BRUCE FORSYTH, A MAN OF PARTS

Press, 12 October 1976, Page 19

BRUCE FORSYTH, A MAN OF PARTS

He is the king of the quick retort . . . prince of what has become known as “the firm mince” . . . and a master at handling people. And doesn’t be do well? Viewers who have caught “The Generation Game” on TVI on Saturday afternoons will have recognised the catch-cry of Bruce Forsyth, compere extraordinaire. He is the one who is "all mouth and teeth.”

Television One slipped "The Generation Game” on with little fanfare, but suddenly it has become a programme that viewers are talking about — mainly because of the outrageous going-ons of Forsyth and the games he sets contestants.

Bruce Forsyth is something of an entertainment institution in Britain — he has been around in one guise or another as long as most people care to remember. But after 30 years in the business his popularity is still taking him to new peaks. From stand-up comedian in summer concert-party season to host of the longrunning “Beat The Clock” and then the prestige “Sunday Night At The London Palladium,” Forsyth has come a long way. And during this time he has finely honed his most valued asset — the ability to talk to people and put them at ease. It is this that makes “The Generation Game” so entertaining. Forsyth sends-up his contestants without being too heavyhanded and displays an extraordinary sense of instant summation — knowing exactly bow far he can go with a contestant even though he has just clapped eyes on them seconds before.

Although it invariably seems otherwise, Forsyth speaks to contestants for the very first time when they actually come on camera. All he has to go on is a card detailing the

name of the contestants, occupation, interests and other personal details. After a minute or so kidding his way through that "they’ll do almost anything” he says.

With a show like “The Generation Game” Forsyth says "Everyone likes to see ordinary people having a go and the audience will always sympathise with the contestant unless they’re too cocky.” Forsyth himself can do virtually anything he wants, providing he does not let things get out of hand.

The tasks that contestants are set are chosen not for their difficulty but for their entertainment value. And when they include such things as making sausages or packing rice and coffee beans in the manner of the old-time grocers, they are even educational.

Forsyth likes the challenge of going out on a limb and adlibbing his

way out of, or into, trouble. His ad-libs are generally spicy asides and designed to add to the fun — "but never, never nasty.” “That’s because I genuinely like people,” he says. His genuine liking of people is pretty obvious at the end of each programme when the winning contestant is faced with a conveyor belt of prizes and then has to remember what was on it. Everything remembered becomes theirs, and with a helping hand from Forsyth they all end up with a tidy pile. Feigning innocence, he never fails to end on his catch-phrase — “Didn’t he so well?” But of course he is secure in the knowledge that he himself has done well and taken the best prize of all. The hostess, Anthea Redfern, is in reality, Mrs Bruce Forsyth.