310:. While his two children were still young, he moved to London; but within a couple of years his wife's favourite aunt was taken seriously ill, and the family moved to Liverpool to take care of her. It was here Casey began writing comedy for the BBC's Light Entertainment Department, submitting scripts to BBC Radio's North Region under the pen name Cass James (which was, at that time, his usual stage name). These were such a success that he would spend the next 26 years commuting between Crosby on Merseyside and BBC Broadcasting House in Manchester.
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In the spirit of the theatre, James Casey was metaphorically born in a trunk, and lived literally in a wicker basket whilst his father and mother performed on stage, one of them looking after him in the wings or in the dressing room while the other was performing a few feet away. If they were both on
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asked James Casey if he would again produce Ken Dodd on radio, as he was the only person the now famous comedian trusted. He did, and Dodd recorded several over-length live shows, which Casey edited, almost non-stop over a period of 24 days, to create the series: the resulting six programmes being a
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The combination of Casey's versatile scripts and Jimmy
Clitheroe's impetuous cheek proved a winner. Stalwarts Patricia Burke as mother, and Peter Sinclair as grandad, were complemented by Diana Day as Jimmy's older sister Susan (nicknamed "Scraggy Neck"), her gormless boy friend "Daft Alfie" played
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had no such luxury. Only rarely, however, did any of them miss a cue or come in early. Nevertheless, they could occasionally be heard stifling a laugh, at Jimmy's preposterous comments or Danny Ross's splutterings as he became tongue-tied and came out with ridiculous statements and gaffes; a sharp
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As a measure of his stature within the profession, many famous stars willingly appeared as the second stooge in the act during those years, including Roy Castle, Ray Alan, Jimmy
Cricket, Roy Hudd, Paul Shane, Reg Varney, Les Dawson, Mike Craig, Don McLean, Charlie Williams, Dave Evans, and Johnny
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A career in the law was not to be, though, and when he came out of the Army at the end of the war he tried to sort out his father's disastrous financial affairs. Though teetotal, Jimmy James was a compulsive gambler, and went bankrupt three times. On the final occasion on which he faced the
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It was during the late 'Forties that James Casey first joined the act, in three-handed sketches: with his father in the centre bouncing gags off him on one side and his cousin, Jack Casey (who originally used the stage name
Bretton Woods, but was later better known as
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bankruptcy court, completely deadpan, he announced to the surprised assembly: "I presume I have now won the
Official Receiver outright!" Before he died in 1965, Jimmy James was earning £275 a week as top of the bill at Skegness; a huge sum for the time.
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stage together, he was simply left in his basket in the wings. As he grew older, however, he was not allowed a speaking part in the act, because his father wanted him to become a lawyer rather than go on the stage with all its uncertainties.
218:(16 August 1922 – 23 April 2011), known professionally as Jim Casey, was at various times during his long career a Variety comedian on the English music-halls, a scriptwriter for BBC Radio's variety shows and situation comedies, and a senior
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In 1982 he retired from the BBC, just before Ken Dodd could ask him to produce yet more radio shows. Upon retiring from radio, Casey revived his father's variety act to great acclaim with Roy Castle and Eli Woods, on
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am. He was still two hours late, so he thought, but now it no longer held up production. However, once he discovered what Casey had done the ploy had to be abandoned. Early finishes rarely happened either.
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One difficulty was that Ken Dodd was often up to two hours late for the rehearsals. To combat this, Casey contracted everyone else to turn up at noon, while Dodd was contracted to turn up at 10
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in a
Manchester club he immediately recognised great talent, but it took five years to persuade the BBC to try him out on radio. When they did, Casey wrote the jokes for
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at the
Sunderland Empire on the same bill as his father, and challenged the BBC's initial assessment that Dodd was suitable only for television. Much later,
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with the 9th
Battalion DLI in 1944. He was interviewed at length about his wartime experiences by the Imperial War Museum as part of their
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Two famous comedians owed their professional careers almost entirely to Casey, who discovered, honed and marketed them. When he spotted
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During the Second World War he served in the ranks in the Royal
Armoured Corps from 1941 and as an officer in the
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also profited from Casey's witty scripts. He also worked closely with Eric and Ernie's eventual TV scriptwriter
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on BBC television in 1982. As a result of that appearance, they were invited to include the act in that year's
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for 12 years. When he saw the first scripts, Dawson remarked that they were more like him than he was himself.
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According to Casey himself, the scripts sometimes arrived too late for any kind of proper rehearsal. Whereas
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had no fewer than eight dry runs, before the ninth performance went out live, the professionals in
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style sketches. Jimmy James's radio broadcasts, written by his son, were in radio series such as
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James Casey, born in 1922 at
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radio series was ruined by the BBC reneging on the promise of a prime weekend timeslot; but
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magazine, Spring 2011 edition, written by STEPHEN POPPITT & EDMUND WHITEHOUSE
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His most successful series for BBC Radio was creating, producing and co-writing
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cry of "Ooh me leg!" meant Jimmy had just (pretended to) kick him.
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in the variety theatres), and he discovered and promoted a young
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James Casey – Biographical notes at the Jimmy
Clitheroe website
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His most notable discoveries during his career at BBC Radio in
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https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80026383
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Another successful comedy series Casey produced was
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Stage comedian, BBC Radio scriptwriter and producer
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574:– Tributes paid to top Teesside comedian Jim Casey
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578:Imperial War Museum interview with James Casey [
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285:Durham Light Infantry
610:British entertainers
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605:BBC radio producers
464:Castle's on the Air
379:Life with the Lyons
340:The Mayor's Parlour
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468:Jimmy James and Co
448:Morecambe and Wise
238:Jimmy James and Co
511:BBC Radio 4 Extra
507:Hinge and Bracket
499:The Clitheroe Kid
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184:(2011-04-23)
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52:Please help
47:verification
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600:2011 deaths
595:1922 births
407:David Hatch
308:Jimmy James
291:beaches on
278:BBC Radio 2
227:Jimmy James
216:James Casey
157:James Casey
138:James Casey
589:Categories
517:References
460:Roy Castle
392:Les Dawson
371:Danny Ross
344:Home James
253:Les Dawson
245:Manchester
163:1922-08-16
80:newspapers
542:Evergreen
474:(also in
324:Eli Woods
302:Biography
231:Eli Woods
220:BBC Radio
206:Spouse(s)
561:obituary
494:Casson.
403:Ken Dodd
359:Call Boy
289:Normandy
257:Ken Dodd
94:scholar
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101:JSTOR
87:books
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