Going Shopping with Elizabeth Allan (1955) - extract

[antoniod]

The actress who Americas saw in the 30s, but not so much after.

[NIETZSCHEAN14]

No non-Whites - excellent.

[Phalanx3800]

Kind of hot for a 40 something lady.

I'd hit it, but since it's 50s prolly has a huge bush...

meh, I digress.

[auaiao9]

@Phalanx3800 I have no doubt you would fully satisfy.

[goinghomesomeday1]

Ah! So Harrods are responsible for the demonic "tea bag".

[incongra]

By Jove- what a super cup of tea!

[CanadianFan]

the guy with the tea...wasn't he in the beginning of "Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory" as the teacher who taught Charlie?

willy wonka and the chocolate factory teacher-type that in the subject line Mr.Turkentine

[gmaureen]

I cringe everytime I see milk added to tea.  Where's the ice?

[OofusTwillip]

@gmaureen - In the USA, "tea" means cold tea, served with lemon and sugar, unless you specifically ask for "hot tea". If you were to attempt to add milk to this concoction, the lemon would cause the milk to instantly curdle. Which is definitely cringeworthy.

In most other places of the world, "tea" is served hot. Black tea is served either clear (sugar optional) or with milk (sugar optional). Green or white tea is usually served clear (sugar optional), though sometimes milk is added.

[tomservo56954]

@OofusTwillip No...in America we specifically refer to 'iced tea" if we want the cold type, and "tea" for the hot.

[rjewles]

Only tourists shop in Harrods today. I've lived in London for 30 years and haven't set foot inside it in all that time, having learnt early on that, to quote the tea film, 'Horrids' is 'absolutely tasteless'.

[vkoo32]

@rjewles As a tourist I liked Selfridges better, I loved the upstairs cafe in Selfridges. I thought Harrods was too overwhelming but magnificent !

[tomservo56954]

@rjewles I'd like to know what Elizabeth Allan thinks of the Princess Di memorial in there now.

[SuperBoggins]

Is that Nicholas Parsons on the voiceover?

[leopictor]

Blatant and unabashed prelactarianism! Disgraceful.

[cheyennebritbrat]

men fxck up on purpose so we end up doin it

[faunflynn]

I heard that Harrods has been bought by drug dealers. Rather up market drug dealers one supposes. But of dubious repute none the less.

Is there any truth to this, anyone know ?

[faunflynn]

Aha ! A 'departmental' store. Alas alack ! Poor old Harrods ain't what it used to be.

The Tetley's tea ceremony. So very quaint and 'no dregs !'

Imagine being able to travel back in time knowing what we know now. You could either save the world or become a criminal mastermind like Moriarty. It would be a hoot. Living like a god all be it a rather pynchonesque one.

And lucrative to boot !

[eyreland]

Harrods is no Hudson's Bay Company.

However, since HBC sold off its Northern Stores ... it has gone somewhat downhill and is less upmarket.

[rtbcomp]

4 cups from one bag - try that Up North!

[yellowwitch1]

Harrods, where you'll find all the London resident drug barons!! and don't you feel like shooting the woman? just the way she speaks is driving me insane!

[nylonTS]

when ladies were classy

God I wish I could have lived then born to late

[SearchlightsInc]

Her tea making skills massively out weigh his!

[astralagosto]

Hi BFI Films,

Thank you for providing this clip of Elizabeth Allan showing how to make tea. I love her accent. So clipped and upper class!!!

[mitsymagicful]

Hopeless, she never scalded the pot out first!

[sammipink]

oh to have our old england back so great so safe. alas all has changed for the worse

[GuinevereJuliet]

Charming! And this, my friends, is what England once was: gracious, elegant, proper, safe, and ENGLISH. This clip offers a delightful glimpse into the respectable past, and it also makes (most of) us wistful for those marvelous years.

[chkjns]

He could use a good barber more than he needs that tea !!

[Shanniquitie]

isn't harrods arabic now?

[suffrini92]

yes - it is tawdry and horrible

[Miniver765]

@roystannard, I think this short was made back at the time that Harrod's, and London for that matter, were still quite readily identifiable as distinctly English. Alas, so much has changed.

[cinteligent]

@Miniver765

[cinteligent]

@Miniver765

[jenzeppelin]

"in a tone best not argued with" lol indeed

[enrique3271]

was she the ELIZABETH MONTGOMERY´S MOTHER?

[keywestWTF]

Good grief 1 bag for up to 4 cups? Yuk. A bag a cup is the way to go missus.

[Shanniquitie]

hardly...if that's the way you're doing it, your stomach is probably tanned by now. and teabags aren't nearly so good as loose.

[MaryOMackie]

You saw how easily I made it didn't you? DIDN'TCHOO!!!!!!??

That's what I thought.

[rosrychaplet]

that man reminds me of gilbert godfrey in a way.

[setaoca]

Is that a very young Nicholas Parsons doing the voiceover?

[peezedtee]

No, I'm pretty sure it's a young David Jacobs.

[MrGrowser]

Correct it is he.

[fordlandau]

she's a tough cookie..that charm bracelet doubles as knuckledusters

[RebelVoDKa]

You're not wrong. I've got a copy of the Daily Post from March 1956, which details how she bottled a bloke in an East End pub. It caused quite a scandal at the time, but as Miss Allan said in an interview with Jean Metcalfe on the Light Programme, "The cunt had it coming."

[Mounhas]

As I understand it, and this was from an American, he has to buy is tea from Canada as American teabags are too weak, he said "no wonder the tea was thrown into Boston harbour".

