Tony Allen with the cast of the film Plan B, including Becky Fury and Tony Green…
Following on from the last blog – a tribute to the late performer Tony Allen by his friend Becky Fury – performer Tony Green was sharing some memories of Tony Allen with me…
At the end, he said: “Oh, I didn’t mention the film we did… Plan B by Jerri Hart, one of Tony’s workshop pupils. Tony’s impatience regarding continued re-takes – “Fuck! Another car’s just come round the corner! We’ll have to go again!” – made his performance one to cherish.”
But before we got to that, Tony Green said of Tony Allen…
Tony Green (right) with Tony Allen in the film Plan B
Many people referred to Tony Allen as ‘Lofty Tone’ – he was 6’4″ and a half.
I first met him back in 1981 and, like many others, could hardly fail to be impressed.
This was at London’s first Comedy Store in Meard Street, Soho. Pete Supply (one of the ‘Demolition Decorators’) told John Hegley and myself about the place. All it said in Time Out was “…with Alexei Sayle and the Gong”.
John and I were gonged off like most on our first night. Tony Allen was then one of the regular performers and always, as far as I can recollect, survived the dreaded gong with comparative ease – his was a finely honed act.
By that time, he and Alexei Sayle had started ‘Alternative Cabaret’ and the next week I saw Tony at The Green Man (in the cellar) in Great Portland Street.
This was in many respects a revelation for me especially in view of what we had passing for comedy on our TV sets at that time, which I found incredibly boring, tedious and offensive – on the whole. Even now we never get ‘Alternative’ Comedy on TV – just some severely watered-down version with little bite or content.
Alexei Sayle (left) and Tony Allen with ‘Alternative Cabaret’ in 1979
Somehow, I seemed to bond with Tony. Not that we were ever really great friends – It was an ego thing and Tony could be difficult (he may have said the same about me).
What Tony was saying was relevant.
Any aspiring comic could learn a great deal from watching Tony and I am sure many did. It was an experience in itself witnessing him at his best which probably would have been between 1980-1995.
He had a great friend in the sharp and talented Max Handley, who sadly died in a hang-gliding accident in 199o. I always felt that, like Sherlock Holmes going over Reichenbach Falls, Tony’s act was never quite the same afterwards.
Max would work with Tony on his act almost as a conductor and I believe another person was involved – possibly Paul Durden; at best it was a finely orchestrated piece.
Tony Allen arrested at Speakers’ Corner, Hyde Park, 1979. (Photo: Philip Wolmuth)
Tony had read Heathcote Williams’ (who was also a good friend, fellow Notting Hill squatter and writing partner) seminal The Speakers, published in 1964 when he was a mere 22.
The book is four biographies of stand-out Speakers’ Corner orators. Tony was to become, himself, one of the leading lights at that particular venue for many years. Oration was a natural thing for him and I enjoyed many an afternoon watching Tone at Speaker’s Corner taking part in a heated debate.
Tony Allen’s advice on comedy, Attitude
Of course, there was much more to Tone than just this. He was also a gifted writer himself (submitting work for TV and radio shows) and I can without hesitation recommend his books Attitude – Wanna Make Something of It? (him on stand-up) and A Summer in the Park (him on Speakers’ Corner).
I was very happy to have been part of Tony’s ‘Performance Club’ which he had started back in the late 1990s at Smiffy’s Wine Bar in King’s Cross. Although he didn’t do to much stand up in the later years he continued to do comedy workshops which I sometimes went along to and, of course, he was doing a first rate job of imparting valuable knowledge and technique to the would be stand-up.
He had a plethora of first rate one liners. In particular I remember: “Life should be more than a scented aerosol in the shithouse of existence”. Indeed Tony…indeed.
Tony was something special and I feel privileged to have witnessed a talent like his at his best. If there is such a thing as an afterlife I would like to think that he is now playing snooker with his idol Joseph Grimaldi and perhaps Lenny Bruce is around there somewhere as well – along with Max and Heathcote.
Tony Allen looking slightly impatient in Plan B
Oh, I didn’t mention the film we did – Plan B by Jerri Hart, one of Tony’s workshop pupils. Plan B included virtually all the Performance Club members at the time. Jerry was a well-known Exeter trumpet-playing busker. Tony’s impatience regarding continued re-takes – “Fuck! Another car’s just come round the corner!- We’ll have to go again!” – made his performance one to cherish.
The scene where I smash the derelict car window (this HAD to be one take) went for quite a lot of takes – ‘hair in the gate’, I think, was a term that Tony was getting increasingly annoyed with.
As you know, with filming, patience is a great virtue. You may think you’ve delivered your lines really well but then…. And you have to do it all over again. This was an area Tony wasn’t totally familiar with – although he’d done guest spots with The Comic Strip gang.
The thing is it worked, I felt, beautifully – almost by default… as the more annoyed Tony got – “’Oh Christ, not again!” – the better he came over. Quite clever, perhaps, on Jerri’s part.
On the whole it was quite an enjoyable experience.
Becky Fury also appeared in Plan B, so I asked her what she remembered of the filming…
Becky Fury in character in Plan B
We shot it – a low budget film – in Devon
It was a fairly unremarkable experience, except for one incident of high drama right at the beginning of shooting…
One of the cast members was in the process of getting sent home in disgrace for getting far too drunk on the night we arrived – thankfully before filming started.
Being sent home for having too much to drink was quite a feat considering the amount of big drinkers involved in that particular production. Myself, at that time, included.
I remember standing next to Tony (Allen), who was shaming the actor who will remain un-named and un-shamed, for several reasons… the main one being that Tony shamed him quite enough.
Anyway, this all took place outside and Tony was just at the end of dressing the guy down when a goose came over out of nowhere and pecked the guy in the balls.
It was im-peck-able timing.
The actor was then banned from the set.
As if being told off by Tony and then goosed by a goose wasn’t punishment enough…
THERE IS A 40” TRAILER FOR PLAN B ON VIMEO…
…AND AN 8-minute BEHIND-THE-SCENES SORT-OF DOCUMENTARY featuring Tony Allen, Tony Green and, in brief snippets, Becky Fury.
THE FULL 15-MINUTE FILM IS HERE, THOUGH WITH SOME BUFFERING PROBLEMS…
SO IT GOES - John Fleming's blog 