Soho Bites Podcast

Dominic Delargy
  • 4.5 (2)
  • FILM HISTORY
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

A surpisingly large number of films have been set in Soho - that one square mile which has, for decades, been the beating heart of bohemian, cosmopolitan London. In each episode of Soho Bites, we talk to a special guest about a different Soho film and accompany it with a shorter, thematically linked item which may or may not be film related. Written, produced & presented by Dominic Delargy Based on an original idea by Dr Jingan Young https://bsky.app/profile/sohobites.bsky.social https://sohobitespodcast.com/donate https://sohobitespodcast.com/review

  1. Soho Bites 50: Bartleby (1970)

    MAR 6

    Soho Bites 50: Bartleby (1970)

    I would prefer not to. Based on “Bartleby the Scrivener - A Story of Wall Street”, a short story by Herman Melville, Bartleby (1970) is the story of a young man at odds with the world in which he finds himself. He starts work as an audit clerk at an accountancy firm but within a few days begins to refuse to do any work, saying merely that he “would prefer not to”. Starring John McEnery in the title role and Paul Scofield as his extremely patient boss, the film is the only feature to be directed by Anthony Friedman. Stephen Armstrong, journalist at The Observer and freelance film critic joins us to talk about the film. In popular culture, Bartleby has become a symbol of passive resistance to corporate bureaucracy. Among many other things, Bartleby’s famous line “I would prefer not to” has become a: Column in the economistSeveral T-shirtsA slogan used at Occupy Wall St and other protestsSocksThe official motto of philosopher Slavoj Žižek! In Herman Melville’s original story, he mentions the names of two real life people - John C Colt & Samuel Adams. Little heard of today, they would have been extremely famous at the time due to a notorious murder which gripped the United States. We tell the story of this case in the first half. Read or listen to Stephen Armstrong’s work at the Observer and find his books here. Stephen also produces an extremely Soho podcast called Strippers in the Attic. The director of Bartleby, Anthony Freidman, did not direct any other feature films and went back to academia. See the Bartleby locations thanks to our friends at ReelStreets. Buy the Blu-ray from Indicator Films. The New York Sun published this special edition all about the John C Colt / Samuel Adams case in January 1842. Most of the information about the Colt / Adams case came from two books by Andie Tucher and Harold Schechter. The Bartleby sound track, composed by Roger Webb, was released by Trunk Records on vinyl. It’s also available on Spotify. Troy Taylor provided the voice of John C Colt. Check out his website, his podcast and his Museum of American Oddities on Facebook. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    1h 15m
  2. Soho Bites 49: Noose (1948)

    FEB 6

    Soho Bites 49: Noose (1948)

    Spiv Noir. According to the billing, the stars of 1948's Noose (known as The Silk Noose in the US) are Carole Landis, Joseph Calleia & Derek Farr, but the real star of the film is Nigel Patrick who is cast against type as Bar Gorman, a sharply dressed, fast talking spiv. Set firmly in Soho, it tells the story of how the police, the press & a group of normal citizens, try to loosen the choke-hold of gangsters on the city. The film is one of a group of films known as "the spiv cycle". The director, Edmond T. Gréville, also directed Beat Girl which is straight from the fridge daddio. Dr Josephine Botting, curator at the BFI, joins us to talk about Noose, Edmond T. Gréville and the spiv cycle. Interesting article about the spiv cycle of films. In the first half of the show we were joined by the mighty Steve Hayes to talk about the life and death of Carole Landis. Steve has a brilliant YouTube channel, Tired Old Queen at the Movies and, rather like Morgan Freeman, George Burns and John Huston, he once played God in a movie. In our interview, Steve mentioned those two famously bitchy and competitive Hollywood gossip columnists, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. Here's the listing for the 1947 stage version of Noose on the Theatricalia website and also a copy of the programme. We're fans of vintage lobby cards on Soho Bites - here's a couple of colourised ones for Noose. Friend of the show, Rob Baker, wrote an article about British post-war gangster films on his Flashbak website. A News Chronicle article from September 13th, 1945 by Bill Naughton - "Meet the Spiv". There's plenty of stuff online about Carole Landis and her suicide, most of which is pretty salacious and muck-rakey. This one is too, but written slightly better than the rest. A Carole Landis tribute site. Carole did not appreciate being called The Ping Girl. Booking for the monthly Projecting the Archive at the BFI is highly recommended. At the time of writing this, the Museum of Soho website is under redevelopment - check back soon. In the meantime you can follow their Instagram. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    1h 15m
  3. Soho Bites 48: Mona Lisa (1986)

