sixth Carry On film and was released in 1962. It was the first in the Carry On series to be filmed in colour and was based on an original story by Eric Barker. P&O - Orient Lines were thanked in the credits. Regulars Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Kenneth Connor appear in...
, was filmed in technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, but this movie marked the series' return to a black and white format. Carry On Cabby was originally planned as a non-Carry On film, called Call Me A Cab (after a stage play) but midway through it became part of the Carry On series.
Plot
Charlie Hawkins (Sid JamesSid James
Sid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
), is the workaholic owner of Speedee Taxis, but his wife Peggy (Hattie Jacques
Hattie Jacques
Josephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
) feels neglected by him. When Charlie misses their fifteenth wedding anniversary
Wedding anniversary
-Official recognition:In the Commonwealth realms, one can receive a message from the monarch for 60th, 65th, and 70th wedding anniversaries, and any wedding anniversary after that...
, because he's out cabbing, she decides to punish him. Telling Charlie that she's going to 'get a job', she establishes a rival company, GlamCabs. The cars are brand new Ford Cortina
Ford Cortina
As the 1960s dawned, BMC were revelling in the success of their new Mini – the first successful true minicar to be built in Britain in the postwar era...
Mk1's and driven by attractive girls in provocative uniforms. Flo, the girlfriend of one of Charlie's drivers, similarly neglected, gets the post of office manager.
Charlie continues to coach his mainly inept (and largely ex-army) drivers, including accident-prone Terry "Pintpot" Tankard, whilst Peggy refuses to tell Charlie what her new 'job' is. Charlie feigns a lack of interest, but he's dying to know. As Charlie unsuccessfully struggles to cope with his wife's absences, and realises just what she had to endure, Peggy's company becomes a thriving success due to the large number of male taxi passengers preferring to ogle her sexy drivers during journeys. Speedee rapidly starts losing money and faces bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
. Peggy feels terrible for what she has done. Charlie and his drivers attempt to sabotage
Sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening another entity through subversion, obstruction, disruption, or destruction. In a workplace setting, sabotage is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency generally directed at causing some change in workplace conditions. One who engages in sabotage is...
the rival company, but they are chased off.
In desperation, Charlie suggests a merger with his rivals, but is furious to discover who the real owner is and storms off.
A month later, Peggy is living at the office and Charlie has turned to drink, allowing his company to collapse around him. Peggy and Flo are hijacked
Carjacking
Carjacking is a form of hijacking, where the crime is of stealing a motor vehicle and so also armed assault when the vehicle is occupied. Historically, such as in the rash of semi-trailer truck hijackings during the 1960s, the general term hijacking was used for that type of vehicle abduction,...
by bank robbers. Peggy manages to use the taxi
Taxicab
A taxicab, also taxi or cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice...
radio to subtly reveal their situation and location. Charlie intercepts the broadcast and rallies the other Speedee drivers in pursuit. The robbers are cornered and captured.
Peggy and Charlie are reconciled, especially over the fact that she is expecting a baby.
Cast and Crew
- Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
as Charlie Hawkins - Hattie JacquesHattie JacquesJosephine Edwina Jaques was an English comedy actress, known as Hattie Jacques.Starting her career in the 1940s, Jacques first gained attention through her radio appearances with Tommy Handley on ITMA and later with Tony Hancock on Hancock's Half Hour...
as Peggy Hawkins - Charles HawtreyCharles Hawtrey (film actor)George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...
as Terry "Pintpot" Tankard - Kenneth ConnorKenneth ConnorKenneth Connor MBE was an English comedy stage, radio, film and TV actor, best known for his appearances in the Carry On films.-Career:...
as Ted Watson - Esma CannonEsma CannonEsma Ellen Charlotte Cannon was a diminutive Australian-born character actress, who moved to England in the early 1930s.-Career:...
