Lighted wedding gowns and dresses

They Lit Up the Room

The new Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Horton
Vicar of Dibley (Fanpop)

We might want to incorporate that princess sparkle into our parties and weddings. Is the epitome of sparkle the flickering of lights?

These clothes are unique in their design and their construction. They are often as playful and clever as those who wear them. 

Headpieces, bridal belts and bouquet jewelry added to your bouquet may consist of cut glass, rhinestones or actual actual Swarovski crystal, pearls, etc. How about a fiber optic touch? 

There are so many light features that can accessorize a wedding or any party. After receiving a wedding invitation not long ago we got a phone call. They were calling each guest because they wanted to warn people since they were planning to use so many lighting effects at the reception!

Alice Tinker and Hugo Horton married on the classic British Comedy, The Vicar of Dibley. Not only did Alice have among her attendants some children dressed as Teletubbies, but she had features on her dress and veil that lit up.

Included are a classic daytime drama Calliope & Eugene Days of Our Lives 1985 and My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Dresses.


Carrie Underwood's 2013 Grammy Dress


The Bride wore flickering lights

Women's Light Up Blue Fairy Costume

TLC's Incredible Weddings





When do you think such elaborate outfits are most requested? Weddings and holidays. If you have a winter wonderland, Christmas wedding, these some of the most sparkly weddings and may be a great chance for a light feature on a wedding dress. 

A Christmas or winter party. Then there are the fancy dress occasions and Halloween parties. If you're in a contest lights could make you a winner. Play dates, for both the dress up chest and performance. Pretend play and dramatic play are essential for all kids to play and explore possibilities.

Gypsy Wedding Dresses, everyone has her own budget and taste...

For all ages, boys or girls, find Light Up Dresses, Costumes & Accessories
Wide variety, just one example above is the Disney Frozen Elsa Musical Light up dress.  Fun accessories, too.

In My Mind I'm Living in Port Wenn, Doc Martin inspired

In My Mind I'm Living in Port Wenn,
Doc Martin inspired

Port Isaac is a small and picturesque fishing village on the coast of North Cornwall,

In my mind, I'm living in Portwenn T-shirt

UK. The cottages are charming and the roads very narrow, barely enough room for cars to get past pedestrians.

The scenery is breathtaking with rolling hills and the beautiful ocean. The tourism industry may now join fishing as local industries that bring revenue into the local economy. In recent years, the town has certainly gotten its share of publicity from the show Doc Martin.

I read that Martin Clunes confirmed there will be a Series seven, filmed in 2015 and that this season may be their last. Do you want to see Doc and Louisa stay together finally?

On the show, Port Isaac is referred to by the fictitious name, Port Wenn (aka Portwenn). As good as the program is, the acting and the writing, one of the elements that makes Doc Martin a joy to watch is the location. Port Isaac, what we viewers know as Portwenn, is idyllic. 

It may be portrayed as a bit of a fairy tale, but by the end of the show you're often left with the feeling, "Aaaahhh, I'd love to live there." So when things get stressed, just think about that little town. Like they say, this is one way I can go 'to a happy place' in your mind. :)

The show's success has been such that fans will soon be able to enjoy the adventures of Dr Ellingham in an entirely different format altogether - publishers Ebury has bought the rights to two novelizations based on the ITV series.
-- per comedy.co.uk

"Doc Martin in 2007" Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
via Wikimedia Commons

A show that sneaks up on you, in a quaint little village

Doc Martin, nothing to do with the line of shoes, is a tv 'dramatic comedy' from the UK. The man in the title role is Martin Clunes as Doctor Martin Ellingham. His career as a successful London surgeon hits a roadblock when he develops a phobia of blood. The 'Doc' ends up hired as the GP in Portwenn, a fictional Cornish fishing village.

The show is filmed in Port Isaac, North Cornwall. Doc Martin, as he's known to the people in the village, is brusque and has no bedside manner. He's the high-speed city guy thrown into an environment of laid back villagers. He is about symptoms, test results, cold facts, eating sensibly and deadlines while those around him are able to stop and enjoy a leisurely drink at the pub.

