Charley’s Aunt, Part 2

In the previous post, I wrote that there were at least 15 film and television adaptations of the 1892 play Charley’s Aunt. What follows are photos from those 15 productions (from 1925 to 1996).

1925 – Syd Chaplin in a USA film adaptation of Charley’s Aunt

1926 – Elis Ellis in the Swedish film version of Charleys Tant

1930 – Charles Ruggles in a USA film adaptation of Charley’s Aunt

1934 – Fritz Rasp in the German film version of Charleys Tante

1940 – Arthur Askey in the British film adaptation of Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt

1941 – Jack Benny in a USA film version of Charley’s Aunt

1943 – Erminio Macario in the Italian film adaptation of Charley’s Aunt (La zia di Carlo)

1952 – Ray Bolger in a USA film version of Where’s Charley?

1956 – Heinz Rühmann in the Austrian film adaptation of Charleys Tante

1959 – Dirch Passer in the Danish film version of Charleys Tante

1963 – Peter Alexander in the West German film adaptation of Charleys Tante

1975 – Aleksandr Kalyagin in the USSR television movie version of Hello, I'm Your Aunt

1976 – Jörg Pleva in the West German television movie adaptation of Charleys Tante

1987 – Charles Grodin in the USA television movie version of Charley’s Aunt

1996 – Thomas Heinze in the German television adaptation of Charleys Tante

Wearing Dressbarn

Jaloo femulating in the 2018 Brazilian film Paradise Lost.

Charley's Aunt

The most recent film femulation of Charley’s Aunt was by
Thomas Heinze in the 1996 German version of the play.

About a million years ago, I shopped in boy mode for my female wardrobe, but I always had an excuse to justify my purchase to the sales representatives (as if she cared or even believed me). As a result, I did a lot of shopping in October using Halloween as an excuse, but what’s a budding girl to do the other 11 months of the year?

I went to the UCONN branch in Waterbury and one day on the way home, I drove through downtown and noticed that a new woman’s clothing store had opened. I learned that it was a large woman’s clothing store – a perfect fit for a size 18 like me.

The store was opened Thursday evenings, so I decided to shop there then because there would be less foot traffic downtown and I’d be less likely to run into anyone I knew.

So one winter evening, I drove downtown to shop at the store. There was hardly anyone out and about downtown or in the store, which turned out to be owned by a mother and daughter, who greeted me when I entered their establishment.

The Mom asked if I needed any help. Since it was three months after Halloween, I had to come up with a new excuse , so I hit her with, “I need a dress because I am going to play the ‘aunt’ in my school's production of Charley’s Aunt.”

The Mom and daughter seemed interested in my story and asked a few questions about the play. My answers did not help my cause and I doubt that they bought my story, but they helped me find an appropriate dress and I even got to use a woman’s dressing room for the first time!

Don’t know if you are familiar with the plot of Charley’s Aunt, but femulating is involved and the play has been a popular work for the film and television. I did not realize how popular until I researched the topic and discovered that there have been at least 15 film and television versions of the play. The play is most popular in the USA and Germany, which boast five and four versions respectively. I was surprised that there is even a version back in the USSR titled Hello, I’m Your Aunt. Where’s Charley? and the European Charley’s Tante are other titles used for the same play.

The femulations vary from unconvincing “men in dresses” to passable middle-aged ladies, but since the play is a farce, even the men in dresses can get away with it.

Wearing Sablyn top, Intermix skirt and Schutz boots

Guillaume Gallienne femulating in the 2013 French film Me, Myself and Mum.
You can view the film’s trailer on YouTube.