The yanks-love them or hate them

Discussion in 'General' started by craigevelyn, Dec 22, 2009.

  1. craigevelyn

    craigevelyn Member

    Been watching an old steptoe episode on sky tv .The one where old albert is on a train wearing his medals when an american approachies him and admiring his medals comments - so you were in the 42-45 war .
    Albert cuts him dead by announcing - yeah you were three years too late -never left old blighty and stole all our women .
    Well made me laugh .
     
  2. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Having grown up with Steptoe and Son it really does bring back memories.

    It may not be politically correct in this day and age, but it certainly made me laugh when I saw each episode.

    Regards
    Tom
     
  3. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    Too true Tom I did love these programmes.

    Here's another classic:

    YouTube - Alf Garnett goes to the 1966 World Cup Final

    'I do not wish to see Germany loose'

    'Well p*** off home then'


    Ah....He's a Russian Linesmen..........Remember Stalingrad !


    There's a bit of something for everyone with him :D
     
  4. Smudger Jnr

    Smudger Jnr Our Man in Berlin

    Andy,
    I'm getting all nostalgic:D

    Regards
    Tom
     
  5. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Ah Steptoe & Son

    Till Death us do Part!
    (Possibly the only one the Yanks nearly got right with Carrol O'Connor.

    Love thy Neighbour!

    Looking back sitting in the lounge with mum and dad laughing my socks off.

    Tears coming to the eyes.


    Cheers

    Geoff
     
  6. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    My father's unit was part of the US 5th Army until late 1944. He had a healthy respect for the 'Yanks' during the war (loved their rations!) and I know if he posted here would say he was glad to have them alongside him at Anzio.

    [​IMG]
     
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  7. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

    I thought that Old Man Steptoe was in the Kaiser war ?

    I'm sure that I developed my taste in interior design by watching Steptoe. If it's old and interesting, I'll hang on to it.
     
  8. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    (loved their rations!)



    Paul,

    A tradition that I'm sure your father will be glad to know is still going strong today !

    I love the Jalapeno Cheese spread :D
     
  9. beeza

    beeza Senior Member

    What was the famous saying about them during WW2 in UK.

    Overpaid,
    Over sexed and
    Over here.

    David
     
  10. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    So what if they were late?
    We couldn't have done it without them.
    If it wasn't for the Yanks we'd have been sat out on little Island waiting for Adolf & his mob to finish of the Soviets* before coming back for us.

    * assuming that was, if at all, posssible.
    ;)
     
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  11. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    So what if they were late?
    We couldn't have done it without them.
    If it wasn't for the Yanks we'd have been sat out on little Island waiting for Adolf & his mob to finish of the Soviets* before coming back for us.

    * assuming that was, if at all, posssible.
    ;)
    You're absolutely right mate. Might have been late to the party but they sure made an impact upon arrival. Europe has plenty of reasons to respect the "Yanks".

    Doesnt mean a bit of gentle ribbing is not allowed though!!!! :D
     
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  12. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    We may have our little "Dig" at them now and again due to some of the pompous statements made by some of their uninformed "citizens" when they travel the world, but as Britain was dependent on America, so was Australia in the Pacific against the Japanese.

    Most of the animosity by Australian troops for instance was against Macarthur and one of our own Generals, Thomas Blamey who supported Macarthur like a little lap dog when he lambasted our troops in New Guinea for not holding the line without knowing the terrain and the atrocious conditions that they encountered.

    Once the American troops suffered the same fate and were criticised by Macarthur they all got on well together.

    I watched a newly discovered coloured film not long ago which showed the build up of provisions in Britain for the D-Day landings and you wonder how the island did not sink.

    Crates were packed over 20 high and 60 wide and just went on and on. Aircraft, Tanks, Trucks, Jeeps, Landing Craft and acres and acres of 44? gallon drums. Vehicles just able to navigate though the maze of supplies and munitions in locations (it seemed) all over the island.