The supporting cast of characters is very good as well. Caroline Catz as cheerful, common sense schoolteacher Louisa Glasson, almost immediately gives the Doc more to quiver and quake about as the two try mainly unsuccessfully to forge a romance. Any personal relationship is difficult for Doc Martin. 

Stephanie Cole is the Doc's Aunt Joan who's sort of a buffer between him and the community. She can serve as a 'translator.' The show doesn't need special effects. It's not in your face or loud. It is character-based. Seasons, or series as they're called in the UK, are far apart. Series 4 aired in the UK, if my information is correct, in 2009. Series 5 began filming in 2011.

The setting of the show is certainly part of what makes it appealing, and the beauty of the surrounds help to make the doctor himself look so out of place. He is usually the only person wearing a suit, he walks in a very determined, very tight, pent-up manner, eyes straight ahead. All around him is the beautiful coastal village of Portwenn. Looks like circumstances are conspiring to soften him up at least a little. The end of season four something happens that could help with that. Maybe?

Doc Martin: Series 5
Wow, Julie Graham who played Martin Clunes's on-screen wife in William and Mary (loved that show!) has appeared on series five. She plays the wife of PC Penhale (John Marquez). A while back they did mention that he'd been married.

Clunes is known in the US for shows such as Men Behaving Badly and William and Mary. He has also done a series on The Islands of Britain and a wonderful documentary about The Secret Life of Cats which is currently showing on some PBS stations in the USA. 

Stephanie Cole is known for Waiting for God. Katherine Parkinson plays receptionist Pauline. Be sure to check out Parkinson in the film, Pirate Radio.
Doc Martin began in 2004 and has had four seasons, all of which are available on DVD. A fifth season is scheduled to begin filming in 2011. Countries outside the UK have aired it and the show has been on some PBS stations in the US.
Image from Amazon


How do you spell it?
On Doc Martin, sometimes when you see the town's name on a sign, it's a little

In my mind, I'm living in Port Wenn
maternity T Shirt
Customize your shirt or jacket
by color, style and size

fuzzy if it's meant to be one or two words. Because of this, the T-shirt is available as two words, Port Wenn or Portwenn. It's also available long sleeves or short, in a wide range of colors and fabrics. If you want something in a dark color, choose a lighter text/font.

Simply click on the "See All Styles" button to choose the type of clothing from a baby romper to a jacket, hoodie, tee, tank, etc for kids, teens, men or women.

When Doc and Louisa had their baby and the birth was broadcast for the whole village to hear.

Anything like the on-again, off-again relationship between the doc and Louisa? Hard to say.

Talking about the Making of Doc Martin

Doc Martin stars one of my favorite actors, Martin Clunes






 
Doc Martin Bloopers Outtakes



Are you one of the lucky people who's visited Port Isaac and maybe even seen them filming the show?

So many famous programs and movies have taken advantage of the scenery in Cornwall, UK. Alfred Hitchcock knew about the spectacle of the area's cliffs and the sometimes raging waters below. The only Hitchcock film ever to win a Best Picture Academy Award was Rebecca. It was set at Manderley, the country house on a cliff in Cornwall. Jamaica Inn was also set there. Both were written by Daphne Du Maurier.

Reminiscent of Louisa's Flat

White Rose Cottage

If I'm not mistaken, Louisa's home says White Rose Cottage on Doc Martin. Turns out that there is a White Rose Cottage that is a "spacious seaside bungalow, situated on the beautiful North Cornwall coast."

The web site says, "Polzeath is a beautiful seaside resort with an excellent surfing beach." We've seen Louisa headed off to go surfing. There are a lot of local landmarks that you could see if you visited Port Isaac that you've seen on the show.

YouTube has lots of videos that people have shot and uploaded. Whatever those buildings are really called, whatever they were called before they now have 'new' names, too. We all know 'Doc Martin's House.' :-) As the people of Port Isaac know, publicity is a give-and-take kind of thing.

Also it mentions that the cottage is only 30 minutes from the Cornwall Eden Project. I've included a link to a lens about that project.
(Image from their web site)

After four seasons, Stephanie Cole left Doc Martin. She joined the cast of Coronation Street, playing Sylvia Goodwin, the mother of Roy Cropper.
Katherine Parkinson also left the show after season four. She played receptionist Pauline Lamb. Did you see her in Pirate Radio? It's a great movie.

