[Dixielandjazz] Re: Happy Every Day -- and the Holy-daze, too

[Bill Haesler]

OK, Gunter,
Ya can't wiggle out of this one.
It's a cultural thing.
We Aussies and Brits KNOW what 'pantos' are. Grew up with 'em. 
Dames (played by males), principal boy (always played by a pretty girl) and a
horse costume with 2 people inside.
And a band 'live' in the pit. 
What you were talking about was mime. A French thing. Marcelle What's-his-name
with the white face.
Which prompts me to repeat part of a post me Pommy mate, irrepressible John
Farrell, posted on the DJML in July 2000.
I loved it at the time (still do), so kept it.

The celebrated French mime artiste Marcel Marceau also played the university,
which was surrounded by farms way out in the country. Somehow a sheep had got
into the theatre just before the act began, wandered on to the stage and
defecated in the middle of it. Somebody in the audience shouted, "Fantastic! Now
do a horse".

While in London many years ago Jess and I went to see 'Poppy', an adult panto
set in the 1840s (complete with a dancing Queen Victoria) about the Opium War
between England and China.
A Royal Ballet production (if I remember correctly) at the Barbican.
Hilarious. We were in stitches the whole way through.
But quite a few US tourists walked out, bewildered by it all, muttering about
the future of a country which 'sends up' its monarchy and traditions.
As I said. A cultural thing.
Onya mate. You and Bev have a great New Year.
Very kind regards,
Bill.
Jazz content: "Mime-ie The Moocher".