From My Shelves is a series of occasional posts that look at items from my personal collection to which I have a special attachment.
Fawlty Towers (1975-79) – While with Monty Python, John Cleese created characters who ranged from just a little off center to hilariously deranged. None of them was as perfectly formed as Basil Fawlty. The owner (along with his wife Sybil) of a small seaside hotel in Torquay, Fawlty struggled to bring his vision for Fawlty Towers into reality. Or his version of reality.
Basil’s view of who he was (or could be) is confounded on all sides. Sybil is perfectly content running the hotel they had. The staff, from super-efficient Polly to the hard-working but confused Spaniard Manuel, were ongoing obstacles to Basil’s vision. And his clientele simply refused to behave as he wished.
And the result is laughter until your sides hurt and tears run down your face TV. Co-created with his then wife Connie Booth (who also plays Polly), the show surrounds Cleese with the perfect arsenal of foils. The scenes between Basil, who thinks he speaks Spanish, and Manuel, who barely speaks English, are worth the price of admission. Add in classic Cleese grumbles, growls, tirades, passive-aggressive asides, and full body spasms and you get a comedy classic.
American TV has tried to imitate the show without success. This is so much a creature of Cleese’s creative genius, I’m not sure how you could ever translate it.
“Fawlty Towers” is a work of pure comedic genius. Is Basil crazy, or a visionary trapped in a banal world of mediocrity? The answer doesn’t really matter. Cleese and his supporting cast created a perfect bubble of a world. And we get the privilege of watching the inhabitants.
Stories Are My Life 
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