March 21, 2007

RIP John Inman From the Times obit: John Inman, actor, was born on June 28, 1935. He died of complications arising from hepatitis A on March 8, 2007, aged 71. Few situation comedies have aroused such loyal affection in television viewers as Are You Being Served? And no character was more beloved than the irrepressibly camp Mr Humphries, played by John Inman. The series ran for a dozen years and was regularly watched by half of Britain. It was later a cult success in the US.

AYBS holds a special place in the heart of us Yanks, because for many years it and a few other shows were the only glimpse of British TV we got. When I finally went to London a part of me was still expecting every shop I went in to be a clone of Grace Brothers. I wish I could remember the exact words of Mr. Lucas's description of the death of a loyal Grace Brothers employee - something along the lines of "A heavenly voice will call out, 'Are you free, Mr. Lucas?' and before you know it Mr. Grainger's fitting you for a pair of wings and telling you not to worry, they'd ride up with wear." Plenty of YouTubey goodness here.

posted by The Underpants Monster 17 years ago
  • . watched the show as a kid with my parents, watch it still with my partner and friends today. Inman made camp cool. He will be missed.
  • "Menswear."
  • One reason family audiences loved him was for his warmth. Mr Humphries was affectionate and seemed genuinely pleased to see everyone. Another was his fondness for atrocious puns and double entendres. I feel the same way about the Capt. KitTUMgercicle kid. *snif* I love youse guys
  • Nooooo!
  • He's free. Someone had to say it...
  • > He's free. My thoughts exactly.
  • ditto free
  • . In retrospect, I'm amazed that this series was allowed to air when I was a child. Perhaps the jokes went over the heads of our censors.
  • An American Racial supremacist mentioned in passing to Louie Theroux that he liked "Are you being served" until Theroux pointed out the queer connotations of the phrase "I'm free". Reading about Americans being cunts is easy. Meeting a cuntish American is a lot harder, in NewCastle, Slovakia. Inmann and the BBC were fighting for gay rights before I was born. Even as Turing was imprisoned it was respectable for 'certain people' to do 'certain things'. As long as they didn't stroke their pussy so many times that it went bald on the 3rd floor.
  • A good self-cleaning double entendre is worth a thousand ass jokes. AYBS: The PLay. (Youtube)
  • I SAW JOHN INMANS BUM I saw a really bad farce in Peterborough with Inman as a hotel owner, Lionel Blair, Linda Lusardi and various others as guests, and lots of doors slamming and hanky-panky. At one stage his Union Jack boxers were pulled down as he exited. Thus I saw his bum. During the curtain call, Inman and Blair did an 'impromptu' tapdance. It was awesome and dreadful in equal measure. .
  • I'm sorry, muteboy. .
  • Thanks Capt. I'm OK I guess. It's not like I saw Mrs Slocombe's pussy.
  • Monkeyfilter: Awesome and dreadful in equal measure.
  • MonkeyFilter: Worth a thousand ass jokes.