Peeping in Chorley, or Curse of the Mummy’s Thumb

Quite by chance I came across another of those vintage amusement arcades, similar to the one I previously found in Southport. This one is tucked away on the third floor of the Botany Bay shopping centre in Chorley, and offers the opportunity to step into a forgotten world of bogus yetis, minstrels, ‘what the butler saw’ peep show machines and the severed thumb of an Egyptian mummy (“the strangest thing in captivity”). Time restraints mean a return visit will probably be necessary in order to take in the full flavour of this place (and take some better photographs!!). My initial impression? People may have been a gullible bunch back then, still they probably had lots of fun whilst being duped by these old coin guzzlers.

 




The Horrors of the Black and White Minstrel Museum





And finally, the Mummy’s Thumb




Lets hope he doesn’t want it back….. Happy Halloween folks!!!

Christopher Wood (1935-2015)

RIP Christopher Wood , the man who 'was' Timmy Lea, Rosie Dixon, other less remembered sex comedy lit characters (Penny Sutton, Oliver Grape) and also put words into Mr. Bond’s mouth for Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me

Rosie Dixon hangs up her hat for the last time.

An X-rated Xmas Mystery

Recently video collector extraordinaire ‘hellochas’ spotted an advert in a 1981 magazine that mentions a hitherto unknown and undocumented British sex film from the very early days of video. ‘From the producers of The Ups and Downs of a Handyman’ SEX FOR XMAS would have set you back £25.50 back then. The Ups and Downs of a Handyman connection, and the fact that it was being shopped around alongside Take an Easy Ride, would suggest the involvement of Handyman producer and Take an Easy Ride director Kenneth F Rowles.

Another connection to Rowles is that the star of Sex for Xmas, or at least the person whose photo was chosen to illustrate the advert, is Gloria Brittain, the star of Rowles’ The Perils of Mandy which was made around this period (the Sex for Xmas advert appeared unseasonally in March 81, Mandy turned up on video in November 1982). It would seem that Sex for Xmas, like The Perils of Mandy, was another attempt to promote Brittain, via a shot on film, but aimed squarely at the home video market, production.

However unlike The Perils of Mandy, which had wide distribution on video, Sex for Xmas looks to have been a more smaller scale venture, maybe only a mail order affair, perhaps explaining why it has fallen under everyone’s radar until now, and why –as of this writing- its VHS release has remained elusive. Thanks to Hellochas for the scan, and for bringing this one to my attention.



Early 1980s clippings and glamour shots of Gloria Brittain.