Smashing Time 1967 - Tara related

darren · Post by **darren** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:01 pm

I was watching this wonderfully silly film from 1967. It's a micky take of the sixties fickle lifestyle of celebrity and music and fashion etc. It's stars Rita Tushingham and the late Lynn Redgrave.

It's directed by Desmond Davis who would go on to direct The Eagles Nest, first episode of the New Avengers. Quite a few Avengers actors pop up like Anna Quayle, Jeremy Lloyd, George Cooper, Peter Jones, Ronnie Stevens, David Lodge and Murray Melvin.

The two lead actors play characters from the North of England who travel to London to make it big with all these fanciful notions about the kind of lifestyle they can get.

After winning some money, Redgrave's character (her brother Corin guested in Avengers episode Lobster Quadrille) gets herself a record contract and suddenly goes up in the world with a fancy new "pad" (flat/appartment) and new clothes.

New clothes brings me to the purpose of this post. 1967 was also the same year that Linda Thorson was making her filming debut in the Avengers and she was seen in her early John Bryce episodes and some publicity wearing a pink fur coat. When Redgrave's character descends teh stairs of her new pad, she is wearing the exact same coat.

I wonder how wore it first.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Thu Mar 22, 2012 10:52 pm

Good spot! Fascinating connections, too.

Speed Six · Post by **Speed Six** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 11:58 am

Fabulous film - and never spotted the coat connection !

I have the soundteck LP and 'I can't sing but I'm Young' is a brilliant parody of vacuous pop at its worst.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 12:23 pm

Good eye, Darren!

I wonder if it's the exact same coat Linda wore, or just one of many that were produced. It would depend on where the movie was shot, I suppose--was it at Elstree? The wardrobe department there was always recycling clothes and the like between productions--some of Annette Andre's Randall and Hopkirk clothes were originally worn by Alexandra Bastedo in The Champions, and I swear some of Tara's hair extensions popped up on Rosemary Nicols in Department S--so if they were both shot there, it's more than likely it was the exact same coat.

I wonder if Lynn liked it any better than Linda, who wasn't keen on it.

Speaking of which, even that staircase behind Lynn looks familiar--did it pop up in an episode at some point?

darren · Post by **darren** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 2:27 pm

The credits say that the film was shot on location in London with no mention of a studio but I don't buy that. It's very possible that it used studios in the Borehamwood area.

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 3:43 pm

Darren wrote:The credits say that the film was shot on location in London with no mention of a studio but I don't buy that. It's very possible that it used studios in the Borehamwood area.

Thanks, Darren. It does seem unlikely that there was never a studio involved, even if it wasn't Elstree. Perhaps the coat was big for awhile there, and they were selling them all over the place?

Speed Six · Post by **Speed Six** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 5:41 pm

This is a caption from a picture from the Rita Tushingham website -

Rita tries to get the custard out of her hair following the morning's filming, 12 June 1967, on location in Hampstead. "The custard went everywhere! We were working in what was like a big warehouse, which had no hot water, so you couldn't get your hair washed and so you had to go home stinking of the stuff."

Looks as if they might have avoided the use of a major studio and built any interior sets independently. Always possible a wardrobe company like Bermans might have been involved though, and they might also have supplied The Avengers.

mousemeat · Post by **mousemeat** » Fri Mar 23, 2012 6:36 pm

Speed Six wrote:This is a caption from a picture from the Rita Tushingham website -

Rita tries to get the custard out of her hair following the morning's filming, 12 June 1967, on location in Hampstead. "The custard went everywhere! We were working in what was like a big warehouse, which had no hot water, so you couldn't get your hair washed and so you had to go home stinking of the stuff."

Looks as if they might have avoided the use of a major studio and built any interior sets independently. Always possible a wardrobe company like Bermans might have been involved though, and they might also have supplied The Avengers.

this could be correct..i.e. wardrobe company..

Post by **dissolute** » Sun Mar 25, 2012 10:10 pm

Speed Six wrote:This is a caption from a picture from the Rita Tushingham website -

Rita tries to get the custard out of her hair following the morning's filming, 12 June 1967, on location in Hampstead. "The custard went everywhere! We were working in what was like a big warehouse, which had no hot water, so you couldn't get your hair washed and so you had to go home stinking of the stuff."

Looks as if they might have avoided the use of a major studio and built any interior sets independently. Always possible a wardrobe company like Bermans might have been involved though, and they might also have supplied The Avengers.

Well, that answer Darren's query then. "Smashing Time" was first by a long chalk with the coat.