I fondly remember watching It Ain’t Half Hot Mum when I was a young boy. It was a British sitcom about a Royal Artillery concert party based in Deolali in British India. The soldiers would often put on shows where they would be dressed up as women.
I never realized that this was quite common, not only with the British troops but also with the US Army.
One of the downsides for many men in World War II was they did not have women integrated into units or allowed on the front lines. As a result, many servicemen would perform as women for their fellow servicemen, whether for unit-wide events in barracks at night for fun, as a stress relief from missing women or even as a means of distancing themselves from the horrors of combat.
Below are just some of these brave men who basically turned the burdens of World War II less into a drag—by performing in drag.
WAC applying makeup to a GI (Army Signal Corps photograph SC-204637,courtesy of the National Archives)This Is the Army. (Army Signal Corps photograph courtesy of the National Archives)Soldiers from Royal Artillery Coastal Defence Battery at Shornemead Fort are left in drag as their Christmas charity performance was interrupted by a coastal alert near Gravesend in 1940 (Photo: John Topham/TopFoto.co.uk).Jumping with Jodie (Army Signal Corps photographs SC-140522 courtesy of the National Archives).Snapshot of “King Neptune’s Court,” which consisted of U.S. Navy sailors dressed up in costumes, aboard the transport ship the USS General J. H. McRaeA soldier dressed in a bonnet takes time out from rehearsals for the Christmas charity performance in Gravesend mending a costume
The key to good comedy is timing, someone once said. If that is the case John Cleese and Connie Booth must have the best sense of timing ever.
As the title suggests I am talking about ‘Fawlty Towers’ although it may seem there were hundreds of episodes, there were in fact only 12, spread over 2 seasons.
The first episode of Fawlty Towers aired on 19 September 1975. Audiences were keen to see what John Cleese would do after Monty Python, but at first the situation comedy received some less than enthusiastic reviews. However the strength of the writing and casting – with Cleese as hotelier Basil Fawlty – ensured the series was a great success.
The series is set in Fawlty Towers, a fictional hotel in the seaside town of Torquay on the English Riviera. The plots centre on the tense, rude and put-upon owner Basil Fawlty (Cleese), his bossy wife Sybil (Prunella Scales), the sensible chambermaid Polly (Booth) who often is the peacemaker and voice of reason, and the hapless and English-challenged Spanish waiter Manuel (Andrew Sachs). They show their attempts to run the hotel amidst farcical situations and an array of demanding and eccentric guests and tradespeople.
The idea of the show came from Cleese after he stayed at the Gleneagles Hotel in Torquay, Devon in 1970 (along with the rest of the Monty Python troupe), where he encountered the eccentric hotel owner Donald Sinclair.
Stuffy and snobbish, Sinclair treated guests as though they were a hindrance to his running of the hotel (a waitress who worked for him stated “it was as if he didn’t want the guests to be there”). Sinclair was the inspiration for Cleese’s character Basil Fawlty.
Fawlty Towers was written by Cleese with his wife Connie Booth. The shows were intricately plotted farces, and no dialogue was written until the plot had been finalised. The ensemble cast included Prunella Scales as Basil’s wife Sybil, and Andrew Sachs as the well-meaning but incompetent waiter Manuel. Booth provided an important element of sanity and calm as Polly the chambermaid.
Only 12 half hour episodes were ever made. The decision to stop making Fawlty Towers when it was at its creative height, leaving a distinct legacy, inspired later comedians such as Ricky Gervais. In 2000 Fawlty Towers was voted the best British television programme of all time in a BFI poll, above Cathy Come Home and Doctor Who.
There are so mamy hilarious moments I could pick, but this is my favourite. Who has never heard the expression “Don’t mention the war”
Today is the 81st birthday of David Jason, known for TV series like ‘ A touch of Frost; Porridge; Open all Houra’ but also for his voice in the 1989 film adaption of The BfG and many other movies and TV Shows.
However the part that will always be associated with him is the part of Derek Trotter, aka Del Boy of Trotter independent traders in one of the best(if not the best ) British Sitcoms ‘Only fools and horses’ below are just some of the best movies of that show.
History of Sorts 
You must be logged in to post a comment.