A "spicy" (-ish) Tuesday Twopenny Terrible minisode IN WHICH —
0:08:45: MYSTERIES OF LONDON, Ch. 6, IN WHICH —:
- Richard Markham meets Diana Arlington and is utterly smitten. Then a short, stout, vulgar-looking man enters the room. This is Augustus Talbot, and he is truly crass. He keeps trying to steer the conversation round to the subject of a corn he’s afflicted with on his little toe. Chichester and Harborough are clearly worried that Talbot might spoil their chances of making a favorable impression on Richard; why would they be so concerned? It’s increasingly obvious that they’re playing a game, and he’s a mark. Is Mr. Talbot another mark? What IS their game, anyway?
- Then a new guest arrives: Apparently another prospective mark, whom they met at the opera the previous week: Mr. Walter Sydney … an effeminate-looking well-dressed youth … whom we last saw being pitched down through the floor of a thieves’ crib into the Fleet River. But he’s different. He seems wise in a way nobody else is. Who is he? What game is he playing? We’ll see …
0:28:25: A SALACIOUS SALOON SONG:
- "The Dildoe! Or, The Amorous Maids," a frisky supper-club song from the 1830s, sung lustily by, um, gentlemen when there were no ladies about. This rather explicit one describes the amorous adventure of Giles, the country lad, upon learning his three maidenly neighbors were starved for male carnal attention.
Join host Finn J.D. John. for a half-hour-long spree through the scandal-sheets and story papers of old London! Grab a decanter and top off your glass, unload your stumps, and let's go!
GLOSSARY OF FLASH TERMS USED IN THIS EPISODE:
- Beau traps: Well-dressed fortune hunters or swindlers (we more than a little suspect Hon. Arthur Chichester and Sir Rupert Harbrough to be such!)
- Fly angelics: Knowing or wise young women.
- Fly to the fakement: Aware of the tricks.
- Mace-man: Swindler.
- Cutish: Clever.
- Knight of the brush and moon: Drunken fellow wandering amok in fields and ditches trying to stagger home.
- Chaffing: Talking and bantering while taking a glass or two.
- Crib: House, room, or chamber (modern equivalent is "joint"). Originally and still also used to refer to a prostitute's bedroom.
- Pippin: A funny fellow (of either sex); also a friendly way of greeting: How are you, my pippins?
- Bolt the moon: Fly by night
- Beaks: Magistrates, law enforcement authorities
- The tippy: The very best
View all episodes
