(Margo is trying to give Barbara a new dress as a present)
Barbara: That's nice.
Margo: Yes, well, that's what I thought when I bought it. But I'm afraid it was a terrible mistake.
Barbara: Oooh - Leclerc. Jolly expensive mistake.
Margo: Well, that's not important. The point is, Barbara, I got it home, I put it on and I said to myself, 'Margo, that simply looks cheap and nasty'. So I wondered if you'd like it?
That dress
is a good example of how everything can come together very well in a BBC
sitcom in this period. The costume department have come up with a really good
prop. The dress itself is a striking garment of scarlet chiffon, decorated in a
rainbow of coloured spots. Its outlandish enough to look like a bad purchase,
but designed enough to still look plausible as a high fashion purchase. Our
never actually seeing either woman wear the dress helps this suitability. The
viewer can only imagine what each might look like with it on, an appealing
invitation to our imaginations. We do get the pleasure of Margo in several
other costumes this episode, all of which feel dressy and eccentrically
designed, but are also clearly well-made, helping to sell the authenticity of
the dress to the viewer.
Even from a distance of 43 years the other piece of information that we're given about the dress, that it cost £55 (£453.22 in 2018 money), feels comically just right. It certainly amuses Jerry, until he learns that Margo bought it with the joint account. This is the first series so we see rather less of Margo and Jerry than we do later on, but Penelope Keith's performance is already extraordinarily well judged and funny in every line. She makes every permutation of the situation - how Margo is oblivious to her condescension towards Barbara and certain of her convictions with Jerry - register to the viewer.
And then there's another appealing payoff to the dress, when we finally do get to see it being worn - by Tom's new scarecrow.
Even from a distance of 43 years the other piece of information that we're given about the dress, that it cost £55 (£453.22 in 2018 money), feels comically just right. It certainly amuses Jerry, until he learns that Margo bought it with the joint account. This is the first series so we see rather less of Margo and Jerry than we do later on, but Penelope Keith's performance is already extraordinarily well judged and funny in every line. She makes every permutation of the situation - how Margo is oblivious to her condescension towards Barbara and certain of her convictions with Jerry - register to the viewer.
And then there's another appealing payoff to the dress, when we finally do get to see it being worn - by Tom's new scarecrow.
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