THE ART OF COMIC-BOOK (5)

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To mark the beginning of Pride Month, I've chosen Travis Moore & Tamara Bonvillain's variant cover art for Superman: Son of Kal-El Issue #5 (released 9 November 2021) showing Jon Kent (son of Clark Kent, aka Superman, and Lois Lane and currently known as “the Superman of Earth,”) dramatically flying in for a passionate embrace. 

The source of Jon's attraction is a journalist: yes, like father, like son ––– except that, in Jon's case, the journo in question – social activist Jay Nakamura – is male! 

Although Jon Kent, formally presumed to be heterosexual, was not the first comic-book hero to reveal an LGBTQ+ alignment, it caused a minor sensation in the comic world – unsurprising, perhaps, since 'Superman' suddenly identifying as 'bi' was a radical departure from comic historicity. Certainly, I couldn't help pondering how I, as a closeted 10-year-old comic-reading lad, would have reacted in making such a discovery! 

The series – all too short-lived – was written by Tom Taylor and illustrated by John Timms who was responsible for the art on the pages shown below, augmented by the work of colorist, Hi-Fi, and letterer, David Sharpe.

SIDE-EFFECTIVENESS

Has anyone else noticed that those origami-folded leaflets that come with every medication just happen to list dozens of possible side-effects that always include the very same conditions for which you are taking the drug?

THE ART OF COMIC-BOOK (4)

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Here's a comic-book cover by one of the legendary practitioners of the art and a personal art-hero: Will Eisner, creator of the rugged mask-gloves-and-fedora-wearing vigilante THE SPIRIT, and whose later pioneering work, A Contract with God is widely credited for having popularised the graphic novel.

 

This cover for THE SPIRIT from August 1974 (#3 of 16 issues from Warren Publishing that reprinted Eisner's Spirit stories from the 1940s with new original cover art) typifies the hero's character: clothes shredded from some previous deed of daring-do (but mask, hat and gloves still in place) thundering the sleepers of an elevated railroad seemingly only feet in front of an on-coming train!

 

Eisner's radical style included using dramatic cinematic angles reminiscent of the makers of the film noir movies so popular with 'forties movie-goers.

 

Some of Eisner's most memorable work was that produced for the 'flash pages' to his stories for their appearance in newspapers. These fiendishly inventive art-pieces were designed to grab the reader's attention, set-up the story and convey a mood – invariably gritty and broodingly noir – and always embodying the title 'THE SPIRIT often in an artfully whimsical way. Here a few brilliant examples...

I especially like this page that features a physical comic page...

In the 1980s I had a fascinating correspondence with Will Eisner when I and a producer colleague were attempting to sell a television documentary to the BBC about the artist's career which would have been presented in a filmed recreation of the comic-book format including frames, captions and speech bubbles! Sadly, as you will not be surprised to learn, the BBC short-sightedly didn't share our enthusiasm!

FAREWELL DORIAN GRAY

Helmut Berger (1944-2023), Austria's electrifying, androgenous screen Adonis: The Damned, Dorian Gray, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, Ludwig II, Conversation Piece – was a sex-symbol and pop-icon (courtesy of Helmut Newton, David Bailey and Andy Warhol) of the 'swinging sixties'. 

Hailed as 'The most handsome main the world' and 'The It-Boy of the European jet-set', he was the muse and lover of Luchino Visconti and an object of desire for (among others, it is alleged) Rudolf Nureyev, Britt Ekland, Ursula Andress, Tab Hunter, Linda Blair, Jerry Hall and both Bianca and Mick Jagger. He was, for many years, a true imbiber of life and love and the epitome of elegant animality.

THE ART OF THE COMIC-BOOK (3)

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Today's comic cover art is both brand new and over 40 years old! Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian is back with "a new tale of bravery and heroism" (and, I guess, "barbarism"!). The new comic debuts this July and the cover for Conan the Barbarian, Issue #1 (although it is sans title) reprises the glorious – and rightly – celebrated poster art for the 1982 film of the same name created by one of the all-time great veteran movie-poster artists, Renato Casaro, still working, aged 87.

