Bill Kerr Page 2

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 30th August 2014, 3:18 PM BST

Tony: "That's the 'alf a pound of flour you put in it! Oh, dear! What a life! It's Sunday, with a rotten dinner, it's rainin' and I've got nothin' to do!"

Hattie: "There's plenty of jobs you can do round the house!"

Tony: "It's day of rest - I'm not mendin' your bed again."

Love it!

And we must feature Bill!

Tony: "Well, it makes you sick. I hate Sundays."

Sid: "So do I. There's one week and there always 'as been and there's nothin' we can do about it."

Tony: "It's not like this on the Continent: it's there big day over there. All the cafes open and football matches and race meetings - everybody's gay Aahh! Not over 'ere though! Everything's shut up."

Sid: "I wish you would!"

Tony: (Sigh) "What's the time?"

Bill: "Err.. The little hand's on two and the big hand's on three.. That's.. err. three minutes past two."

Tony: "It is a quarter past two!"

Ahh, the innocent mention of gay..........

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But Hancock says it in a very Continental abandonment sort of way.

It's frivolous.

And there is a connotation of something. The bohemian at least.

Quote: A Horseradish @ 30th August 2014, 3:44 PM BST

But Hancock says it in a very Continental abandonment sort of way.

It's frivolous.

And there is a connotation of something. The bohemian at least.

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Yes but, the point I was trying to make was at that time the word meant something totally different to what it does now.

Continental frivolity, bohemian connotation or whatever wouldn't have been the reason it was used in the 1950s.

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 30th August 2014, 7:25 PM BST

Yes but, the point I was trying to make was at that time the word meant something totally different to what it does now.

Continental frivolity, bohemian connotation or whatever wouldn't have been the reason it was used in the 1950s.

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Yes, absolutely, and maybe changes in language over time can alter the way things are heard. But I also think that it was an era when only the French and the Swedes were saucy. The British permanently wore pyjamas and hair curlers, even in some cases on buses going to work. So there was, I am sure, a hint of that continental sauciness in what he was saying, albeit not gender specific as that term later came to be. It accentuated the greyness and buttoned up nature of British society, not only on Sundays but generally.

Some might talk about the seaside postcards or the Carry Ons and say, well, what about those then? In the first, the caricature places them in a slightly unreal context, whether broadly accurate or not. The latter led into - and through - the radical 1960s so were at that point of change. There was more openness then but arguably only a dodgy character like Sid James's would ever casually get the girl. In contrast, Paris was perceived in the British suburbs as nothing but "gay" apart from the Eiffel Tower. Every boulevard was a mixture of arty Montmartre and the sexy Folies Bergere. Dubious but colourful and with every kind of life.

Anyhow, Bill Kerr: one of the main ironies is surely that he has travelled across the world yet is un-wordly but then Australia in that context is just another part of Britain, more basic and, if anything, more naive.

"Too rich for me folks" (Eccles).........

Quote: Hercules Grytpype Thynne @ 30th August 2014, 10:29 PM BST

"Too rich for me folks" (Eccles).........

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I agree. Who writes this stuff?

Bill Kerr - The Game of Life, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrwluRk8yL8

Wear a Frown from Variety Bandbox, 1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJqSfG-VuIc

Quote: A Horseradish @ 30th August 2014, 9:38 PM BST

Yes, absolutely, and maybe changes in language

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Tone : 'Italy, Italy! Didn't you notice the change in me language?'

Bill : 'Only when you fell off the scooter.'

Quote: Oldrocker @ 31st August 2014, 12:20 AM BST

Tone : 'Italy, Italy! Didn't you notice the change in me language?'

Bill : 'Only when you fell off the scooter.'

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Brilliant. Like HGT, I never get tired of HHH.

Quote: A Horseradish @ 30th August 2014, 10:55 PM BST

I agree. Who writes this stuff?

Bill Kerr - The Game of Life, 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrwluRk8yL8

Wear a Frown from Variety Bandbox, 1951

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJqSfG-VuIc

View original

Loved the poem!

Bill in Hancock is an early version of Barry McKenzie - an innocent abroad.