Parkinson and her husband had a baby daughter in 2012. She appeared in the play, Before the Party at The Almeida Theatre in London.

Dame Eileen Atkins is  Doc Martin's Aunt Ruth.
Jessica Ransom is the new surgery receptionist, Morwenna Newcross.

In my mind, I'm living in Port Wenn
iPad Tablet Sleeve choose size

William and Mary: Seasons 1 & 2
William Shawcross (Martin Clunes) and Mary Gilcrest (Julie Graham) (Dirty Tricks, Butterfly Collectors) co-star in this poignant British Comedy about an undertaker and a midwife. 

It's described as "brilliantly written, quirky and often moving British TV comedy about two people tripping down the imperfect path of romance together" and this is very true. 

We found this when grieving for a lost family member and it made it even more special.



A chat with Stephanie Cole from Coronation Street, Waiting for God and Doc Martin. What's your favorite of Stephanie Cole's characters?


Related Articles of Interest: 

Frank Thornton, Captain Peacock Are You Being Served?

Top Ten British Comedies on Amazon Prime

The Frog and Blue Peach, Naming Ideas for Pubs, Restaurants ...

Waiting for God, Stephanie Cole

Movie censorship around the world 1910s-1950s

Film Censorship Japan, France, Britain, more

What did countries such as Japan and France think of American movies? How did they censor their own films and imports? When did the British Board of Film Censors appear? And much later, in 1979 did the members of Monty Python have to deal with audience uproar and what did Cary Grant say about his experiences?

Jack Pickford becomes a motion picture censor
for the US government

Jack Pickford, Movie Censor: In 1918, Mr. Pickford was given advance screenings of all pictures scheduled to appear on Universal's Screen Magazine and Universal's Current Events. Whatever scenes showing war-like preparations were eliminated from prints to be exported. 

"He said this had nothing to do with prints to be used domestically. 

"Pickford recently enlisted in the navy and owing to his knowledge of motion pictures was immediately assigned to the Intelligence Department."

Pictured above: Olive Thomas (his wife), Jack, Mrs. Charlotte Pickford, Mary Pickford with her niece, Mary Jr. and Lottie Pickford. Jack Pickford is leaving for New York.  

By at least 1910 Canadians worried about pictures' not being up to their moral standard. The government would have to censor all films.

Film Censorship in Japan 1920s

"The fans of staid Pennsylvania are well off compared to those in Japan. Kissing scenes have long been taboo. 

"Hold-ups and ardent love scenes very often do not get by the censors who consider such acts injurious to public peace and morality. Views of revolutions, especially those of the overthrow of a crowned ruler are frowned upon by police. Yet with all these limitations and obstacles in its path the popularity of the movies grows rather than declines. ...

"Every motion picture house is divided into three sections -- one for men and

Kayoko Saijo "a popular Japanese actress in
American and Japanese dress"

boys, another for women and girls and the third for married couples. Police officers are assigned to each theater to see that regulations are observed. 

"Regardless of how crowded the men's section may be and how vacant the women's is, no male is permitted to sit in the enclosure reserved for ladies.  

"This was done some years ago to safeguard morals when it was discovered that love scenes on the screen caused the more emotional among the audience to behave improperly." Komako Sunada and Aiko Takashima were other favorite Japanese actresses mentioned.

"Recently the censors lifted the ban on kissing so far as American and European actors and actresses, and were concerned to see the effect this move toward Westernization would have on public morals."

"While on stage, the majority of feminine roles are played by men, women have from the very beginning established themselves firmly in motion pictures. At the Kabuki-za, the largest theater in Tokyo, no actresses are employed. On the other hand while there are only a handful of male film stars all studios are crowded with actresses." 

The total footage of film shown one that year was 4,135,801. But the proprietors of the movie theaters bought much than that. A substantial amount, 121,000 feet of film had been cut by censors, "for the public morals and protection of children" it was said. Those who made the pictures said that the highlights of the movies and scenes integral to plot were cut. ...