Casaro's art needs no sales-pitch; as for the comic-book series, here's the Official Blurb: "Years after the battle of Venarium, a weary Conan returns to his homeland to seek rest and solitude. However, a mysterious scout rides in to warn the Cimmerians of an imminent threat on the march from the Pictish wilderness. Will Conan and his new ally be able to hold off this new horde of invaders?" 

Who knows? I doubt he'll be able to hold off the horde of comic-collectors eager to own this homage to the film that made an international star of a body-builder named Arnold Schwarzenegger!

THE ART OF THE COMIC-BOOK (2)

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Today's cover-art is from Volume One, Number 1 of Fantastic magazine (Summer 1952). The spectacular, outrageously startling front cover is the work of Barry Phillips and L. R. Summers and is suffused with a wondrous eye-catching luridness.

The pages within contained stories by Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov (neither requiring introduction here) alongside other writers including Walter M. Miller, Jr., later author of A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) and – as is boldly announced on the cover – 'A Classic Novel by Raymond Chandler'. This novel was the previously serialised Professor Bingo's Snuff and is accompanied by illustrations from cover co-artist, L. R. Summers.

The back cover features (courtesy of the Museum of Modern Art) 'Danger on the Stairs', a decidedly disturbing image by the French surrealist painter Pierre Roy (1880–1950) about whom, I think, I may shortly be blogging further...

 

Fantastic, Volume One, Number 1. 

Contents: Walter M. Miller, Jr., ('Six And Ten Are Johnny'); Sam Martinez ('For Heaven's Sake'); Paul W. Fairman ('Someday They'll Give Us Guns'); H. B. Hickey ('Full Circle'); Louise Lee Outlaw ('The Runaway'); Kris Neville ('The Opal Necklace'); Ray Bradbury ('The Smile'); H. L. Gold ('And Three To Get Ready'); Isaac Asimov ('What If') and Raymond Chandler's Professor Bingo's Snuff, illustrated by L. R. Summers and introduced with the following announcement: 

We don't need to tell you who Raymond Chandler is, or what he has written. The man who, back in the Thirties, almost single-handedly lifted detective fiction out of the post-Van Dine doldrums, has a secure and lofty place in American literature. More than anyone he brought the hard boiled 'private eyes' story to popularity – and kept it there despite the swarm of imitators who have done their worst to wreck the genre. To our knowledge, Professor Bingo's Snuff is Mr. Chandler's second – and longest – fantasy. It will not at all surprise you that his talent brings added luster to the field.

The story had been earlier published as a three-installments serialisation in Park East, June-July 1951, and in: Go, June-July 1951. 

The story's protagonist, Joe Pettigrew, grows tired of his wife Gladys cheating on him with their lodger Porter Green. With the help of some magical snuff which he buys from Professor Bingo he becomes invisible. Next Pettigrew creates the perfect 'locked-room murder'. However, the police have serious doubts and in the end shoot Pettigrew when he tries to escape. 

 

CORONATION TIMES

In 1953, the BBC's official magazine, Radio Times, marked the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II with an ornately-decorated cover by Eric Fraser, one of Great Masters of line illustration and a regular contributor to the pages of Radio Times, specializing in creating arresting illustrations for audio broadcasts among them productions of Shakespeare's plays, poetry, religious and philosophical topics as well many of the world's most celebrated classics – including towards the end of his career, the BBC's 1981 dramatisation of The Lord of the Rings. 

Eric Fraser's cover for the Queen's Coronation features traditional heraldic imagery and is a masterpiece of elegant design...

 

Seventy years on, the current issue of Radio Times marks the Coronation of King Charles III with a design by Peter Horridge clearly is an homage to Fraser in that he  uses the same heraldic beasts but which, nevertheless, is much planer, although equally elegant. 

Peter is a designer and illustrator with a great gift for calligraphy and calligraphic design. To my mind, this image, with its lightness and airiness, manages to sensitively unite the archaic traditions of ceremonial with the King's desire to be viewed as a 'modern monarch'. The incorporation of a window and, below, arches suggests the venue for the Coronation, Westminster Abbey...

