Peter Sellers starred in Finkel's Cafe (or, as intended when scripted, Finkel's Caff, probably the BBC who insisted on the proper word!) which ran for nine episodes on the BBC Light Programme on Wednesday's from 4th July till 29th August 1956. It was written by Frank Muir & Denis Norden during their break between Series 8 & 9 of Take It From Here. They weren't having to write them from scratch though, they were adapting scripts to British references of an earlier US radio comedy called Duffy's Tavern which had run for ten years from 1941-1951.

 

Supporting Sellers' in the British adaptation were regulars Sid James, Kenneth Connor and Avril Angers with music from the The Gypsy Tearoom Ninetet. The series producer was Pat Dixon, who also had brief stints on ITMA, Ignorance Is Bliss, The Goons, Take It From Here and Hancock's Half Hour! 

 

As with tavern owner Duffy in the US original, cafe owner Finkel is never seen/heard directly himself. We just get Sellers' end of phone calls updating him on how things are going at the cafe. Sellers plays Eddie, the Irish manager of Finkel's Cafe "Where..." as the series' tagline said, "the elite meet to eat" despite the fact it's a dirty run-down hovel.  Sid James plays his waiter, Harry. Avril Angers plays Miss Finkel, daughter of the cafe's owner. From the one script I have, Kenneth Connor would appear to be a repertory player in a different role each week, as per his and Peter Sellers' roles in the earlier Ray's A Laugh, as the character Connor plays in Episode 7 is introduced to waiter Harry for the first time, despite Connor being in all previous episodes. In Episode 7 he plays Eddie's old friend Elliott Muggeridge.   

 

Each week saw a guest star popping into the cafe. They were;

 

1.1 04/07/1956* - David Hughes

1.2 11/07/1956* - Gilbert Harding

1.3 18/07/1956* - Catherine Boyle (later better known as Katie Boyle)

1.4 25/07/1956* - Dennis Price

1.5 01/08/1956* - Robert Beatty

1.6 08/08/1956* - Arthur English

1.7 15/08/1956* - Dickie Valentine**

1.8 22/08/1956* - Edmundo Ros

1.9 29/08/1956* - Fay Compton

 

* Sadly none of the episodes are known to survive in archives or private hands today.

 

**Episode 7 with guest Dickie Valentine is the one I have a script for, although interestingly it was originally typed up and rehearsed and recorded as Episode 1 with the episode number and transmission date later amended so there seems to have been a swap around of the intended order, whether that was all episodes or just 1 & 7 I don't know as I don't have any of the other scripts). Thanks to having the script, Episode 7 is the only one for which I can lay out the plot. Eddie and Harry are doing an early spring clean to clean up the dump, including distemper painting the ceiling. Singer Dickie Valentine (as himself) pops in and sings for Miss Finkel, his fan, and Eddie tries to wangle a new job of being Valentine's manager, which he refuses. Harry, up a ladder painting the ceiling, drops the bucket of paint on Valentine's head, knocking him out. When Valentine comes round he's suffering from amnesia unable to remember who or where he is. Eddie takes advantage by claiming to be his manager able to launch him as a star, suggesting the stage name Dickie Valentine. Eddie calls Mr Jackson, manager of the Hippodrome, Coulsdon, offering him the real Dickie Valentine for £12/10s a week but before Jackson arrives to sign the contract,  Valentine regains his memory, requiring another bucket drop to the head. The Hippodrome manager Mr Jackson in this episode played by the other guest performer, Warren Mitchell.

 

Despite the great cast and writing credits Finkel's Cafe was only ever broadcast the once apiece, on the Light Programme, with no usual repeat later in the week on the Home Service. No episodes were retained in the archives (although they were initially recorded but later junked) and scripts are all we have, this one has quite a lot of whole sections crossed out and some rewrites so is a fascinating look at a lost bit of Sellers' history.