| All about Harry
"Harry Porter? He's the Senior Archivist on the Footlights Committee - he's been in the club for decades and he's known everyone from John Cleese to Nick Hancock." Actually the two names there would vary according to the person I was talking to. But Harry knew them all. In 1996, Griff Rhys Jones hosted a birthday party at the Groucho Club for Harry, and Neil Mullarkey later said that no commissioning editor could ever have got so many entertainment greats in the same place at the same time. But Harry could. He'd been there when they were developing their styles as comedians, writers, directors and actors. He was famous for his loyalty - refusing to talk to journalists about former members of the club if those members asked him not to - and honesty, telling me I looked a bit underconfident in one show. But I got off lightly compared to Mark Evans, to whom Harry said something like the following: "I thought you were very brave; you put on a show that was completely and utterly unfunny - but you soldiered on and by the end made us think that it might... perhaps... be funny after all." If you heard about Harry, you wanted to meet him, if only so that he could talk about you to future generations of the club. You also wanted him to invite you round to 13 Warkworth Street, where he kept the Footlights archives; a collection of posters, scripts, committee meeting minutes, photographs, show programmes and all sorts. Illustrious names all over the place. Sometimes he'd stay and chat with you in this basement room, other times he'd leave you to wade through whatever treasures you could find. That Harry had a house meant that people who were not students at Cambridge could stay there if helping out with shows in some way. Various Footlights who went on National Tours with the club in their final academic year came back to Cambridge after graduation for the final leg of the tour and stayed with Harry. Directors of the show, whether external or ex-Footlights, stayed with Harry. Famous names. They still visited him - if you popped round to see Harry he would quite often mention the name of a former Footlight who'd rung his doorbell only the other week. Within the club archives was a shelf with correspondence files - Harry was in touch with a great many ex-Footlights, and many of us continued to visit him after graduation. Harry didn't get involved in the creative side of the club. But he was Mr. Footlights - there on the opening night of each show, there at the annual dinner and the garden party. He was something about the club that was not only constant, but a link to the glories of its past (distant or recent). His existence meant that former members felt a connection to the club, because there was always someone they knew on the Footlights Committee. He was Senior Treasurer from 1962 to 1977 and Senior Archivist from 1978 to 2003; forty-one years of service. On 4th May 2002 there was a Gala Evening at the theatre in Queens College, Cambridge, to celebrate Harry's 40 years in the club (a good account of it can be found here on James Bachman's website). I was deep into rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet and couldn't make it, but I wrote to Harry to express my congratulations and received a letter back which contained the following: "The 4th May Gala was very splendid, indeed overwhelming for me... ...apart from the present lot, those appearing were Richard Ayoade, Matt Holness, James Bachman, Jon Taylor, David Mitchell, Rob Webb, John Finnemore, Kevin Baker, Greg Marsh, Karl Hayward-Bradley, Owen Powell, Nick Symons, Armstrong & Miller, and Tony Slattery (who stayed with me)... ...after the performance, which was full (at £10!) there was a reception in the college, and then people progressed to the ADC, and I got to bed at four! People turned up who didn't perform - Nick Hancock, Griff Rhys Jones - so it was all very jolly, and made me feel like Mr. Chips."
Cambridge, 7th January 2004 Harry passed away on December 11, 2003; on the 7th of January, 2004, a great many Footlights past and present assembled in Cambridge for his funeral. The incumbent President of the club, Ed Riches, read the lesson, and there were then speeches from former presidents Mark Evans and Neil Mullarkey, before an address by Canon The Reverend John Sweet. Mark Evans' speech I'll dwell on a little - Mark was one of the very closest to Harry of all ex-Footlights; Harry had once written to Mark's director of studies (as he did for at least one other member of the club) in support of his non-academic pursuits; supportively pointing out that Mark was indeed working hard at, and making a success of, something while at Cambridge. Mark, beside giving an accurate impersonation of a typical Harry Porter murmer of surprise (which resonated with almost everyone in the congregation), told us about the reason Harry stopped active service as a lecturer at the University; he had a lecture which he knew took 49 minutes, and which he'd delivered for years. One day he finished it and noticed some agitation among the students - and realised he'd only been speaking for 9 minutes. He'd missed out 8 pages or so and hadn't even noticed. Mark also made a key point about the first time he visited the archives: he said he felt "plugged into history". The only thing I can definitely remember thinking while on the Footlights Committee was that it didn't matter so very much what I did, or whether I was successful; I was now a part of history. Neil Mullarkey, in his speech, mentioned Harry's 1996 birthday celebration at the Groucho Club; and that when the actor Tim Roth had popped his head round the door and saw all those assembled, he asked Stephen Fry what was going on, to which Fry replied, "Oh, it's just some people who were at Cambridge", thus, as Neil Mullarkey pointed out, reinforcing the 'ridiculous' notion that Cambridge alumni give each other jobs (many chuckles at this from the congregation). 45 minutes goes quickly. There were noises outside the way we'd come in, and the next lot were waiting for their cremation. I was thinking, as the other doors opened and we began to file out, Is that it? Surely this should have gone on for hours. We can't just give Harry 45 minutes. It's too quick. I want to say goodbye. We congregated for a while outside; generations of Footlights, the more famous of us including Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Baddiel, Steve Punt, Peter 'Hugh' Dennis. A Goodie and three quarters of the Mary Whitehouse Experience. Selwyn College hosted a wake/reception, and a large number of the gathering made it along to that. Footlights Senior Treasurer Daniel Morgenstern had wisely produced a book of condolence, which we all signed. I remembered Harry's letter to me the last time so many had been gathered on his behalf, and wrote simply, Goodbye Mr. Chips. A couple of dozen of us carried on from Selwyn to our old haunt The Maypole pub, where we talked for hours. Some of us also went to 7a Jesus Lane, Pizza Express, after that. I think I got back to London around 2am. On reflection, of course, we did give Harry more than 45 minutes. We gave him a day. Generations from 1991 (Mark Evans) to 2000 (John Finnemore) hung around each other. If that's not testimony to what Harry gave the club, an amazing continuity and rapport, his legacy which we must maintain, I don't know what is. Harry Links The Harry Porter Tribute Evening The Harry Porter Gala Event, 2002 James Bachman on The Harry Porter Gala Event M J Simpson's thoughts on Harry
Footlights Links Sleeping Beauty: Footlights/ADC Pantomime 1996 |
Now I come to write this, what can you say about Harry Porter? Well, here's
more or less what I used to say about Harry Porter, whenever I
encountered anyone who'd not heard of him:Copyright © 2011 James Casey