 

Peter Horridge was also responsible for the rather more formalized image (well, actually, a logo) created as a symbol of the Coronation as a participant in the creative collective of Sir Jony Ive's LoveFrom, [Note: One word, two caps and a terminal comma].

 

 

This was one of several Royal commissions, others include the seal of Terra Carta launched by the former Prince of Wales at COP26 in 2021 as a mandate that puts sustainability at the heart of the private sector. 

 

Here's a further glimpse of some of Peter Horridge's other designs. You will find many more by exploring the Portfolio on his website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

POST-SCRIPT: At the time of writing this blog post I was unaware that Peter Horridge had written about his commission to design the Radio Times cover for the Coronation issue. I'm pleased that I wasn't entirely amiss in comparing his cover with that created 70 years ago by Eric Fraser...

 

"UNEASY LIES THE HEAD..."

'The Execution of King Charles the First - Execution of King Charles I, artist unknown

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“I go from a corruptible to an incorruptible Crown, where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the World.”

The words of King Charles I, spoken on the scaffold outside the Banqueting Hall on Whitehall, London, on the day of his execution, Tuesday 30 January 1649

 

The details of the day's grim happenings and a full transcript of King's speech (which had been recorded in shorthand) were memorialised in a number of popularly published pamphlets, such as King Charls his speech made upon the scaffold… 

 

The publisher, Peter Cole, rushed to register his pamphlet with the Stationers’ Company on 31 January 1649, the day immediately following the execution, so as to take advantage of a market eager for accounts of the king’s final hours. So speedily was the pamphlet rushed into print that no one noticed that the date of the event was erroneously given as being in January 1648!

Although many members of the public had attended the execution, the distance between the crowd and and scaffold plus an icy winter wind had prevented all but a few from hearing any of his words, something which Charles comments upon in the published speech: ‘I shall be very little heard of anybody here…’.  However, thanks to Bishop William Juxon, who recorded his words in shorthand, and through the published pamphlet, the King was heard as he finally answered the charges that had been brought against him at his trial in the Great Hall at Westminster, wishing ‘to clear myself both as an honest man, and a good King, and a good Christian’.

Here, with astonishing immediacy, is an eyewitness account of the regicide as Londoners would have read it within 24 hours its happening...

KING CHARLS
HIS
SPEECH

Made upon the
SCAFFOLD
At Whitehall-Gate,

Immediately before his Execution,
On Tuesday the 30 of Ian. 1648

VVith a Relation of the maner of
his going to Execution

Published by Special Authority.

London:
Printed by Peter Cole, at the sign of the
Printing-Press in Cornhil, near the
Royal Exchange. 1649.

---

 

About ten in the Morning the King was brought from St. James's, walking on foot through the Park, with a Regiment of Foot, part before and part behind him, with Colours flying, Drums beating, his private Guard of Partizans with some of his Gentlemen before and some behind bareheaded, D. J U X O N next behind him and Col. Thomlinson (who had the charge of him) talking with the King bareheaded from the Park, up the stairs into the Gallery, and so into the Cabinet-Chamber where he used to lie, where he continued at his Devotion, refusing to dine, (having before taken the Sacrament) only about an hour before he came forth, he drank a glass of Claret wine, and eat a piece of bread about twelve at noon.

 

(It is observed the King desired to have the use of the cabinet and the little room next it where there was a trap door.)

 

From thence he was accompanied by Dr. Juxon, Col. Thomlinson and other officers formerly appointed to attend him and the private guard of partizans, with musketeers on each side, through the Banqueting house adjoining to which the scaffold was erected between Whitehall Gate and the Gate leading into the gallery from St. James's: The Scaffold was hung round with black and the floor covered with black and the Ax and Block laid in the middle of the Scaffold. There were divers companies of Foot, and Troops of Horse placed on the one side of the Scaffold towards Kings-Street and on the other side towards Charing Cross, and the multitudes of people that came to be Spectators, very great.

