FEATURE LIST
Katy Murphy in The Steamie
on thc sharpncss ol' ( ilasgow humour. ll‘ 'l'um' I‘rum capturcd thc intimacics ol~ mcn luought togcthcr. 'I‘rcyor Ropcr's play docs thc samc for womcn. ‘lt‘s' an intcraction hctwccn womcn that in .somc .scnscs I think could hc transporth to any timc'. Katy Murphy points out. when we discuss thc camaradcric ol' womcn which sccms to risc ahoyc thc tcdium and drudgcry ol clothcs washing. "l‘hc ncarcst I hayc cycr comc to it .‘ says Murphy w ho also felt thc cast ol' thc stagc production built up a similar relationship as they tourcd. ‘was whcn l joincd a hcalth club in Glasgow. It was strangc. thcy were were working on thcir hodics but it was the samc thing. Womcn communicating in a spccial way. It's amazing how much womcn tcll cach othcrycry quickly. Suddenly the barriers come down‘.
Katy Murphy likcs to giyc thc impression. despite her assuer
Aslaras BillyConnollyisconcerned, he was ‘the masterlunnyman‘. Spike
pcrl‘ormanccs. that thcrc arc still harricrs shc nccds to oycrcomc as an actrcss. ‘lt's why I went to thc Actors (‘cntrc in l.ondon. 'l‘hcrc I‘m ahlc to indulgc my ncgatiyity without thc rcsponsihility. lt‘s sorncthing I‘m still trying to light against. hut l tcnd to hc ycry scll' indulgcnt. 'l‘hc lact that I'm ncycrsatislicd with what I do instcad ol‘gctting on with it is ycry dil‘l‘icult l‘or thc pcoplc I'm working with.'
ll is hard rtot to cmpathisc with Katy Murphy as shc turns thc humour ol‘dcspair on hcr attempts to ‘do somcthing that whcn it‘s doncl
SO OHIO
can say was good'. (‘urrcntly Murphy is appearing live at the Tron. (ilasow in ( 'lirr'smtas‘ Present. an evening ol‘comcdy skctchcs. In it Murphy has to impcrsonatc Kirsty Wark: ‘l lcapt upon stagc last night and I thought [can‘t do Kirsty Wark. lhaycn‘t a cluc. Shc's‘ wondcrlul. Who do I think I am trying to do a Kirsty Wark'.’ And ol‘coursc it was hopclcss. . .‘
Katy Murphy appears in The Steumiv on ('ltunnt’l Four on Hogmunay a! ()pm and 1's in ( 'ltri.s‘trrirr.s‘ Present a! (he ‘l‘ron. Glasgow unit/81ml. Sec Media and Panto xl-Z.
'l‘hc unique talcnt ol‘ (.‘hic Murray will never l‘adc from thc Scottish comic sccnc. Andrcw Yulc. his biographer. looks back at thc man and introduces one of his monologues.
Milligan called him ‘one olthe lunniest men in the world‘. Sean Connery was a great tan. and remains so to this day.
‘You have always been able to twist me
into kinks,’ wrote lan Cuthbertson.
' impersonation, as Robbie Coltrane i discovered on the set at Mona Lisa.
Maidie Dickson, a young soubrette who
i childhood. Young Chic wowed the troops with an amateurshutlle group,
professional debut with Maidie alter
g tor storytelling. There are jokes along
_ notices poured in, one from the Sunday
i
Michael Caine does a sidesplitting
Charles Chaplin? No. Scotland‘s own legendary Chic Murray.
Born on 6 November 1919, in Greenock, Chic was rescued lrom the land at sugar, ships and showers by
had been treading the boards since
Chic and his Chicks, then made his
one war had ended — World War II and another had begun—their marriage! Chic was as lar removed from the archetypal red-nosed stand-up comic as it is possible to get. He developed his own inimitable style, basing it on his natural sense of surrealism and gift
the way in Chic‘stalltales—and incredibly lunny ones atthat—butthe stories he told remained gentle meanders through lite. Putting one tool in tront ol the other. Chic reckoned. was ‘the best way to walk‘.
As a double act Chic and Maidie were attheirheightinthe mid-Fifties in London's West End. having painlully worked their way up through theatres
breadth ol Scotland. Ecstatic critical
Chic Murray with his wile Maidie
i phonograph. and buts and bens the length and i
Times in the lorm at this eulogy lrom theirdoyen, Harold Hobson: ‘He’s tirst rate. His dissection ot the process at getting up in the morning is Proustian in its detail, Beckettish in its innumerable qualifications and wholly his own in its irresistible delight.
When Maidie decided to smarten up his image, buying him two mohair suits, one blue, one brown, Chic insisted on wearing the blue jacket with the brown trousers, and crowning the image with his ever present tartan bunnet. Thus attired, and alter surveying the audience impishly, he would begin to spin the evening's yarn — which never quite managed to be the same two nights running!
When Maidie decided she had had enough at tile on the road and settled down in her native Edinburgh, Chic went solo, kicking oil in what looked like line style with a role in the non-Sean Connery Bond movie, Casino Royale, with Peter Sellers, David Niven—and anotherlan,
OrsonWelles. g .‘
(‘lmagine doing a remake at King Kong and calling it Citizen Kong. No wonder it was a flop! ltold Orson i think he‘s the laziest man I've ever met- lancy marrying a pregnant woman! And he’s
very illogical. He bought a book on pornography and doesn’t even own a
Did you know _" his idea ola
balanced diet is a glass of brandy in both hands?')
The movie's lailure sent his career into a tail-spin, as did an ahead at its time TV special, The World at Chic Murray. Then the buzz started -
Gregory‘s Girl, 3 tilm ollerlrom director Sam Fuller in Paris, his triumph in ‘You‘ll NeverWalk Alone', the Bill Shankly saga. Everyone has their own lavourite Chic Murray story, preserving little pieces at his sweet and silly brand ol genius lorever. Chic became a legend in his liletime, but since his death in 1985 the cult has intensitied as the tales have been passed on to a whole new generation through the adulation of his contemporaries.
Belore their national recognition, a Glasgow evening paper spoke volumes at the high regard in which Chic and his partner were held, with a seasonal limerick they published. He kept the cutting to the very end. (Andrew Yule)
Tints ( ‘ltrts‘tmus I My In The Work ltousr’
In Hill/((71.4 ll"¢'llirr‘t' Lat/y
.S‘ltc Asked T/H' Inmates" What They'd Like
7716i/lll.8‘lt‘(’ft'(1, '( 7111‘ (1an .Wuir/lr‘.” The Best Way To Walk—The Chic Murray Story will be published by Mainstream Publishing in Sept 1989.
I got up this morning. I likc to gcl up in the morning: it giy cs mc thc rcst ol the day to myscllfl So I drcsscd. I always drcss. l likc to hc dil'lcrcnt. but I think undrcsscd you‘rc a hit too dil'l‘crcnt. lcrosscd thc landing and wcnt downstairs. Mind you. ll thcrc had hccn no stairs I wouldn't cycn hayc attcmptcd it. lch wil'c shoutcd l'rom thc kitchcn: ‘Is that you. (‘hic'f‘ I couldn't dcny it — l was standing thcrc at thc timc. I said: ‘ch dcarfl call hcr dcar lwcausc sltL".\ got horns coming out ol'hcr hcad. lthrnk thc had w cathcr had V driycn hcr dow n " lrorn thc hills. l opcncd thc
door
Chic Murray and goltball
'l’hc List 23 Dcc 1988— 12 Jan 19899