What The Public Wants! Reel 2 Of 4 (1933)

Reel 2. Pickles chats to a taxi driver. He likes Afrique. He sings a song at the piano wearing a big white suit and hat, Cossack style. He “blacks up“ and does an impression of Paul Robeson singing “Mighty Like a Rose“. Pickles is in a restaurant and chats to the waitress. Billy Mayerl plays a novel new organ which can mimic other instruments. A small shot of Mayerl is superimposed over a shot of the mechanics of the organ. “The Cornet, the Fiddle and the Big Bass Drum“ is mentioned. C/U of Mayerl flicking a switch to change the instrument. Four women play alongside Mayerl on Challen pianos. C/U of women playing. A man joins Pickles at his table in the restaurant. Pickles asks him who his favourite comedian is. He says: “You want me to say Wilfred Pickles ... I like something more subtle“. He likes Douglas Byng. We see a routine by the comedian on the theme of a Christmas pantomime. Shots of the audience at tables, drinking smoking and chatting. Byng comes on in drag as the “lea