TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 -
A weekly folk music show, hosted by singer Rory McEwen with help from the cream of British folk at the time. Martin Carthy, Iain Campbell, Cyril Tawney, Davey Graham, and Alex McEwan (brother of Rory), plus a side helping of British rhythm and blues provided by The Cyril Davies' All Stars with guests Long John Baldry and South African singing trio The Velvettes. The series was recorded at ABC's Teddington Lock studios.
To help promote the forthcoming series a version of the show was taken to the Edinburgh Festival, under the title Straight From The Wood with the claim "All the stars appearing in this short Edinburgh Festival season will be appearing in Hullabaloo."
Having been approached to host the series Rory McEwan insisted on a studio audience, and there would be about 300 in attendance per show. ABC's justification for such a show was the folk music boom in the USA, rather than the grass roots success here in the UK. Talking to TV Times in October 1963 McEwan claimed "Folk singing really is big business in America. Over 10,000 more people attended the Newport Folk Festival than the famous Jazz Festival held there this year."
Due to the occasional inclusion of visiting American acts like Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Carolyn Hester, Peter, Paul & Mary, Sonny Boy Williams ABC managed to sell the show to Australia and America, which probably accounts for so many extant editions in the vault. It began a run on Australian TV in January 1964.
In May 1964 the show was brought to the Royal Festival Hall, London for a live presentation
featuring Rory McEwen, Isla Cameron, The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Bob Davenport,
Martin Carthy, Lisa Turner and The Malcolm Price Trio, despite the fact that the
show was not shown in the London area. Talking to Melody Maker about the shows' absence
in the Capital McEwan claimed "I am told because neither A-
The surviving episodes were released on DVD by Network in late 2020.
HULLABALOO
ABC
28th September 1963 -
