Monday 4 March 2019

A Comedy On This Day: The Arthur Haynes Show (5 March 1962)



 Disappointingly, Ken Morris and Joan Savage are separated for their two spots this week, diminishing the interest of both appearances. The husband's performance of 'Belissima' at the piano is straightforward, while the wife's bossa nova interpretation of 'I've Got You Under My Skin' is mimed on a curious set consisting of curtains, windows, table and a plant. It’s a representational, rather than realistic, setting intended to convey the essence of elegant continental living rather than looking like an actual place.

 I'm not sure that my sympathies are in the right place to find the first long sketch as funny as I might do. The tramp inveigles his way into a rich woman's home by having answered her job advertisement for a mother's help as 'Emily Haynes', sits down on her chair, starts to drink her sherry and eat her chocolates and runs rings around her protestations. I find it a lot easier to empathise with her alarm over the intrusion and threat, than with him for browbeating this unfortunate woman into providing him with accommodation and funds.

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