| WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS reel 2 Great round-up of popular variety acts: Afrique, Billy Mayerl and Douglas Byng. | ||
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| This clip is not available for streaming at this time. Please contact WPA. | Tape Master: | |
| Catalog #: | 487957 | |
| Clip Number: | 487957-1 | |
| Orginal Film: | DOCUMENTARIES | |
| Timecode: | ||
| Location: | England | |
| Year Shot: | 1933 (Estimated Year) | |
| Audio: | Yes | |
| Color: | No | |
| Headings: | ENTERTAINMENT: Misc LOCATIONS/EUROPE: UK, England | |
| Description: | MISSING 1/6/2006 On preview cassette 211201 See also catalog # 487956, 487958, 516628 WHAT THE PUBLIC WANTS reel 2 Great round-up of popular variety acts: Afrique, Billy Mayerl and Douglas Byng. Pickles chats to a taxi driver. He likes Afrique. He sings a song at the piano wearing a big white suit and hat, Cossack style. He "blacks up" and does an impression of Paul Robeson singing "Mighty Like a Rose". Pickles is in a restaurant and chats to the waitress. Billy Mayerl plays a novel new organ which can mimic other instruments. A small shot of Mayerl is superimposed over a shot of the mechanics of the organ. "The Cornet, the Fiddle and the Big Bass Drum" is mentioned. C/U of Mayerl flicking a switch to change the instrument. Four women play alongside Mayerl on Challen pianos. C/U of women playing. A man joins Pickles at his table in the restaurant. Pickles asks him who his favourite comedian is. He says: "You want me to say Wilfred Pickles ... I like something more subtle". He likes Douglas Byng. We see a routine by the comedian on the theme of a Christmas pantomime. Shots of the audience at tables, drinking smoking and chatting. Byng comes on in drag as the "leading lady". He wears a wig and carries a small basket. He sings a song called "Daisy Chain" and curtsies. The band plays, he comes on again dressed as an elderly woman - a pantomime dame. He makes a joke about having played "third raspberry in the fruit scene" and another about how the Baron must have his "Plum Duff". Camp at the time I presume, not just in retrospect. He gets the audience to join in with a song about making a pudding - he waves a rolling pin. | |
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