The Pantomime Dame - ACE123.3

Caption: "Duggie Byng was born in 1893." Byng talks about Leno (photographs) as the model for the rest. Photographs of George Robey, George Graves, Old Mother Riley (Arthur Lucan), and Norman Evans as "low class" dames. Caption: "Arthur Askey first played ‘Dame’ in 1924." Askey describes the Dame as the pivot of the pantomime. Photographs of Askey on stage. Film of George Robey getting into character. Askey emphasises that everyone should know the Dame is a man; photographs of him in costume. Byng says his characters have always been a little more upper class. Photographs of him in costume. He prefers to be thought of as the character he’s playing, not as a man playing a part. Caption: "George Lacy and Paul Laidlaw." Lacy talks about playing Mother Goose and the contrast between his working class characters and his "posh" accent. Photographs of him in costume. Wood says that the Dame’s character is developed by each actor; the costumes change as regular fashions do. Caption: "Jack Tripp." Tripp talks about how his make-up has changed over time, and how the character has to be a little more believable than formerly. Tripp in rehearsal and in performance. He quotes Ted Ray on Dame "movements"; his VO talks about the fine line between being a Dame and a female impersonator. Terry Scott in his dressing room. Caption: "Terry Scott." Scott getting into costume; his VO about seeing Norman Evans in Humpty Dumpty. Billy Dainty getting into costume. Caption: "Billy Dainty." Dainty’s VO on adding pathos to the character. He talks about taking malapropisms from his own mother.