British Pathe

Pathetone Parade of 1941 - Reel 4.

Compere / comedian Ronald Frankau stands at the bar and gives us a lively introduction to someone he can't remember the name of! He eventually remembers it's Jack Jackson of the Mayfair and Dorchester Hotels. C/U of Jack Jackson, telling us he's going to give...

Pathetone Parade of 1941 - Reel 4.

Compere / comedian Ronald Frankau stands at the bar and gives us a lively introduction to someone he can't remember the name of! He eventually remembers it's Jack Jackson of the Mayfair and Dorchester Hotels. C/U of Jack Jackson, telling us he's going to give us some lessons in conducting an orchestra. He gives us some humorous pointers, then the band starts to play an overture. They won't let Jack give us any more of the lesson as they keep playing sections of the piece. Jack gives up in the end and they play a brief but fast tune. Music could be 'You've Got To Make Those People Sway' or 'Parade of the Toys'. (This is missing item from PT 428.)

Frankau reappears and introduces Jeanne de Casalis. We see the comedienne in the character of Mrs Feather sitting at a table in the studio, wearing a fabulous feather-sleeved gown. She speaks on the phone to her butcher and asks for something special for her husband who has been feeling 'seedy' and "on the nerve of a vergous breakdown". The butcher suggests a bird - lots of (one-sided) crosstalk follows. After saying she wants his "little kidney", Mrs Feather remembers the doctor told her to give her husband fish. The butcher won't give her the fishmonger's number so she decides to give him the noodle left over from lunch! (This is missing item from PT 283.)

C/U of Frankau introduces Robb Wilton, with a brief impersonation of the great man. Frankau drinks from a glass of beer. Fade into comedian Robb Wilton, dressed as a policeman on a set dressed to look like a street at night with park railing and bushes in the background. He sings "I'm one of the lads in blue", a little song about being a policeman. He then goes into a monologue, looking at his betting book. He doesn't know if 'Wandering Jake' is a racehorse or a murderer! He reads out a funny description of a wanted man, thought to be "lurking in some passage between Yarmouth and Aberdeen"! He talks about a boy who threw a stone through a glass window then ran up the street. Robb ran down the street - "I wasn't going to be blamed for it!". He talks of locking up a woman for being drunk. The woman denied being drunk and Robb said "She was worse than I was!". A brief reprise of the song. (Duplicate of PT 107 - use this version as original is visuals only.)

Back at the bar, a rather sozzled Frankau lights a cigarette then staggers off.

End titles: 'Pathetone Parade of 1941 - The End'.