Monday, June 29, 2020

My Fandom: Signed Photos

After the Jim Davis letter came in the mail it scratched an itch that I didn't know I had.  Prior to this I never though about writing a celebrity, much likely asking for a signed photo.  The first ever signed photo that I got in the mail was from Yvonne Craig, the former Batgirl from the the 1960's Batman television series.  My favorite episodes of the series were the ones with Batgirl.


I got this photo in 1998 and hung it on my wall in the wrestling room.  To me this is just and amazing photo!  It's personalized, It's a very nice signature, I love the yellow backdrop, and she looks downright amazing in her costume!  November 18, 2006 I attended my first ever convention, Supermegafest in Framingham, Massachusetts.
 
please ignore my horrific facial hair
There I got to meet Ms. Craig in person and even got my picture taken with her.  I had purchased her book when it came out so I had her sign it for me.  I got several wrestling cards signed that day and even met Cassandra Peterson aka Elvira.  She was not dressed up as Elvira but I did get my picture taken with her.  I even had a brief interaction with Lando Calrissian himself Billy Dee Williams

Over the years I sent several more requests for photos, some of my favorites include Nick Castle, Joey D'Auria, and Wendy Richard.  But my all time favorite was from one of the greatest writers of all time Ray Bradbury.


I never expected to get a photo or anything signed by him, but I truly love this photo.


I bought this photo from a shop in York Beach, Maine and sent it to Mr. Castle.  As you can see he played the Shape or Michael Myers in the original Halloween.  He also wrote Escape from New York and directed Major Payne.


Joey D'Auria was the last person to play Bozo the Clown on WGN out of Chicago from 1984 - 2001.  Bozo the Clown debuted in a children's book in 1946 and became a television show in 1949.  Several actors portrayed Bozo the Clown over the years.  Each market had their own Bozo, for instance in Boston Frank Avruch was Bozo from 1959 - 1970 while at the same time in Chicago Bob Bell was Bozo from 1960 - 1984.  At one time in the 1970's there was as many as 50 local market Bozo the clown shows with different actor portraying the clown.


Wendy Richard starred as Mrs. Brahms in one of my all time favorite television shows.  I really need to buy the DVD or Bluray complete series.

I stopped collecting 8 x 10's years ago and I haven't written a celebrity asking for one in more than 15 years I bet as I mail out trading cards now.  However I have gotten a couple in the last few weeks.  I mailed trading cards to both Cyndi Lauper and Harrison Ford.  I got a nice 8 x 10 back from Mrs. Lauper, along with my card unsigned and from Mr. Ford two pre-print 5 x 7's with a letter saying as much as he'd like too he just doesn't have time to sign everything he is sent.  I didn't expect to get anything back at all from Harrison Ford. 

Until Next Time!

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Second Book

I've started working on the manuscript for the second edition of The Wrestling Insomniac book.  I don't know when I'll get around to publishing it, but I am taking what I learned from the first one and taking a different approach with this one.

Last time I made the manuscript to fit a paperback edition and then had to do a lot of work un-formatting to fit the specs for a kindle book.  This time I'm starting with the simple formatting of Kindle and then the far more extensive work of formatting for paperback.

My buddy Brandon gave me some great feedback on the book as well as some really good editing suggestions that I'm going to implement in this volume.  I've also though about writing a few exclusive chapters for the book with essays you won't find on my blog. 

I also have another wrestling book project in the works that I'm keeping to myself for now, but it's going to take a lot of research and I'm very excited about it!

You can find my amazon author page here: Michael J. Labbe where you can find my book The Wrestling Insomniac as well as the horror anthology where my story The Legend of Thaddeus Bilodeau was published.

Until Next Time!

Monday, June 22, 2020

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day, my wife had invited her Dad, brother, and nephew over for breakfast, normally they go out to eat but with Covid-19 she decided to make breakfast herself.  We were all a lot more excited about her making breakfast than going out, my wife is an amazing cook.

She made bread on Saturday, used that bread to make french toast, cooked up bacon, sausage, home fries, and at the request of her brother corned beef hash.  It was a big ole pile of food, and I enjoyed a small portion of each.

I got a new Maine Gazetteer by Delorme as a gift, mine was old and damaged.  I know we live in the digital age, but I like having the Gazetteer with me on our travels.  We drive a lot of remove places with no cell service.  We have a New Hampshire & Vermont one as well.  I hope to teach my kids how to read a map and not to just rely on GPS to get them where they need to go.

After cleaning up the breakfast dishes we went to my wife's Aunt's house on Togus Pond for a swim, the water was gorgeous.  We planned on staying for an hour or so and spent over 4.5 hours there.  I even ran to McDonald's to get the kids lunch.  They were having fun, we were all enjoying the water, and it was so nice out with the breeze and the water was refreshing.  Canaan probably jumped off the dock fifty times.

Once we got home I mowed the lawn and weed whacked while listening to a couple podcasts, I get a lot of satisfaction out of my nice looking lawn.  The Undertaker on Corey Grave's After the Bell was very good, not long enough though.

After cleaning up I took in the final chapter of the Undertaker Last Ride documentary.  Overall I really enjoyed the five part series.  I loved the Boneyard match, but I really think he needs a proper send off in front of the fans. Maybe that will be when he goes into the Hall of Fame.

To finish the evening my son and I screened the 1979 classic Mad Max.  I haven't watched it in a few years and he's never seen it.  Pride's Corner Drive In is screening The Road Warrior next week, I may take him to go and see it.

