GREAT BRITAIN: Ad Lib

• Share

In the last days of King Edward VIII's reign, a London stage revue was considered daring and excruciatingly funny because one of the characters was frequently addressed as "Miss Simpson." Music hall and radio comedians throughout the United Kingdom fairly itched to utter the words "Mrs. Simpson" in any connection whatsoever, and these British funsters were still itching without relief when, last week. Miss Joan Young, author of a British Broadcasting Corp. radio revue called Masculine Fame on Parade, took her place to conduct this performance. The B. B. C. Variety Orchestra struck up. Itching intolerably, Comedian John Rorke stood by waiting his cue while the chorus sang:

We've come along this evening And one and all we feel We wish that you could see us For we've all got sex appeal.

As the last line went out over the ether waves, listeners by the million were startled to hear a loud voice bellow "YES, MRS. SIMPSON!"

Not the chorus but itching John Rorke was responsible. The chance had been too good, the moment too irresistibly apt, for his British sense of humor. Within 30 seconds every telephone line into the modernistic, ship-shaped B. B. C. Building was jammed with the furious complaints of British radio listeners who had never before heard "Mrs. Simpson'' uttered on the air. The Duke of Windsor in his B. B. C. abdication broadcast called her simply "the woman I love." Almost instantaneously last week a B. B. C. technician had cut the broadcast, but just too late.

"We must apologize to listeners," came the B. B. C. announcer's voice a few moments later, "for the apparent bad taste shown."

"I was terribly upset!" moaned Authoress Joan Young. "There was nothing regarding Mrs. Simpson in my script. I was shocked and astounded! I cannot say anything more, as the B. B. C. will not allow me to."

Comedian. John Rorke, having eased his itch, was overwhelmed with a sense of having probably lost his B. B. C. job, and with remorse. Distractedly he said he had meant to shout "YES, MRS. GIBSON!" although that was also no part of the script. "It was a slip of the tongue," he moaned inconsolably. "I would not say anything out of place about any living being, my former King or a peasant."

The stern B. B. C. sentence pronounced upon Shocker Rorke was suspension for five weeks, during which time he may not enter any B. B. C. broadcasting studio.