 

The King being come upon the Scaffold, look'd very earnestly upon the Block and ask'd Col. Hacker if there were no higher; and then spake thus (directing his speech chiefly to Col: Thomlinson).

 

King. I shall be very little heard of anybody here, I shall therefore speak a word unto you here. Indeed I could hold my peace very well, if I did not think that holding my peace would make some men think that I did submit to the guilt as well as to the punishment. But I think it is my duty to God first and to my country for to clear myself both as an honest man and a good King, and a good Christian. I shall begin first with my innocence. In troth I think it not very needful for me to insist long upon this, for all the world knows that I never did begin a War with the two Houses of Parliament. And I call God to witness, to whom I must shortly make an account, that I never did intend for to encroach upon their privileges. They began upon me, it is the Militia they began upon, they confest that the Militia was mine, but they thought it fit for to have it from me. And, to be short, if any body will look to the dates of Commissions, of their commissions and mine, and likewise to the Declarations, will see clearly that they began these unhappy troubles, not I. So that as the guilt of these enormous crimes that are laid against me I hope in God that God will clear me of it, I will not, I am in charity. God forbid that I should lay it upon the two Houses of Parliament; there is no necessity of either, I hope that they are free of this guilt; for I do believe that ill instruments between them and me has been the chief cause of all this bloodshed; so that by way of speaking, as I finde my self clear of this, I hope (and pray God) that they may too; yet for all this, God forbid that I should be so ill a Christian as not to say that Gods Judgments are just upon me. Many times he does pay Justice by an unjust Sentence, that is ordinary; I will onely say this, That an unjust Sentence (Strafford) that I suffered for to take effect, is punished now by an unjust Sentence upon me; that is, so far as I have said, to shew you that I am an innocent man.

 

Now for to shew you that I am a good Christian; I hope there is (pointing to D. Juxon) a good man that will bear me witness that I have forgiven all the world, and even those in particular that have been the chief causes of my death. Who they are, God knows, I do not desire to know, God forgive them. But this is not all, my charity must go further. I wish that they may repent, for indeed they have committed a great sin in that particular. I pray God, with St. Stephen, that this be not laid to their charge. Nay, not only so, but that they may take the right way to the peace of the kingdom, for my charity commands me not only to forgive particular men, but my charity commands me to endeavour to the last gasp the Peace of the Kingdom. So, Sirs, I do wish with all my soul, and I do hope there is some here (turning to some gentlemen that wrote) that will carry it further, that they may endeavour the peace of the Kingdom. Now, (Sirs) I must show you both how you are out of the way and will put you in a way; first, you are out of the way, for certainly all the way you have ever had yet, as I could find by anything, is by way of conquest. Certainly this is an ill way, for Conquest, (Sir) in my opinion, is never just, except that there be a good just Cause, either for matter of wrong or just Title, and then if you go beyond it, the first quarrel that you have to it, that makes it unjust at the end that was just at the first: But if it be only matter of Conquest, there is a great Robbery; as a Pirat said to Alexander, that He was the great Robber, he was but a petty Robber: and so, Sir, I do think the way that you are in, is much out of the way. Now Sir, for to put you in the way, believe it you will never do right, nor God will never prosper you, until you give God his due, the King his due (that is, my Successors) and the People their due; I am as much for them as any of you: You must give God his due by regulating rightly His Church (according to the Scripture) which is now out of order. For to set you in a way particularly now I cannot, but onely this. A national synod freely called, freely debating among themselves, must settle this, when that every opinion is freely and clearly heard.

 

For the King, indeed I will not, (then turning to a Gentlemen that touched the Ax, said, Hurt not the Ax, that may hurt me) [meaning if he did blunt the edg] For the King:) The Laws of the Land will clearly instruct you for that; therefore, because it concerns My Own particular, I onely give you a touch of it.

