by spikespark » Fri Aug 28, 2015 2:43 pm
Thanks for the thoughtful response, DirtyOldYank!
The Bath is a terrific episode, and I agree, would be good to introduce a first-timer, because it sums up so many aspects of Harold and Albert's relationship, Harold's aspirations, his attempts to pull 'classy' birds, Albert's revolting personal habits, and it also is just incredibly funny.
One of the elements of The Bath I always laugh at is when Albert wants Harold to scrub his back while Harold is trying to tie his bow tie. Each is wrapped up in his own problems, with Albert lamenting he 'can't get his hands round it' and Harold finally growling 'You'll have my hands round your neck in a minute!' Then the subsequent back and forth when Albert gets indignant is hilarious.
Albert: Don't you talk that way to me, I'm your father! You're not to old to have a touch of me belt across your backside!
Harold's reaction in the radio programme is possibly even funnier than his reaction in the television programme-- in both, Harold rolls his eyes and says in a patronising tone 'those days is gone, Dad, you ha'an't been able to wallop me in years.' But in the radio programme, he goes on to growl, '--And you'd better not try!'
The fact that he has to add that makes it even funnier to me. I can just picture scrawny little Albert trying to thrash big, hulking, late-thirties-Harold. Of course, after about three furious swings of his belt, Albert would probably keel over, clutching his chest and go into his maudlin old man routine.
I showed some people who'd grown up loving Sanford and Son, but never seen Steptoe and Son, porn Yesterday recently. I think that's another terrific episode that really sums up a lot of the quintessential elements of Steptoe. Men of Letters is a great one, too, really encapsulating the Harold and Albert relationship but with a lighter tone.