    JAN 6

    Soho Bites 48: Mona Lisa (1986)

    After two years in the wilderness, we return to your ears with episode 48 and a brilliant film - Mona Lisa (1986). Directed by Neil Jordan and written by David Leland, it’s a noir thriller with a fantastical edge - or perhaps a fantasy cloaked in noir - about humans finding connection in a grim world. Bob Hoskins, Cathy Tyson, Michael Caine and Robbie Coltrane all turn in beautiful performances and we catch a glimpse of the real Soho as it was before gentrification began. Soho based film producer, Colin Vaines, returns to the show to talk about Mona Lisa. Our guest for the thematically linked supporting feature© is Professor Oliver Carter of Birmingham City University. Oliver has been running a research project called Under the Counter looking at the history of the British pornography industry for several years and he shares some of the nuggets of his extensive research. Mona Lisa is available to stream on various platforms but if you’re a physical media person and if you prefer to not give money to Jeff Bezos when you can help it, you can buy it from Arrow Films. The famous scene in which Bob Hoskins walks around Soho is, perplexingly, accompanied by In Too Deep by Genesis. We try not to promote Xwitter these days so follow Colin on Facebook. Oliver has various links - his website, the Under the Counter website from where you can buy his book and the Under the Counter archive at the Bishopsgate Institute (slightly NSFW). Check out Mona Lisa’s then & now locations thanks to our friends at Reelstreets. Thank you to the Museum of Soho for allowing us to record in their gallery at All is Joy, 75 Dean Street, Soho. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    1h 9m
  4. Soho Bites 47: Monsieur Ripois (1954)

    02/01/2024

    Soho Bites 47: Monsieur Ripois (1954)

    Bienvenue dans le premier épisode de 2024. Monsieur Ripois (1954) was directed by René Clément and stars the French heart throb, Gérard Philipe along with the English beauties, Joan Greenwood, Natasha Parry & Valerie Hobson. It was based on the 1912 novel, Monsieur Ripois et la Némésis by Louis Hémon. The film was released under several other titles including “Lovers, Happy Lovers” & “Knave of Hearts” and was made in both English and French with the two versions being shot concurrently. We talk about Monsieur Ripois to the actor and director Jason Morell, whose mother was Joan Greenwood, one of the stars of the film. Listen out for some seventy year old hot gossip! Also on the French theme, we revisit an episode of Mural Morsels to hear about the notorious bohemian French poet, Paul Verlaine. This was an interview I did with another poet, Niall McDevitt, back in 2020 who has since sadly passed away. We’re using this interview with the blessing of his partner, Julie Goldsmith. Read this article by Jason Morell about dear old mum. Follow Jason on the Twitters. Here’s a little extract from the film. Of course our friends at Reelstreets have watched M. Ripois and you can look at some of the locations from the film HERE. Julie Goldsmith, the partner of the late Niall McDevitt, is a sculptor. You can see some of her work on Instagram and on her website. Niall’s obituary in The Irish Times. The 1995 Paul Verlaine biopic, Total Eclipse is worth watching if you can find it - although it’s quite difficult to track down. Here are a few options. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    1h 2m
  5. Soho Bites 46: Don't Open 'til Christmas (1984)

    12/21/2023

    Soho Bites 46: Don't Open 'til Christmas (1984)