For me, it was a great Father's Day as I got to spend time with my family and enjoy the weather. 

Until Next Time!

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

My Fandom: Sending Fan Mail

After getting my letter back from John Davis I sorta became hooked on writing my favorite celebrities to ask questions and show my appreciation for their work.  This was in the late 1990's, the very early internet days but there was a website I found, it was called Star Archive then and it's still around today called Star Tiger.

It's essentially a database of celebrity addresses either home, agent, business, or other where you can send a letter.  Over the years they've added email address, websites, twitter accounts, facebook pages, and even myspace pages when they were a thing.

A lot of information on Star Tiger is submitted by users as well.  For instance many notate that they attempted to contact a celebrity with the information provided on the page, they will submit the date they mailed their request, the date they got it back, and if it was successful or not and can even include an image of the item they had signed.  This let's people know if it's a good address or not and at times how long they can expect to wait to get a response.

Sending a celebrity fan mail can be a touchy thing depending on who you are.  There are some fans that think it's an invasion of privacy and others that don't think there is anything wrong with it.  In recent weeks I've actually seen a lot of people talking about this on social media.  Billy Gunn recently posted that someone put his address out "there" and he's received a large amount of fan mail that he is marking return to sender and wants people to stop.  Britt Baker stated that she gets a lot at the dentist office that she works at and it is also marked return to sender.  She stated send her fan mail to AEW.

Other celebrities like Colt Cabana and Tyler Breeze post an address where people can send fan mail.  If you've ever looked at my wrestling blog the majority of my collection of signed trading cards I acquired by mailing the wrestlers directly.

Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with sending a letter to someone asking for an autograph if you include a self addressed stamped return envelope and something for them to sign.  I send trading cards and in my letter thank them for their time and talk about their career, my favorite matches and moments, and ask any questions that I have.

I have mailed letters cold before, as in I found their address and just sent the letter.  However if they have a way to be contacted via email or social media or a website I will ask first.  I have about a 75% return success rate overall. 

Back when I first started I would send letters asking for a signed photo, I would mail it in a 9 x 11 envelope with a stamped return one inside.  It was about 50 cents to mail that then, it cost 55 cents to mail a standard letter now so I'm guessing it would be over a $1 today which is not cost effective.  I don't think it's right to ask a celebrity to supply you with something that they have signed, this is why I send trading cards. 

This is also when I learned about pre-prints and the infamous studio fan mail.  Studio Fan mail is a service that has been around since 1962 that celebrities use to respond to fan mail request for signed photos.  Many of these celebrities use pre-prints as in they sign a photo once and that photo with the signature is then copied so you receive a photo with a pre-printed autograph.  Some celebrities who use studio fan mail do hand sign every photo that is sent out. 

The longest I it ever took to get something back signed was a trading card from Bart Gunn aka Mike Barton, over four years.  The shortest was Dr. Tom Prichard & Terry Funk with a seven day turn around.  More often than not I just get the cards back signed, which I'm grateful for.  Sometimes they will write a quick note on a post it or scrap of paper thanking me for writing or answering a question, again I'm grateful.  Only a few times have I gotten a full letter response.   

In another post I'll share my favorite signed photo's that I got back.  You can check out part of my collection of signed cards on my wrestling blog here.

Until Next Time!

Friday, June 12, 2020

Two Day Disconnect

Happy Friday everyone!  In 29 minutes time the wife, Wesley, and I will be jumping in vanna and heading north to Medway for a couple nights of camping!  The best part, no WiFi and no cell service where we are going! 

I'm very excited to take a forced two day break from social media.  I've reduced looking at Facebook and Twitter quite a bit in the last few weeks, but I enjoy keeping in touch with people.   The weather is looking great and I can't wait to be sitting around the campfire.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll be back Sunday night!

Until Next Time

Thursday, June 11, 2020

Kindle Fire 10

Last month I ordered a Kindle Fire 10 even though I hadn't planned on buying one.  We had three old kindle fire sevens, two of them wouldn't even turn on anymore and a third one did work but no one had used it in over a year.  Amazon has a kindle trade in upgrade program where you send in your old fires, they give you $5 for a broken one and $10 for a working one plus 20% off a new fire.

You an only mail in two at a time so I sent in the working one and a nonworking one with the intention of getting the crap out of my house and getting a $15 amazon gift card to buy more crap.  Well once they processed through and I got my gift card and 20% off for shiggles I looked to see how much a new Fire 10 would cost me.

Turns out they were on sale from $149.99 to $109.99 and with my 20% off it came down to $87.99, minus the gift card and now we are at $72.99.  I could't pass that up!  Only catch was that they were out of stock on all but the white one, I didn't want a white one, so I bought the black one with the knowledge that it would get here when it got here.  Amazon eventually told me that, that day would be June 20th, more than a month away at that time.

Turns out it was an overestimation because the Fire 10 arrived on June 6th. I spent the morning of June 7th installing the Google play store, downloading all my apps and signing into everything.  The sounds a picture quality over the Fire 8 is amazing.  Also reading comic books on it a full page at a time is really, really awesome.

In recent weeks on Comixology I have taken advantage of some deals they had, a bunch of a free trades and single issues on free comic book day plus when the movie Scoob came out they had 9 free trades of Scooby-Doo team up and over 150 free single issues.  So if you check my Comixology app I have 557 books to read.  That's exciting and it's going to take me a long time!

