Editing Beyond the Fringe (section)

==The show==
The idea for ''Beyond the Fringe'' came from [[Robert Ponsonby]], who was the director of the [[Edinburgh International Festival]] from 1956 to 1960.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Walton |first1=Ken |title=Obituary: Robert Ponsonby CBE |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-robert-ponsonby-cbe-director-of-edinburgh-international-festival-and-scottish-national-orchestra-chief-1401630 |access-date=26 October 2023 |work=The Scotsman |date=23 November 2019}}</ref> Ponsonby's idea was to bring together the best parts of the revues staged by the [[Cambridge Footlights]] and [[The Oxford Revue]] at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe|Edinburgh Fringe]] in previous years. He said that the Festival should put on a late-night revue "to beat The Fringe at its own game." By 1960, the Festival was so firmly established that "it required for its health some good-humoured self-mockery."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bruce |first1=George |title=Festival in the North |date=1975 |publisher=Robert Hale and Company |location=London |isbn=0-7091-5061-X |page=218}}</ref> 

Ponsonby's assistant, [[Johnny Bassett|John "Johnny" Bassett]], recommended [[Dudley Moore]], who had played with Bassett in a jazz band while at university in [[University of Oxford|Oxford]]. Moore in turn recommended [[Alan Bennett]], who had had a hit at the Fringe a few years earlier. Bassett also chose [[Jonathan Miller]], who had been a Footlights star in 1957.  Miller recommended Cook.

Bennett and Miller were already pursuing careers in academia and medicine respectively, but Cook had an agent, having written a [[West End theatre|West End]] revue for [[Kenneth Williams]]. Cook's agent negotiated a higher weekly fee for him, but by the time the agent's fee was deducted Cook actually earned less than the others from the initial run.

The majority of the sketches were by Cook and were largely based on material written for other revues. Among the entirely new material were "The End of the World", "TVPM" and "The Great Train Robbery". Cook and Moore revived some of the sketches on their later television and stage shows, most famously the [[two-hander]] "[[One Leg Too Few]]". Miller told the press in March 1960 that the show would "be anti-establishment, anti-capital punishment, anti-colour bar and anti-1960. But it will be all very serious stuff, sharp, bitter and to the point."<ref>"The Londoner’s Diary", London ''Evening Standard'', 12 March 1960, p. 4.</ref>

The show's run in Edinburgh was immensely successful. Before beginning its run in the West End, the show had great success at the Cambridge Arts Theatre, but a brief run in Brighton garnered a lukewarm response. When the revue transferred to the [[Fortune Theatre]] in London, opening in early May 1961,<ref>‘Amusements’ London ''Evening Standard'' 8 May 1961 p. 20</ref> in a revised production by [[Donald Albery]] and [[William Donaldson]] and directed by [[Eleanor Fazan]],<ref>Milton Shulman ‘Four Young Men Make This Revue a Rare Delight’, London ''Evening Standard'' 11 May 1961 p. 19</ref> it became a true sensation. This was helped in large part by a favourable review by [[Kenneth Tynan]].<ref>Kenneth Tynan, 'English satire advances into the sixties', London ''Observer'' 14 May 1961 p. 27</ref>

In 1962, the show transferred to the [[John Golden Theatre]] in New York, with its original cast. President [[John F. Kennedy]] attended a performance on 10 February 1963. The show continued in New York, with most of the original cast, until 1964, when [[Paxton Whitehead]] replaced Miller, while the London version continued with a different cast until 1966.