 

For the people. And truly I desire their Liberty and Freedom as much as any Body whomsoever. But I must tell you, That their Liberty and Freedom, consists in having of Government; those Laws, by which their Life and their gGods may be most their own. It is not for having share in government (Sir) that [9/10] is nothing pertaining to them. A subject and a soveraign are clean different things, and therefore until they do that, I mean, that you do put the people in that liberty as I say, certainly they will never enjoy themselves.

 

Sirs, It was for this that now I Am come here. If I would have given way to an Arbitrary way, for to have all Laws changed according to the power of the Sword, I needed not to have come here; and therefore, I tell you, (and I pray God it be not laid to your charge) That I Am the Martyr of the People.

 

Introth, Sirs, I shall not hold you much longer, for I will only say thus to you. That in truth I could have desired some little time longer, because I would have put then that I have said in a little more order, and a little better digested than I have done. And, therefore, I hope that you will excuse Me.

I have delivered my Conscience. I pray God, that you do take those courses that are best for the good of the Kingdom and your own Salvations.

 

Dr. Juxon.

Will Your Majesty (though it may be very well known Your Majesties Affections to Religion, yet it may be expected, that You should) say somewhat for the Worlds satisfaction.

 

King,

I thank you very heartily (my Lord) for that, I had almost forgotten it. Introth, Sirs, My Conscience in Religion, I think, is very well knowne to all the World; and, therefore, I declare before you all that I die a Christian, according to the profession of the Church of ENGLAND, as I found it left me by my father. And this honest man [pointing to Dr. Juxon] I think will witness it. Then turning to the Officers said, Sirs, excuse me for this same. I have a good Cause, and I have a gracious God; I will say no more. Then turning to Colonel Hacker, he said, Take care that they do not put Me to pain, and Sir this, and it please you: But then a Gentleman coming near the Ax, the King said, Take heed of the Ax. Pray take heed of the Ax.

 

Then the King, speaking to the Executioner said, I shall say but very short Prayers, and when I thrust out my hands... Then the King called to Dr. Juxon for His Night-Cap, and having put it on said to the Executioner, Does My Hair trouble you? Who desired Him to put it all under His Cap, which the King did accordingly, by the help of the Executioner and the Bishop: then the King turning to Dr. Juxon said, I have a good Cause, and a gracious GOD on my side.

 

Doctor Juxon.

There is but one Stage more. This Stage is turbulent and troublesome; it is a short one: But You may consider it will soon carry You a very great way; it will carry You from Earth to Heaven; and there you shall finde a great deal of Cordial, Joy, and Comfort.

 

King

I go from a corruptible, to an incorruptible Crown; where no disturbance can be, no disturbance in the World.

 

Doctor Juxon.

You are exchanged from a Temporal to an eternal Crown; a good exchange.

 

The King then said to the Executioner, is My Hair well: Then the King took off His Cloak and His George, giving His George to Dr. Juxon, saying, Remember„. (It is thought for to give it to the Prince.) Then the King put off His Dublet and being in His Wastecoat, put His Cloak on again; then looking upon the block, said to the Executioner, You must set it fast.

 

Executioner. It is fast Sir.

 

King. It might have been a little higher.

 

Executioner. It can be no higher Sir.

 

King. When I put out my hands this way (Stretching them out) then...

 

After having said two or three words (as he stood) to Himself with hands and eyes lift up. Immediately stooping down, laid His Neck on the Block: And then the Executioner again putting his Hair under his Cap, the King said, Stay for the signe. (Thinking he had been going to strike)

 

Executioner. Yes, I will, and it please Your Majesty.

 

And after a very little pawse, the King stretching forth his hands, The Executioner at one blow, severed his head from his Body.

 

That when the Kings head was cut off, the Executioner held it up, and shewed it to the Spectators.

 

And his Body was put in a Coffin, covered with black Velvet, for that purpose.

 

The Kings body now lies in His Lodging Chamber at Whitehall.

 

Sic transit gloria mundi.

 

'The Execution of King Charles I' by Ernest Crofts RA, 1847-1911

 

[The low height of executioner's block had been determined lest the King had struggled and had need to be tied down. As the preceding account shows no such eventuality occurred and the King conducted himself with astonishing composure.]

