I mentioned on an earlier blog that Mark Ward and I used to sing songs from Oliver together. At the same time, British rock bands were all the rage. Herman’s Hermits, Chad and Jeremy, The Hollies, and of course The Rolling Stones and The Beatles music were being played on every 50,000 watt am station in the New York metro area. I used to listen to Cousin Brucie (Bruce Morrow) on WABC. So needless to say if a British accent was heard, it garnered attention. One summer while in Point Pleasant at the Jersey Shore, Mark and I decided to put on English accents to see what would happen while visiting the boardwalk. We had no idea how good our accents were, but apparently we fooled a lot of people. We talked to each other loudly in these accents so others could hear us. Shopkeepers gave us free stuff, people were uncharacteristically polite to us and wanted to know as much as they could about us, but we stayed in character. We made up a story that we were on holiday from London, and really liked being in America. Since then, every once in a while, I will have a waitress with an English accent wait on me, only to find out she is really a starving American actress who discovered she gets better tips when she puts on a British accent. The invasion continues … and with it, the British accent dividend.