Mr. Kline, Senior who wasn't given a chance?

[Sir Humphries]

I've been wanting to make a topic like this for a while because I am curious of what other people think of Mr. Kline.

We all know that Mr. Grainger was the definitive Head of the Gentlemen's department. But what I want to know is how many of you here think that if given better lines and a chance, could Mr. Kline have become a steady, several season replacement for Mr. Grainger if he came along before Mr. Tebbs and Mr. Goldberg?

Mr. Tebbs and Mr. Goldberg both left early. Mr. Tebbs because of a conflict of interests with another company and Mr. Goldberg because of being declined an increase of pay when he asked for it.

When I hear people speak of the replacements for Mr. Grainger, I always hear of Mr. Tebbs, Mr. Goldberg, and Mr. Grossman. I very rarely see anyone mention Mr. Kline. Which is unfortunate because Mr. Kline seemed to have much of the same spirit and spontaneity that Mr. Grainger did. Not to mention the facial expressions that Mr. Grainger was so good at.

I must say that I never really warmed up to Mr. Grossman and I don't don't his reason for leaving the show. However, I liked Mr. Kline a lot. I keep wondering why he left the show after only one season as he seemed to be such an excellent replacement for Mr. Grainger. It's just too bad that he came along as the fourth replacement for Mr. Grainger instead of the first or second.

Anyone else here like Mr. Kline as well?

[Tiddles]

Sorry....I could not STAND him. Even if he were given great lines for the show, he never would have played "funny" to me. Same with Grossman. And WTF was the writers' obsession making them all Jewish characters anyway? Kline, Grossman, Goldberg. The sterotype of being money-driven, I guess! :-/

[offthefloor]

i agree with tiddles. klein was a pathetic grainger wannabee who the writers just threw in because they needed a senior saleperson. none of his lines were funny and he had no chemistry with the rest of the cast. he had little personality and came off as nothing more than crude. even if he had been the first senior salesman i would not have liked him at all, same goes for grossman and to a lesser extent goldberg. grainger and tebbs were the best senior salesman and all the ones between them and humphries getting the job were nothing more than attempts to mimic the past.

[dazzlestar14]

My rankings for senior salesmen go as follows:
01)Grainger
02)Goldberg
03)Klein
04)Humphries
05)Tebbs
06)GROSSman

I agree with Sir Humphries in the way that he wasn't given a fair chance with enough lines or character development. I like the fact that he didn't try to steal the show and make it about him, not that he was given the choice or anything.

[missmacinthorpe]

I did like Mr. Klein in "The Erotic Dreams of Mrs. Slocombe."

MM

[Lucas The Tucas]

Miss Mac ..... I did like Mr. Klein in "The Erotic Dreams of Mrs. Slocombe."


Ditto ! to Miss Mac.

"TOO LITTLE TOO LATE !"

The last 3 years of the writing.

The last two Sr's., could have been Great ! If they were written in right !

And Humphries as the Sr. and Spooner as Lucas ..... was very BADDDDD !

The show needed 3 in the Mens side to work.

And not a Lucas clone .

Lucas :sad: :axelby:

[dazzlestar14]

I never understood why the Men's counter generally had 3 workers while the Women's only had 2.

[Lucas The Tucas]

The Men's at one time had the Whole Floor !

Hence, they should sell more stock .

Lucas :grainger01:

[Tiddles]

Fortunately the writers realized there was enough of a dynamic between Betty and Shirley to let that counter be its own show. It was still the 70's in England, and women still were more or less second class citizens, too. The focus was usually on the men's counters. I can't even imagine another female at the women's counter. It was ofen hard enough to find material for Miss Brahms much less come up with story lines for 3 female sales...people. The counter was also mainly underwear for ladies. Two sales ladies should be able to handle customers buying new knickers without too much problem. Men on the other hand needed underwear, shirts, socks, coats, suits. It's rare the ladies have to sell all that other stuff. We assume it's being handled by other sales gals.

