Customer Reviews

Funny, Peculiar: The True Story of Benny Hill

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the finest biographies I have read in years -- it penetrates deeply into the formative experiences and motivations of this strange and reclusive figure, and brings him vividly to life. Many interviewees discouraged the author from this task, but he persevered, and we have much to thank him for. All Benny Hill fans will now watch and enjoy his familiar sketches -- shamelessly recycled over the years -- with an added appreciation for their origins and rationale. Lewisohn helps us to delve into the psyche of this mysterious man, at once the embodiment of little Englishness, yet also a sensitive soul and a student of foreign cultures and languages.

The book is not unblemished. Benny's 50s farce, "Who Done It", is not nearly as abysmal as the author suggests (it's adequate slapstick with a few laughs -- how many 50s British movies has Lewisohn seen, there are many worse!). Benny's frugality is surely comprehensible in a man who had withstood wartime privations; and that character trait, combined with the much-hyped locker-room chit-chat with Bob Monkhouse, was regrettable but entirely standard male behavior for the 1950s. Despite all the conventional wisdom to the contrary, Benny did evolve. And--again with respect to Lewisohn--Benny scaled some of his finest heights of inspiration during his latest years with Thames. I am thinking of the Chubby Dodds documentary, and Murder on the Orient Express, and the "Family" skit, which bring smiles and laughter without fail, though I know them back to front. Of course, he was a comedian who operated rather too comfortably within his decent but clearly defined artistic parameters. Yet what was comforting for Benny was also reassuring for us... Lewisohn is right that Benny Hill's work will return to favor some day. It deserves to.

Good but slightly flawed

I bought this book not only because BCCA started to run the half-hour series again, but because I remembered reading a story in the paper a number of years ago how Benny Hill died alone in a sparsely furnished apartment, unloved.

What I got was a tremendous insight into English vaudeville and its morphing into radio and then television. I also got a tremendous amount of information about Hill's life, as other reviews note. I would, however, like to focus this review on the author's highly critical look at Benny Hill's work after he brought together the Hill's angels. The author unabashedly takes the feminist line that these programs were sexist, and there's no doubt that while the programs themselves were probably enough to get the feminists atwitter, now that BBCA is showing the uncut hour long shows, Hill's on air ridicule of the feminists was what really did it. I hadn't seen the hour long shows when I read the biography, so I more or less took the author at his word. Now that I've seen them, I have two comments. In no way are the Hill's Angels in any way objectionable. The author's comment, what did they have to do with comedy, is misdirected because they had everything to do with framing the skits that were carried within the performances. I think some of Hill's best work was done in these years.

My second comment is more of a revelation. I've always wondered exactly what it was that set Hill apart, the quality that no one else could or ever will duplicate. I realized watching these later shows that Hill had done something no one else had ever been able to do. He brought vaudeville, in its true form, to television. From childhood, he was steeped in, although unsuitable for, vaudeville. Television gave his strength, an acute eye for vaudeville, and his weakness, an inability to project beyond the tenth row of seats, the perfect format. It happened once, and that's the only time it will ever happen.

Finally, as to his death alone in a sparsely furnished room. The picture of Hill dead looks pretty bleak. However, the author makes one thing clear. Benny Hill did in life exactly as he pleased, lived his life exactly the way he wanted to live it, and knowing he was going to die soon, died exactly the way he wanted to die, eating candy bars, drinking, and watching his beloved TV. He had no regrets about anything in life and he was surrounded by people who loved him dearly. Even his failed romances weren't romances, but attempts to reach for unattainable women so he never had to make a commitment that would limit his freedom to do as he pleased. The one time he was expected to make a commitment, he ran fast. Hill did what he wanted in life, and to do that, he had to live and travel alone, and that's exactly what he did. Definitely buy this book, but don't let the author's prejudices dissuade you from enjoying all of Hill's work. As to the author's hope the British return to an appreciation of Hill, it'll never happen, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying him.

An excellent biography of the funniest man who ever stole a gag from another comedian. Yes it's Benny Hill, a man who took a name because is sounded Jewish and wrote some of the funniest songs ever using the most recycled of jokes.

