# "Roo-beee!" Jenny Tomasin, 1936 - 2012 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 19, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055 "2012-01-19T19:51:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/1 "2012-01-19T19:51:58Z")
Sad news: **Jenny Tomasin** , who played put-upon kitchen maid Ruby on _Upstairs Downstairs_, died last week, at 76. Ruby was in the series nearly from the beginning, and all the way to the end: scheming, lazy, devious, dim-witted, always dodging the barbs (and fists) of Mrs. Bridges (“_Rooo_-bee! What is that girl up to?”). So many episodes to rewatch: Ruby nearly gets blown up in a munitions plant; Ruby hires out to the Middle Class; Ruby plays “Poor Little Belgium” in a war pageant . . . ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/2 "2012-01-19T19:58:45Z")
I’m sorry to hear this, but I’m surprised to see she was that old when she started on the show. She looked very young–I was under the impression that Ruby wasn’t more than 14 when she started scrubbing the floors at 165. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/3 "2012-01-19T20:10:12Z")
Oh, the ages of the characters are a riot: Rose was 25-ish when the series started in 1901, and maybe 40 when it ended in 1930 (she lost a good 15 years when she bobbed her hair). Mrs. Bridges and Mr. Hudson had to be pushing 100 by the time it ended! And father and son Richard and James met somewhere in the middle and were both about 50 at the end of the series. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/4 "2012-01-20T00:07:32Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh, the ages of the characters are a riot: Rose was 25-ish when the series started in 1901, and maybe 40 when it ended in 1930 (she lost a good 15 years when she bobbed her hair). > > Mrs. Bridges and Mr. Hudson had to be pushing 100 by the time it ended! And father and son Richard and James met somewhere in the middle and were both about 50 at the end of the series. When I’ve done marathon viewings, I’ve tried to make sense of people’s ages, but they really don’t bear close examination for the characters who are there from beginning to end. Ruby and Edward kind of work out, if they were in their teens when they came into service around 1908, and are a fresh-faced forty-ish by the end of it. Rose, on the other hand, has to be at least 30 if she started to work for the Bellamys when Elizabeth was a little girl, but she gets younger as the show goes on… My favorite quote about Ruby is from Mrs. Bridges: “That girl can no better look after herself than a hostrich.” ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/5 "2012-01-20T01:36:35Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > My favorite quote about Ruby is from Mrs. Bridges: “That girl can no better look after herself than a hostrich.” To this day I mutter to myself, “A stew boiled is a stew spoiled” when making stews or soups. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/6 "2012-01-20T03:32:11Z")
While I prefer “The Duchess of Duke Street”, I do remember “Roo-bee!” from US, DS and her face flashed before my eyes when I read the news. Great stuff from PBS’s heyday. UT ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/7 "2012-01-20T05:16:27Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Oh, the ages of the characters are a riot: Rose was 25-ish when the series started in 1901, and maybe 40 when it ended in 1930 (she lost a good 15 years when she bobbed her hair). To make it even more implausible, the years set from 1901 to 1930 were filmed in the five year period from 1970 to 1975. Then when they revived the series thirty-five years later in 2010, the setting was moved forward only six years to 1936. So Jean Marsh aged five years (from 36 to 41) playing a character over twenty-nine years of show time. Then her character came back six years later when Marsh was now 75. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/8 "2012-01-20T14:54:17Z")
> [@UntouchedTakeaway](#): > > While I prefer “The Duchess of Duke Street”, I do remember “Roo-bee!” from US, DS and her face flashed before my eyes when I read the news. > > Great stuff from PBS’s heyday. > > UT Love the Duchess. I have both series on DVD–I kind of wish Gemma Jones had played Maggie in _The Iron Lady_–a much better choice than Meryl Streep–but I guess they needed a “name” to get it made at all. I was very sad when Christopher Cazenove (“Cholly”) died last year. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/9 "2012-01-20T15:33:12Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > I was very sad when Christopher Cazenove (“Cholly”) died last year. I didn’t hear about this at all, and it does make me sad. I liked him. Everything I’ve seen him in (“Duchess” and elsewhere), he did the late Victorian/Edwardian gentlemanly toff so wonderfully well. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/10 "2012-01-20T16:59:44Z")
I cried buckets when “Cholly” died in “Duchess”. I also credit the series with my love of cooking and all things British - I was 15 on its first go-around and it had a profound impact on me. I was beyond thrilled when it was put out on DVD. UT ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/11 "2012-01-20T18:16:42Z")
> [@UntouchedTakeaway](#): > > I cried buckets when “Cholly” died in “Duchess”. I also credit the series with my love of cooking and all things British. It has also added to my vocabulary such phrases as “'Oo’s she, the cat’s mother?” and “Put \*that \*where the monkey put the nuts!” ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/12 "2012-01-20T18:30:08Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > It has also added to my vocabulary such phrases as “'Oo’s she, the cat’s mother?” and “Put \*that \*where the monkey put the nuts!” No lawyers, no letters, and kiss me baby’s bottom! From this show, I also learned that music-hall song about the artist’s model. From _Upstairs, Downstairs_, of course, I learned the more raunchy song Sarah sings about Uncle Arthur who can’t keep his hands to himself. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/13 "2012-01-20T18:47:19Z")
> [@Miss\_Mapp](#): > > From this show, I also learned that music-hall song about the artist’s model. From _Upstairs, Downstairs_, of course, I learned the more raunchy song Sarah sings about Uncle Arthur who can’t keep his hands to himself. To their credit, the \*Duchess \*writers used actual old music-hall songs, where the \*Upstairs \*writers made up their own. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/14 "2012-01-20T18:55:42Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > To their credit, the \*Duchess \*writers used actual old music-hall songs, where the \*Upstairs \*writers made up their own. I thought they must be–Lottie sings some charming little ditties featuring Edwardian-style naughtiness. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/roo-beee-jenny-tomasin-1936-2012/610055/15 "2012-01-20T19:16:31Z")
I have a four-disc set of _A Night in the Music Hall._ Great songs, ca. 1900-20, with stars like Harry Champion, Vesta Victoria, Marie Lloyd, and songs like _A Little of What You Fancy Goes You Good, Any Old Iron_, and Louisa’s _Hold Your Hand Out, Naughty Boy_.