Barum bum! Talbot Rothwell layzzes and gennemaow
Talbot Rothwell is one of the most important men in the annals of British culture. But ask any Brit on the street "who was Talbot Rothwell?" and you'll probably get a blank look. He was the man who wrote the majority of the Carry On series of films. Yes, Rothwell is the man responsible - king of the double entendre.
Okay, let's warm up. A typical Rothwell gag goes something like this:
Picture the scene. Barbara Windsor is wearing a miniskirt and a small low cut top that accentuates her titties. She walks with a wiggle through a hospital car park, past an ambulance man eating of all things... a pear.
Babs: Ooh what a lovely looking pear.
Ambulance guy: You took the words right out of my mouth!
Babs: Ooh, saucy! (Dirty giggle)
'Pear' and 'pair', you see. Pear: the fruit... and 'pair' of tits.
Here's another one:
Hawtrey: What are doing you with that cow?
Young Lady: I'm taking her to the bull.
Hawtrey: Can't your father do that?
Young Lady: No, it has to be the bull.
Rothwell loved the double entendre and had a knack of inventing appropriate names for characters and places:
- Finisham General Hospital (Finisham - 'Finish them').
- Able Seaman Poop-Decker
- Citizen Camembert (the big cheese)
- Sergeant Major Bloomer
- Sergeant Tilly Willing
The Carry On films, I am sure, are seen all over the world, but are a particularly distinctive form of British end of the pier, saucy seaside post card humour. The Carry On films demonstrate to the rest of the world our sense of humour and who we are as British. His early work in light entertainment was mostly in radio and West End Theatres. It was with his script submitted to producer Peter Rodgers titled 'Call me a Cab', that Talbot began his infamous Carry On career. That film was re-titled 'Carry On Cabby' and thus the series found its feet. The Carry On movies gradually suffered a lurid descent, if such a thing is possible. The double entendre was gone. There was nothing implied. The films became too sexual. Rothwell got an OBE from the Queen. He retired at the end of the 1970s and died on 28th February 1981 aged 64. So that means he is now... a stiff!
Heerrr hyahh hyahh hyahh!