Lunedi Lunacy

I've heard it said that Upstairs Downstairs was the reason that PBS was so successful back in the '70s and '80s. I'm not sure how true that was but I do know that, in my corner of the world, the sophisticated thing to do on a Sunday night was set the channel to WNPE/WNPI, sit back with a sherry and join Alistair Cook for Masterpiece Theater.

This brillant send up by Stanley Baxter, the great Scottish comedian, may only hit home with USDS fans and people who recall the acting gentry of the period - Dame Edith Evans, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson. But even if you don't get some of the references Baxter's playing all the characters is sheer artistic genius. And just think of all the money the BBC saved on actors' salaries for this one.



25 febbraio - San Caesario

Lunedi Lunacy

There appears to be a Hippo theme running through these posts. However Pat et Stanley are very Gaelic while the humour of Flanders and Swann could be nothing but British. I recall seeing them in Toronto - first in At the Drop of a Hat and then in At the Drop of Another Hat - back in the 1960s.




Michael Flanders began their revue by saying:

It's small wonder to us that Satire squats hoof-in-mouth under every bush. The purpose of Satire, it has been rightly said, is to strip off the veneer of comforting illusion and cosy half-truth - and our job, as I see it, is to put it back again

And they did - they did.

21 gennaio - Sant'Agnese