Beadle - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• John McLaughlin, the host of The McLaughlin Group, used to call former panelist Fred Barnes "The Beadle". McLaughlin's use of the term may well derive from his experiences when he was a Jesuit student or priest (see above).
• In Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, later adapted into a film by Tim Burton, the cruel and corrupt Judge Turpin is served by an unctuous deputy known as Beadle Bamford. "Beadle" also makes an appearance in the list of professions running through one of the show's songs, "A Little Priest."
• Charles Dickens' character from Oliver Twist, Mr Bumble, is the parish beadle and leader of the orphanage. He's officious, corrupt, a chronic mangler of the King's English, and a great source of comic relief.
• Elie Wiesel's character from Night, Moshe the Beadle, is an escaped captive from one of the concentration camps who returns to warn the Jews.
• In the klezmer musical Shlemiel the First, based on stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer, the title character is the beadle to the "sages" of the town of Chelm, and sings the song "Beadle With a Dreydl".
• In Harper Lee's To Kill A Mockingbird, Mr. Conner, Maycomb's ancient beadle, is partly responsible for Boo Radley's predicament.