Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows - 1960 Full Cast Recording (Abridged

Starring...
Richard Goolden as Mole
Norman Shelley as Toad
Frank Duncan as Ratty
Tony Church as Badger
Deryck Guyler as Otter
...with Patrick Wymark as the Storyteller

CD ONE
1.) The River Bank
2.) The Open Road
3.) The Wild Wood
4.) Mr. Badger
5.) Dulce Domum
CD TWO
6.) Toad’s Adventures
7.) Like Summer Tempests came his Tears
8.) The Return of Ulysses

Playing Time: CD One 50 minutes approx. CD Two 52 minutes approx.

MCPS

During a beautiful summer morning, Mole decides to escape the humdrum of cleaning his burrow and takes a moment to explore the inviting outside world. Here he meets a dashing water vole called Ratty who instills in Mole the merits and joys of the river bank. Before Mole knows it he is introduced to a whole new set of exciting friends, worlds and adventures. These include dear old Badger and Toad, a loveable but imperious and impulsive aristocrat who adores new toys and fads. Together they immerse themselves in, and take pleasure in, everything that the countryside and changing seasons offer; from picnics to boating. When Toad’s new obsession with motor cars gets out of control, his three friends plan to protect Toad from himself. However they are still unable to keep Toad out of prison and a whole new set of misadventures he has set himself up for. Furthermore while his friends are distracted, Toad Hall has been overtaken by weasels, stoats and ferrets.

For numerous previous generations of children and adults alike, the name Richard Goolden (1895 – 1981) is forever associated with Kenneth Grahame (1859 – 1932) and the world of The Wind in the Willows. This is understandably due to his utterly endearing, warm-hearted and gentle performance as Mole, a role he first played in the stage adaptation of the story, Toad of Toad Hall by playwright and Winnie-the-Pooh author A. A. Milne. Premiering his Mole in 1930 and appearing as the character in regular stage revivals throughout his life, in fact almost up until his death. There were also the radio performances in the role that enchanted listeners during the fifties (his voice was already very familiar to listeners of Children’s Hour) and then there is this 1960 recording. There was something about the way that Goolden played Mole that chimed with the public perception of what sweet old Mole would be like. On the surface it could have partly been down to Goolden’s pleasingly oval shaped face which was rather satisfyingly completed with round horn rimmed glasses that simply made him ‘look’ like Mole. Of all the charming and delightful animals we would meet, it is Mole who we come across in the first sentence of the book, with his very down to earth, humanlike qualities that instantly endear him to us. Perhaps it was that Goolden channelled something of his reserved but much enjoyed public school childhood, or maybe it was his Oxford University years that moulded Mole’s studious delight and undergraduate playfulness with the world around him. One thing is certain, his Mole was a very English gentle, gentleman, an eloquent Edwardian in animal form, even right down to his imagined tweeds or velvet smoking jacket. Goolden clearly brought in all his previous classical, Shakespearian and comical role experience into realising the role. It is little wonder, fresh from a regular Christmas run of Toad of Toad Hall, he disclosed on Desert Island Discs in 1967 that Mole was his favourite role.
This 1960 recording which was a specially produced abridgement of the novel reunites another cast member of the stage play, Patrick Wymark (1926 – 1970), who having previously played Toad, is our friendly and welcome narrator for this recording. A role that was much more similar to the true nature of the private and gentle Wymark than the menacing film roles and ruthless television characters he became better known for. Here you also have Norman Shelley (1903 – 1980) reprising his celebrated role as Toad from the BBC’s Children’s Hour radio show production. Shelley is most fondly remembered for supplying the voice of Winnie-the-Pooh on the same show. He seems to delight in bringing Toad’s likeable but impulsive, mischievous and rebellious nature to the fore, with Toad never fully learning from his mistakes, it’s no wonder that so many children have felt a strong affinity with the character. Frank Duncan (1923 – 1995) is charismatic and reliable Ratty, reprising his role from a 1955 radio performance which also featured Golden. The role of solid, slightly grumpy but wise Badger surely always needs an actor of gravitas and it was found here with Shakespearian (and Royal Shakespeare Company associate founding member) actor, Tony Church (1930 – 2008). Otter is played by Deryck Guyler (1914 - 1999), yet another ‘veteran’ of BBC’s Children’s Hour as well as many other radio roles. Today he is best remembered for self important ‘authoritative’ type figures such as his regular performance as a policeman in the Sykes series and in the 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night with The Beatles and, of course, the cantankerous caretaker Norman Potter in Please Sir!

‘Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing-absolutely nothing-half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.’ And there possibly lies within the philosophy of Ratty what underpins the magic of The Wind in the Willows. It is just about the joy of being, soaking up the scenery, your countryside surroundings with time slowly drifting past, just the same as the breeze and river does. Seasons gently slide past, the awareness of the dropping of leaves and the change of temperature, the coming of snow, even being lost in the terrifying Wild Wood are not enough to dampen spirits. After all, you would undoubtedly end up back in the safety of your cosy den. At its heart, it is simply and distinctly about sharing life and of course, many picnics (with much glorious food!) with close and dependable friends. It might be that over a 100 years have passed since its publication but it will forever be 1908* on the River Bank or in the Wild Wood and its wholly self contained world (*this was the same year that Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys was first published, Ernest Shackleton made early expeditions to Antarctica and the summer Olympics were held in London with Great Britain confidently winning the most medals. This was a comfortable, at ease Britain, one completely unaware of a World-War just around the corner). Famously first conceived as a series of short bedtime stories that were read by Grahame to his only child, Alistair. This abridged version of the story carefully uses the chapters that feature the major events in the lives of Mole, Ratty, Badger and Toad (including Toad’s many misadventures) turning these into satisfying episodes. The animal characters have reassuring and familiar humanlike characteristics including our flaws, virtues and most humorously, our obsessions with British class and etiquette. Arguably Grahame managed to capture within his harmonious prose, the sometimes and quite often intangible, essence and emotions of a hazy, English countryside life. A Romanticized testament to its beauty it is full of pathos. It is often untroubled and temperate and it appreciates and celebrates the nature that inhabits it. The Wind in the Willows pleasingly plays with our perception of time. Grahame managed to slow it down and bottle it as a time capsule, so it can be held up and admired by everyone forever. That Edwardian summer or Christmas in the warmth of Mole’s den is frozen in time and perfect. There will always be much time for daydreaming and always the freedom to explore. Although most of all, it could be said that The Wind in the Willows is everything that childhood should be, thoughtfully and movingly condensed into book form.