No Laughing Matter

For the first time, in NO LAUGHING MATTER, Norman Hudis, who wrote the first six Carry On movies, reveals his hitherto secret, decades-long and quixotic writing-activity since he left the series. It's this: He Carried On Writing Carry On stories in the hope that, one day, he'd be asked to return and come up with one! Two typical intriguing examples, elaborated in these memoirs: "e;Carry On Under The Pier If Wet"e;, skewering two doughty British institutions, the seaside concert-party and boarding-house - and, most audacious of all, "e;Carry On Shylock Holmes."e;. More firsts revealed within these pages: Norman's frank and terse opinions about, among others, Ted Ray, Hattie Jacques, Joan SIms ("e;Did I sleep with her?"e;), Charles Hawtrey ("e;Do you believe in fairies?"e;), Kenneth Connor and Kenneth Williams and, in Hollywood, Elvis Presley, Robert Young, Anne Baxter, Erik Estrada, Joan Crawford and Harold Shmidlap ("e;Who's he?"e; Hint: legendary creator of the TV series "e;Frontier Accountant."e;). Emerging, somewhat bewildered, but with a firm sense of comedy implanted in him by undergoing upbringing by a rather odd family, Norman felt compelled to seek substitute families to redress the balance: respectively as a young newspaperman, then serving airman in the WWII RAF, plus post-war film publicist and, finally, fully home, as a writer. This autobiography, therefore, with a fitting foreword by Carry On producer Peter Rogers, is Norman Hudis in a succinct and delightful nutshell. In his words: "e;I call the book NO LAUGHING MATTER as an understatement, because my life, beginning with the upbringing by my unconventional family, has actually been such a hysterical hoot, it's no great wonder that I write comedy. After all, let's face it, I've lived it."e;