It's been a few days now since I've gotten it and I do find many things I like about it more than the Fire 8.  For instance other than reading comics and watching shows and movies on it I've been using it for reading blogs.  I've read a few different ones for years and but only read them on my computer because I didn't like how the 8 formatted them on the screen. 

This weekend we are going camping and there is no WiFi or cell reception which is a benefit to make my kids disconnect.  In the past I've downloaded offline maps on my phone when we've gone to Canada so I can map routes with no service, granted you get no traffic notifications but it's a good tool.  I'm going to try that on the tablet just to see how it works so in the future when we go to Canada again I have a bigger screen to look at for mapping purposes. 

Until Next Time!

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

My Childish Anger

The Evil Dead is my favorite movie, hands down anytime someone asks me I always answer this movie. There are plenty of other movies that I love but this is my favorite.  I own various copies, all it's sequels, the remake, and various merchandise of the franchise.

I was lucky enough to help bring it to a theater in Portland, Maine in 2011 when Grindhouse Releasing was touring a 35 mm print of it so I was able to watch it on the big screen.  But I've always wanted to see it at the Drive-In.  I've been asking the few drive in's in Maine to screen it for years.

Last week Grindhouse Releasing messaged me on Twitter asking if I had contact information for Pride's Corner Drive In in Westbrook which is the one that I frequent the most.  I connected the two and have been waiting eagerly to see if it will happen.

At the beginning of May the wife and I decided to go away for  the weekend in June camping with our son at Pinegrove Campground and Cottages in Medway.  We've gone the last two years with all my kids and we are going again in July, but decided to go way this weekend with just our son Wesley.  So we both have half works days on Friday June 12th and are staying two nights coming home Sunday the 14th. 

We've really been looking forward to just getting away, sitting by the campfire, relaxing and more importantly disconnecting from the world.  The campground doesn't have WiFi and we do not have cell service at the campground. 

Today, June 9th, both Grindhouse Releasing and Pride's Corner announced that they would be screening The Evil Dead for one night on Saturday June 13th at 11:30pm

FUCK ME

Before anyone asks it's 195 miles from the Drive In to the campground. 

Monday, June 8, 2020

My book is available!

My book The Wrestling Insomniac is live and available for purchase in Kindle or Paperback from on Amazon!



I'm going to write a better post for my wrestling blog tomorrow.  But I'm pretty damn excited!

Until Next Time!

My Fandom: My first celebrity fan letter

This post will be the first in a series about my Fandom for many various topics that I was a fan of at some point in my life.  It will also cover how my fandom has changed over the years with one major catalyst that ended my collecting days for almost a decade.

I've written many fan letters in my life.  All of them coming in my adulthood and it's how my wrestling trading card collection has grown so large.  I write wrestlers asking them to sign trading cards of them for me and I include a stamped return envelope.  I have a 75% return success rate so it's worth it.

Before that I would write certain celebrities asking for a signed photo, I'll talk more about that in another post.

The first time I ever wrote a celebrity was way back in November of 1996 when I was a senior in high school.  I have always been a huge fan of Garfield the Cat comic strip and the Television specials.  I had recently found a book version of Garfield's Thanksgiving at a second hand store, I have a large collection of Garfield's comic strip books but hadn't realized that they made books of the TV specials.


As this in the pre-internet days you couldn't just go on Amazon or ebay and find anything you wanted.  So I went to my local bookstore Mr. Paperback, to see if I could order one.  Out of print, as was his Halloween special book.

For reasons I don't know I decided to write Jim Davis to ask him if he knew how I could get one, and express my love for the orange cat.  I mailed it to the publisher of his most recent book and then after a couple months I forgot about it.

One year later I got the response in the mail, as you can tell from the envelope it was quite obvious who it was from.  Now I realize that this was probably a form letter, but it was his real signature, not a pre-print, and it was in the same font as the cartoon is in.


I didn't know what a pre-print was at that time, however I later learned that a pre-print is when a celebrity signs a single photo and then the photo is copied with the signature on it to be mailed to fans who ask for a photo.  Not all celebrities do this but many of them do.

Now that I'm thinking of it I never did find a copy of Garfield's Christmas in book form...

Until Next Time!

Sunday, June 7, 2020

My Book

As I wrote about in the past I started the process of focusing on other projects now that I've earned my college degree and have more free time.  This first thing I did was submit a story for publication to a market that I found and although I'm hoping it's accepted I'm not going to let myself get too excited.

The second thing I did was tacked making a manuscript for a book from my Wrestling Insomniac Blog post.  It was a lot of work!  It took about a week but I got the proof copy in the mail yesterday and honestly I was blown away! 

I knew during this process that I was, essentially, writing a book but now that I have it in hand it's a whole new reality of what I'm doing.  As soon as I ordered the proofs I starting having so many self doubts, especially if it is long enough, and now that I have it in hand it all disappeared.


It's very surreal!

This morning I went into the kindle publishing direct and finalized publishing both the paperback and kindle versions of the book.  I'll find out in 72 hours or less from amazon if they are approved. 

Holding this book in my hand really gets me excited about what to do next!  I have enough posts to make a second volume to this book so do I do that or work on another project?  I'm not really sure honestly I just know that I am excited for whatever is next while at the same time I don't want to rush.

Until Next Time!

Saturday, June 6, 2020

More about the movies I've watched lately

With Covid-19 I've been working from home and I have been putting some movies on my tablet and letting them run while I complete my work.  Here is what I've watched and what I think about them. 