    Ching ching etc - it's the Soho Bites Christmas special. Having just left behind the wholesome world of Jessie Matthews and 1930s musicals, it feels right to descend into the grubby underbelly of Soho with the festive fiasco, Don't Open 'til Christmas. The "plot" such as it is, is a basic one. A crazed serial killer is roaming the west end murdering men dressed as Santa Claus. If there's a worse Christmas film (not including anything by Hallmark) we'd be very interested to hear about them. Written, produced & directed by a rotating motley crew of exploitation regulars, the film apparently took two years to make which is possibly the most shocking thing about it. Our guest for this episode is the magnificent David McGillivray who has not only written about this film in the past but also knew many of the people involved. David's Wikipedia entry and his IMDB listing. Buy David's books, Doing Rude Things and Little Did You Know. Thanks to Danny Cox for the countdown of festive Santa murders. If you really want to see Don't Open 'til Christmas, you can find it on YouTube. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    54 min
  6. Soho Bites 45: Friday the Thirteenth (1933)

    12/21/2023

    Soho Bites 45: Friday the Thirteenth (1933)

    Jessie part three. For this, the third and final instalment of our mini-series about the 1930s' biggest UK film star, Jessie Matthews, we met up with Dr Jennifer Voss of De Montford University to talk about Friday the Thirteenth (1933). NB: this is the Friday the Thirteenth from 1933, directed by Victor Saville with a large ensemble cast including Jessie as well as her husband, Sonnie Hale, Emlyn Williams (who also wrote the script), Gordon Harker, Edmund Gwenn, Eliot Makeham, Frank Lawton and the lovely Ursula Jeans plus many more. It is not the silly 1980s slasher film of the same name. Friday the Thirteenth consists of seven separate stories which all come together at the end when our many protagonists find themselves aboard a bus which is involved in a fatal accident. To talk about Jessie, her life & career we're joined again by Rob Baker, Jade Evans and Dr Lawrence Napper. For this episode we also meet David Drummond who knew Jessie for the last thirty years of her life and dated her daughter! For many years, David ran a shop in the West End selling theatre and film related memorabilia & ephemera. Sadly the shop is no longer there but you can still visit the Pleasures of Past Times website. Our thanks to Professor Sean Street who provided some of the archive audio in the programme. Watch this 1981 BBC documentary about Jessie Matthews. Jessie appeared on This is Your Life in 1961. Jessie's biographer, Michael Thornton wrote this appalling, salacious, muckraking and probably untrue article for the appalling, salacious, muckraking Daily Mail which I have pasted it into this Google Doc to deprive the Mail of your clicks. Rob Baker is on Twitter too and you can buy his books HERE. Article about Jessie by Rob on his Flashback website. Follow Jade on Twitter and/or Instagram to learn about her research in fact you can find all her links HERE. Buy Jessie's autobiography or read it for free online. Of course, Lawrence is on Twitter too and here's his At the Pictures blog. The passages from Jessie's autobiography were read by Jane Slavin whose official title is, apparently, "Queen of Loveliness". During the pandemic, we made an episode of Mural Morsels about Jessie Matthews. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    1h 9m
  7. Soho Bites 44: Evergreen (1934)

    10/24/2023

    Soho Bites 44: Evergreen (1934)

