THIS week, Ready, Steady, Go! — Britain’s most popular pop show — moves from its crowded, informal niche in Television House, Kingsway, to the suburban, wide open spaces of Wembley Studios.

The jam-packed atmosphere of a Mod cellar-club has gone. Replacing it — slicker presentation, more glitter.

Gone, too, the tried-and-trusted record pantomime of most television disc shows. Defying tradition, Ready Steady Goes Live!

Why the changes?

Elkan Allan, executive producer of the show and head of Rediffusion’s light entertainment, said, “Ready, Steady, Go! started to go sour on us six months ago.

“The standard of dancing. The clothes teenagers wore. Every factor had fallen away from its former high point. Something had to be done to reignite interest.” Elkan decided to cut disc miming from the show. Teenagers had written to say they felt it gave a false impression. Nevertheless, a brave decision.

A decision that set Tin Pan Alley and show business generally a-buzz; a decision that will cost money.

It means a 50 per cent increase on the shows weekly budget: for extra musicians, backing singers, and arrangements. Plus a hefty outlay for new electronic equipment.

Producer Francis Hitching positively gloated as he described it: “More than £10,000 has been spent on the most up-to- date apparatus,” he said. “The studio will be littered with echo chambers, limiters, compressors, equalisers… It should be the most advanced sound technique ever used in a television studio.

“We don’t claim to produce an authentic ‘record’ sound. What viewers will see and hear is comparable to a live stage performance… with all its accompanying excitement.”

New sound. New studio, too. More space for dancers. No more elbow-to-elbow jostling. Now there’s room for 250, exhibiting all the intricacies of the latest dance crazes without space restriction.

Room for artists to breathe. To move about without dodging camera booms. Or wires. Or clusters of fans.

One thing Ready Steady Goes Live! must capture is atmosphere. Their old home, however cramped, did have an informal feel about it. The new studio must try to acquire this spirit.

In an effort to do just this, an R.S.G. Club will be formed. About two thousand teenagers will be selected as dancer-members… and work in a rota to appear on the new show.

New sound. New studio. Almost new compere. Until now, 20-year-old Cathy McGowan has been a sort of perky Girl Friday on the programme. Now she will be in charge.

Nervous at the prospect? Certainly. But bubbling over at the prospect of the show’s new image.

Enthusiastically she explained the R.S.G. Club. “The girls will look smashing and all the boys will be so good-looking you won’t believe it,” she said. “And they will ALL wear the very latest clothes.

“If they don’t arrive at the studio looking smart and up-to-the-minute, they won’t be allowed on the show and they will lose their club membership. We want to return to the style of the early days, when teenagers bought a special with-it outfit just because they were appearing on the show.”

Will the actual pop quality of the show change? Yes, it should improve. Lined up to appear on the new show are Gerry and the Pacemakers, Georgie Fame, The Animals and The Rolling Stones.

All-important musical direction for the first month will be handled by Johnny Spence, who has arranged backings on hits for artists like Matt Monro and P. J. Proby.

How do stars feel about Ready Steady Goes Live!? Particularly about the new feature that affects them — the miming ban?

Dionne Warwick and Cliff Bennett are in Friday’s show. Said Dionne: “I’m quite happy to do live performances. This is the way we work back in the States and it suits me fine.” And Cliff Bennett: “Much prefer to sing live. It creates much more atmosphere in the studio and this makes for a better programme.”

Will there really be a big difference in the new show?

Last word from Elkan Allan. His ideas sparked the show off originally. He’s behind the big new moves.

“Change?” he said. “Certainly. It will be far more exciting!”

The post Ready Steady Goes LIVE! appeared first on THIS IS REDIFFUSION from Transdiffusion.

A Royal occasion? An assassination scare? Visit from an astronaut?

No, the cause is Associated-Rediffusion’s new series starting on Friday, Ready, Steady, Go!, which will bring pop and film stars to Television House, in Kingsway, London.

And the fan-control precautions will be taken as a result of a paragraph in TV Times John Gough column a few weeks ago, asking if any teenagers wished to attend a trial run of the show.

Requests for tickets came in from all over the country!

Ready, Steady, Go! is a “pop-pourri” of records and films, packed with exciting, unconventional ideas. An audience of 200 young people will kick off their weekend watching and listening to and appearing with their favourite stars.

The programme presents problems for the administration staff of Television House, for Ready, Steady, Go! has fan action on three separate fronts. And in this, Associated-Rediffusion are bringing to light entertainment a production policy they have perfected covering big national events — cameras will be at three different spots.

• In the studio, Keith Fordyce will introduce and interview personalities before an audience of 150 that will completely surround him
• In the lobby, David Gell will introduce youngsters who will be dancing to the music of the show, relayed on monitor sets.
• And outside Television House, scores of fans will throng to watch proceedings in the lobby and perhaps catch a glimpse of their idols arriving or leaving.

Said director Bill Turner: “We want to capture the immediacy, the pace of modern show business. And we want to be informal and have an audience that will participate actively.

“The audience will have a chance to meet performers, get an autograph, maybe even dance with them.

“For instance, David Gell will ask individuals for their Top Fifty pop requests which we will play at once. He’ll ask why they like it and if they’ve bought it.

“There’s an amateur disc jockey spot. Another member of the audience will take all the Top Fifty records home, play them and return the following week with the record he or she considers best. We will try to discover exactly what appeal that particular record has.

“Three audience members will be blindfolded each week and asked to identify a pop record and artist as we superimpose the name of the record and artist on a monitor set.”

Ready, Steady, Go! will be staged in the heart of London at 7 p.m. so it will give stars a chance to drop in between matinees and evening performances.

Besides music and film clips, Keith and David have a quick-fire, American-style news-spot, bringing all the latest information from the world of show business.

Keith told me: “We shall try to keep pace with teenage trends by working on the Top Fifty records. That chart is the barometer of teenage musical taste. But it’s not only youngsters we’re aiming to please. I firmly believe all the family enjoy pop music in some form or other.”

Canadian David Gell’s main task is selecting and interviewing members of the audience.

He told me: “There will be no special way of selection. I shall rely on my own judgment to pick fans who appear lively and bright. Hair styles, jewels or flashy clothes won’t attract me.

“My main problem will be disentangling the microphone lead from all the legs around me!”

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