The Lovebirds

When I saw the trailer for this movie I was very excited about it, as was my buddy John.  Then corona virus hit and it was announced that it was going to be released directly to Netflix!  Finally I watched it and sadly it was just okay, a bad variation of the movie Date Night.  I guess watch it once, but that's all you'd need to. 

Ready or Not


I watched this on HBO, it's a decent flick about a family that forces the person that marries into the family to play a game on their wedding night.  It doesn't really explain why but you understand at the end why.  The trailer shows that the new bride is being hunted by the rest of the family.  It is a dark comedy and the ending is very interesting and I found unexpected 

21 Bridges 

Film is about a robbery gone wrong where cops are killed.  The head detective wants to shut down Manhattan Island and it's 21 bridges to find them.  Movie was predictable at times while being different.  Like, I saw that coming but it didn't resolve the way I thought or it typically does.  I would recommend this movie. 

The Vast of Night

I watched this on Amazon Prime on it's release date, I just didn't know it was it's release day.  I frggin' love this movie!  If it is ever released on DVD I will be buying it.  The short gist of it, in 1950's New Mexico a switchboard operator and a disc jockey pick up some strange transmissions over the airwaves and look into it.  I loved it!

Death Wish (2018) 

It's been a very long time since I've seen the original.  This is a solid classic Bruce Willis bad assery film.  I think most of you know the plot, Bruce Willis' family is wronged and he is seeking revenge on those that wronged him.  I enjoyed it. 

Butterfly Kisses

This is a very unique found footage flick, I've never seen one like it before.  This movie is about a guy making a documentary about the footage that he found and everyone thinks that he made it up. 

Villains

Based on the trailer that I saw this is not what I was expecting.  It goes off the rails from what I was expecting pretty much straight away.  I wouldn't say it's a bad movie, but at the same time for me it's a one time watch.

No Holds Barred

This movie came out when I was 10 years old, stars my then hero Hulk Hogan and was just as awesomely terrible as I remember.  I mean two people die at the end of the film and the audience cheers!! 

The Wrong Missy

Netflix original from the Adam Sandler studio.  Overall it was pretty good, but I found it very annoying at times.  David Spade is going on a corporate retreat to Hawaii and decides to invite a long this girl name Melissa that he met and connected with.  Instead he invites along his blind date from hell with the same name.  "Hilarity" ensues and parts are just a little too over the top for me.

Spencer Confidential

Another Netflix original starring Marky Mark.  Based on the same book series that the 1985 - 88 television series Spencer for Hire is based on.  Boston cop goes to jail for assaulting a superior officer, gets out of jail and is driven to solve a wrong doing bringing down corrupt police.  Solid flick I enjoyed it, worth your time. 

Dangerous Lies

Netflix, really bad just avoid it!!  Seems like it was a bad TV movie of the week.

The Last Days of American Crime

Worse than Dangerous Lies!  There is so much wrong about this movie.  Set in a world were the US Government is going to flip a switch sending out a signal that prevents people from doing something that they know is lawfully wrong.  The run time is just way too long and it's full of useless story that could have been cut to speed up the flow of this film.  I can't say this enough don't waste your time.

Aftermath

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a man whose wife and daughter are killed in a plane crash and how he deals with the loss.  Scoot McNairy plays the air traffic controller who feels responsible for the accident.  This is based on actual events from a 2002 incident.  Much like The Foreigner was for Jackie Chan, this is a much different movie than we are used to seeing Arnold in.  It was good, but it's a one time watch for me. 

Until Next Time!

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Thursday

I haven't posted in a few days because I haven't had anything to say.  My job decided to shut the office down for the week to test the air quality and inspect the HVAC system.  It was supposed to be for a day, but then it compounded to the whole week.  We've been working from home since March with rotating days in the office so this isn't a real hardship.

My buddy was told that he will be working from home for the rest of the year.  My wife told me that her job is in no rush to bring her division back into the office as they are getting their work done.  Possibly even being home the rest of the summer.

I know we need to get back to trying to be "normal" but I'm in no rush to do so if we are risking a resurgence.  Wesley has his first t-ball practice tonight and game this Saturday so it will be interesting to see how he does with his first organized sports.

I have been very restless this week trying to focus on a project or reading more or writing more and I just can't seem to get focused.  Probably why I haven't posted anything on this blog either. 

Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to focus more.

Until Next Time!

Monday, June 1, 2020

Are You Being Served?

I began writing this post in 2018 and it really blew up on me. I can't recall If I ever posted it on another blog or not but I did recently find it saved on my Google Drive

Back in 2015 I had this urge to watch an episode of “Are You Being Served?” and was surprised to find that there wasn’t any at all on Netflix or Hulu or any other Roku channel.  There still isn't.  So I checked YouTube and was even more surprised to find the entire series had been posted by a few different people.
I feel like I remember watching this with my Dad but not vividly.  He was a big fan of "All Creatures Great and Small".  I do recall vividly watching it when it was on PBS Channel 10 in the evening before the Red Green Show.  I always thought Miss Brahms played by Wendy Richard was quite attractive.


Wendy Richard

The show ran from 1972 to 1985 on the BBC and like most British shows each season averaged about 7 episodes totaling 69 episodes.  There was also a film made in 1977 and a spin off called “Grace & Favour” which was called “Are You Being Served? Again!”  in the States.  Each episode averaged close to 30 minutes.

