“AS THE BISHOP SAID TO THE ACTRESS….”

BACK IN “One Thing Leading to Another,” I said I’d get back to you about Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable citing “As the Bishop Said to the Actress.”

Pause here for you to recall your favorite version of this thought-provoking phrase. 

As the Bishop Said to the Actress. Of course, the phrase’s origin is theatrical, not ecclesiastic. “A response to an unintentional Double Entendre,” Brewer’s says. “The phrase dates from the music hall era, when stand-up comedy abounded in ‘bishop and actress’ jokes.”

Brewer’s continues (perhaps belaboring the point), “The association of the two types is either so unlikely or so potentially scandalous that the interpretation of the remark will be either innocuous or indecent. The rejoinder is often prompted by an entirely innocent reference, as: ‘I’ve never seen one like that before (As the bishop said to the actress).’ See also Tom Swifties; Wellerisms.” 

Well, yes; let’s do so and see where it takes us. 

Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable, 20th Edition, by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer, Chambers, 2019.

Double Entendre. “A corrupt English version of the French double entente, use of a word or phrase with double meaning, one of which is usually coarse or indelicate.” 

Brewer’s example, from the Sunday Times, July 26, 1998, is another belabored one: “A woman walks into a pub and asks the barman for a double entendre. So he gives her one.” 

“This isn’t very funny,” the citation continues, “but it’s satisfying…. In fact, all good double entendres are satisfying. They preserve the genteel status quo… but the gentility is preserved at a cost.” 

Welles’ Horse Eats Hat. One use of double entendres is to complicate the lives of censors, as exemplified by Orson Welles’ Horse Eats Hat, a 1936 production during his Federal Theatre Project days.

The comedy, based on a 19th-century farce, was filled with double entendres. Wellesnet notes, “Illinois Senator Everett Dirksen’s wife viewed the play, and complained to her husband, who publicly labelled it ‘salacious tripe,’ which certainly wasn’t going to hurt the box office.”

“Government representatives also viewed the play,” Wellesnet recounts, “and presented a list of 30 items that they felt required changes, ranging from offenses such as a hand being placed on a woman’s leg to the removal/alteration of the line ‘it’s nice to see a pretty little pussy,’ but whether the changes were actually undertaken is another matter.” 

Wellerisms. Brewer’s describes, “Sam Weller in Charles Dickens’ Pickwick Papers (1836–7) was prone to producing punning sentences such as: ‘Out with it, as the father said to the child when he swallowed a farden [farthing].’ ”

Image from The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Well, okay. Another example might be anyone saying “I thought to myself…”—to whom else might one think?? 

Brewer’s cites, “A crude example familiar to children is: ‘I see, said the blind man….’ ” 

Tom Swifties. “A development of the Wellerism,” Brewer’s says, “in which an adverb relates both properly and punningly [Ed, is this a word?] to a sentence or reported speech. An example is: “ ‘What can I get you?,’ asked the waitress fetchingly.” 

Ha. A good one. 

Image from pulpcovers.com.

“The quip,” Brewer’s says, “takes its name from Tom Swift, a boy’s adventure hero created by the prolific American writer Edward L. Stratemeyer [he, of The Rover Boys, The Bobbsey Twins, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew].”

“Tom Swift,” Brewer’s continues, “rarely passed a remark without a qualifying adverb, as ‘Tom added eagerly’ or ‘Tom smiled ruefully,’ and the wordplay arose as a pastiche of this.” 

Like “Tom joked punningly.” ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2023