“Mr. Humphries, are you free?” “I’m free!” This is the famous catchphrase of Mr. Humphries from the show “Are You Being Served.” But was he just a stereotype that we are best to forget?
In 1973, a half-hour pilot was released featuring the Ladies and Gentlemen’s Clothing departments of the fictional Grace Brother’s Department store. It was full of bawdy humor, innuendos, and pokes at the class based society. It was a huge hit and soon the show was serialized on the BBC. There were many memorable characters, but it was the flamboyant Mr. Humphries who stole the show.
Mr. Humphries is known as “camp gay.” That means that he has stereotypical "gay" attributes. The way he walks, the way he talks, his interests, and his relationships are all based on making him effeminate or otherwise deviant. He enjoys mud wrestling and needlepoint. He lives with his mother but has an active social life. His portrayal is that of the idea of a gay man rather than the reality of every gay man.
He was frequently shown in drag and is shown to use women’s apparel frequently, sometimes for second jobs. While he is dressed professionally when on the clock at Grace Bros., his attire otherwise has been shown to be eccentric at best. He once came to work from being out all night in a shiny purple suit and when shopping for glasses his preference was for a pair with rainbows and clouds around the rims.
Other characters referred to Mr. Humphries as a “fairy” or a “poof”; mild terms for gay men in England in the 1970’s and stilled used in some parts today. He wasn’t always treated as trustworthy. Male characters would act frightened if they thought he was behind them. He would always volunteer to take inside leg measurements. If he was taking someone to the fitting room he would be told to come right back.
Before people take up arms against him I have a few other things to review about Mr. Humphries. He was one of the best characters. He was funny, kind, generous, smart, and reliable. He was frequently put in leadership roles. He was never shown to be violent, deceptive, sexually aggressive, or rude. In an episode where the staff was voting on who to let go he was the only employee who didn’t receive a vote against him and in a different episode, he was nominated for employee of the year.
It was rare to see Mr. Humphries shout or become agitated. When things went wrong for the department, it was Mr. Humphries who came up with a plan. He had friends in every walk of life and was happy to offer his experience in a broad range of topics.
Despite the occasional jokes about his orientation, the other members of his department and the managements all liked him and treated him with respect. “Are You Being Served” was originally produced in the early seventies. The Gay Rights Movement started in the last year of the sixties. With so little time between the two events, historical attitudes about the gay community were still predominate and nobody was worried about how they presented the LGBT community (realistically, this means gays as the other groups were usually not shown). Mr. Humphries is a good man who became an icon for the early English gay community who was publically derided for his sexuality. Even today we should watch and understand that “Are You Being Served” preserves archaic attitudes while still showing that a flamboyant gay man can be a good person.