The Katsuben or Benshi: 
Subtitle Readers-Translators
From one publication; "Subtitle readers are hired by the dozen by each theater to translate the titles as they appear and to shout their translations to the audience. There are more than eight thousand regularly paid subtitle readers in the country and a skillful interpreter increases the value of a picture to a great extent. Imagination is employed by some of the men who succeed frequently in altering a weak story."

The 1921 dressing room of these benshi is even fitted with electric lights

From a different publication (a few years earlier); "The Japanese censor does not stop with the surgical operations of films. He gets at the public through katsuben, also. The katsuben or benshi as he or she is sometimes called is a sort of animated caption. They are of both sexes for girls are quite as active in the profession as men. He explains the picture, he makes the silent drama vocal."

The censors recruited, hired and carefully trained those who would act as benshi. It was said that moviegoers in big and small towns in Japan wrote letters to newspapers complaining that the censorship of movies was too harsh.



"The moral influences of these explainers of pictures over the audience is

Sessue Hayakawa 1918

thought to be great. At least that is the opinion of the Japanese censor. Therefore next to the editing of the films, he turns his best attentions to the expurgation of the benshi. The benshi is not permitted to earn his bread by the sear of his artistic sense unless he is armed with a declaration from the censor, on the impeccability of his ethical character."
-- From articles dated 1921-1926

One article claimed that Sessue Hayakawa, a popular Japanese actor living and working in the US, "is extremely unpopular in his native country because of the parts he plays in motion pictures."

There were, of course artists, writers, technicians, etc. who came to work in the US movie business from all different parts of the world. I found The Japanese American Film Company and The Mandarin Film Company both independent studios in California in the 1910s begun by actors and other creative people from Japan and China.  


England 1913 Clean & Wholesome...

British Board of Film Censors certificate 1913

"No film subject will be passed that is not clean and wholesome and absolutely above suspicion but those passed for universal exhibition are especially recommended for children's matinees." 

In 1913 The British Board of Film Censors showed off examples of their two certificates. They were to be used for every film examined and passed, be they for universal or public exhibition. There were two certificates for every film examined and passed, for universal or public exhibition. Copies of the certificates would be printed on films immediately following the main title. The board will appreciate a report as to any objectionable film that may be shown in your district, they said.

Certificate granted any to any Hall showing motion pictures

Also the Board issues a certificate, on vellum, for each hall becoming a party to the agreement. (above) The certificate remains property of the Board and is subject to be revoked at any time.



Friday Night, Saturday Morning The Life of Brian aka Monty Python's Life of Brian brought a lot of controversy in the UK, the US and elsewhere. It was said that in the US a senator who'd not even seen the film worked to have it banned. 

The film features Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Films, art, Free Speech, 1979 debate.

John Cleese would say that in this interview was one of the few times he ever saw Michael Palin angry.

1918 little rhyme about censors

The French & The Americans 1953

The Stowaway, Martine Carol
She is Colette, a night club singer who winds up in Tahiti

In 1953, Screenland magazine offered a discussion on movie censorship which featured quotes from French actors and directors such as Danielle Darrieux, Giselle Pascal and especially, Martine Carol and Christian-Jaque (Christian-Jacque in article). 

The focus was a comparison of censorship in France and America and consequently what they thought of the tastes in each country.

"Dozens of French films are turned out every year. Many are in very bad taste,

pictures about women of the streets, about menage a trois, you know a three-handed game of love, as well as many horrible crime pictures. They're dreadful, far worse than many of Hollywood's I assure you," said Martine Carol.

They shook their heads over The Moon Is Blue which received flack from censors. The movie was directed Otto Preminger and starred David Niven, William Holden, Maggie McNamara.


The Moon is Blue movie trailer

Giselle Pascal (Gisèle Pascal): "Films as an art for the masses need some kind of censorship. A man or woman who buys a book general has a good idea of what is being paid for. But movies are different. Much of your audience is totally unaware of the content of the product they are buying. I think it important for the heads of the French film industry to guard carefully against excesses of

Martine Carol

nudity and immorality and excesses, in my opinion, there have been." 

The trouble, if you can call it that, with the idea of censorship is that it's so subjective. Is it really in the eye of the beholder and as DW Griffith said, should be left up to parents, Mother and Father in the case of children and then up to each adult?

