Mural Morsels 18 - Chevalier d'Eon

11/09/20 • 14 min

A series of short features made for Soho Radio. Each week we talk to a different person about somebody in the Spirit of Soho Mural. This week, Dom talks to Tony Shrimplin from the Museum of Soho, trying to figure out what was going on in the extraordinary life of Chevalier d'Eon.

Previous Episode

Soho Bites 18: Peeping Tom (1960)

Famously, Peeping Tom (1960) pretty much ended the career of its director, Michael Powell, thanks to the universally horrendous reviews it received on its release. Also famously, the film’s reputation was rehabilitated by, among others, Martin Scorsese who counts it amongst his favourite films of all time. In this episode, Dom is joined by film producer, Colin Vaines, to talk about this controversial masterpiece.

Peeping Tom trailer

And a small selection of lobby cards

The Powell & Pressburger Pages is an excellent resource for all your P&P needs.

Watch Peeping Tom now on the BFI Player.

In the last episode, we talked to David McGillivray about the smutty smutster, Harrison Marks. This time, we’re talking to Stephen Fenerty about Pamela Green – not because she was Harrison Marks’s muse (which she was) but because she has a cameo in Peeping Tom.

Harrison Marks’s, Naked as Nature Intended (1961) starring Pamela Green is said to be the first British “nudie” film and it has turned up on YouTube. See it below – it’s very mild stuff but in the opinion of the enormous Soho Bites Editorial Standards team, it is unsuitable for viewing at work.

*UPDATE* Naked as Nature Intended has been removed from YouTube for violating its Community Guidelines but....

... you can see one of Pamela’s 8mm silent “loop” films, Xcitement!, on the BFI Player HERE. This is also ever-so-slightly NSFW.

Follow our guests on Twitter: Stephen Fenerty and Colin Vaines

As promised in the show, you can hear the unedited version of the conversation with Colin Vaines, including extra banging from Lewis Hamilton’s restaurant, HERE

The originator of Soho Bites, Dr Jingan Young, has launched a new research project. Find out all about it on the Cities in Cinema website and follow the project on Twitter.

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Next Episode

Soho Bites 19: Smashing Time (1967)

Episode 19: Smashing Time (1967) & Jago Hazzard on Carnaby Street

Welcome, cool cats, to the Swingin’ 60’s special episode. For our film chat, Dom spoke to Barry Fantoni about Smashing Time, the 1967 satire / farce about Brenda and Yvonne, two girls from oop north seeking fame and fortune in that there swingin’ London.

But according to our first guest, Jago Hazzard, they’re possibly three years too late. Jago joins Dom in a bleakly locked down Carnaby Street to find out how, when and why it briefly became the centre of the universe.

You can watch the Smashing Time on YouTube

Jago is a London historian who has an extremely popular YouTube channel with many thousands of subscribers. Become one of them HERE

And you can follow him on Instagram

Have a look at some of the Smashing Times locations, courtesy of our friends at ReelStreets

I don’t think Barry Fantoni would mind me saying he’s been around the block a few times, especially when it has resulted in such a hugely diverse career. To get a taste of just one decade of that career, you could do worse than read his recent memoir about the 1960s, A Whole Scene Going On

The writer of Smashing Time is George Melly. Barry wrote a book with him in 1980.

Check out some of Barry’s artwork

Read this very nice interview with him from Jewish Chronicle

Did I mention he’s EJ Thribb (age 171⁄2)?

And watch the first episode of his 1966 TV show, A Whole Scene Going from 5th Jan, 1966.

Actual proof that Soho Bites is third most bohemian podcast on the planet.

Those disturbing details about the life of Arthur Mullard

The originator of Soho Bites, Dr Jingan Young, has launched a new research project. Find out all about it on the Cities in Cinema website and follow the project on Twitter.

Thank you for listening.

We're now on YouTube

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