Club Life in England

British censorship taboos ridiculing any living person on the stage. Ridiculing the King and Queen would strike most Britishers as unthinkable. Yet London is at present laughing its head off at a play whose characters, though not actually named, unmistakably include King George, Queen Elizabeth, Chamberlain, Hitler, Mussolini and the "Cliveden Set."

Called Babes in the Wood, the show might well be mistaken for one of those innocuous fairy tale "pantomimes" so dear to British children of all ages. Produced by the left wing Unity Theatre Club, Inc., Babes in the Wood keeps out of the Lord Chamberlain's censorship clutches by being privately performed before "club members" who pay, not admission, but two shillings extra dues. Partly using the plot of the old fairy tale, Babes in the Wood introduces Chamberlain--umbrella and all --as "The Wicked Uncle," Hitler and Mussolini as "The Robbers." A Cabinet meeting at No. 10 Downing Street takes place in a privy with No. 10 painted on the door. Another scene shows the Cliveden Set, led by Lady Astor, goose-stepping and giving the Nazi salute.

The King and Queen are good for many a laugh. When he complains of his duties, she retorts: "All right, be huffy and abdicate." Thereupon he goes into a song called I'm King Useless the Useless. When the Queen bids him bring about cooperation, "as you did in Paris," the King replies: "Oh, so that's what I did at Paris."

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