The Formula for Slosh
The Plymouth Pantomime Secret!
Underneath the stage at the Palace Theatre, Plymouth, lies a most peculiar kitchen. It holds a secret white “cake,” used by the clowns in the slapstick scene of this year’s pantomime, Little Miss Muffet.
Many people who have seen the pantomime have puzzled over the composition of the “cake,” which is thrown about with such glee by Charlie Cairoli and his confederates.
The “cake” — something like blancmange — is often the cause of “heart attacks” for audience members when Charlie steps down from the stage, appearing as though he intends to plaster it over them.
So far, none has been tipped over the audience… but Charlie, Paul, Jimmy, and the Cook all end up covered in the stuff.
Charlie himself mixes the “cake,” moulds it, and “bakes” it during each show.
What is the Cake?
He told a Western Independent reporter that it is a secret.
“It’s not food — it’s made from certain chemicals. I have been searching for many years to perfect it. I had to get something not too heavy nor too light. It had to wobble, yet be firm enough to stand on a plate. It had to be clean, free from any suspicion of dirt, and it had to be easily swept from the floor.”
Charlie uses three gallons of the mixture a day for his matinee and evening shows.
Once a cake has been disintegrated during the act, the ingredients cannot be used again.
Mixing takes about half an hour, but the tricky part comes during the performance.
While the Tiller Girls are engaged in the preceding act, Charlie — a Frenchman who loves legitimate cooking — shapes the cake, patting it here and there to the rhythm of the girls dancing above him. It takes about ten minutes, then it’s whisked into the cooker.
“The timing has to be perfect,” said Charlie. “If it’s made too late, it will be too fluffy in the act, and if you make it too soon, it will be ruined.”
Chemical Supplies
Although Charlie has little difficulty obtaining the chemicals he needs from chemists in the various towns where he appears, he always carries a reserve stock with him.
Once, however, a Birmingham chemist had to send away for the chemicals when Charlie appeared at the theatre there. Six years passed before Charlie visited again. He went to the same chemist — who told him he had never sold any more since Charlie’s previous visit!
Some people in Blackpool, where Charlie is resident comedian at the Tower Circus, have had the mixture thrown over them. People even write to Charlie telling him the person they want him to “plaster,” and promising they will take full responsibility!
On one occasion during the war, a Ministry of Food official sampled one of the cakes.
Charlie said, “It’s awful to taste — but he wouldn’t believe it wasn’t food!”
Charlie is currently working on a Scotch act for later this year, so if anyone knows how to make artificial porridge that will stand up like the “cake,” he will be glad to hear from them