as Flo Sims - Liz FraserLiz FraserLiz Fraser is an English actress, mainly in comedy roles.- Life and career :Her birthdate is usually attributed as 1933, the year she gave when auditioning for her role in I'm All Right Jack, as the Boulting Brothers wanted someone younger for the part...
as Sally - Bill Owen as Smiley
- Milo O'SheaMilo O'Shea-Early life:He was born and raised in Dublin and educated by the Christian Brothers at Synge Street, along with his friend Donal Donnelly.He was discovered in the 1950s by Harry Dillon, who ran the "37 Theatre Club" on the top floor of his shop The Swiss Gem Company, 51 Lower O'Connell Street...
as Len - Jim DaleJim DaleJim Dale, MBE is an English actor, voice artist, singer and songwriter. He is best known in the United Kingdom for his many appearances in the Carry On series of films and in the US for narrating the Harry Potter audiobook series, for which he received two Grammy Awards, and the ABC series Pushing...
as Expectant father - Judith FurseJudith Furse-Career:A member of the noted Furse family, her father was Lieutenant-General Sir William Furse. Her brother, Roger, became a celebrated stage designer and painter who occasionally worked in films....
as Battleaxe - Renee HoustonRenee HoustonRenée Houston was a Scottish comedy actor and revue artist who appeared in television and film roles.Born in Johnstone, Renfrewshire, as Katherina Houston Gibbin, she toured music halls and revue with her sister Billie Houston as the Houston Sisters.In 1926, the sisters made a short musical film,...
as Molly - Ambrosine PhillpottsAmbrosine Phillpotts-Selected filmography:* This Man Is Mine * The Chiltern Hundreds * The Franchise Affair * Happy Go Lovely * Mr...
as Aristocratic lady - Amanda BarrieAmanda BarrieAmanda Barrie is an English actress.-Career:Born as Shirley Anne Broadbent, Barrie attended St Anne's College, St Anne's on Sea. She then trained at the Arts Educational School in London and later at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School...
as Anthea - Carole ShelleyCarole ShelleyCarole Shelley is an English actress. Among her many stage roles are the character of Madame Morrible in the original Broadway cast of the musical Wicked.-Life and career:...
as Dumb driver - Cyril ChamberlainCyril ChamberlainCyril Chamberlain was an English film and television actor. He appeared in a number of the early Carry On, Doctor in the House and St. Trinian's films....
as Sarge - Norman ChappellNorman ChappellNorman Chappell was a British character actor most known for his roles in the Carry On films and in The Avengers...
as Allbright - Peter GilmorePeter GilmorePeter Gilmore is a British actor, perhaps best known for his portrayal of Captain James Onedin in the BBC Television period drama The Onedin Line. He also had roles in eleven Carry On films, and played the heroic lead in the adventure film Warlords of Atlantis...
as Dancy - Michael WardMichael Ward (actor)Michael Ward was an English character actor who appeared in nearly eighty films between 1947 and 1978.-Early life:...
as Man in tweeds - Noel DysonNoel DysonNoel Dyson was an English actress. Dyson appeared in a number of films but is best remembered as a versatile television actress who became a very familiar face to British viewers in a career spanning almost 50 years...
as District nurse - Norman MitchellNorman MitchellNorman Mitchell was an English television, stage and film actor.Born in Sheffield, his father was a mining engineer and his mother a concert singer. He attended Carterknowle Grammar School and the University of Sheffield, before appearing in repertory theatre and with the Royal Shakespeare Company...
as Bespectacled businessman - Michael NightingaleMichael Nightingale-Selected filmography:* The Man Who Watched Trains Go By * Man in the Shadow * Ice-Cold in Alex * The Stranglers of Bombay * Watch Your Stern * The Young Jacobites * The Silent Weapon...
as Businessman - Ian Wilson as Clerk
- Peter ByrnePeter Byrne (actor)Peter James Byrne is an English actor and director.He was born in West Ham, London, educated at grammar school and trained at the Italia Conti Stage School. He made his name by playing George Dixon's son-in-law Andy Crawford in the long-running BBC Television serial Dixon of Dock Green for twenty...
