A cash-strapped general’s wife turns their official residence into a hotel for American tourists in this televised stage farce.
While Major-General Sir Hamish Fitzadam (Walter Fitzgerald) is posted abroad, his enterprising wife, Lady Fitzadam (Evelyn Laye), concocts a scheme to remedy their money troubles. She converts their official residence into a makeshift hotel for American tourists, pressing the household staff of soldiers into service as hotel employees. Aided by the wily Corporal Sydney Green (Stanley Baxter), the operation runs smoothly until the General announces his imminent and unexpected return, forcing the staff into a frantic attempt to conceal the entire enterprise.
This broadcast was not a self-contained television play but a live relay of selected scenes from Anthony Kimmins’ long-running stage farce. Transmitted directly from the Saville Theatre in London, the programme functioned as a piece of event television, offering home audiences a glimpse of a West End hit. The production captures the mechanics of stage farce, built on mistaken identity, frantic entrances, and exits. Stanley Baxter’s performance as the conniving corporal, caught between military discipline and hotel service, was a particular highlight of the evening.
Broadcast: BBC, 1 Episode, 20 January 1960
Written by: Anthony Kimmins
Director: Murray Macdonald
Producer: John Vernon
Main Cast: Evelyn Laye (Lady Fitzadam), Stanley Baxter (Corporal Sydney Green), Walter Fitzgerald (Major-General Sir Hamish Fitzadam), Jean Aubrey (Private Suzie Tidmarsh), Harry Landis (Private Albert Huggins), Derek Nimmo (Private Willie Maltravers), Lucy Young (Private Biddy O’Hara), Michael Segal (Sam Goulansky), Hugh McDermott (Larry Hoffman)