His humour was what the people wanted in the seventies, coarse slightly obscene and saucy. He deserved the title of the the worlds most popular comedian. It was a shame that Benny ended up as a target for feminists and other politically correct groups and was eventually sacked for his humour. The people that hounded him must have been very humourless, cold hearted people indeed.

The book is great though there are few mistakes here and there with respect to show titles and content. I recommend anyone who is interested in British actors and theatre read this book.

Tim Brimelow

Melbourne Australia

This is a fascinating, first-rate biography of one of the twentieth century's most beloved comedy figures; a man who is now largely overlooked in his home country despite having been its most successful comic export outside of Charlie Chaplin. Benny Hill was a complex man who led a simple (if somewhat peculiar) life, and this book provides tremendous insight into not only his personal foibles and professional endeavors, but also the motivations and reasons for his intriguing private behavior and public rise and fall. Drawing on extensive research and fresh interviews with many of the key figures in Benny's life, Mark Lewisohn's writing combines warmth, empathy and humor with analysis, objectivity and attention to detail -- the comic inventiveness and outright stealing of other artists' ideas; the abnormally excessive frugality; the sexual indulgences and hopelessly failed relationships... whether you want to know about the man's career, his love life or the fact that he just loved a quick game of Kalooki, it's all here. Buy this book!

This book is a tremendously thorough examination of Benny's life, and there are some surprises here for those who are only aware of him through his television shows. Lewisohn pulls no punches and leaves very little unturned, both good and bad. It is unfortunate that Benny is now almost taboo in his own country. Having read this book, I will appreciate his comedy in a different light.

Make no mistakes. This is indeed the definitive biography of Benny Hill's life. Exhaustively researched, complete with interviews, at 439 pages, it stands above the rest of Benny Hill biographies, although, to be fair, there aren't all that many. However, I wouldn't recommend it to any Benny Hill fans. Then again, I probably wouldn't recommend any Benny Hill biography. The man, whether deliberately or by blind luck, was a bit of a Sphinx. An enigma wrapped in a frock wearing a wig.

"Funny, Peculiar" tries to get us a little closer to the man who was Fred Scuttle by giving his life the standard show biz biography. Dark secrets are revealed (Although compared to some entertainers, Mr. Hill's secrets weren't all that dark), family relationships are superficially explored (His Dad was a bit of a jerk, it turns out) and his career, thanks to a multitude of existing records, is given a lengthy review sprinkled with various dates.

All in all, a valiant effort to produce a clearer portrait of Alfred Hawthorn Hill, but I just never got the sense that Mr. Lewisohn cracked the mystery.

Add to that Mr. Lewisohn's determination to treat every chapter of Mr. Hill's life as if he were Jack the Ripper and not a television comedian, and you see what the reader's up against (And who else would read this except a Benny Hill fan?).

Say what you want about Benny Hill, that he was stunted emotionally, that he recycled the jokes of old radio and film comedians--and even his own--or that he was cheap, his shows say something else. Maybe not in every bit, but there is an energy there that translates to the viewer. He is having fun.

This is one of those instances when it would probably be best if, in future, we allowed Benny Hill's shows to speak for him, instead of a biographer who might as well be trying to solve the riddle of the Sphinx.

I found this biography of Benny Hill well-researched and engagingly-written. Although a very public figure, Mr. Hill had few close friends or relationships and was something of an enigma. The biographer tries as well as he can to uncover all of the details of Benny Hill's life, from his childhood with a an extremely frugal father, to his early years struggling to make it in Variety (like burlesque) shows and his phenomenal success with his tv show.

I don't think that Mr. Lewisohn succeeded in scratching below the surface of Benny Hill. He tries to emphasize the "oddness" of Benny's quirky habits, but they simply aren't that odd, to me at least. He just seemed like a shy, frugal man who had trouble connecting deeply with others.

I liked that Lewisohn was able to look critically at Benny Hill's work, and honestly assess both the strengths and weaknesses. I think he truly admires Hill's most creative pieces, but is able to point out the flaws in Hill's output, as well as some flaws in his character.

The book has a great index and several exhaustive appendixes chronicling all of his work.

If you enjoyed Benny Hill's tv show and wish to learn more about him, this is a good book to start with.

I purchased this item as a gift for someone very special to add to their collection and when it arrived the cover of the book was torn and there were red marks all over it (it is a white cover).

Very displeased with my purchase.