    Jessie part two. This is the second instalment of a three part mini-series about the 1930s' biggest UK film star, Jessie Matthews. Evergreen (1934) was based on Ever Green, CB Cochran's 1930 musical spectacular at the Adelphi Theatre. Jessie starred as Harriet Green in both the stage show and the film. We're joined by Dr Melanie Williams of The University of East Anglia to talk about the film and  Rob Baker, Jade Evans and Dr Lawrence Napper return to the show to talk about Jessie's life. Evergreen is the story of two Harriet Greens, in which one Harriet finds fame and fortune by impersonating the other. Evergreen was third of five Jessie Matthews films directed by Victor Saville and co-starred Mr Jessie Matthews, Sonnie Hale. Barry Mackay plays the love interest, Tommy Thompson and Betty Balfour plays Maudie, continuing her successful transition from silent films to talkies. Watch this 1981 BBC documentary about Jessie Matthews. Jessie appeared on This is Your Life in 1961. Jessie's biographer, Michael Thornton wrote this appalling, salacious, muckraking and probably untrue article for the appalling, salacious, muckraking Daily Mail which I have pasted it into this Google Doc to deprive the Mail of your clicks. Melanie has a ton of film & TV writing out there including books on David Lean and A Taste of Honey. Follow her on the site formally known as Twitter. Rob Baker is on Twitter too and you can buy his books HERE. Article about Jessie by Rob on his Flashback website. Follow Jade on Twitter and/or Instagram to learn about her research in fact you can find all her links HERE. Buy Jessie's autobiography or read it for free online. Some nice old Front of House lobby cards. Of course, Lawrence is on Twitter too and here's his At the Pictures blog. The passages from Jessie's autobiography were read by Jane Slavin whose official title is, apparently, "Queen of Loveliness". During the pandemic, we made an episode of Mural Morsels about Jessie Matthews. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    1h 2m
  8. Soho Bites 43: The Good Companions (1933)

    09/20/2023

    Soho Bites 43: The Good Companions (1933)

    The Big Jessie series. This is the first of a three part mini-series focusing on the 1930s' biggest UK film star, Jessie Matthews. None of Jessie's films were set in Soho, but the fact that she was born on Berwick Street where her dad was a market trader, that she lived in William & Mary Yard on Brewer Street and that she learned to dance in an upstairs room at The Blue Posts means that, as far as we're concerned, any film starring Jessie Matthews is a Soho film. Across the next three episodes we will talk about three different Jessie films and learn about her life through talking to several special guests. In this first episode, we talk to Rob Baker, Jade Evans and Dr Lawrence Napper about Jessie's early life and her rise to stardom and Lawrence hangs around to talk about Jessie's 1933 breakthrough film, The Good Companions. Also starring a very young John Gielgud, Edmund Gwenn and Mary Glynne, The Good Companions was directed by Victor Saville, produced by Michael Balcon and was based on a best selling 1929 novel of the same name by JB Priestley. And yes, I know that Michael Balcon link goes to a Wetherspoons named after him. Here's a more serious link. Watch this 1981 BBC documentary about Jessie Matthews. Jessie appeared on This is Your Life in 1961. Jessie's biographer, Michael Thornton wrote this appalling, salacious, muckraking and probably untrue article for the appalling, salacious, muckraking Daily Mail which I have pasted it into this Google Doc to deprive the Mail of your clicks. Rob Baker is on Twitter and you can buy his books HERE. Article about Jessie by Rob on his Flashback website. Follow Jade on Twitter and/or Instagram to learn about her research in fact you can find all her links HERE. Buy Jessie's autobiography or read it for free online. Of course, Lawrence is on Twitter too and here's his At the Pictures blog. In this episode, the passage from Jessie's autobiography was read by Jane Slavin whose official title is, apparently, "Queen of Loveliness". During the pandemic, we made an episode of Mural Morsels about Jessie Matthews. Thank you for listening. Follow us on Blue Sky (our Xwitter account is no more) We're now on YouTube Email us at sohobitespodcast@gmail.com We'd love it if you left us a lovely REVIEW. And if you'd like to help support the show we'd be very grateful. Check out our spin-off series Mural Morsels In fact, see all relevant links HERE

    1h 3m
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Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

A surpisingly large number of films have been set in Soho - that one square mile which has, for decades, been the beating heart of bohemian, cosmopolitan London. In each episode of Soho Bites, we talk to a special guest about a different Soho film and accompany it with a shorter, thematically linked item which may or may not be film related. Written, produced & presented by Dominic Delargy Based on an original idea by Dr Jingan Young https://bsky.app/profile/sohobites.bsky.social https://sohobitespodcast.com/donate https://sohobitespodcast.com/review

Information

  • Creator
    Dominic Delargy
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    49
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Dominic Delargy 2019-26
  • Show Website
    Soho Bites Podcast

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