Shirley's World - "The Berkley Club Caper"

Shirley's World was a bit of a strange ITC show. It originally premièred in the US in 1971 before appearing in the UK at the beginning of 1972. It only ran for 17 episodes and was co-produced by ITC and the American producer, Sheldon Leonard. Leonard had produced famous US comedy series like The Andy Griffith Show (US: 1960), the brilliant The Dick Van Dyke Show (US: 1961), and the very cool spy series I Spy (US: 1965).

The show starred Shirley McLaine in her first major television series, and is essentially a "fish-out-of-water" story. McLaine is Shirley Logan a reporter for a glossy international magazine, World Illustrated, who is relocated to London where she frequently clashes with the editor, the stuffy, by-the-book, Dennis Croft (played by John Gregson). Gregson's appearance is a further example of how ITC shows would utilise many of the same actors from other ITC series - Gregson played the starring role of Commander George Gideon in Gideon's Way (UK: 1974), a programme I will write about in future blog entries. The result is a mixture of comedy\drama and a will-they\won't they romance between McLaine's character and Croft.

For her first assignment, Croft sends Shirley to interview Sir Harold Willbright-Manners. Unknown to Shirley the Berkley Club, where Willbright-Manners spends the majority of his time, is a Men Only club, and after failing several times to gain entrance to the club, Shirley hatches a plan.

Although some of the comedy falls a bit flat, and the budding romance between Shirley and Croft feels a bit unlikely, McLaine was 37 and Gregson was 52 at the time, McLaine's charismatic performance makes up for the shows shortcomings. Gregson is good, but his trendy long hair and sideburns actually make him look older.

What I particular enjoy about this episode is the way Shirley devises a way to get into the club, and what this also tells us about London in the early 1970s. Shirley decides to hire a group of Soho strippers. This leads to the incredible (but wonderful) spectacle of Shirley McLaine visiting several Soho strip clubs, gathering a troupe of very scantily clad women, and marching into the Berkley Club to confront the elderly club members. Shirley then proceeds to take a series of photographs of the strippers as they casually drape, grope and flaunt themselves in front of the old men (her intention is to blackmail the club members unless she gets her interview).

How Soho has changed, I remember as a child buying comics from a shop called "Dark They Were And Golden Eyed" (the forerunner to "Forbidden Planet"), in Berwick St., the heart of Soho, and walking past numerous strip clubs, peep shows, and book shops with strange coloured plastic stripes covering the entrance. Thank you Shirley's World for bringing back some childhood memories!

Next: My favourite episode of The Prisoner, the very psychedelic "A.B.C."