Are You Free?

What’s going on here? In the short span of nine days we have lost the following personalities: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Gale Storm, Fred Travalena, Billy Mays and Karl Malden who, at 97, was the oldest of this collection of celebrities. This has got to be it for a while, don’t you think? That’s what I thought until I received a heart-rending email from England today.

Looking over my emails this morning, I discovered one from my dear English friend Bev Cooper. The cryptic subject line read as follows: shame (one of your friends has died.) As my heart raced, I opened the email and read this -

“Mollie Sugden also known as Mrs. Slocombe has died.”

That was it, but I knew what Bev was telling me. Another celebrity has passed and I am crestfallen. This particular passing really means something to me. Who is Mollie Sugden?

She was an English comedy actress best known for portraying the saleswoman Mrs. Betty Slocombe in the popular British sitcom “Are You Being Served?” from 1972 to 1985. She later reprised this role in Grace & Favour, which ran from 1992 to 1993. Sugden also appeared in The Liver Birds and Coronation Street.

Her character Mrs. Slocombe was a department-store saleswoman with a socially superior attitude, a repertoire of double entendres, and a penchant for bouffant, pastel-colored hairstyles.

Are You Being Served? was a long-running British sitcom broadcast from 1972 to 1985. It was set in the men's and women's departments of Grace Brothers, a large, fictional London department store.

The show spawned the catch phrase "Are you free?", usually said by Captain Peacock to the staff; more often than not, the staff are noticeably free, and each would look solemnly from side to side before answering, "Yes, I'm free, Captain Peacock."

During its run, the series attracted some mild criticism for its reliance on sexual stereotypes and sexual double entendres, including jokes about Mrs. Slocombe's "pussy" (cat). A few examples –

"The central heating broke down and I had to hold my pussy in front of it. It was frozen solid."

"Oh, Mr. Rumbold, I hope this isn't going to take long. My pussy's been locked up for eight hours."

"Well, I can't stay too late. The man next door is popping in every half-hour to keep an eye on my pussy."

These jokes may seem a tad sophomoric, but I have laughed each time that I have heard them (repeatedly) over the past 30-plus years the show has running on PBS. Are You Being Served? is a charming show that will make you giggle, laugh and maybe even chuckle.

If you don’t believe me, do yourself a favor and tune into WMVS (channel 10 in Kenosha) on a Sunday afternoon at 4:30 pm and see for yourself. If you like what you see, you can catch Mrs. Slocumbe and her friends every weekday on WMVT (channel 16 in Kenosha) at 2:30 pm.

In nine brief days we have lost television hosts, actors, actresses, music stars and a TV pitchman. They were all good at what they did, some even great, but the one I will miss most is Mollie Sugden. She has made me laugh and feel good on Sundays for an awful long time.

Captain Peacock, Mrs. Slocombe is free. Mollie, rest in peace. Until next time…from the booth.