In the early 1990’s something happened in ‘Carry On’ history, a new ‘Carry On’ film was announced. It had been nearly 15 years since the last ‘Carry On’ film, ‘Carry On Emmannuelle’ in 1978 and fans thought the series had been confined to the annals of British comedy history. However, in 1991 came news of the latest ‘Carry On’ film – ‘Carry On Columbus’.
Sadly, from the outset the film wasn’t destined to ‘set sail’ into success. Many of the original team refused to appear, many had sadly already passed away and those who may have been tempted were seemingly overlooked. I remember a few years ago when I asked Amanda Barrie why she hadn’t been involved her response was simply “We were never asked darling”. The same can be said for other former cast members who were involved with the original series in some capacity.
However, the resurrection did go ahead and there were plenty of nods to the past films and a thin vein connected the film to the other films in several ways. There were a few familiar returning cast members, notably Jim Dale, June Whitfield and Leslie Phillips with cameo appearances from the likes of John Antrobus, Jon Pertwee and Jack Douglas. Writers, Dave Freeman (previously having penned ‘Carry On Behind’) and John Antrobus, providing additional material (John had also provided additional material for the first ‘Carry On’ in 1958, ‘Carry On Sergeant’), were called upon to get the ship out the dock so to speak. Previous locations, such as Frensham Ponds (used in 'Carry On Jack' in 1964) were reused as were the stages at the home of ‘Carry On’, Pinewood Studios.
But there was another important connection and a really important one;
The original ‘Carry Ons’ may have been made on a budget but their marketing and campaign materials went onto make the films instantly recognisable by audiences the world over. You could instantly spot a ‘Carry On’ film poster from space. Bright, colourful caricatures with bold and simple text. So much so that sometimes it is hard to fathom if the poster was a parody of the film and characters or vice versa. So, how do you recreate the spark and magic of the original posters? The original ‘Carry On’ film poster artists, Eric Pulford, Tom Chantrell, Arnaldo Putzu and Renato Fratini were long departed. These super talented artists had the ability to knock out a poster concept in days, sometimes less.
So, who did the film makers turn to? Enter Brian Bysouth.
Not a name many people may know unless you are a die-hard fan of original film posters. Brian had been a young protégé of the Eric Pulford Studio in 1957 and had in fact seen many of the original ‘Carry On’ film posters being created during his time there. Brian is also possibly best known for his ‘Bond’ posters, which are quite simply masterpieces. He is also behind some of the most famous posters from film history; ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’, ‘Highlander’ and ‘The Golden Voyage of Sinbad’ to name only a few.
Above: Brian pictured in 2012 alongside his poster for 'The Living Daylights' (picture courtesy of Eddie Shannon).
Despite ‘Carry On Columbus’ not being the hit they had hoped for nobody could say that the film's poster wasn’t brilliant. It captured the magic and essence of the originals whilst also bringing ‘Carry On’ into the 1990’s. In early 2021 I was lucky to acquire the original transparencies of the ‘Carry On Columbus’ poster that had come up for auction directly from the vault of Feref, the award-winning creative agency based in Soho, London who had handled the original commission. Upon receiving the archive, I went about researching the origins of the poster and the chap who created it. Through my research I was put directly in touch with Brian who fortunately was still very much with us!
In March 2021 I was introduced to Brian Bysouth and over several months we exchanged emails and chatted about his career and the ‘Carry On Columbus’ poster.
During our discussions I was thrilled to learn that he still had the original concept art, sketches and poster ideas from the film. So often these days everything is digitalised and the original work gets lost in archives or is sadly destroyed.
What follows is an extract from my exchanges with Brian about the birth of the ‘Carry On Columbus’ poster. I am also delighted that, with Brian’s kind permission and blessing, I am able to share for the first time publicly the original artwork and his concept sketches.
If you want to learn more about Brian Bysouth and his life, career and poster art there is a great interview with him from 2012 conducted by Eddie Shannon for his website ‘Film on Paper’.
https://www.filmonpaper.com/blog/an-interview-with-brian-bysouth/
CP: How did you start out in your career designing film posters? I understand that you already had some ‘Carry On’ connections from your time working at the Eric Pulford Studio?
BB: From 1957 I was a young artist in the studio of Eric Pulford and witnessed first-hand the creation of many of the ‘Carry On’ posters. The majority of the designs/concepts were the work of Pulford who, at that time, was regularly commissioning quantities of film poster artwork from highly talented artists working for Studio Favalli in Rome.
I saw sparkling caricature art by Renato Fratini arrive at our Fleet Street Agency. Later, he came to work in London as did Arnaldo Putzu who succeeded Fratini in painting the ‘Carry On’ quads. They were both highly productive and over the years, produced many other quad paintings from Pulford's designs.
CP: The ‘Carry On’ film posters are so unique and recognisable despite different artists taking over the design over the years.
BB: The caricature styles employed by these two Italians (Putzu and Fratini) were very similar which confuses some 'experts’. It is a continuing source of annoyance to me with the mis-attributions becoming accepted, and perpetuated as fact, when appearing in printed auctioneer’s catalogues and on the web etc.
CP: I love the ‘Carry On Columbus’ poster design. It is so in keeping with the original posters. Did you keep anything from your work on the poster?
BB: I have my original painting for the 'Columbus' quad, also a finished painting for a teaser poster that wasn't used. All together with some pencil concept sketches that show how the Galleon idea was developed.
Above: The finished print version of both the 'Carry On Columbus' UK quad poster and campaign booklet.
Above: A close up of the original completed artwork for the 'Carry On Columbus' poster.
CP: How did the design come about?
BB: At Feref it was usual for creative staff to discuss avenues of approach when poster campaigns were commissioned. Ideas were discussed and pencil sketches were produced for client approval. Working together with senior designer Nigel Winfield, a design was agreed upon that featured the characters on board the galleon. It was approved and I produced the painting that became the printed quad. Gerald Thomas asked to see how the 'almost finished' painting was going, so I sent him a full-size colour photostat, only the painting, no title or credits. I was relieved to be told that he was very pleased. Incidentally, I sold this copy at Ewbanks auctions a while ago and was surprised at the interest it generated, especially bearing in mind that the film itself was a box office disappointment.
CP: Were there any other variations or versions of the poster design that were not used?
BB: There was another ‘teaser’ poster to the one that was eventually produced and used. This alternative version featured a mermaid (you can see this version for the very first time in the gallery images of this special section below).
CP: How long did it take you to produce the poster?
BB: The painting was completed in about six days. However, from starting work on the campaign and developing ideas and pencil drawings and then obtaining client approval, I suppose the whole process spread out over a few weeks.
The below images show how the 'Carry On Columbus' poster was created by Brian in meticulous detail
These images have never been made public before and have been provided by Brian Bysouth with his kind permission to include them for this special feature. The detail and quality of this work is truly astounding and for me captures the spirit and nostalgia of the original 'Carry On' film posters.
(All images are copyright of Brian Bysouth and must not be used, copied, duplicated, modified, distributed or used in any other way (commercially or privately) without express permission of the copyright owner).
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