Wikipedia describes what the show is about better than I ever could:
Are You Being Served? featured humour based on sexual innuendo, misunderstandings, mistaken identity, farce and occasional slapstick. In addition, there were sight gags generated by outrageous costumes which the characters were sometimes required to wear for store promotions, and gaudy store displays frequently featuring malfunctioning robotic mannequins. The show is remembered for its prolific use of double entendres.
The main humorous base of the series was a merciless parody of the British class system. This permeated almost every interaction and was especially evident in the conversations between the maintenance men and the ostensibly higher-class store personnel. The episodes rarely left the store, and to parody the stereotype of the British class system, characters rarely addressed each other by their first names, even after work, instead using their formal titled names ("Mr.", "Mrs.", "Miss", or even "Captain"). When they did address each other by their first names, it was usually either as an aside, or often for comic effect (e.g. an underling addressing a superior).


The Original Cast

The main cast was Captain Peacock the floor walker (assistant floor manager) men’s department consisted of the senior sales assistant in Mr. Grainger, sales assistant Mr. Humphries, and junior salesman Mr. Lucas.  The women’s department consisted of senior sales assistant Mrs. Slocombe and junior sales assistance Miss Brahms.  Also featured was Mr. Rumbold the floor manager who was primarily in his office.

One remarkable thing about the show is the fact that Mr. Humphries was clearly gay although it was never actually plainly said but it was implied by every character on the show and it seemed to be accepted.   Mrs. Slocombe makes frequent reference to her pussy, as in her cat, quite hilariously.  A running gag performed by everyone through-out the series was when one character asked another “Are you free?” they would always look around  before replying “Yes I’m free” or something similar. The main cast was Captain Peacock the floor walker (assistant floor manager) men’s department consisted of the senior sales assistant in Mr. Grainger, sales assistant Mr. Humphries, and junior salesman Mr. Lucas.  The women’s department consisted of senior sales assistant Mrs. Slocombe and junior sales assistance Miss Brahms.  Also featured was Mr. Rumbold the floor manager who was primarily in his office.

The first two seasons took place entirely on the floor of the department store even when they had meetings or a special banquet for Mr. Grainger it was had on the sales floor after hours.  In season 3 they started having scenes in the cafeteria with the cast.  I found it odd that everyone that works in the department was able to go eat lunch at the same time, and that they wanted to sit at the same table with each other.   Season 3 also was the introduction of the first Christmas Special.  Lots of BBC shows film and air Christmas Specials that tend to be stand-alone episodes that have nothing to do with the end of the previous season or start of the new one.  Syfy and USA had done that with a few shows as well like Warehouse 13 and Haven.
Season 4 marked the first member of the cast to leave the shows as Larry Martyn who played the maintenance man Mr. Mash left at the end of season 3.  Arthur English became the new maintenance man Mr. Harman until the end of the series.

In Season 6 Mr. Tebbs played by James Hayter was introduced to replace the departing Mr. Grainger played by Arthur Brough who had passed away between seasons.  I never recalled seeing Mr. Tebbs when watching the show and honestly his performance is quite forgettable.  He didn’t really add anything to the cast other than for his disdain for Mrs. Slocombe.  In truth it seems as though he was never really involved in any major storyline and left after one season.

Season 7 Mr. Tebbs departs after one season replaced by Alfie Bass as Mr. Goldberg.  To me Tebbs never fit in with the cast, kind of like how Joe Besser never really fit in as a Stooge.  Mr. Goldberg is introduced as the new Junior salesmen with Mr. Humphries and Mr. Lucas getting promotions, but quickly through a scheme he is made the Senior with Mr. Humphries and Mr. Lucas returning to their junior positions.
After only watching two episodes of this season Mr. Goldberg’s character has already ingrained himself in with the cast and is quite hilarious.  He even shares a history with Captain Peacock, as they were in the military together and our good Captain might only be a Corporal.

Season 7 episode 5 “The Hero” features pro wrestling!  Fantastic!  It was supposed to be a boxing bout between Captain Peacock and Mr. Franco of the sports department however Captain Peacock chickened out and there were no boxing gloves to fit Mr. Franco.  In the end Mr. Humphries ends up wrestling Mr. Franco, and of course the ring is set up on the sales floor.



Mr. Franco was played by English professional wrestler Jackie Pallo who was a top star on television in the 1960’s & 70’s with his feud with Mick McManus.  Pallo also held the British Heavy Middleweight Championship for a time in 1969.

Another running gag through the duration of the series are these odd ball mechanical displays and other devices that never work.  Mostly it is very rudimentary animatronic  mannequins that tip their hat, breast glow to show off new style bra, and even a pair of dancing ones to advertise a new dancewear offered at the store.
Season 8 brought about several changes with the departure of Mr. Goldberg leaving after one season, and Mr. Lucas played by Trevor Bannister who left after 7 seasons and the movie.  His departure was never addressed on the show they simply introduced Mr. Spooner as the new junior salesman and Mr. Grossman from shoes as the new senior salesman.   The first episode of season 8 also had Young Mr. Grace stepping down and his brother Old Mr. Grace taking over.  Old Mr. Grace is similar to his brother being a dirty old man and using the same catchphrase of “You’re all doing very well” before departing.

Mr. Grossman only stayed on for 4 episodes and was replaced by Mr. Kline who finished out the final 4 episodes of the season.  The last episode of season 8 was Christmas special and was significant as it featured the final episode of not only Mr. Kline but also Young Mr. Grace, Old Mr. Grace, and the nurse.

