Much Binding in the Marsh
Horne and Murdoch met in the Air Ministry during the war, when Horne was Wing Commander, and Murdoch a Squadron Leader. Sam Costa joined them to represent the rank and file, and Maurice Denham played the upper class Dudley Davenport, Ivy Clingbine and Winston the dog. Following on from ITMA, which was a multitude of catchphrases, both characters had their own - Costa with his batman's, 'Good morning Sir, was there something?', Denham's 'Oh, I say, I am a fool!', and Murdoch's 'Have you read any good books recently?' and were always met with applause. Costa also played Prudence Gush, the radio critic, when Much-Binding became a weekly newspaper, The Weekly Bind, with Dora Bryan as Gladys Plumb, its fashion editor. Much-Binding was said to be King George VI's favourite show after the death of Tommy Handley put an end to ITMA. There followed a successor show to Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh under the title of Over to You.The name was then changed again to simply Much-Binding. (With acknowlegements to The British Comedy website) Typical Closing Lyrics: There's an Airforce station, somewhere tucked away Where it is exactly, we're not supposed to say. The C.O. and the A.C.O. were always very kind It's name is quite misleading, life never is a bind ... At Much Binding in the Marsh, we've had some races of all sorts and sizes, At Much Binding in the Marsh, we're giving several Waafs' away as prizes. The quarter mile was not a race on which I will enlarge: The Station Warrant Officer was beaten by the Sarge, And now, of course, as you can guess, The Sarge is on a Charge At Much Binding in the Marsh. Much Binding Sheet MusicAt Much Binding in the Marsh - The crime wave's come we must do something drastic, At Much Binding in the Marsh From one plane they've stolen the elastic, We've twisted it and then let go, Thro' space we used to swish: We're stuck without elastic now, but have a shrewd 'suspish', that 'flannels' using it, to keep her 'is-sues' in 'po-sish' At Much Binding in the Marsh. The Hangar has been made a trifle wider, At Much Binding in the Marsh We did it to accomodate our glider Our pilot said he'd like to try it out as it was new, We took him up ten thousand feet and then we waved a-dieu, He came down six months later to the north of Katman-du from Much Binding in the Marsh. At Much Binding in the Marsh Our aerodrome defence is quite in-spiring, At Much Binding in the Marsh We feel as safe as houses when they're firing. Our A.A. Bo -fors gunner is a man who never cowers, Last Tuesday week he got the chance to demonstrate his powers, He shot one Jer-ry aircraft down and eighty two of ours At Much Binding in the Marsh ( Cheerio, folks) At Much Binding in the Marsh ( See you later) At Much Binding in the Marsh. Words and Music by Richard' Stinker' Murdoch Kenneth Horne Sidney Torch © 1946 ____________________________________ 47/01/02 1 Much Binding Takes to the Air 47/01/09 2 A Foggy Day 47/05/15 20 News About a Concert 47/05/22 21 Gardening Time 48/09/21 1 Holiday News 48/11/23 10 Touring the Christmas Holidays Factory 48/12/28 15 Christmas is over 49/02/08 21 Newspaper "The Weekly Bind" 50/05/03 8 From London 50/05/10 9 Enjoying London 50/05/17 10 London Postmen, etc. 50/05/24 11 Final week in London 50/05/31 12 Paying Cab Driver/Chess Game/Protest Meeting 50/12/03 5 Heading for the Circus 50/12/10 6 Circus today 50/12/17 7 Home From The Circus 50/12/24 8 Scripting and Casting the New Play 51/02/25 17 Nursing Horne 51/03/04 18 American Visiters 53/07/31 1 Job Applicants for The Weekly Bind 53/08/07 2 Launching The Weekly Bind 53/08/28 5 Down in the Basement 53/09/04 6 Typo in The Weekly Bind_____________________________________