Booking info

Sealey as Miller

Why not reserve a table and have a meal before the show?

The Cheeky Chappie

Performance date - 08/05/10
Performance time - 2.30pm

Dave Sealey presents a special MATINEE performance of his show about the Comedian Max Miller

Max Miller

MAX MILLER’S first film appearance was a three minute cameo in the screen adaptation of J B Priestley’s THE GOOD COMPANIONS, Priestley said of Max’s act ‘….. you had to be reasonably close to him to appreciate the full impact of his delivery of what was called suggestive. We live in a permissive age now and there is no such thing as suggestiveness. Anything goes now; it didn’t then’.

In a personal letter to MAX, John Betjeman wrote ‘…I’m glad to have the opportunity of telling you that you are to me a great genius, as you must know you are, and have given me so much pleasure’. Winston Churchill observed, ‘the two finest comedians of the twentieth century were Winston Churchill and Max Miller.

In this frank appraisal of Miller’s sometimes turbulent career, between generous helpings from his outrageous ‘front-cloth’ repertoire, Dave Sealey gradually reveals the strangely quiet, unassuming man behind the make-up and gaudy apparel. Actress Jean Kent, remarked that, ‘…off stage he was a quiet man with an almost innocent sense of humour’. 'No doubt about it,’ said Stan Laurel, ‘ he was the most private and solitary performer I’ve ever met’.

Dave joyously contrasts Max’s dazzling bravado on stage with the work of some of his most celebrated contemporaries: Our’ Gracie Fields, ‘gormless’ George Formby, ‘big hearted' Arthur Askey, the eccentric Jimmy James, loveable Rob Wilton, together with other giants from the great days of variety. All big names, but none of them bigger than the one who boasted, ‘Miller’s the name, lady’, the CHEEKY CHAPPIE, highest paid of them all.

Some found him too ‘cheeky’; long running disputes with Val Parnell and Moss Empires, spats and wrangles with Auntie Beeb, not to mention a five year ban from radio, bad press and the cold shoulder from some in the profession often barred his progress, but Max defiantly went his own way and stayed at the top. As Lord Oliver said, ‘Max Miller was a master comedian, striding boldly in a field of innuendo’.

Max would scold his audience, saying’….you’re the sort of people who get me a bad name! LISTEN…listen, listen….

Jack and Jill went up the hill
Just like two cock linnets
Jill came down with half a crown
She wasn’t up there two min……..
ERE!

Seaside postcard stuff, really, wasn’t it?

You can book direct with Oxboffice on 0845 680 1926 or on-line by clicking HERE

Dave Sealey

Dave Sealey

Dave’s involvement in the entertainment world stretches right back to the early 1960’s. His first recording contract was with EMI when he cut his debut single at the legendary Abbey Road Studios. At that time, he was fronting a rock band called “The Chances Are”. A couple of years later he transformed himself from rock singer to ballad singer and picked up his second record deal with Dick James Music. This time he was accompanied by fifty-piece orchestras and backing vocalists including The Ladybirds (formerly The Vernon’s Girls), The Mike Sammes Singers and on one famous occasion Elton John.

In 1972 he formed a double act with his brother Al that was to change his life. They called themselves “Cosmotheka”, the name of an old London Music Hall and specialised in the more neglected comedy material from that wonderful tradition. The act took them all over the world, from Port Stanley Town Hall to the deserts of Oman, from Hong Kong breakfast television to the Rocky Mountains. They made countless radio recordings, including six national Radio2 series, and their numerous television appearances included “Roy Hudd’s Hall Of Fame”, “The Bob Monkhouse Show”, “Chas and Dave’s Christmas Knee’s-Up” and “The Good Old Days”.

Since the tragic death of his brother Al, in 1999, Dave, formed his own production company, Cosmotheka Presentations. He raises the roof at clubs and festivals and theatres throughout the UK with a rich, rib-tickling mix of songs, stories, original titles and monologues and he appears on stage in pantomimes and musicals.

He has written and performed his one man Stanley Holloway show “With A Little Bit O’Luck” with great success and has now written a new one man show about Max Miller “The Cheeky Chappie”.

He also works in various collaborations. Two, in particular, have been highly successful – “Pop Goes The Century”, with fellow eccentrics Andrew Frank and Dave Brown and the laugh-a-minute review “Back to Back” with Malcolm Stent and Don Maclean.