Are You Being Served? (1972)
0 visible crew/equipment mistake in season 3
Starring: Frank Thornton, John Inman, Mollie Sugden, Wendy Richard
Genres: Comedy
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German Week - S3-E6
Revealing mistake: When Mr. Humphries and Mr. Lucas make their toast with the German mugs, Mr. Lucas' mug breaks but Mr. Humphries' does not. A moment later, when Mr. Humphries notices the mug has not broken, you can see that he crushes the mug with his hand.
Mr. Humphries: I'm free!
Trivia: The "lift voice" heard during the theme song in each episode is that of Stephanie Gathercole, who played Mr. Rumbold's secretary in the earliest episodes.
Question: Does anyone know why Wendy Richard (Ms. Brahms) is the only one not wearing blackface for the musical number at the end of the episode?
Answer: In Britain, there was the show Black and White Minstrels which was very popular until the late 70s. The men were all blacked up, but the women weren't - hence Black and White Minstrels. It's been a while since I saw the episode to know if Mrs Slocombe was blacked up as well, but technically she shouldn't have been.
And they had tracked the brothers' lifeline in history, and they still didn't understand or even explain why most of the people came out in blackface, except for the one lady who I respect the most. Now I watch this show all the time; this just blew my mind.
48-year-old black woman, and I can't believe what I just saw. My stomach is turning. I have grandkids. How do you explain that? It's sad because they're giving mammy's props because white parents weren't around, but why do you need to do blackface?
But the truth of your answer made me look, and it actually made me feel better. Now I can watch the show; I watch it all the time on TKS. Thank you for that, because the truth is the truth, and that's just what it is. The problem is when you're lied to. Have a great day.
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Answer: In minstrel shows there was also a stereotype of black men preying on white women, so that's probably why she was not in black face. Also, Mrs. Slocombe is in blackface because she is an older, stout woman and she fits the "mammy" stereotype.
Not the person who did this post. Whoever said that back in the day is so ignorant.
I've never heard that before, that people did blackface because black men were preying on white women. It makes white women seem dumb, and we were told that it was done to make fun of our big lips and our colour as jiggaboos. It had nothing to do with preying on white women.