Puneet Varma (Editor)

Eastern Cabaret

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Based on
  
Cabaret

Original language(s)
  
English

Producer(s)
  
Harry Pringle

Final episode date
  
6 May 1939

Number of episodes
  
3

Genre
  
Variety show

Country of origin
  
England

No. of episodes
  
3

First episode date
  
30 May 1938

Network
  
BBC Television

Created by
  
Harry Pringle

Language
  
English

Presented by
  
Cyril Fletcher, Hari Sin Bey

Eastern Cabaret was a live variety programme series broadcast in 1938–39 on BBC Television. It was one of several spin-offs from the BBC series Cabaret. Three episodes were broadcast; they were produced by Harry Pringle, and the first two were presented by Cyril Fletcher. The BBC television service was suspended on 1 September 1939 with the outbreak of World War II, and no further episodes were made.

According to Radio Times (20 May 1938), "Harry Pringle, Reginald Smith's officemate, is having a busy time preparing for his Eastern Cabaret, to be given next week on Monday, May 30, and Saturday, June 4. One of his difficulties was getting snakes without temperament and susceptible to the charms of native charmers. He went to five different agencies and gave auditions to thirty-two snakes, and even then failed to find a satisfactory performer". A later entry in Radio Times suggests that this may not have been entirely serious, saying that the background had been "codded" (i.e. parodied) by compere Cyril Fletcher.

No episodes have survived.

Performers

As of February 2016, the following performers who appeared in Eastern Cabaret are subjects of Wikipedia articles. The numbers of episodes in which they appeared are given in parentheses (treating repeat performances as a single episode).

  • Cyril Fletcher (1913–2005), English compere (2)
  • Wilbur Hall and Renée Fields, American comedy musicians (1)
  • Stanley Holloway (1890–1982), English comedian (1)
  • References

    Eastern Cabaret Wikipedia