Next
morning, the Sydney papers went after Lenny like a pack of baying hounds.
DISGUSTED BY SICK JOKES - FOUR WOMEN WALK OUT, blared the headline in the Sun,
with an elongated picture of Lenny, getting off the plane in his Levis and
white boots, clutching his pharmaceutical briefcase and looking completely
bombed. SICK JOKES MAKE AUDIENCE ILL, quipped the Daily Mirror, with an onstage
picture of Lenny in his black Nehru, thrusting his arm out in what appears to
be (but isn’t) a Nazi salute. The horrified Mirror writer noted that Lenny gave
a blasphemous account of the crucifixion and used a "steady stream of
dirty words." It also reported that the vice squad would attend the next
show. The Sun intoned, "Sydney has never seen a public performance of such
blasphemy and obscenity." Both papers made much of the fact that Lenny had
used repeatedly "the Lady Chatterley word," and concluded that
"it will be astonishing if the Chief Secretary’s Department allows the
shows to continue." The shows were not to continue, in fact, because the
manager of Aaron's, Nicholas Devery - announcing himself "shocked and
disgusted" - had hastily informed Gordon that the engagement was canceled.