The article said that the singer and actress was working on a film, Horizons Without End. Either it was renamed or translated, Endless Horizons. Miss Pascal was also in the news thanks to rumors of a romance with American actor Gary Cooper.

The point was made that while intimacy and nudity were more acceptable in French cinema, "many American made scenes of violence mayhem murder and what some French critics call rank sadism are given the green light by our censors without the flicker of an eyelash while at the same time they are severely scissored and sometimes completely vetoed by French censors." 

Foreign Censors Cuts from American Films:
This included gangster pictures but also Westerns and other movies. They cut a scene from Calamity Jane with Doris Day and Howard Keel. Fernando Lamas' slap at Liz Taylor was too realistic in The Girl Who Had Everything. (right)

A scene in Cry of the Hunted a 1953 film noir with Vittorio Gassman, Polly Bergen and Barry Sullivan wasn't approved.

Foreign censors get their best licks in on the fight scenes. Violent romance in Wings of the Hawk with Van Heflin and Julie Adams was toned down.

Bob Mitchum and Jack Palance were too rough for the censors in a film they made with Linda Darnell, Second Chance. A deleted shot from The Golden Blade with Rock Hudson and Piper Laurie.

One of Martine Carol's films, Caprice of Caroline Cherie, got past censors but had trouble with segments of the audiences themselves in portions of France.

"Once they approve pictures for release, no individual or group in any part of France has the right to make additional cuts or to ban a showing. There is one exception however. Under the law, if a film is so controversial that it inflames the public and incites them to riot it can be what you call, yanked on the spot."

1953 More cuts even after approval by Breen office:
The reporter explained to Martine and Christian how the American censorship set-up differs from that in France. In the US, local, city and state censor boards could make cuts alterations, including banning films even though they had already received the seal of approval from the Breen office. In 1934 Joseph Breen had been appointed head of the new PCA, Production Code Administration.

They were somewhat surprised at this situation in the USA. Martine Carol said, "In general we have a sensible attitude. The board looks for things like extreme immorality, unusually brutal violence and  the re-enactment of crimes recently committed - cases where the individuals or families involved are still alive. They also have an eye open for unattractive portrayals of French nationals. And that's about it. 

"To show a tender and realistic bedroom scene or an intimate but humorous love scene is not considered immoral. It is assumed to be an accurate portrait of life.  I will never understand why in the United States certain cuts were ordered in the beautiful and sensitive The Devil in the Flesh."  .... 

"'On the other hand, chimed in Christian-Jaque, 'I can't understand why such a witty, amusing picture as La Ronde has been banned in New York. It's all tongue in cheek and certainly less harmful to the public than any dozen or more American gangster pictures I could name for you. It couldn't possibly offend anyone over sixteen.'"

Martine, the writer of the article notes she is 'blessed with a heavenly body,' said she feels much the same as Christian does. 

"We just don't consider that the sight of of a beautiful nude body is lewd. However we think it is vulgar to show complete nudity or to display extremely revealing clothes on cheap and unattractive women."

Christian-Jaque, it was reported would become Miss Carol's husband as soon as her divorce is final from Stephen Crane, Lana Turner's ex-spouse.

Martine Carol and Stephen Crane were married 1948-1953. You may recall that in April 1958, when she was 14 years old, Cheryl Crane, the daughter of Lana Turner and Stephen Crane killed Turner's boyfriend, Johnny Stompanato. The stabbing was ruled self defense. Cheryl Crane wrote a book, Detour: a Hollywood Tragedy - My Life With Lana Turner, My Mother. This happened during the time that Martine Carol was married to Christian-Jaque.


Martine Carol was a big star in France, often called the French Marilyn Monroe. Christian-Jaque directed some of her films.  Martine Carol films DVD, streaming.

By the late 1950s, newcomer Brigitte Bardot came on the scene. Martine Carol was married to American Actor Stephen Crane, ex-husband of Lana Turner, 1948-1953. She was married to director Christian-Jaque 1954-1959.

