Remains Of The Tray

I am having some trouble with this 1960 ad on a number of levels. For starters, I know this is supposed to be a Hot Tray but they way they spell it with only one ‘t’ it looks like  Ho Tray or Hot Ray – neither of which sounds all that appealing.

This woman has a smile that would terrify a wolf – surely she is not the sort to keep a Ho Tray around the house. Right?

And that ghostly staff behind her!  They are all so elderly, too. Are they Edwardian great-house servants who, through some bizarre time-travel mishap, are being punished by having to work for this evil matron?

Or did they emanate from the Ho Tray, like Jeannie from her TV bottle? That would make a great sitcom – I Dream Of Hot Ray.

But which one is Ray? Maybe he’s still in the tray. Nobody else looks very – er, hot. Do they?

Also Benny Hill appears to be the chef. And he seems to be leering at the grande dame. I’m not certain what’s going on there. She doesn’t really look like his type, does she?

If Benny makes any of the kind of jokes he used to make on his show, he’s going to get that plateful of dinner right in the face!

After that, maybe Hot Ray could sing. He just sounds like a retro lounge lizard – a suburban Dean Martin clone with a martini and a microphone. And that will make the evening really gracious and charming.