As I was checking the episode list I found it odd that the showed aired between 1972 and 1985 but for only 10 seasons. The first 5 seasons generally air between February and May each year.  The gap between season 5 & 6 was 17 months during this time the “Are You Being Served” movie was filmed and aired. You can read more about that later in this post.

Season 6 & 7 aired in the late fall with the gap between seasons 7 & 8 being 15 months.  The gap between seasons 8 & 9 was 23 months while season 9 ended in May of 1983 and the final season, season 10 began in February 1985 some 22 months later.  While this might be common practice in England I’ve never heard of gaps like them between seasons over here in the states, until recently.

Season 8 Episode 6 “Closed Circuit” marks the first time that a scene was filmed outside the confines of the store.  They had filmed on different floors and on the roof but never outside the store.



The Season 8 episode 8 Christmas Special is the last Christmas Special of the series, also as I mentioned earlier it marks the final appearances of Old Mr. Grace, Young Mr. Grace, Mr. Klein and the Nurse.  Also this episode features several song and dance numbers by the cast, the last one featuring them all in black face.  Not sure how that would fly today, but it got a laugh then.  But then again it’s the UK and not the states.

Season 9 a regular cast billing was given to Candy Davis as Miss Belfridge Mr. Rumbold’s secretary. Also there was no new senior salesman in the men’s department after Mr. Klein’s departure at the end of last season. It’s never addressed they just go about their business as usual.

Season 10 has begun and I’ve noticed that the font for the opening graphics and title sequence changed, I’m not sure why it would suddenly change.  Also in the first episode it is stated that Mr. Humphries is the head of the men’s department.

The series ends with the final episode being about Mr. Spooner getting signed to a record deal as a pop star.  I’m not sure if they knew that this episode was going to be the final one or not.  Something very unique about the series was that every episode was a stand-alone episode.  There was no continuing story from one episode to the next.  They had gags that were used in just about every episode but done so in a way that you could watch any episode from at any point in the series and not feel lost.  I’m not sure if that was done on purpose or not, it worked.


Mr. Spooner and his backup singers

Sadly the no one from the original cast is still alive.  Mike Berry who played Mr. Spooner is also still with us and is an actual singer whose first single was released in 1961 and he is still active to this day.
I truly enjoyed this show and even though the episodes aired 32 – 45 years ago I found myself laughing out loud every episode.  Of course some were funnier than others but I can’t say there was a bad episode in the entire run.

The Story of Are You Being Served?
I discovered a documentary on You Tube called “The Story of Are you Being Served?” It aired on BBC 2 on January 1, 2010 and featured current or recorded interviews with the cast, creators, writers, and others involved with the production of the show.  It also features interviews with staff of Simpson’s department store.
Jeremy Lloyd wrote the episode based on his experience working for two years in the men’s department of Simpsons of Piccadilly.  Apparently a couple of the characters were based on his co-workers at the store as well as the hierarchy of the British class system
The Documentary breaks down each character on the show and their development as well as highlighting some of the funniest moments of the show.



It goes on to talk about the success of the show and the cast explaining one of the large gaps between seasons that I wrote about earlier.   In 1977 John Inman was offered a series called “Odd Man Out” that ran for only 7 episodes but as he was unavailable the BBC told creators Croft & Lloyd that they couldn’t do the series without him.
It speaks about Wendy Richards abusive relationship.
The documentary confirms that when the final episode was shot they were not aware it would be that last show for several months when it was decided that the show would not return for another season.
It’s a great hour long look at this great show from those who made it happen.

Grace & Favour (Are You Being Served? Again!)

In 1992 BBC 1 turned to Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft to bring back the characters of “Are You Being Served?” 7 years after the original series concluded.  This time though they are not working at Grace Brothers Department store.  In the storyline Young Mr. Grace has died the store is closed and it turns out that he had used the employee’s pensions in different ways.  For the workers of the Men’s & Ladies departments, as well as Young Mr. Grace’s secretary Miss Lovelock, they discover that they have inherited Milestone Manor.  They are not allowed to sell the property but can use it as they please.  So they decide to live in the home and convert it into and Inn and live off the profits.

Of the original cast those that returned were Mollie Sugden as Mrs. Slocombe, John Inman as Mr. Humphries, Wendy Richard as Miss Brahms, Frank Norton as Captain Peacock, and Nicholas Smith as Mr. Rumbold.  It’s not address as to what has happened to Captain Peacock and Mr. Rumbold’s wives.
Another difference from the previous series to this one is there are continuing stories from one episode to the next.  This sequel lasted for two seasons totaling 12 episodes.


Cast of Grace & Favour

Once again You Tube has come through and all 12 episodes are available to watch.
Watching season 1 episode 1 and it’s great to see these characters again.  The episode opens same as the first episode of “Are You Being Served?” with problems with the elevator.  The doors open but it’s about 2 feet shy of being all the way up on the floor.

It’s really weird seeing them in this county setting and not at the store.  The episode concludes with them deciding to stay on and run the Inn as their pension was not enough to live on.
In the first season all 6 episodes took place over the course of the first week they arrived at the manor.  In the last episode it’s their first weekend and they have taken on the responsibilities of the staff as they had all left prior to their arrival.

Miss Brahms’ character is a lot more posh in this series than in the original.  From her speech to her style of dress, I think otherwise she would be too much like the locals.

Fleur Bennett played Mavis Moulterd, the daughter of Maurice Moulterd who was the farm hand that ran the farm at the manor.  Mavis performed a series of duties at the Manor but her primary job was to take care of the needs of the staff but never the guests.  For reasons never quite explained other than there wasn’t enough room, she shared a bed with Mr. Humphries in a completely plutonic manner of course.  She is with-out a doubt my favorite character on the show.


