And I am unanimous about that!!!
Recently I have been working my way through the 14 disc set of the British sitcom, Are You Being Served? This very funny show was a favorite of mine since I first saw it on PBS many years ago. I was curious, for some reason, to see which members of the cast were still living and took a trip over to the IMDB database. There, I was very surprised to see that the great Mollie Sugden, who played Mrs. Slocombe on the show, has recently passed away. I had not seen any articles in the papers about this and was greatly saddened by her passing. This very funny lady played the senior clerk in the ladies underwear department at Grace Brothers store in the series. On the show her character was always telling stories about her and her friend, Mrs. Axleby, going out to bars and dances and trying to pick up men, usually the wrong type of men. She would also discuss at length her pussy.......now don't get carried away!!! She was talking about her pet cat. Mrs. Slocombe would always get into fights with Mr. Granger, who didn't want the women's department on his floor in the store, or Mr. Lucas, the young man who was always making comments about her age or weight or some other thing that would get Mrs. Slocombe mad at him. John Inman, who played the very light in the loafers Mr. Humphreys, once compared Ms. Sugden to Lucille Ball, saying that she would always do anything asked of her to make something funny.
So far, the cast members of the show who have passed away are Sugden, Inman, Arthur Brough(Granger), Harold Bennett(Young Mr. Grace), Wendy Richard(Miss Brahms), Arthur English(Mr. Harmon), Larry Martyn(Mr. Mash), Alfie Bass(Mr. Goldberg)and Kenneth Waller(Old Mr. Grace). Many of these folks had a long and distinguished careers on the British stage and television screens, as well as in films. This was a show that just clicked in almost every way. The cast was funny, the plots, while many of them were silly, were almost always fun and they managed to throw a few jabs in at the morals and morays of the 70's and 80's, when the show originally ran. This was a time period when the old ways of society were giving way to the more liberal and free wheeling times of the sexual revolution and Served certainly captured that well. The older members of the store's staff would lament the loss of the olden ways and the younger members of the staff would chide the older ones for not being more with it. There was a lot more going on in this show than just the slapstick comedy that was the mainstay of it's humor.
Anyway, Mollie Sugden's passing leaves another hole in the world of great comedians and for those of us who loved her character on Are You Being Served? she will be sorely missed.
So far, the cast members of the show who have passed away are Sugden, Inman, Arthur Brough(Granger), Harold Bennett(Young Mr. Grace), Wendy Richard(Miss Brahms), Arthur English(Mr. Harmon), Larry Martyn(Mr. Mash), Alfie Bass(Mr. Goldberg)and Kenneth Waller(Old Mr. Grace). Many of these folks had a long and distinguished careers on the British stage and television screens, as well as in films. This was a show that just clicked in almost every way. The cast was funny, the plots, while many of them were silly, were almost always fun and they managed to throw a few jabs in at the morals and morays of the 70's and 80's, when the show originally ran. This was a time period when the old ways of society were giving way to the more liberal and free wheeling times of the sexual revolution and Served certainly captured that well. The older members of the store's staff would lament the loss of the olden ways and the younger members of the staff would chide the older ones for not being more with it. There was a lot more going on in this show than just the slapstick comedy that was the mainstay of it's humor.
Anyway, Mollie Sugden's passing leaves another hole in the world of great comedians and for those of us who loved her character on Are You Being Served? she will be sorely missed.