Owl Drug Joke - March 16 1947

[Yhtapmys]

While listening to the "Who the hell picked out this key" show, I heard a joke I simply don't get.

Jack explains Rex Harrison gave him a shilling as a tip. Then the dialogue goes:

Don - A shilling? In this country? What can you do with it?
Jack - Let the Owl Drug Store worry about that.

You don't need to tell me what a shilling is or what an Owl Drug Store is. But I don't get the connection between the two. The audience obviously does, as they're laughing.

Can anyone fill me in?

Yhtapmys
"Drive your blues away!"

[JohnM]

I just assumed that he had already passed the shilling on to the drug store when paying for something, unbeknownst to them--like using a Canadian penny (perhaps a shilling in those days resembled a nickel or a quarter).

[shimp scrampi]

I believe that another part of the joke is that British currency had lost a lot of its value around 1947, when they divested from a lot of their colonial enterprises. Post-war debt was a massive strain on the UK economy, so a shilling was probably worth even less than usual around the time that episode aired. In fact, I just heard on the radio today that Britain just this month paid off a huge loan from the US, taken out immediately after the war at 2% interest -- a rate considered unfair by many Brits given their contributions in the war.

[Yhtapmys]

I believe that another part of the joke is that British currency had lost a lot of its value around 1947, when they divested from a lot of their colonial enterprises. Post-war debt was a massive strain on the UK economy, so a shilling was probably worth even less than usual around the time that episode aired. In fact, I just heard on the radio today that Britain just this month paid off a huge loan from the US, taken out immediately after the war at 2% interest -- a rate considered unfair by many Brits given their contributions in the war.

Hi, Steve. I realise that there were currency restrictions then as well, but I still get the impression there's something *specific* to the Owl Drug Store that made the audience laugh. Maybe the joke is just too topical for anyone to get now.

Yhtapmys
"Drive your blues away!"

[Roman]

Owl was part of the Rexall chain. There were hundreds of Owl Drug Stores across the country. I don't think there was anything special about the Owl stores that made the audience laugh. I agree with JohnM and shimp scrampi that the joke was simply that Jack had passed off the shilling to the drug store. I think the writers picked Owl because it was nationwide and thus would be a recognizable name to radio listeners across the country.

[Gerry O.]

Owl was part of the Rexall chain. There were hundreds of Owl Drug Stores across the country. I don't think there was anything special about the Owl stores that made the audience laugh. I agree with JohnM and shimp scrampi that the joke was simply that Jack had passed off the shilling to the drug store. I think the writers picked Owl because it was nationwide and thus would be a recognizable name to radio listeners across the country.

====================

Yes, it was the nationwide familiarity with Owl Drug Stores that did it. It would be like saying that someone passed off a shilling to McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts or Wal-Mart in today's society.