The acting profession is a hard one. Spare a kind thought for Fireman Blob, one of British animation's fallen by the wayside.
You see, originally, it was Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Blob.
There they were, all kitted out and helmets freshly-polished when the nice men from Camberwick Green took themselves off to BBC Television Centre to sell the idea to children's telly. And all went well until... Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Blob.
"What the hell is that?" asked the Commissioning Editor."Fireman Blob," replied the animators."Get rid of that. It looks like you got that far and couldn't be arsed."
And so it came to pass: after a heated, but ultimately futile, discussion poor old Fireman Blob got his marching orders and was replaced by the felicitously-named Grub.
The rest is history. Embittered, Blob turned his back on the industry and went back to provincial repertory theatre, touring the West Country with Joan Littlewood's production of "No Sex, Please, We're British." When last seen, he was playing "unpleasant thing on the bathroom floor" in Robin Asquith's seminal "Confessions of a Sagger Maker's Bottom Knocker," a pale reflection of glories that might have been.
Such is the hardship behind the glamour of showbiz.
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4 comments:
Still even in the West country he can enjoy the smell of the greasepaint - the roar of the crowd.
P'raps not.
A sadly missed opportunity...
Does he still wear that helmet?
Nothing sadder than a luvvie that didn't make it just hanging on....turning up to the opening of a 3rd rate shop, doing jingles for radio stations no one hears.......never giving up hope that 'one day!' they will hit the big time...................aaahhh.
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