Hand on the knee isn’t a crime says star Elaine
ELAINE Paige has confessed she sees nothing wrong with a “hand on the knee” and flirting at work.
The musical theatre star, 72, revealed she would have felt insulted if men hadn’t tried it on in her younger years.
She said: “I’m glad to say that, yes, there were a couple of instances of the casting couch – there was a lot of that in our era, being the age I am.
“And I would have felt insulted, frankly, if not – you’d think there was something wrong with you. But one was always on one’s mettle and always knew how to deal with things.
“On both occasions, I was quite forthright in dealing with the matter.
“I’m 4ft 11 and I’ve always had a big personality, probably because I’m short.”
Elaine said if someone acted out of order in her younger years “then you
slapped them around the face”.
But she added: “I still feel that flirting and a hand on the knee is not a crime. If we can’t all have a little flirt with one another, what’s the point in life?”
The Evita and Cats star also said she recently got a ticking off from the BBC for rolling a cigarette to look like a joint in the drama series Life, with Peter Davison.
She told the Lady magazine: “I did smoke dope in Hair in the 1960s – I rolled joints – and that’s what the scene reminded me of.
“So, before we started filming [ Life], I bought some pipe tobacco and some skins [ papers] and sat about relearning how to roll one.
“When it came to filming the scene, the female director said, ‘ We are not allowed to show you physically rolling it’.
“I said, ‘ You’re kidding’. It was some kind of silly rule.”