Билли-лжец: История одного романа и его воплощений

1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse

Billy Liar is a 1959 novel by Keith Waterhouse that was later adapted into a play, a film, a musical and a TV series. The work has inspired and been featured in a number of popular songs. The semi comical story is about William Fisher, a working class 19 year old living with his parents in the fictional town of Stradhoughton in Yorkshire. Bored by his job as a lowly clerk for an undertaker, Billy spends his time indulging in fantasies and dreams of life in the big city as a comedy writer.

In 1960, the novel's author, Keith Waterhouse, co wrote a three act stage version with Willis Hall. The action took place on a single set combining the living room, hallway, and porch of the Fisher household. The first production opened in the West End of London with Albert Finney in the title role. It has since been produced all over the world, and has become a favourite with amateur groups. The play was adapted for the Irish stage as Liam Liar by Hugh Leonard in 1976. The play is set in one Saturday: Act 1 in the morning, Act 2 in the early evening, and Act 3 at night.

The 1963 film was directed by John Schlesinger and featured Tom Courtenay, who played the part when Albert Finney left the cast in the West End play, as Billy and Julie Christie as Liz, one of his three girlfriends. Mona Washbourne played Mrs. Fisher, and Wilfred Pickles played Mr. Fisher. Rodney Bewes, Finlay Currie, and Leonard Rossiter also had roles.

The novel was also used as the basis for a sitcom made by London Weekend Television in 1973–1974, starring Jeff Rawle as Billy. The series was scripted by the play's writers, Waterhouse and Hall, and the action was updated to the 1970s. George A. Cooper reprised his West End role as Billy's father. Other regular cast members included Pamela Vezey as Alice, Colin Jeavons as Shadrack, May Warden as Billy's grandmother, and Sally Watts as Barbara. Several new girlfriends were also introduced. The series was shown on the Seven Network in Australia during the non ratings season of 1975–1976, shown on CBC Television in Canada in 1975–1976, and shown on RTÉ 2 in Ireland in 1982. It has never been rerun, although the first series was released on Region 2 DVD in August 2006. The second series was released in March 2007. The complete series was released on 07/05/2018.

In 1974, a successful West End musical (entitled simply Billy) starred Michael Crawford and, in her West End debut, Elaine Paige. The cast also included Gay Soper, Avis Bunnage, Bryan Pringle and Lockwood West. The book was by well known British sitcom writers Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and the music and lyrics were by film composer John Barry and Don Black respectively.

An American adaptation entitled Billy and starring Steve Guttenberg, Peggy Pope, and James Gallery aired briefly on CBS in 1979.

Waterhouse later wrote a sequel called Billy Liar on the Moon. There is also an acoustic folk/punk singer from Scotland called Billy Liar. "Billy Liar" is the title of the second track of Her Majesty the Decemberists by The Decemberists. Saint Etienne sampled some lines from the movie in their song "You're in a Bad Way". The music video for the song "The Importance of Being Idle" by Oasis contains scenes based on scenes from Billy Liar, although most of it is based on the video for the Kinks' Dead End Street. The title of the song "Twisterella" is also the title of a song that Billy co writes in the novel. The Kids in the Hall "Billy Dreamer" character is based loosely on Billy Liar. The song "William, It Was Really Nothing" by The Smiths took inspiration from the book. It has been suggested that a local newspaper columnist parodied in both the book and the film bears a remarkable resemblance to the late life Keith Waterhouse himself, when he was ensconced at the Daily Mail. However, given that Billy Liar was written in 1959 when Keith Waterhouse was 30 years old, and that he died in 2009, in the absence of any evidence of a time machine among his effects, a conscious parody appears to be a particularly ludicrous post hoc rationalisation.