Jethro Tull & The Holy Grail

One of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me was the exposure at a very early age to the films of the Marx Brothers, W.C. Fields, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and — especially — Monty Python. I can still tell you where (and more or less when) I saw each Python film for the first time, and I have an especially vivid memory of sitting with my Dad and my sister in a tiny "art house" in Ann Arbor, watching Monty Python & The Holy Grail not long after it was originally released in 1975. I didn't understand all of it , of course — at the time, my knowledge of the Arthurian legends was pretty much limited to Disney's The Sword in the Stone — but I loved it just the same, and it's still my favorite Python film to this day.

When I interviewed Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson last week, I was surprised to learn that he was one of the original investors in The Holy Grail, and rather even more surprised to hear his allegations of subsequent underhanded dealings on the part of fellow Holy Grail investor George Harrison. Since there was really no way to shoehorn this part of our conversation into my forthcoming Guitar World Acoustic, I thought  I might as well share it with you here.

Me: I’ve read that Thick as a Brick's album cover was inspired by Monty Python.

Ian Anderson: Yeah, I think so. It’s part and parcel of the early 70s, that surrealist British humor that probably began in the public mind with the Goons, with Spike Milligan, Peter Sellers and Michael Bentine. That kind of morphed into the Python thing about ten years later. And Monty Python, when it began, it was just a natural follow-on [from what the Goons had done], and it kind of caught people’s attention in a way that I think has persisted to this day.

British humor has this quality about it that does kind of set it apart — it’s a whimsical, slightly crazy, lateral thing going on. I’m a big fan of American comedy, where the scripts are impeccable, and the characters are beautifully designed. Even in contemporary television, like Ugly Betty or Desperate Housewives, it’s just so beautifully conceived, beautifully written, and we all identify with it. But British humor has its own little niche, and in some ways it's caught on in America more as a sub-culture. At its tackiest level, I suppose it was Benny Hill; at a slightly more cerebral level, it was Monty Python — probably Monty Python & The Holy Grail and then Life of Brian.

I was an investor in the movie of Monty Python & The Holy Grail; I see the royalty statements every year, and it’s remarkable how that has persisted over the years. I would put it on par with Spinal Tap as being influential to the world of rock music. Spinal Tap, of course, in an obvious way; but Holy Grail in a slightly more oblique way influenced a whole generation of pop and rock musicians coming out of the UK. Pink Floyd were also major investors in The Holy Grail, as well as various record company managers like terry Ellis and Tony Stratford-Smith. It’s kind of an era that you’re rather pleased to belong to; you feel that your bedfellows were those that really made their mark — not just on a generation, but made their mark on history.

Me: Wasn’t George Harrison involved with some of the Python films, as well?

Anderson: Well, George Harrison was a dark horse — literally. He was one of the investors in Monty Python & The Holy Grail, and I was a little pissed off when they came out with Life of Brian that we were never approached to invest in the next movie. It’s kind of a tradition in the world of making movies, that if you’re an “angel” — one of the folks who invested in the movie — then, if it works out, they come back to you automatically for the next one. You’ve taken the risk, and it worked out, so you’re automatically invited to participate in the next one. And we never were, those of us who invested in the first movie.

Some years later, I was in LAX, leaving for a flight back home, and I was sitting in the British airways lounge. I noticed a familiar figure sitting at the other end of the lounge, and it was John Cleese. I went over and said, “Oh hi, I’m Ian Anderson, blah blah blah, we’ve met before.” I asked him if he was heading back, and he said, “Yeah, I just finished making this movie, and I’m desperate to get back home. I’ve been in LA for three months now.” I said, “What’s the movie about?” He said, “Oh, I don’t know; I haven’t the faintest idea what it’s about. I’m just an actor; I just do what I’m told! It’s something about a fish, a fish called Wanda. I don’t know whether it’s any good or not.”

I said, “I’m still getting royalty checks from the Holy Grail movie, and I can only express my disappointment we never got a chance to invest in Life of Brian.” He said, “What do you mean?” And I said, “A few of us who put up the money for the Holy Grail movie didn’t get a look in for the Life of Brian; George Harrison took the whole thing.” He said, “Oh, but we were told the original investors in the Holy Grail didn’t want to put up any more money for Life of Brian.” I said, “Really? Who told you that?” He said, “Umm… George Harrison.”

So, although he’s dead, and he can’t defend himself, George Harrison is a shit. [laughs] Because I would have loved to have invested in Life of Brian — not just for the money, but because it was a damn good movie. I think I can speak on behalf of a few other people who were probably fairly pissed off that George Harrison bullshitted his way into basically being the producer of Life of Brian, and excluded the rest of us!

Comments

[ASH]

Getting to interview Ian Anderson.... "You Lucky bastard"....."You lucky lucky bastard"....."proper little flautists pet aren't we?!"

Hehehehehe...awesome mate! I can believe he was a shit. I can't stand the Beatles, always though they were shite!

ASH

[phil]

I love Holy Grail. My kids have seen it about 10 times and can recite many of the scenes. "I'm invincible". "You're a looney".