It's A Living

It's a Living placed long-time comedy double-act Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warris in a small general store where they had to be hard-working, thrifty and law-abiding if they wanted to make a living. Jimmy and Ben took over what they were told was 'a little gold mine,' but the only thing they struck really rich was trouble. Fanny Carby and 13-year old Adrienne Poster (later Posta) played the roles of Warris's wife and daughter. Poster had made her television debut a year before in the drama series Harper's West One, and had also appeared in the detective series Top Secret. In her later teens she became a very familiar face in the kind of British movies that typified the 'swinging 60s'. 

Also in this series was Lance Percival as a rather shifty character called 'Foxy.' Only four episodes were made and it was the last TV series for the two cousins who had first teamed up in 1934, although the act didn't finally break up until 1967. At that time both men planned to retire, but an offer from the BBC became the springboard for a second (and arguably more) successful run for Jimmy Jewel (the most memorable of which was the role of Eli Pledge in Nearest and Dearest). Ben Warris came out of retirement for one more TV appearance, the televised Royal Variety Show of 1980, and passed away at the age of 85 in 1993. Jewel (also born in 1909) survived him by two years.

Published on December 23rd, 2018. Written by Laurence Marcus for Television Heaven.