While Man in the Dark and Detective Story were enjoyed by the public, the films had some difficulty with Gallic censors. Also according to the 1953 article, "In Switzerland youngsters under eighteen cannot even attend movies. In Spain kissing scenes are cut from films."

Cary Grant & Ingrid Bergman
B&W Notorious 24X36 Poster

During the era of the Production Code, there was a three second time limit on screen kisses. Alfred Hitchcock was a director who was, uh, notorious for thinking of ways around such restrictions. He was one of the directors who used a train to say what he couldn't say any other way.

In his 1946 movie Notorious, where he worked around the rule of three-second-kissing only by having Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant break off every three seconds. The sequence lasts for two and a half minutes.

How do you think the work of this generation of actors and other artists in the industry may have been different without censorship?

In North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock deftly used the symbolism of a train speeding into a tunnel at the end of his film to represent what Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint could not show on screen in the 1960s.

In The Awful Truth "Leo McCarey cuts to the cuckoo clock chiming midnight. The male figurine turns on his heels and hungrily pursues the female through her doorway. The Breen office was amused and satisfied. 

"Breen had warned during the script review phase, 'Great care will be needed in shooting it to avoid the sex suggestiveness that might lead to censor deletions which could ruin the end of your picture.'  They warned 'The bedroom scene in the cabin could be possibly suggestive [but] only if it were not played in fine taste for delicate comedy.'" -- Hollywood's Censor: Joseph I. Breen and the Production Code Administration

Cary Grant gave a newspaper interview in early 1986. He talked about restrictions he faced while making movies in the 1930s through the 1960s. He was in his eighties and people still begged him to act again or perhaps produce films. He continued to decline their offers. 

"The actors today are so much better than the ones in our day. I'm amazed at what Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson can do. 

"In my day, our work was incredibly confined because we were so hurt by censorship. We weren't allowed to show any passion. Whether or not the freedom is used wisely is another matter." 




A kiss to end this one.

More to come...

• What if they censored Shakespeare's plays?!
• What did Ed Sullivan say?
• What were the stars' own taboos, No-Nos that were written into their contracts, self-censorship?

Related Pages, Books of Interest:

When is a train more than just a mode of transportation? Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint or William Powell and Myrna Loy could tell you...

Scenes removed by censors, intertitles, subtitles ordered changed

Dirty Business Film Censorship in the Early Days 1900s, 1910s, 1920s

Academy Award winning short films, foreign films

Laurel & Hardy Putting Pants on Philip

Join Amazon Prime (Free Month) Streaming Movies & TV Shipping Discounts and more - Watch Over 40,000 Movies, HBO shows & specials... Wide selection of new/old movies, foreign films and documentaries compared to other streaming video sites and the yearly price is about the same. It's our preference, many old and new TV shows and films are free with membership.

The Dragon Painter DVD 1919 English language silent film stars Sessue Hayakawa and Tsuru Aoki


Sources not cited elsewhere
Cinema News and Property Gazette 1913
Dallas Morning News March 20, 1986
Motion Picture 1921
Motion Picture Classic 1926
Moving Picture World 1918 

Chickens with Carole Lombard, Col Sanders, British Comedy, Hans Conried

Do you keep chickens?
Hens been on your mind lately?

Carole Lombard
and Edmund the Rooster

In the mid-1930s Carole Lombard, then just dating Mr. Clark Gable, had an assortment of pets, including dogs and cats, some of them rescues. She also had some ducks, a hen named Jessie and a rooster named Edmund. 

Every once in a while I talk about animals, how to help our pets, their appearance in films, mascots, the pets of celebrities, animal milestones, etc. Today:

• What characters in Hitchcock movies had bird names?
• Carole Lombard's birds
• Favorite British TV shows with farming or nature themes
• Remember Spofford?!
• Could you have predicted the Chicken of Tomorrow?
• How did Colonel Sanders start his KFC business?
• What can Martha Stewart tell us about selecting chickens to raise?

The ducks were babies when the studio gave them to Lombard. The rooster and hens given to her by her servants - as a gag. 

She'll have to give up the rooster because of a clause in her Bel Air subdivision contract stating no poultry. His crowing is bothering her neighbors. She doesn't want to move.  Barbara Stanwyck said a sapphire ring Lombard wore in the early 1930s when still married to William Powell was the size of a hen's egg.

