Have you ever met actors who never quite made it to the top, the ones you see regularly in small film parts and in TV ads, they never give up do they, you’d think they would have got the message by now that the big time was not for them, I’m talking about the older ones, there is still time for the younger ones. There is a certain pub in town where these old chaps like to hang out and I’ve been there on many occasions in the past.
I remember with a smile when an actor once told a few of us in a pub that his body doesn’t really belong to him, I have to say this old Abbey thespian thought the sun shone out of his own backside and was a bit of a pain in the neck most of the time, anyway he went on, as they usually do, “Let me put it to you this way, Christ on the cross gave his body so all mankind could be redeemed from their sins did he not?, well I gave my body to the theatre for the pleasure of all mankind, so in reality you cannot own what you have already given away can you, so what you see standing before you good people is a man without a body” with that he laid his glass on the table and exited left door, gone in a flash.
Try to visualise him standing on the floor of a public house, glass of brandy in hand and cigar in the other, yellow scarf tucked inside the collar of his shocking pink shirt and with a voice like Sir John Gielgud, all this before lunch on a Sunday morning. Me and three other Joe Soaps sitting round a table looking at him while trying to keep straight faces at the same time, soon as he left the four of us were doubled up laughing, ah memories, Strange folk these theatre people.
the big stars are in the minority all the supporting ‘stars’ often last longer than the big ones. I watched a recent edition of Sherlock holmes in which the fat actor in Dr Martin who was plumber and restaurant owner played an American living in a large English mansion - his American accent was great - yes it’s a living, a vocation. an addiction and it’s what keeps the big stars going - I’m for little stars meself!! bob bum
When I was a titch,I was living in a children’s home in a village called East Farleigh,near Maidstone,Kent. Two people used to pop in regularly to keep us nippers smiling. One was Charlie Drake,the other was Mr Pastry. Only ancient old crumblies such as me will remember them,I imagine. But both were really nice,spent hours making us laugh,both were on tv,but neither was really a ‘big’ star of the Johnny Depp/Sean Connery type.
yes remember CD and what about eric sykes who also starred in films - he played a rather miserable ghost gardener in the film’the others’ with of course the big star who’s name escapes me but she was also the co-star in Australia.
then there were Morecambe and Wise, Harry Seacombe, the two ronnies etc etc - all making good entertainment that usually stayed in UK - one of ronnie barkers last film roles was in ‘my housein Umbria’ excellent performance with Maggie Smith - yes the big stars cannot exist without the small fry!
“Allo My Darlings”.
I used to love Charlie Drake Pug, especially that song of his ‘My boomerang won’t come back’. Mr. Pastry used to scare me a bit when I was a kid I don’t know why really, could be his moustache reminded me of me nasty grandfather, who knows what goes through kids minds.
Maggie Smith is in great demand now Gumbud, and rightly so in my opinion, she’s excellent, remember her when she was young in ‘The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie’?
After the volcanic eruption and the town was unrecognisable, the Mayor of Pompeii decided to equally divide the area amongst the surviving people, was this known as the Magma Carta?
I often wonder what happened the next day after the big changes and events in our long history, also I would love to know the names of certain individuals who played vital parts in these events, for instance what was the name of the bricklayer who laid the very last brick in the great wall of China? What was the tune Nero was playing while Rome burned? What did Christopher Columbus do the next morning he woke up in the new world, well he couldn’t text the wife could he? When Lots wife turned into a pillar of salt, did he flog her to the nearest chippy or take her away in a sack?
It’s like when you read a great well written book and then you want to know all about the author, so many unanswered questions.
Well,one thing that puts the Chinese in their place,Jem,is the Great Wall.
It’s a JOKE,mate. Miles-and-miles of wall…and not a single cashpoint!
Pah-they missed a trick there,squire!
[oh-and don’t worry…Nanny McPhee would OWN Mary Poppins in a proper scrap]
Mary Poppins would probably exit the scrap with the most decorum.
…after offering them all a spoonful of sugar?
and when they finished the ‘hanging gardens of babylon’ WHAT did they do about the fruit fly? and the susposedly hanging bodies?
and who was the last housekeeper of Alexandria and did he forget to put out the light?
so many unanswered questions from antiquity!
What came first, Stonehenge or a JCB!.
And why did the Lord appear to Moses in a Bush, why not a Pye, a Samsung, or a Phillips?
It’s all due to the pixels available at the time,Jem…
…or is that pixies?..
could well be Pug, folks were very small back in those days I hear. They did know about TV then, sure wasn’t there Christ and the 12 apixels.
A man only problem.
This hair growing in the ears is beginning to annoy me, as I keep plucking them out by the roots they keep growing again a few weeks later, I have a finely pointed pliers for this purpose. I have managed to stop the nasal hair growing by yanking them out, but it took a few years for them to finally stop growing altogether, now it’s the ears and it’s an ongoing job keeping them at bay, any suggestions, no matter how weird will be gratefully received. why wasn’t I born a very unpopular Pirate Captain, then I would have no Buccaneers to worry about.
Signed. Hairy Harry from Harrogate.
it’s a ‘vane’ thingo - once the ‘vane’ is pointing right and not leftish there is no need to pluck or even f…k for that matter!
Thank you Gumbud.
Oh,on the other hand,you could see them as a boon,Jem.
Give them until June;you’ll have a comb-over to be proud of!
Meanwhile,your bald conk will determine which way you’re facing for envious onlookers