Description
Date: 1940
Theatre: London Palladium
Performance: The Little Dog Laughed
Main Actors: Jimmy Nervo & Teddy Knox, Bud Flanagan & Chesney Allen, Charlie Naughton & Jimmy Gold.
The Crazy Gang was six-man variety comedy troupe. In their pairs, they were known as ‘Flanagan and Allen’, ‘Nervo and Knox’ and ‘Naughton and Gold’. They were a singing, dancing, acrobatic, comic acting group. The joining of the group happened gradually in 1931, during performances called ‘The Crazy Week’. Nervo and Knox, Naughton and Gold where pulled together with other double acts to create a variety show. Later Flanagan and Allen were invited to join the show. They were not known officially as The Crazy Gang until 1937. The Crazy Gang had an extremely successful stage career and due to their popularity, they later on went to make such films as O-Kay For Sound (1937) and Life’s a Circus (1958).
Except for some Royal Variety Performances, Chesney Allen rarely performed with the Crazy Gang after 1945 and Eddie Gray re-joined the Gang in 1956