In 1939 Carole Lombard will move when she marries Clark Gable.

Carole Lombard will have to part with Edmund Rooster

Bird-named characters in Alfred

Hans Conried Make Room For Granddaddy
Original 7x9" Photo

Hitchcock movies...

• Marion Crane in Psycho
• Captain Lesgate C. A. Swann in Dial M for Murder
• Others??

In the late 1960s, actor Hans Conried performed the title role in Spofford! He is a retired chicken farmer who 'declares war on the big-city commuters who invade his hometown.' 

This light comedy set in modern day Connecticut. The show played in New York and traveled across the country.  


How did some old, iconic businesses get started, promote themselves?

"The grocery store A&P had long sold poultry feed for customers who kept chickens, and in 1947 it sponsored a contest to design the Chicken of Tomorrow, promising "a chicken with breast meat so thick you can carve it into steaks."  

Henry Saglio, a successful Italian America, of Arbor Acres Chicken Farm in Glastonbury, CT soon bred a flock of completely white-feathered chickens. He went on to breed White Rocks that had extra meat, reached maturity quickly and laid more eggs. The bird was a hit, taking second place in the 1948 competition.

July 1951 Saglio and Arbor Acres Farm chickens reportedly won that Chicken of Tomorrow competition. It was estimated that three out of every four chickens eaten in the US are offspring of Arbor Acres chickens. 

Arbor Acres White Rocks were judged best of all pure-bred stock in the industry and white-feathered chicken was on its way to revolutionizing the industry. Designer chickens?

Saglio was elected to the American Poultry Historical Society Hall of Fame in 1977 and was cited as "the individual most responsible for the direction taken by the broiler industry."
-- The Pittsburgh Press, August 14, 1987

A large Colonel Sanders statue on display
Probably at The Harland Sanders Museum and Café Corbin, KY
Who do you think of when you think of fried chicken? KFC? 

How did Colonel Sanders start his Kentucky Fried Chicken business?


Good Neighbors : Rosemary and Thyme
The great British comedy Good Neighbors, aka The Good Life showed a couple determined to live by self sufficiency. They kept animals and farmed their own vegetables. Today we might call what they were doing urban or organic gardening by sustainable means. 

Our own garden is forever getting larger. Friends of ours are considering keeping chickens. Make sure your community doesn't have any ordinances like the one Carole Lombard was facing. 

In one episode, Tom and Barbara Good have difficulty with their next door neighbors, also their best friends, because of the noise they're creating with some early morning equipment.




Another nature-themed British program, this one a drama is Rosemary & Thyme. It stars Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris. Professional gardeners, Rosemary Boxer and Laura Thyme solve murders in some gorgeous and eerie gardens in Europe. This show aired originally 2003-2006.

Martha Stewart keeps chickens. She has several varieties.



Related Pages of Interest:

The Top 10 TV British Comedies on Amazon Prime: Incl Good Neighbors Richard Briers, Felicity Kendall

Top 5 Hitchcock Chicken Scenes

Frank Thornton Are You Being Served? Richard Briers

Alfred Hitchcock's Blue Food Dinner Parties: The practical joke so nice he played it twice

Ducks and Geese in Movies: Fowl in Film

Twin Showgirls 1920s in Feathers Jewelry by hermoines
View more Twins Necklaces

Joan Crawford Brentwood home by Jakestuff

Check out other Kitchen Cutting Boards, dishes, pitchers, sugar bowls and more
You don't have to work at Mildred's Restaurant

Canary in Pink Jewels Ziegfeld? Louise Brooks Tote Bags by hermoines
Browse Canary murders in pink Bags online at Zazzle.com

Books: 
Hans Conried: A Biography; With a Filmography and a Listing of Radio, Television, Stage and Voice Work  by Suzanne Gargiulo, Leonard Maltin

The Great A&P and the Struggle for Small Business in America by Marc Levinson



Fried & True: More than 50 Recipes for America's Best Fried Chicken and Sides  The reunions, block parties and picnics are coming up this summer. Avail. in Digital / Kindle or paperback 

Other Sources:

