YMMV / Anthony Newley

• Black Sheep Hit: The one song coming close to being a real hit for Anthony Newley in the United States, "Teach The Children" (reaching number 12 on the Adult Contemporary charts, while his few songs that were on the Billboard Hot 100 earlier in his career never reached above 67), is a funk-influenced yacht rock song. Quite a few of his other songs do have Rock elements, though usually very soft rock, if any, as well as his late '50s Rock & Roll hits.
• Cult Classic: Anthony Newley's pop music career is this. While he was very well-known as a film actor and Broadway songwriter, only his early Brill-Building-style Rock 'n' Roll and jazz songs became well-known hits, and only in the UK, however, most of his discography from his early albums to his later easy-listening albums have their fans. David Bowie in particular was a huge fan of Newley.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Overlapping with Values Dissonance: While thankfully, Newley doesn't seem to have ever actually molested anyone, let alone children as his song Sacha Newley has accused him of, he did start his relationship with Anneke Wills when she was only 17 during the production of The Strange World of Gurney Slade. There are also other examples of Newley singing about being attracted to fawning over extremely young women (which it was common to refer to as "young girls" back in the day), such as his recording of the English folk song "Seventeen Come Sunday", as well as Heironymus Merkin's attraction towards the second title character of Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?, the film in question being what lead to Joan Collins, who did defend Newley from allegations of pedophilia, divorcing him.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Not only did Anthony Newley himself want to play Bill "The Candy Man" in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, but so did Sammy Davis Jr., the singer who popularized the song.
  • Although it could also be Harsher in Hindsight depending on how you see it, but Michael Lloyd produced Newley's albums Pure Imagination and Ain't It Funny (said albums being released by MGM Records). Lloyd would also write the music for The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, the film that, among a few other Creator Killers, sunk Newley's film acting career for good.
• Vindicated by History: The Strange World of Gurney Slade was a proto "anti-sitcom" which featured almost no plot and instead had its protagonist walks through various surreal adventures and has bizarre non-linear with passer-by. The strange format caused it to be a ratings disaster but, thanks to championing by the likes of David Bowie, it is now acclaimed today as a surrealist masterpiece - especially thanks to surrealism and non-linearity being brought into the mainstream by the likes of Monty Python and The Mighty Boost
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? is a musical by the jolly fellow who played Matthew Mugg in Doctor Dolittle and wrote the songs from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, and the main protagonist has a whimsically goofy name, so it must be for kids, right? Well, it was given an X Rating by the MPAA for a reason...

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