Fleur Bennett

Season 2 picks up where the last season ended with the Americans having left the manor.  The episodes of season show the cast adjusting to running the Manor themselves as they cannot find a staff.  The adventures and hijinks include finding a gun, a cricket match with the townspeople, locating a mummified cat that when removed causes supernatural happenings, performing a ballet, and more.

Essentially it’s a long continuous fish out of water stories and how they adjust and overcome to complete their tasks.   It is fun though, to see these characters that we are familiar with in a completely different atmosphere.
In the sixth and final episode of the series Mr. Rumbold states that he has been frazzled since his wife left his for the manager of the tools department.   It’s also assumed that Captain Peacock’s wife also left him, probably because of his womanizing ways.  I’m glad they addressed this, although not really important in the long run. I’m big on continuity.

I haven’t talked about two of the new cast regulars as of yet;

Billy Burden played Maurice Moulterd the lifelong farmhand of the Manor who was quite the character indeed.  Through-out the series he provided much of the comic relief, was the casts link to the townfolk, and implied that in their younger years had some sort of relationship with Mrs. Slocombe.

Joanne Heywood played Jessica Lovelock the former secretary and apparent life assistant of Young Mr. Grace.  She is seen in each episode but primarily as a minor character who lives above the stables and mostly rides and tends to her horse.  She has helped out from time to time with the cast including performing a ballet of Romeo and Juliet with Mr. Humphries for some Mongolian guests.

The final episode of the series and the final time we see these characters, they are at the local bar to accept the challenge from the locals of a dart game where Mr. Rumbold gets in a fight that Mrs. Slocombe settles.  From the beginning of the series until the end there is a bit of love story between Mavis and Mr. Humphries where he stands up for her at the pub after a suitor pushes her.  They also steal back sheep they had sold after finding out that they sheep were to be butchered.

As with the original series the show just ends with no satisfying conclusion as most likely it was cancelled in the off season.  I really enjoyed the twelve episodes and I feel they could have run with the premise for a few more seasons as they had barely scratched the surface of them being at the manor.

Are You Being Served? (Australian Version)

Filmed in 1980 and airing in 1980 – 1981 two seasons of an Australian version of “Are You Being Served?” was produced totaling 16 episodes.  This was filmed during the hiatus between seasons 7 & 8 of the original version “Are You Being Served?"

John Inman’s character Mr. Humphries is sent by Old Mr. Grace to work for his Australian cousin Mr. Bone at Bone Brothers Department store.  The fact that he has gone here is never addressed in the original series.


John Inman with Reg Gillam & June Bronhill

The characters, set design and layout, as well as costuming was almost identical to the British Version.  Each character in the original had an identical counterpart in this version including the head of women’s department Mrs. Crawford, whose hair changes per episode like Mrs. Slocombe’s.

Reg Gillam as Captain Wagstaff the floorwalker like Captain Peacock
Anthony Bazell as Senior Salesman Mr Mankowitz a combination of Mr. Grainger & Mr. Goldberg
Shane Bourne as Junior Salesman Mr. Randel like Mr. Lucas
June Bronhill as Senior Sales Woman Mrs. Crawford a version of Mrs. Slocombe
Judith Woodroffe as Junior Sales Woman Miss Buxton a version of Mrs. Brahms
Peter Collingwood as Store Manager Mr. Dunkley this shows Mr. Rumbold
Basil Clarke as Store Owner Young Mr. Bone similar to Old & Young Mr. Grace
Reg Evans as Maintenance Man Mr. Cocker as handy as Mr. Mash & Mr. Harman were

In the second season two characters were replaced
Christine Amor as Junior Sales Woman Miss Nicholls
Ken Fraser as Store Manager Mr. Fenwick

Fifteen of the 16 episodes were shot from scripts in the original series and of the two I have seen they are exactly the same.  To me I find it odd that they did this because the original series aired in Australia.  I don’t just mean they are similar, it seems that they are a shot by shot remake with a different cast save Mr. Humphries.   The episodes are a couple minutes shorter than the originals so some sort of editing was done. The only original episode that was shot was seasons two’s “Undesirable Alien.”

The opening theme is different and sung by John Inman, they did use the cash register sound in-between scenes like in the original.

The complete series is not on You Tube, but it does have 10 episodes.  From Season one episodes  4, 5, 6, 7, & 8 and from Season two episodes 2, 3, 4, 5, & 8.  Sadly Season 2 episode 6 “Undesirable Alien” isn’t on You Tube.

Beane’s Of Boston

Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft brought the show to United States in 1979 filming a pilot episode called Beane’s Of Boston that did not go on to be picked up.

The cast of the show is pretty remarkable;
John Hillerman, Higgins on Magnum PI as Mr. Peacock
Charlotte Rae, Mrs. Garrett on The Facts of Life as Mrs. Slocombe
Lorna Patterson, Pvt. Judy Benjamin on Private Benjamin as Miss Shirley Brahms
Alan Sues from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In as Mr. Humphries
Morgan Farley, a popular character actor with over 70 movie credits at Mr. Grainger
Larry Bishop another popular character actor as Mr. Lucas
Other cast members consisted of Tom Poston of Newhart & Bob Newhart fame as Frank Beane and George O’ Hanlon as Franklyn Beane.