'Funeral of Charles I, St George's Chapel, Windsor, 1649' by Ernest Crofts RA, 1847-1911

LONG LIVE KING MICKEY

 

To mark the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, the Disney Store in the UK have released a limited edition (only 2000 and only £14.00 a piece) 'Coronation Day' pin-badge featuring a monarchical Mickey Mouse costumed along the lines of his appearance in his 1990 film, The Prince and the Pauper. 

 

Unsurprisingly, this desirable little collectible sold out faster than the proverbial hot-cakes.

Interestingly, it's not the first time that Disney – at least in the UK – has taken the knee to the British Crown: 70 years ago this month, May 1953, Mickey Mouse Weekly celebrated the Coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with this cover illustration showing the progress of the Gold State Coach watched by a cheering, flag-waving crown including Mickey and the gang. 

 

And 16 years earlier, in May 1937, Mickey Mouse Weekly had a cover marking the Coronation of His Majesty King George VI with the Mouse and the Duck cheer-leading the celebrations with, again, a prominent presence of the Union flag – which (as is not always the case) is correctly displayed the right way up!

"IS A PUZZLEMENT"

Just one week now until the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, and – look! – he's already gone to pieces!

[This Royal Puzzle is available from Wentworth Wooden Puzzles and the title to today's blog quotes one of the lyrics in Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical The King and I.]

THE ART OF THE COMIC-BOOK (1)

As someone who is only a casual purchaser of comic books – new or vintage – but who, nevertheless, is a complete sucker for exceptional comic cover-art, I've decide to curate a personal collection of randomly stunning covers on this blog: beginning with Batman #135, cover 'H' by Jim Cheung (Special Foil Variant), May 2023.

AN AUDIENCE WITH THE GREAT GOBLIN

 Brian Sibley speaks with Barry Humphries

 

‘Delusional, brutal, totally lacking in empathy and, above all, hideous; he is one of the most unpleasant characters to have ever inhabited the cinema screen.’

 

The celebrated Australian actor and comedian, Barry Humphries is discussing his portrayal of the Great Goblin, King of Goblin Town in the Misty Mountains where Thorin and the Dwarves are taken prisoner and held captive. ‘He is a gigantic and repulsive figure, and yet, one of great charm, dignity, and erudition. We realize that, underneath it all, he is probably a New Zealand intellectual, fallen upon hard times.’  

 

Recalling how he came to be involved in the project, Barry says: ‘I had a telephone call from someone called Peter Jackson. I was in London, where I sometimes live, and was busy, so I asked him to ring later. Then a penny dropped. I thought, “Could he be related to one of the most gifted people in the entire history of film?” He was and he asked me if I would like to be in his film of The Hobbit?’

 

It was an invitation not to be declined: ‘I immediately agreed,’ he says, ‘for a ridiculously small fee. But the money was not important, it was the opportunity to explore the thing that I like most in life and art: the grotesque. Normality has never interested me. I am drawn to the paranormal, the extraordinary, the bizarre and the outlandish.’

That is certainly borne out by his close association with Dame Edna Everage, housewife, investigative journalist, social anthropologist, talk-show host, swami, spin-doctor, Megastar, and Icon and Sir Les Patterson Australia's outspoken cultural attaché to the Court of St James’s. 

 

For Peter Jackson, having Barry Humphries in the cast was both thrilling and, in anticipation, a source of some apprehension: ‘I’ve been a fan of Barry’s for over thirty years,’ he says, ‘I’d seen Dame Edna’s shows in the West End and when she toured New Zealand, but it’s always a bit nerve-wracking when you meet people you admire for the first time because you don’t want your heroes to disappoint you. Of course, Barry turned out to be everything I’d dreamed he would be: the sweetest, kindest, good-natured, funny, man who does really great work.’