[dazzlestar14]

I figured it was something like that. But back on topic, it was mentioned that Mr Klein came from "cutting". What exactly was "cutting"?

[Tiddles]

Cutting men's suits for alterations. Tailoring. Could also mean literally cutting a new suit out from a specially made pattern. I think this is where the expression "cutting edge of fashion" comes from.

[dazzlestar14]

Thank you very much. :hat:

[Tiddles]

You're welcome! :axelby:

[Maurice Moulterd]

Who??

Seriously, though, Mr Klein was a very unmemorable character for me. He wasn't "very good value for money" in my mind. I don't think a longer run nor different lines would have helped.

[sueschmitt]

I've been wanting to make a topic like this for a while because I am curious of what other people think of Mr. Kline.

We all know that Mr. Grainger was the definitive Head of the Gentlemen's department. But what I want to know is how many of you here think that if given better lines and a chance, could Mr. Kline have become a steady, several season replacement for Mr. Grainger if he came along before Mr. Tebbs and Mr. Goldberg?

Mr. Tebbs and Mr. Goldberg both left early. Mr. Tebbs because of a conflict of interests with another company and Mr. Goldberg because of being declined an increase of pay when he asked for it.

When I hear people speak of the replacements for Mr. Grainger, I always hear of Mr. Tebbs, Mr. Goldberg, and Mr. Grossman. I very rarely see anyone mention Mr. Kline. Which is unfortunate because Mr. Kline seemed to have much of the same spirit and spontaneity that Mr. Grainger did. Not to mention the facial expressions that Mr. Grainger was so good at.

I must say that I never really warmed up to Mr. Grossman and I don't don't his reason for leaving the show. However, I liked Mr. Kline a lot. I keep wondering why he left the show after only one season as he seemed to be such an excellent replacement for Mr. Grainger. It's just too bad that he came along as the fourth replacement for Mr. Grainger instead of the first or second.

Anyone else here like Mr. Kline as well?

Good topic Sir Humphries. I too liked Mr. Kline but I think by the time they brought his character in Mr. Grainger had become the much beloved character he was. They tried to find a worthy replacement for Mr. Grainger and while I actually enjoyed the other characters they brought in, no one could top Arthur Brough.

Did anyone else like Mr. Tebbs? I enjoyed his playing the greek orthadox priest for Mrs. Slocumbe's wedding to Mr. Mataxis (spelling?). :campingin: You would think I would be able to spell it as many times as I watched this episode.

[Sir Humphries]

I know that Mr. Grainger could NEVER be replaced, but it makes you think how things would have gone if each of the other seniors had stayed on longer than they did. Each senior seemed to have their own unique characteristic that made them memorable for something.

My favorite thing about Mr. Kline was the way he would react to an insult. The expression he would give could rival that of Mrs. Slocombe herself. It was simply priceless.

By the way, why did Mr. Grossman and Mr. Kline both leave after only 4 shows? Does anyone know? Greg, I'm sure you know.

[Ronald]

Mr. Grainger was the best senior person, without competition. Thanks to the brilliant actor Arthur Brough. I often wandered how he had made the role of the Greek priest. It was Mr. Tebbs finesht hour, but I think Mr. Grainger would have made that part even better.

Mr. Tebbs was not a bad senior person, but I liked Mr. Goldberg more. Tebbs fysics where for him an obstruction to take part in all things that cast did (did you ever see James Hayter came of the stairs?). Ik think the first eppy of Alfie Bass was his finesht hour, when he said that Captain Peacock was really a corporal.

Rumbold said: "This man is Captain Peacock who fought against Rommel in the desert."
Goldberg: "Thank you, We often wondered what he did in his spare time."

Mr. Grossmann was a man to forget, a very bad performance. Not the lines he had, but Milo Sperber had less humour than they have sand in the desert. Why they have put that men in a sitcom is very strange, the same thing about Kenneth Waller (Old Mr. Grace).