I found this on www.tvobscurities.com :

CBS broadcast “Beane’s of Boston” (also referred to as “Beanes of Boston” without the apostrophe) on Saturday, May 5th, 1979 from 8:30-9PM. It was indeed an attempt to adapt Are You Being Served? (which had premiered in September of 1972 on BBC1) for American audiences. Set at a large, conservative department store called Beane’s of Boston, the pilot starred Tom Poston as Frank Beane, the owner, and George O’Hanlon, Jr. as his nephew Franklyn Beane, the manager. The storyline saw Frank Beane grudgingly agreeing to hold a beer festival in an attempt to raise money. Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft, creators of Are You Being Served? helped write “Beane’s of Boston” and Lloyd served as a producer. The pilot was directed by Jerry Paris and executive producer by Garry Marshall.

Rounding out the cast were John Hillerman as John Peacock, floor manager, Charlotte Rae as Mae Slocombe, manager of the women’s department, Lorna Patterson as Shirley Brahms, Mae’s assistant, and Alan Sues as George Humphries, the effeminate manager of the men’s department. The characters were based, and in some cases named, after the corresponding characters in the British series. According to The Los Angeles Times, the pilot included a “laughable, even pitiful gay” character. In Are You Being Served? the sexuality of Mr. Wilberforce Clayborne Humphries (played by John Inman) was played for laughs and it is likely that George Humphries was the gay character mentioned by The Los Angeles Times. Whether that had anything to do with the pilot not being picked up is unknown.

The pilot does not appear to be held at any of the largest television archives (the Library of Congress, UCLA’s Film & Television Archive, the Museum of Broadcast Communications and the Paley Center for Media) but that does not mean it is missing or lost. The production company, or whoever owns its library today, probably has the original elements somewhere. I believe it was produced by Paramount Television.

I recently found this pilot episode on YouTube, it is a very rough copy that was taped off television.  The opening theme is pretty lame and doesn't really tell us anything about the show we are watching.

The set for the show is essentially the same as it's British predecessor, two elevators at the stop of a staircase leading down to the sales floor with the men's department on the left and the women's on the right.  They recycle a lot of the same jokes but as the Unites States didn't have the same class system as the British those bits fall flat.



The plot of the episode is taken from the Season 3 episode 6 "German Week".  Franklyn Beane gets  a grand idea to have the departments sell traditional German clothes to set them apart from the other department stores.  First day sales go bad so the enhance the story by having the staff dress in the German clothes and serve German wine.  The episode even concludes with the same exact German dance number and face slapping bit between Mr. Peacock and Mr. Slocombe. I'm glad to have found this to be able to watch it, but I can see why it didn't work.  The original commercials were included which was really cool.

Are You Being Served? The Movie

Released in 1977 with a run time of 95 minutes between seasons five and six and featuring the current cast of the show.  The plot of the film is that Grace Brothers is being shut down and giving the staff a paid vacation to Costa Plonka, Spain.

Of course the hi-jinks once they arrive is that the hotel is overbooked and the only accommodations they are provided are tents out on the beach.  They are also there in during and attempted uprising and the staff is caught in a gunfight between revolutionaries and federal troops.



The humor in this film is very British and it really needs to be seen to fully understand.  I couldn't do it justice in trying to explain the various tongue and cheek comments, innuendo, and mistaken identity jokes. I was very surprised that this film, which is based on a television show a department store, doesn't take place in the department store.

Are You Being Served? 2016 Revival

In 2016 the BBC celebrated 60 years of television sitcoms by making a new episode of four classic sitcoms including Are You Being Served?  With an all new cast playing the original characters the episode takes place in 1988 and marked the return Mr. Grainger who came to work to spend less time with his wife.


Revival Episode Cast

I watched this on-line when it was first broadcast but I cannot find it at this time.  It was panned by critics and I must say that it wasn't very good.  Other returning characters included Mr. Rumbold, Mr. Harmon, Mr. Humphries, Captain Peacock, Miss Brahms, and Mrs. Slocombe.  They are are joined by new characters Mr. Conway as Junior Salesman, Mr. Grace, and Miss Croft.

Are You Being Served? The Play

In June 2016 Gaslight Theater in Hallowell, Maine put on a production of Are You Being Served?  When I found out about it earlier in the year I was pretty excited, being a fan of the series I couldn't wait to find out what it was going to be about.

Gaslight Theater is a small community theater located in City Hall.  If I were to guess I would say that capacity is about 100 people, and we've been to five productions in the last four years.  We attended the evening show on June 18th after having dinner at the Liberal Cup in downtown Hallowell.

Once I read the synopsis in the playbill I was a bit disappointed to discover that the play was based on the feature film.  The play was broken down into three acts with the first act taking place at Grace Brothers and acts two and three the actually film, traveling to Spain and all the happenings there.


Hallowell's Gaslight Theater Cast

Acts two and three got a bit confusing and if I hadn't seen the movie prior to this I most likely wouldn't have been able to follow along as well as I did.  I had to explain several parts to my wife.  I thought the cast did a fantastic job and I loved the beginning so much.  It was so great to see some of the bits live.The first act was fantastic and was essentially an episode of the show as they did some of the best bits and even one of the mechanical displays that went awry.  Everyone really enjoyed this and if this was the whole play I think it would have been better.

In what I think was a very coincidental casting a women named Wendi Richards played Miss Brahms in the play and Wendy Richard is the name of the actress that played her on the show.

Thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed this detailed account of one of the finest British comedies.

Until Next Time!