    We could not have done it without them and anyone who has a brain knows it.

    Cheers

    Geoff
     
  13. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer Pearl Harbor Myth Buster

    What was the famous saying about them during WW2 in UK.

    Overpaid,
    Over sexed and
    Over here.

    David
    And the reply was:
    You lot are underpaid, undersexed and under Eisenhower. :D

    I'll get me coat.
     
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  14. Drew5233

    Drew5233 #FuturePilot 1940 Obsessive

    So what if they were late?
    We couldn't have done it without them.
    If it wasn't for the Yanks we'd have been sat out on little Island waiting for Adolf & his mob to finish of the Soviets* before coming back for us.

    * assuming that was, if at all, posssible.
    ;)


    Do I detect a 'what if' there Owen :unsure:
     
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  15. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    This was written by Gordon Sinclair back in 1973 but could equally apply today. For all the abuse they take, there isn't another country on earth that I personally would want to share that long undefended border with! Well maybe the Brits....

    "The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the earth.
    As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtze. Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did.
    They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.
    When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
    When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help... Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.
    The Marshall Plan .. the Truman Policy .. all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.
    I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.
    Come on... let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tri-Star or the Douglas 107? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or women on the moon?
    You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times ... and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everyone to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are here on our streets, most of them ... unless they are breaking Canadian laws .. are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.
    When the Americans get out of this bind ... as they will... who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone ELSE buy the Israel bonds, Let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.
    When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.
    Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.
    Our neighbors have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.
    I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.
    This year's disasters .. with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody...but nobody... has helped."

    ORIGINAL SCRIPT AND AUDIO
    COURTESY STANDARD BROADCASTING CORPORATION LTD.
     
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  16. Ramiles

    Ramiles Researching 9th Lancers, 24th L and SRY

    BBC Radio 4 - Drama, Looking for Oil Drum Lane

    Looking for Oil Drum Lane
    Drama

    A dramatisation of Ray Galton and Alan Simpson's comedy writing partnership - from Tony Hancock's departure to striking gold with Steptoe and Son. Starring Marc Wootton, Phil Cornwell, Barry Castagnola, James Hurn and Toby Longworth.

    Weaving comedy archive and newly written scenes, the show follows the tortuous search for Oil Drum Lane, the fictional address of Steptoe and Son.

    Ray Galton and Alan Simpson met in a tuberculosis sanatorium in 1948. They became friends through a shared passion for radio comedy. To amuse themselves, they broadcast their own sketches over the hospital radio. After sending their material to famous comedy writers of the day Denis Norden and Frank Muir, Alan and Ray were encouraged to post some scripts to the BBC. An unexpectedly positive response left the fledgling writers ecstatic.

    Soon they became regular sketch writers for the BBC. They met Tony Hancock and rose to the top of their profession.

    But when Hancock decided to go it alone Galton and Simpson were devasted and left high and dry.

    The team was then commissioned by the colourful head of light entertainment at the BBC, Tom Sloane, to write ten comedy plays - but the loss of Hancock generated an impenetrable writer's block - until they hammered out a pilot sit-com that became Steptoe and Son.

    Ray Galton........................................Marc Wootton
    Alan Simpson...................................Barry Castagnola
    Tony Hancock/Wilfred Brambell......James Hurn
    Harry H Corbett...............................Phil Cornwell
    Tom Sloan........................................Ian Pearce
    Duncan Wood..................................Toby Longworth

    Other parts were played by the cast

    Written by Ian Pearce
    Script Editor - Nick Romero
    Directed and Produced by Andrew McGibbon

    A Curtains For Radio production for BBC Radio 4
     
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  17. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    I read somewhere that there were no fences around the supply depots because the entire island was considered a base.
     
  18. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

     
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  19. SteveDee

    SteveDee Well-Known Member

    It was just harmless humour in my day...
     
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  20. timuk

    timuk Well-Known Member

    Here's a clip from Steptoe and Son - Pilgrim's Progress



    Tim
     
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