 

For Barry’s part, he was understandably keen to know what his character looked like: ‘Jackson showed me a little plastic figurine of such ugliness that I really thought it was a part they should get someone else to play: perhaps Dan Aykroyd or possibly Danny DeVito in a fat suit. But they explained that the new techniques would make it possible for me to be extremely large, to begin with, and to conform to the ugliness of the figurine. And I think we’ve achieved that. People will shrink in horror, but then – to use a modish expression – embrace the character.’  

 

Asked whether he had contributed to the screen realisation of the character, Barry says: ‘It is possible that I made a contribution. Lately, when I’ve looked in the mirror, I can see that they based it loosely on my own appearance. I’ve been a little worried, as the years go on – I’m now in the November of my life – by my double chins, which seem to be growing.’

 

The goblins’ brutally monstrous monarch is not only given voice by Barry Humphries, but was acted out by him in motion-capture, a process which he found both intriguing and baffling: ‘You get covered with dots – sort of white measles suddenly appear all over you – and these, apparently, attract little lasers or beams or something in the camera. If I were a twelve-year-old, I would understand all the technology of this movie, but as I’m not, I just go with the flow and enjoy myself.’

 

The actor was much impressed set built for the scenes featuring the Great Goblin: ‘The studio was filled with an amazing edifice. Because the Goblin King is a scavenger on a huge scale, his throne room is entirely constructed of rubbish: old timber, terrible skeletons and human remains. It’s a forensic paradise. Dwarves are his foe and he is a cannibal, so he’s very fond of having them in various culinary experiments. His horrible inner sanctum is filled with the skulls and bones and, sometimes, even the entrails of Dwarves to an extent previously unseen in movies. In fact, I know of no other film where the entrails of Dwarves are examined in such detail, so it’s an educational film.’

 

Of the throne itself, Barry notes: ‘There’s a hole in the seat, so it is both a throne and also a toilet. The Goblin King is, among other things, grossly incontinent so if he hears the call of nature it doesn’t need to interrupt his conversation and, from time to time, a beautifully crafted urn beneath the throne receives a compliment of matter from the Goblin King, generally speaking of ill-digested dwarf.’ 

Barry was particularly gratified to discover that the Great Goblin has a song to sing: ‘I’m convinced that it will be a huge hit,’ he says, ‘It will top the charts, as the young folk would express it. It could even go platinum. It is a song of extreme aggression: a hate-filled number, which children will enjoy and senior citizens will appreciate. It’s entirely about destruction, death, and torture. But I try to do it in a sympathetic way. I’ve tried, as a matter of fact, to bring out the loveable side of my character – although this attempt has been a total failure.’ 

 

Barry is no stranger to musical performance: he was Mr Sowerberry the undertaker in the original 1960 production of Oliver! and later played Fagin. However, singing for the Great Goblin proved challenging: ‘My character is tone deaf, and so I had to do what is an extremely difficult thing for a person like me, who sings beautifully – I had to sing it badly. Having to act and sing badly is difficult for someone who is in the November of his life.’  

 

Of the Great Goblin’s eventual demise, Barry says: ‘I’ve never been disemboweled before, but it’s a pretty nasty death, and I think one that will be greeted by audiences with joy, but also dismay to think that they won’t see the character again. But, you know, in works of imaginative fiction, people do die and are reborn. They’re not really dead. And to me, this is an indestructible character.’ 

The Hobbit began life as a children’s book, so an obvious question is whether or not it has been translated into a children’s film? Barry is adamant: ‘The Hobbit is a film for children in the sense that it’s scary moments are the scary moments kids enjoy. Some tests have been made on young children, and they have enjoyed it, though they have not slept a wink since and some of them have also developed nervous tics that, apparently, will never go away. Otherwise, yes, it’s a children’s film, and it is also, not – as is often cornily said – for “the young in heart”, but for those who appreciate extravagance and imagination: qualities lacking in almost every movie you ever see these days.’

 

As a final reflection on his foray into Middle-earth, Barry Humphries says, ‘There’s much in this film for audiences of all ages, but I think what people will enjoy the most is my appearance as the Great Goblin. Although, as the years pass, you’ll forget most of it, my performance will be evergreen in your memory.’