Pinch Me

Examiner of Plays' Summary:

This revue is of the suggestive kind, but so far as the dialogue goes there is nothing definite, I think, to merit excision. The idea is a sort of vulgarisation of Faust. A painter has produced a number of posters of female figures and the Devil brings them to life on condition that if they prove as frail as ordinary humanity they shall return to the poster state at the end of a year. The painter is in love with the “Dream Poster”, and a poster-sticker with the poster of a country girl, who continually asks him to pinch her – hence the title. Then they go to Egypt, where the painter buys a number of handmaidens. There a “seer” sells pills which, put in water, will turn red if there has been unfaithfulness in deed or thought. Then the scene is shifted to Holland and after some business of flirting etc. The pills duly turn the water red and the devil sends the come-to-life posters back to their original condition. I do not think the plot matters: it is too fantastic and meaningless. The dialogue, too, is only more or less vaguely suggestive: such a remark as “What is a husband? What are his duties” “Time will teach you” (p. 5) is typical of the sort of thing. But I am pretty sure the piece will offend in the dresses of the female posters gives scope for this, and the female slaves in Scene 1 are described as having no clothes on: see p.10. A strong caution seems to be necessary. Any unpublished songs used must be sent in. Recommended for Licence, G. S. Street