as Bridegroom - Darryl Kavann as Punchy
- Don McCorkindaleDon McCorkindaleDonald "Don" Dinnie McCorkindale was a South African boxer who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics.He was born in Pretoria and died in Edenvale....
as Tubby - Charles Stanley as Geoff
- Marion Collins as Bride
- Peter Jesson as Car salesman
- Frank Forsyth as Chauffeur
- Marian Horton as Glamcab driver
- Valerie Van OstValerie Van OstValerie Van Ost is an English actress.She is best known for her appearance in four Carry On films - Carry On Cabby, Carry On Doctor, Carry On Again Doctor and Carry On Don't Lose Your Head.At school she became the youngest adult dancer at the London Palladium before moving into films and...
as Glamcab driver
- Screenplay - Talbot RothwellTalbot RothwellTalbot Nelson Conn Rothwell, OBE was an English screenwriter.Rothwell was born in Bromley, Kent, England. He had a variety of jobs during his early life: town clerk, police officer, and Royal Air Force pilot....
- Idea - SC Green & RM Hills
- Music - Eric Rogers
- Associate Producer - Frank Bevis
- Art Director - Jack Stephens
- Editor - Archie Ludski
- Director of Photography - Alan HumeAlan HumeAlan Hume, B.S.C. was a British cinematographer.Hume started work at Denham Film Studios in 1942, and in the late 1940s he worked for Cineguild production company....
- Camera Operator - Godfrey Godar
- Unit Manager - Donald Toms
- Assistant Director - Peter Bolton
- Sound Editor - Arthur Ridout
- Sound Recordists - Bill DanielsBill DanielsRobert W. "Bill" Daniels was a pioneer in the cable television industry, commonly known as the "Father of Cable Television". He was an owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and a founder of the United States Football League ....
& Gordon K McCallum - Hairdressing - Biddy Chrystal
- Make-up Artists - Geoffrey Rodway & Jim Hydes
- Continuity - Penny DanielsPenny DanielsPenny Daniels is a communications consultant and trainer and a former American television news anchor who once hosted the TV show A Current Affair.- Early life and education :...
- Costume Designer - Joan Ellacott
- Producer - Peter RogersPeter RogersPeter Rogers was a British film producer.Rogers began his career as a journalist for his local paper before graduating to scriptwriting religious informational films...
- Director - Gerald ThomasGerald ThomasGerald Thomas was an English film director, born in Hull.-Early life:Thomas was training in medicine when the Second World War began. He then served in the British army during the war, in Europe and the Middle East...
Filming and locations
- Filming dates – 25 March-7 May 1963
Interiors:
- Pinewood StudiosPinewood StudiosPinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, Buckinghamshire
Exteriors:
- The streets of WindsorWindsor, BerkshireWindsor is an affluent suburban town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is widely known as the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British Royal Family....
Taxi!
Also in 1963 Sid James starred in the television series Taxi! as Cab firm owner and driver Sid Stone, similar to his role in Carry on Cabby, though this was more a drama with humour, created and written by Ted WillisTed Willis
Edward Henry Willis, Baron Willis , commonly known as Ted Willis, was a British television dramatist who was also politically active in support of the Labour Party.-Political life:...
who also created Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
for the BBC in the 1950s, Jack Rosenthal
Jack Rosenthal
Jack Morris Rosenthal CBE was an English playwright, who wrote 129 early episodes of the ITV soap opera Coronation Street and over 150 screenplays, including original TV plays, feature films, and adaptations.-Biography:...
also scripted a few episodes and Bill Owen appeared as the Cab firm's co-owner Fred Cudell with Ray Brooks as driver Terry Mills. There were 12 episodes broadcast between 1963 and 1964 on BBC One.