Big Black Stovepipe?

cciaffone

cciaffone

Dedicated Member
Just watched Variations on a Theme of the Widow Winstanley.

In the Cafe, there is now (??) a big black stove pipe comes
down from the ceiling in the dining room and in thru
the wall to the kitchen. What's with that?

More, the serving hatch/passthru/window seems to
have been replaced by a picture.

Oh yes, was this the last ever Norman Wisdom???
Howcum?
 
cciaffone said:
Oh yes, was this the last ever Norman Wisdom???
Howcum?
Click to expand...

Yes, seventh and last appearance. That was Christmas 2004. From Wikipedia:

"Wisdom announced his retirement from the entertainment industry on his 90th birthday (4 February 2005). He announced that he intended to spend more time with his family, playing golf and driving around the Isle of Man, where he was living."

 
Kinda figgered on retirement rather than death!

So what about the "new" black pipe, and the
apparent (!!) lack of a hatch in the Cafe??
Is all that new this episode??
 
cciaffone said:
So what about the "new" black pipe, and the
apparent (!!) lack of a hatch in the Cafe??
Is all that new this episode??
Click to expand...

Checked "Yours Truly - If You're Not Careful", last episode of Series #25. No sign of black pipe and hatch in place. Went to "Variations on a Theme of the Widow Winstanley". Black pipe now in place. Not sure what set designer had in mind. Cafe is a studio set so it is not as if the change is because of something imposed by owners of property in Holmfirth. Meant to represent extractor fan exhaust from kitchen? A touch of "The Mikado"?:
"Merely corroborative detail, intended to give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative."

Your other point puzzles me. The serving hatch is still there - covered up a wee bit with the blackboard price list.

 
Hokay, just re-ran the ep on the pc and the hatch (and
chalkboard) look just normal. Not sure what I thought
I was seeing last night. Perhaps too much Ardbeg???
 
cciaffone said:
Hokay, just re-ran the ep on the pc and the hatch (and
chalkboard) look just normal. Not sure what I thought
I was seeing last night. Perhaps too much Ardbeg???
Click to expand...

Don't make sense. Fast forwarded to "Has Anyone Seen a Peruvian Wart?", seemingly next time they are in Cafe. Actually have Ivy and Nora in kitchen. There is nothing on wall at back of where the black stove pipe hits in the eating area. Only large bore copper water piping. Set must have been used for something else as well.
 
??? seem to remember the "stovepipe "in a Crusher episode but cant for life of me think of a title ???
 
Terry had part of the stovepipe in his PICTURE QUIZ 9. That any help to anyone?? :)
 
Big Unc said:
Fast forwarded to "Has Anyone Seen a Peruvian Wart?", seemingly next time they are in Cafe. Actually have Ivy and Nora in kitchen. There is nothing on wall at back of where the black stove pipe hits in the eating area. Only large bore copper water piping. Set must have been used for something else as well.
Click to expand...

Just fast-forwarded thru the Peruvian Wart. Looks just
as it did in Winstanley. Pipe is there. Hatch is there.
Chalkboard is there. I must be missing something.

Must need some more malt!
 
cciaffone said:
Just fast-forwarded thru the Peruvian Wart. Looks just
as it did in Winstanley. Pipe is there. Hatch is there.
Chalkboard is there. I must be missing something.
Must need some more malt!
Click to expand...

Maybe I was a bit obscure there. My main concern was this black stove pipe and its possible function, if any.

We see it in the cafe customer eating area and on the servery side of the wall. But all it does is go hard up against the wall and terminate. When we are in the kitchen area we see it does not come through the wall into the kitchen. So what, if any, is its purpose?

All PICTURE QUIZ 9 does for us is confirm it is still there at whatever episode that covers. Don't know about a Crusher episode. It was not there at the end of Series 25 but suddenly appears in "Variations on a Theme of the Widow Winstanley".
 
Big Unc said:
....

Maybe I was a bit obscure there. My main concern was this black stove pipe and its possible function, if any.

...
Click to expand...

It is the sort of pipe that would connect chimney to a stove or cooking range. I have a feeling itwas there in the very early episodes but I shall have to go and have a look!

In Bright & Ross book(Finest Vintage 25 years) p 145 it can just be seen right on the top right hand corner of the photo on that page....
 
I have noted that it was not there in the last episode of the 2004 Series #25, "Yours Truly - If You're Not Careful" (18 April 2004). However, it shows up in the next episode the 2004 Christmas Special, "Variations on a Theme of the Widow Winstanley" (19 December 2004).

Now note that it is shown in Bright and Ross, 30 Years of LOTSW, page 230 photograph labelled as being from "A White Sweater and a Solicitor's Letter" (20 May 2001). So that implies it was temporarily removed.

I noted that in "Has Anyone Seen a Peruvian Wart?", (27 March 2005) it was serving no practical purpose as there was no stove/cooking range in the kitchen sited where this pipe would have provided an exhaust outlet. Maybe the stove was there originally but that does not expalin why pipe vanished for some episodes and was then reinstated.
 
I don't know how this started but amongst others I have been indulging in sheer unadulterated blethering. I have now traced presence of this stove pipe back as far as Millenium Special, "Last Post and Pigeon". And contrary to what I said earlier it was there all the way through 2004 series, Series 25 including "Yours Truly - If You're Not Careful",
 
Just now watching Spring Fever and the pipe is there
by the hatch, but fatter and whiter than later.

Who nose??
 
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