I had an evening in the past last night. Flicking through old films on Amazon last week I noticed a program that I’d loved long ago.
"The Forsyte Saga " was essential viewing in 1967.
It was on on Sunday evenings and in a time when it was impossible to record programmes we all dashed home after church in order not to to miss anything.
Sunday night was when our church ran a youth club and the vicar had no TV so he was at a loss to understand why so many of us disappeared instead of playing the games he’d laid on for us.
Gosh it was good viewing, impossible to miss. The story by Galsworthy held us all, with brilliant actors bringing it to life in a way that we weren’t used to in those days.
I sent for the DVD but was still surprised to find it in black and white...I shouldn’t have been. Colour on the television was still several years away in 1967.
It was the story that made it gripping. It still is.
I watched several episodes and still have quite a lot to go. The characters, well drawn and beautifully acted more than make up for the lack of colour.
There are seven discs so this could take some time but once again I am hooked.
John Galsworthy is buried in our local church yard...it feels personal now almost but the story is still absorbing, the characters engaged in pastimes still recognisable over fifty years later .
Most of the actors have quit the stage and indeed life long ago but their portrayal of the story is still gripping.
It was I think the first time an entire nation had been absorbed in a book written about the past. .
I now see why...
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2 comments:
I think it was "The Forsyte Saga" which essentially destroyed Evensong in many a parish church. Not sure how I came to know that but it sounds plausible. Your vicar was lucky that people went to church then rushed home: many stayed away elsewhere.
Just remembering black and white TV gives a clue to our age. I joined the Army in 1967 and didn't have much time for TV, let alone for Youth Clubs. Intensive training, exercises etc and eventually at the end of the year a posting to Plymouth.
I think that the first time I saw a colour TV was in 1969 and the Eurovision Song Contest, while on a course at Catterick the following year.
As for the Forsyth Saga - not a clue what it was about. although repeats in later years gave a clue.
What you never had, you can't really miss :)
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