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Revision as of 12:06, 23 December 2009
The Fallen Madonna by the fictional painter Van Clomp was a portrait of a bare breasted woman which provided a recurring theme of the long-running BBC One television comedy series 'Allo 'Allo! (1984–92), written by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd. The painting was always referred to as "The Fallen Madonna With the Big Boobies". The first episode of the first series of 'Allo 'Allo! (1984) was entitled The Fallen Madonna. In an earlier pilot the painting was referred to as the "reclining" Madonna.
Recurring theme in 'Allo 'Allo!
'Allo 'Allo! was set in the fictional French town of Nouvion during the German occupation of the Second World War. Its focus was a café in the town square run by René Artois (played by Gorden Kaye). There were sustained attempts by the occupiers to appropriate the Fallen Madonna, a local treasure, to provide a "nest egg" after the war. Among those who coveted it were the local German commandant Colonel Erich Von Strohm (Richard Marner) and the Führer Adolf Hitler himself on whose behalf Herr Otto Flick (Richard Gibson) of the Gestapo was instructed to secure it (but, of course, also wanted it for himself).
The painting was seen and hidden in various guises; it was often secreted, with suggestive possibilities, in a long knackwurst sausage. Forgeries were also in evidence. On one occasion Herr Flick drew attention to "three Fallen Madonnas with six big boobies".
Forgeries and Destructions
An incredible number of forgeries of the Fallen Madonna were made, mostly by Lieutenant Gruber and Monsieur LeClerc, which were naturally hidden in knockwurst sausages in René's kitchen. The forgeries were subsequently destroyed in various ways (burned, blown up, minced, etc.). At one point, Madame Fanny accidentally took a bite off one of the corners, and in series 8 Private Helga Geerhart removed a breast in order to safeguard her rights to the painting, thus renaming it the Fallen Madonna with the missing boobie.
Lord Bath
Following his assistance with an event connected with the programme, the BBC presented the 6th Marquess of Bath with a specially commissioned copy of the Fallen Madonna which was hung alongside Old Masters in Bath's ancestral home, Longleat.
Notes
- "Boob" is slang for "breast": see Oxford Pocket Dictionary (8th ed, 1992).
- Broadcast on 14 September 1984
- The Return of 'Allo 'Allo! (BBC), 28 April 2007
- The Sun, Dec 9, 2005, TV Fallen Madonna found by John Cole. Retrieved from online edition on April 7, 2008.
- Wiltshire Times, Dec 16, 2005, Say ‘Allo’ to new Longleat feature. Retrieved from online edition on April 7, 2008.
- The Return of 'Allo 'Allo! (BBC), 28 April 2007