The Hartford Courant,  The Pittsburgh Press, The Schenectady Gazette, The New London Day, Motion Picture Magazine 1937; Col. Sanders image by Joel Kramer

Top 10 TV British Comedies on Amazon Prime

Top 10 TV British Comedies on Amazon Prime

These BritComs are included to stream for free and binge watch with your Amazon Prime subscription*

1) The Vicar of Dibley

Vicar of Dibley
Instant Video selections

Starring Dawn French, Gary Waldhorn, James Fleet, John Bluthal, Liz Smith, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Emma Chambers and no, no, no, yes it's the one and only Trevor Peacock

Written by Richard Curtis and Paul Mayhew-Archer

2) Good Neighbors aka The Good Life

Stars Richard Briers Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.

The show originally ran 1975-1978 and was created by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey. 

This is the team that brought us Brush Strokes, Ever Decreasing Circles and Mulberry which ended before we could see the ending that the writers had in mind.

Larbey created A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By.

Ruth Jones (Nessa) and James Corden (Smithy) Gavin & Stacey
at a BBC Radio Wales roadshow
Ben Salter, December 2008

3) Gavin and Stacey

Stars Mathew Horne, Joanna Page, James Corden, Ruth Jones, Larry Lamb, Alison Steadman, Rob Brydon, Melanie Walters

4) As Time Goes By

You must remember this.... Stars Dame Judi Dench, Geoffrey Palmer, Moira

As Time Goes By

Brooker, Philip Bretherton, Jenny Funnell. Yes, Jean did get a gorillagram on this show.

5) Coupling

Stars Gina Bellman, Sarah Alexander, Kate Isitt, Ben Miles, Richard Coyle, Richard Mylan

6) Blackadder aka Black Adder (S1)

Another Richard Curtis show, starring Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Richardson, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie with some great guest stars. 

The original show ran 1983 – 1989. Amazon also has some of the specials including their more recent Christmas Special.

A Bit of Fry & Laurie

7) A Bit of Fry & Laurie (S1)

Starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. Before he was Dr. House MD. Again some great guest stars.  Ran 1989-1995.

8) Fawlty Towers (S1)

Starring John Cleese, Prunella Scales, Andrew Sachs, Connie Booth. Written by Cleese and Booth.  Indulge in some Waldorf salad while you watch this show which ran 1975-1979.

9) Doc Martin (S1)

Starring Martin Clunes, Caroline Catz, Ian McNeice, Joe Absolom, Selina Cadell, Jessica Ransom, Annabelle Apsion and Eileen Atkins. 

Stephanie Cole and Katherine Parkinson in early seasons. 

10) Absolutely Fabulous (S1)

Starring Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha, June Whitfield, Jane Horrocks. The original series ran 1992-1996.


 
British Comedies that can be streamed via Amazon Prime by renting or purchasing to own. Most are also on DVD:
Little Britain
To the Manor Born
Red Dwarf
No Job for a Lady
Last Tango in Halifax
Yes, Prime Minister
The Office UK version 
Concerts, Appearances by stars such as Eddie Izzard
Beatles movies such as A Hard Day's Night

Some British Comedy Series available on DVD. Not yet streaming
-- Make sure it is viewable, available in your region, some only region 2, etc. Cool if you have Amazon Prime because you usually get free two day shipping. We ordered something and that is always helpful.
Chef!
Are You Being Served?
William and Mary
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Mulberry 
Only Fools and Horses
Keeping Up Appearances
A Fine Romance
No, Honestly
Waiting for God
Mr. Bean
My Hero
Jeeves and Wooster (Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie)
Carry On Laughing 
Peep Show
Last of the Summer Wine

Doesn't really fit as a Britcom, but:
All Creatures Great and Small

Join Amazon Prime (Free Month; One Year Membership) Streaming Movies & TV Shipping Discounts and more - Watch Over 40,000 Movies, HBO shows & specials, Wide selection of new/old movies, foreign films and documentaries compared to other streaming video sites and the yearly price is about the same.

Q: Which are your favorite British comedies?



* As of the date of this post.

(S1) : Season one is included in Amazon Prime, later seasons can be rented or purchased for a fee per episode