Me? Oh I like my teabag left in for at least 5 minutes but for taste give me real coffee any day.

[26highstreet]

that box only had 18 bags in it.... wonder of it was stronger tea back then or just more expensive..

[GanjaZombi2]

The frugal Brits with thier abstemiousness; 1 tea bag to make 4 insipid cups.

[crockyoshighty]

Like Yanks with their glutinous over eating you mean? I presume, that is why obesity is such a problem in America. Gee ma, what are we Britishers or somit? That thar was only my 8th helpin of, Uncle Fudgepackers gen-u-ine Double Triple Fudge ice-cream with candy sprinkles and I only gets a ½ lb of fries and 3 triple bacon cheese burgers for supper! Wha are you a trying to do, sterve me to deeth? Good word though, I just hope it didnt take too much of your face stuffing time to look up. :o)o:

[fordlandau]

Yes... but they were real 1956 sized bags..not feeble weak 21st C bags...one bag did a whole family for a week and then you could do the washing up with it and Granny would use the remains as a facial..AND GRANDPA COULD PUT IT ON HIS PILES..MMM ...NNNH..namby pamby bleeding Earl and Lady (F..K ) Grey ...

[GanjaZombi2]

Hilarious!

[muscleco]

Milk in FIRST!? She's more "common" than she sounds.

[Aireach]

Adding Milk first was done because when Cups were made of Bone China the milk cooled the boiling hot water down and stopped the cups cracking with the heat. Which would make her less common.

[whathuhwhere]

I think you have it the wrong way round: milk first = protect expensive china

tea first = doesn't matter mith normal tin/ceramic

[randomdudeRULES]

My Great Nan used to work here :) I wish I bothered to ask her what it was like back the!

[4521556]

I can tell you! I was there then!

[nurvrax]

wonderful!

[andy86i]

eatables? lmao!

[rippingdon]

The kitchen units are called 'English Rose' which Elizabeth Allan used to advertise. Much sought after today

[mikey1304]

I'd say that the voice over was done by David Jacobs.

[glamourdaze]

This is so Chomondley Warner !! Love it.

[METROGNOME57]

Do you get the idea that the Brits are obsessed with tea?

[mrsthursday]

Yes, yes we are.

[davmor1973]

Britain in 1955 must've been full of people who didn't know how to make tea. Presumably, the next installment in the series instructed people on how to wipe their arses after they'd been to the toilet.

[Doubledig]

Tea bags were a new inovation then and people were of the mind set that you could only get a 'proper cup of tea' from loose tea rather than this new fangled bag idea!

[davmor1973]

When the narrator uses the term "gathering ground" to describe the delicatessen it always sounds like he's going to refer to listeria, or something.

[Fronika]

ONE teabag for four cups of tea? Great if you want a cup of hot milky water. What a cheapskate!

[me74rk]

She obviously did not pour 4 cups of water in that tea pot. But even if she did, I use one bag in a pot of tea all the time. You just have to let it sit longer.

[effyleven]

The 'voice-over' sounds a lot like a young Nicholas Parsons..... and I'm guessing it is him, because its the right era.

[Marnor123]

That part with the Tea-man is funny. xD

[talkedtoaflower]

Silly man, he didn't know how to make tea XD

[lelvish1]

LMAO!! Brilliant.

[costernocht]

Elizabeth Allen pours with such an air of command!

[Harvey030547]

Brewing up must be the most energtic bit of work the teabag lady ever did!

Love the Mrs Bucket perriwinkle tea set, sorry tea service.

[impbr]

The bags themselves are completely tasteless and,whatsmore,so is the tea. If the camera had kept filming it would have shown him throttling her with his pinny.Can be tricky though, making a cup of tea,even with tea bags.I usually give up and open a can of beer. Mind you opening a ring pull's not plain sailing.I'll just go without and wait for the wife to come home from work.

[marginallymental]

I remember the hats (just barely). Here's the lowdown:

1. Women didn't drive, unless they were smartly fashionable and had kindly hubbies.

2. A woman's WORTH was her home. Better sparkle (no tea dregs)!

3. She was a slag (or slatternly here) if she looked less than perfect 24/7--that includes in bed.

4. She voted as her husband did, or there was hell to pay!

5. Men were useless--"simply USELESS!"--anywhere but outer world. Indoors, they may as well have been prickly/sickly persian cats.

[shawndalakiddio]

Elizabeth Allan is rather clever, indeed. The fumbling bastard who was using loose grounds does well to zip his trousers before leaving the house, i dare to wager. She showed him up. She was courteous and to the point and, without being too obvious, reddened his ass good. The world could use a few Elizabeth Allans, today.

[Ommodawn]

The wisdom in simplicity. That's the ticket.

Good old days (even though I never knew them).

[jfrigg]

That's a rather fancy shopping list she uses.

[DADRENO]

One bag will make four cups of tea? Now it's one per cup.

[Kenn1965]

I was given to understand that it was one bag per person, and then for the sake of flavour, one bag "for the pot". It seems that just one pitiful tea bag would make a horribly weak tea if it's meant to do an entire pot.

[ivorbigunzz]

David Jacobs doing the voice over?

[Sorrytodisappointyou]

so British, lol

[VicExcelsior]

"What could be simpler?"

Indeed...

And the bags are completely tasteless!

[northtexasisrockdoo]

ONNNNNNNNNN WITH THE LID

[MixyFTWlol]

amazing!