Posted on 11/07/2009 4:18:36 PM PST by Kid Shelleen
Britian's postal service has rejected "Benny Hill" for a stamp because his girl-chasing ways are no longer politically correct.
Royal Mail, as the post office is called there, had been considering a stamp to honor the famously naughty British comic as part of group of stamps to mark the 40th anniversary of his network, ITV, according to a report yesterday in London's Daily Telegraph.
But, according to the minutes of a committee making the decision, the PR arm of the Royal Mail raised an objection saying Hill's antics were "in direct opposition to [the] company's policies on harassment in the workplace."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
But if he chased boys, there wouldn’t be a problem.
Hill was funny back in the day, after too much wine or whatever. That said, I don’t think he belongs on a stamp.
Didn’t that PC crap get him thrown off the air? And didn’t he die soon afterward?
But he did chase boys! this is highly homophobic decision by the postal service.
He never married, although he did propose to three women—one the daughter of a British writer—but was rejected by all three
Those Brits have no sense of humor.
Really, I saw a documentary that he was quite non-straight and had a boyfriend when he passed away. Maybe it was all in the head of the alleged boyfriend.
No. He liked going to France and “socializing” with the French women.
Yes, It did.
Was (still is) some of the funniest (British) comedy on the Boob Tube.
He was scheduled to begin another series, when they found
him death couple weeks before production was to start.
This is a common misconception - in the overwhelming majority of cases, the women chased Benny, not the other way around.
On the other hand, Sharia law is just fine and dandy in the UK. Bring on the Qaaba stamps!
Benny Hill was a delight who brought joy to millions. He certainly is more deserving of a stamp in the UK than the race-baiting, America-hating Stalinist entertainer Paul Robeson was in getting one in the US.
My favorite Benny Hill joke..(at least the only one I can remember right now).
What is the difference between a vitamin and a hormone?
You can’t make a vitamin!
(Think on it);-D
My gosh, what’s happening to England? Benny Hill was the British Hee-Haw, and thus, crap, but still, the country that gave us BlackAdder, Monty Python, Keeping Up Appearances, AYBS?, Black Books, and all within recent memory, is letting its ultra-ULTRA-PC bureaucrats pretty much takeover the country.
I wouldn’t disqualify him for skirt-chasing, but I would leave him out for not being particularly funny.
I recall seeing a documentary on him where his female co-stars were interviewed and they all insisted that in reality he was a perfect gentleman to them. They had nothing but kind and gracious words and poo-poohed the notion of being ‘harassed’.
I miss Benny Hill. He was the clown prince of the sexual revolution. Whereas Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen proceeded him in that role, they never had the lovable charm of an impish child that let Benny Hill get away with antics and puns that no one else could have.
If they give him a stamp, they need to integrate into it a whoopie cushion sound device (raised air pocket with a paper reed in a narrow air slot exit.) Benny would have wanted it that way. ;)
Black Books is one of the funniest things I have ever seen. The first season and a few episodes of the second were the best of the series. I haven’t finished season 3 yet.
A talent? Sure. But an insight into a reality we all know and love so intimately we can laugh at it. Disrespect of women has nothing to do with it. Our perception of women, our incomprehensible preoccupation and fascination with them as males has it's own special comic appeal and that's where Benny's humor took us.
Quick story about my Dad; It was a special dinner with the Yankee Air Force hosting the Confederate Air Force at Willow Run Airport. Dad doing his usual social butterfly thing brought all these "Southern Belles" as he called them to introduce to me, my wife, and my several cousins. He was in seventh heaven meeting those ladies and not one of them would disappoint.
Here's to you Dad. And here's to Benny Hill. Long live the ability of men to be men. Women to smilingly agree and enjoy the simple attention. And for adults to recognize there is some beauty in the birds and the bees.
Yes he did die soon after his show was cancelled. He said at the time he didn’t understand why. I think it broke his heart.
In my book he was the British Soupy Sales.
yitbos
My GF years ago gave me a mag with an interview with FRASIER’S Jane Leeves and she said that he was a far cry from the sex-dog image on TV.
One of my fondest memories of childhood is watching Benny Hill on PBS with my grandfather. Now time to chase my girlfriend to the sounds of Boots Randolph...
I only got two old cats to chase around...
Keep working on it...and you will have the cats chasing you, although they may be cougars...
Already had a cougar chase me once, and she had her young ‘un with her.
That is a great story. I bet your not was a true gentlemen and really knew how to treat a woman with respect..
BTW - Benny Hill (and The Honey Mooners) helped get me through college. My roomates and I would take late night study breaks to watch the shows. We laughed so hard we got our second win to keep studying..
You are thinking of the great Frankie Howerd, who was gay, but kept it private as it was illegal until 1967 in England and Wales.
Irony of ironies, Howerd died the same weekend as Benny.
Black Books would technically be Irish, seeing as it was written by Irishmen (one of whom was the guy who launched the ‘IluvtheNHS’ twitter campaign) who live in England.....
Benny Hill was the British Hee-Haw . . .
Right there you could have stopped and the point would have been extremely well taken. There were bawdy comedians far funnier than Benny Hill---and far more intelligent, too. (Alternative translation: Mr. Hill, you were no Groucho Marx.) Forget the bawdiness, Hill seemed to revel in stupidity. But I agree that the reasoning expressed behind the decision not to stamp him is just as stupid. Had they decided that Hill was simply too juvenile to merit a stamp I think that would have been far more acceptable.
Got a point but it is still one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. I even know a guy who is a lot like Bernard so it is even funnier for me.
Yes it did, although his shows ratings were slowly declining, he was still a top comedian when they cancelled him.
He died some time after, but he never recovered from having the show cancelled.
He was definitely NOT gay.
Everyone who doesn’t marry is suspected of being in the closet. Its nonsense. We shouldn’t buy into it.
Or think on it this way. All humor has to have a very sharp cutting edge - the divide between comedy is tragedy is often very fine. In almost all jokes and skits you are being invited to laugh with someone at someone or something else. Now, in the Benny Hill shows - who is more commonly the butt of the jokes? The nubile women, or the dirty old men who are chasing them?
Actually, Hill’s early shows on TV in the 50’s and 60’s on the BBC and the early ITV shows, as well as his BBC Radio work in the 60’s, were a mile removed from the crude slapstick of later years.
The BBC work especially was masterful satire of pop culture, from Bob Dylan to TV adverts and James Bond films.
And there is a wonderful parody in his early ITV work (around 1969-70) of pretentious film critics and ‘film chic’. A sketch years ahead of its time.
Australia has done a series of 5 stamps honouring Barry Humphries who is the guy who plays Dame Edna Everidge. Frankly since the guy is still alive and still working I found this was a bit premature but it’s all for marketing and bucks nowadays in the stamp departments of the world. Britain just did a series of stamps on James Bond so this PC stuff on Benny Hill is surprising.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKKNL7nFCH0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oaf-FylqGxo&feature=related
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