Film Waiter To Be Harem Chief

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 13239, 15 January 1941, Page 7

Film Waiter To Be Harem Chief

Most people remember rotund comedian, Billy Gilbert, as chief of a roadside cafe, slinging hash and getting all lied up reciting the menu. Billy was always a joy in this role. He was the best paid hash-slinger in the world. He got £ 200 a day for doing it.

After changing type for “No, No, Nanette/’ in which he has a very small part as a gardener, Billy is soon to emerge as an Eastern potentate in a harem scene in “Tin Pan Alley.’’

I got quick a shock when I saw him working in this sequence down on the 20th Century lot. In red pantajoons, satin blouse, and turban he was surrounded by a bevy of beautiful girls who lolled on divans. Just before the take, the director said to him, ' “Now, Billy, in ibis scene I want you to do nothing bat look bored —terribly bored.” The comedian glanced round him a moment. “It’s going to need a great deal of concentration on acting to look bored-around here! ” be answered.

The biggest part Billy ever had was that of Field-Marshal Herring in Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator.” But he seemed quite at sea in that highly discussed film, and had little chance to put over his popular brand of explosive humour.