Arthur McCann and All His Women

Farce -- probably twice as broad as it is deep -- about not one of those Virgin Soldiers but a non-virgin sailor who is an unquestionable man of parts ever since the time when as a little bugger he knew Rosie, his first marvelous ""sexual lost chord."" Still -- no Arthur one-note -- he ships off during World War II, becomes a not too ""Distressed Mariner"" in New York with a Mrs. Nissenbaum, returns to England to marry Pamela at eighteen in spite of her ""voice like a farmyard,"" goes back to sea but is in port long enough to enjoy other experiences and misfortunes (acute appendicitis in a brothel in the Arctic, gassed by bone fertilizer aboard ship, etc.). You might be thinking that it's just a music hall riff, which it is, but Thomas has a natural -- very natural -- comic talent. Cheerful sack time.