Benny Lee (Mr. Abraham Klein) played in only 4 eppy's, he was not a bad actor, but he didn't have much lines. I think he was a nice man, Mr. Lee, and he didn't wanted to put himself in front and to steel the show. His best lines where in 'The Erotic Dreams of Mrs. Slocombe.', in the Canteen when he was telling about a young girl at the station who was looking at him.

Klein: "Every day, she was there, she had blond hair and nice enkels. She had tiny glasses. And every day she was staring at me, day after day after day."

Peacock: "How did you get rid of her?"

Klein: "I didn't, I married her. And now the hair is grey, her glasses are very thick."

Peacock: "And what about the enkels?"

Klein: "Don't mention the enkels."

I think with these lines he brought more humour to the show than Mr. Grossmann in all his performances.

I didn't know why Benny Lee left the show so quickly, I thought it better to have 3 man and 2 women behind the counter, because after the departure of Benny Lee they could not argue about that any more.

[dazzlestar14]

I agree that the few lines he was given were delivered very well. His facial expressions were priceless, and he was also the very first senior salesman that I knew because my very first episode was "Closed Circuit".

[Tiddles]

Did anyone else like Mr. Tebbs? I enjoyed his playing the greek orthadox priest for Mrs. Slocumbe's wedding to Mr. Mataxis (spelling?). :campingin: You would think I would be able to spell it as many times as I watched this episode.

It's Slocombe. ;) And yes I adored Mr. Tebbs, too. He might very well have stayed had he not gotten embroiled in those Kiplings Cakes Ads. The advertiser felt Tebbs' gruff image would spoil sales of the cakes. Silly!

[offthefloor]

If anything i would think they'd want him on the show and try to have him promote the cakes that way, but sadly it wasn't meant to be

[Tiddles]

If anything i would think they'd want him on the show and try to have him promote the cakes that way, but sadly it wasn't meant to be


The two characters were seen as conflicting interests. That was what the problem was. Kipling was a kind, beloved character, and Tebbs was viewed as abrasive and unkind. :tebbshead1: Here's a fun old thread--forgive the large fonts it was before our "change":

http://www.minki.net/aybsforum/showthread.php?t=234&highlight=kipling

[minki]

Cutting...I'd guess it was probably something to do with either fabrics or tailoring.

Klein was all right. He wasn't the best Grainger-wanna-be (that was Tebbs) nor was he the worse (Grossman). He probably could have developed into a better character had they given him more time. But it seemed like after Grainger, they were trying to cut their losses each season by replacing the seniors (except for Tebbs who we know left because of other obligations).

[Jeff Humphries]

I did like Klein but he really wasn't given much of a chance to do anything.

[Tiddles]

Cutting...I'd guess it was probably something to do with either fabrics or tailoring.



Yep...I said it this way:


Cutting men's suits for alterations. Tailoring. Could also mean literally cutting a new suit out from a specially made pattern. I think this is where the expression "cutting edge of fashion" comes from.
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[Greg WibblyWobbly]

I did like Klein but he really wasn't given much of a chance to do anything.


I totally agree with you JH. Klein's character could have been much more giving the chance.

[Lucas The Tucas]

OK ! I have a strong opinion on this subject.


The first time that I saw Mr. Tebbs, I disliked him.....He was no Grainger.
And he looked some what like Mr. Grainger.
After seeing him a few times I liked him.


I have always liked Mr. Goldberg.....He was no Grainger clone.
He also had the benefit of what I think is the best writing of any whole season.
He also had HIS OWN ROLE !


Mr. Grossman, I liked...... :? But was put into the show without a role or any writing of any kind to help. :(


And if I thought Mr.Grossman was just stucked into the show.....
I can only presume that the writers knocked off a bottle or two of gin before each writing secession... :cry:

I like Mr. Klein..... :? But, Why did the writers even put him in the show ?
He came over as the weakest of all. :cry:

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I do think the shows with a senior salesman had the best comedy.
The writers needed another person to use in the show.
But the writers needed to do their job right.

Lucas The Tucas :|<!-- / message -->

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