There were three great stars of the Cambridge Footlights across the second half of the 1950s – Jonathan Miller, Peter Cook and Joe Melia. Joe was always a good character actor, but in those days he was also a unique cabaret and revue performer whom everyone remembered and wanted to see. His particular brand of wit, pathos, mime and manic zaniness struck a chord with every audience.
In 1957-58, I was lucky enough to be the third member of the Footlights cabaret team with Joe and the irrepressible John Drummond, later of the Edinburgh festival and Radio 3. A disparate but cheery team, we wrote nearly all our own material. Joe was undoubtedly the most inventive of us, although he was willing to join in the occasional song John and I wrote. When, in December 1957, our team was auditioned by Clement Freud to be the pre-Christmas cabaret at his Royal Court Theatre Club above the theatre in Sloane Square, Joe was extremely reluctant but we remained a team, took the job and successfully entertained the diners – the first time any of us had been paid to entertain anyone.
There were many other cabaret occasions when Joe was the star and, after his brilliant performance in the Footlights Revue of 1958, he was predicted to go far as a revue and comedy performer. Sadly, apart from in One to Another, his successful stint as Miller's replacement in Beyond the Fringe and in some of his television work, I am not sure how much he ever saw himself that way. Fundamentally he seemed to prefer the more serious side of acting. Luckily, revue and cabaret comedy's loss was the serious theatre's gain.