Doubling- and Tripling-up on the Portraits

‘Nick and Gabrielle Drake, 1971’

graphite and putty eraser on ‘Seawhite’ cartridge paper/30 x 42cm

Having laid firm foundations and taken root now, the Seventies project continues, on this occasion with an invented double portrait, of brother and sister Nick and Gabrielle Drake as they appeared, independently, in 1971 - Nick as photographed for and depicted on the sleeve of his ‘Bryter Layter’ LP and Gabrielle in costume for a promotional image for the ‘UFO’ television series in which she occasionally featured that and the preceding year (see also previous entry).

Following that, a triple portrait, of the actors Tony Anholt, Robert Vaughn and Nyree Dawn Porter as they appeared in character as Paul Buchet, Harry Rule and Contessa Caroline di Contini - ‘The Protectors’, an international crime-fighting agency/team, another television series I recall watching and obviously enjoying as a boy in the early Seventies, which, it transpires, was another Gerry Anderson (co-)production, following on from ‘UFO’. This programme also had a particularly memorable theme tune, ‘Avenues and Alleyways’  - performed by Tony Christie, who had numerous hit records around that time - which is probably something that should also be acknowledged within the scope of the project...

‘The Protectors’

graphite and putty eraser on ‘Seawhite’ cartridge paper/42 x 30cm

Adventures in Sci-Fi

'UFO'

Graphite and putty eraser on 'Seawhite' cartridge paper/42 x 30cm (A3)

Following on from the previous entry, the drawing above also features among its cast of human subjects the actress Gabrielle Drake, on this occasion represented in character as ‘Lt. (Gay) Ellis’ as she appeared in the early 1970s British television series ‘UFO’, which I recall as being a particular favourite of my young self at the time, quite possibly to the point of obsession, as I know I numbered among my substantial collection of ‘Dinky’ toy cars (a definite obsession) the range of three vehicles that were merchandised from the show, including the gold car of the platinum blond 'Commander Ed Straker' (played by Ed Bishop), who forms the central figure of the trio depicted. The portrait to the right is of the magnificently and memorably-named Vladek Sheybal, in his role of ‘Dr Doug Jackson’, who, in a curious coincidence, is recorded as appearing in 10 episodes of the total of 26 produced, as is/was Gabrielle Drake, who I must admit I had no recollection of, unlike her role in the previously-referenced ‘Kelly Monteith Show’: apparently, Drake and Sheybal only featured in 2 episodes together, 1970’s ‘Kill Straker!’ and the following year’s ‘Ordeal’.

I think it’s highly-probable that the attraction to Vladek Sheybal’s name was the precursor to my undimmed devotion to those of East European football clubs, easily imaginable as it is that it should belong to, for example, the surprise Bulgarian Cup winners of 1973 who subsequently made an obscure appearance in the following season’s European Cup-Winners’ Cup, perhaps going out of that much-missed competition after a hard-fought and unlucky defeat to AC Milan at the Second Round stage.

Whatever, ‘UFO’, however deeply buried in the recesses of the mind and undisturbed for many years, maintains its presence in the memory and the Seventies project has allowed it to see the light of day once again.

By those curious connections the mind whimsically makes, of its own accord, Ed Straker’s dyed blond hair referenced that of Gary Numan, pictured similarly on the cover of Tubeway Army’s ‘Replicas’ LP from 1979. Now, this was something of a surprise at the time as I distinctly recall seeing Tubeway Army making what was quite possibly their debut appearance on ‘Top of the Pops’, performing ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’ one Thursday evening during the Spring of 1979 - it sparked something of a pro/con debate in John Rogers’ English class in school the following morning, I’m back there in the room - featuring a jet black-haired Numan as the front man, and it is this memory that forms the inspiration for the following drawing in the project, represented from a still taken from a still of a ‘Top of the Pops’ broadcast. Vividly remembered days, of youth, indeed.

'Tubeway Army, 'Are 'Friends' Electric?', Top of the Pops', 1979'

Graphite and putty eraser on 'Seawhite' cartridge paper/42 x 30cm (A3)

As an aside, it’s worth mentioning that, despite both of these fond (I suppose) memories, my interest in science fiction withered early and it’s never been rekindled, it’s just one of those things I can find no way into or seem to have any desire to.

Sounds (a bit) Like...

'Gabrielle Drake and Kelly Monteith'

graphite and putty eraser on Seawhite cartridge paper/42 x 30cm (A3)

Continuing the Seventies project and particularly the drawing aspect of, upon which I most definitely seem to be concentrating, quiet a pleasurable turn of events after largely neglecting this area of practice over the last 3 - 4 years in favour of oil painting.
The subject on this occasion represents what might be considered a curious byway but one that nonetheless forms a distinct recollection from the decade, at its cusp with the following one, and which came to mind from a tenuous word-association with a recently-featured figure. From Kenny Dalglish, the name of Kelly Monteith suggested itself, dredged-up from the idiosyncratic reserves of the memory bank and it is the latter personage who is represented as the right-hand aspect of this double portrait, his female companion being the actress Gabrielle Drake, publicising as they would be in the original photograph from which the drawing was processed the BBC TV series ‘The Kelly Monteith Show’, which was first broadcast in 1979. Kelly Monteith was (is) an American comedian who first appeared on UK screens as a guest on the ‘Des O’Connor Show’, wise-cracking his way through a short stand-up routine, before progressing to playing a fictionalised version of himself, an American comedian living in London, sharing a home with his wife Suzanne (Drake), in the eponymous sitcom, flickering briefly across the British consciousness (or some of ours, at least) before disappearing, in the early Eighties, wherever. I do seem to recall something about the show featuring Monteith addressing the audience directly during the course of the programme, as an observer-commentator of/on the narrative, and although this could have been during stand-up segments of any given episode, research seems to suggest that there was an element of ‘fourth wall’-acknowledging to the production that might well have granted a certain ground-breaking aspect to it. A curiosity all-told, but clearly something registered sufficiently for the name at least to have lodged. At the time, of course, I would have had no idea that Gabrielle Drake had had a brother, Nick, who had passed away five years before her co-starring role in the Monteith show and whose music I would come to discover in the later Eighties and love ever since, or, indeed, did not realise that she had featured as a character in numerous episodes of one of my favourite television shows from the beginning of the 1970s, Gerry Anderson’s ‘UFO’...