Just published
on Amazon Kindle….Matinee Musings by The History Usherette!
This book
contains five extended essays on themes beloved of this blog, along with
illustrations of its stars by @aitchteee.
1. A Favourite Pastime
This looks at
how film has tracked the changes to one of our favourite leisure pursuits –
betting on the horses. Between Formby in
‘Come on George’ to Sid James in ‘Carry on at Your Convenience’ there was a
revolution in how betting was carried out and perceived.
“But
this shows how legalisation of off-course betting changed the demographic of
those taking part. From being something
that seemingly everyone indulged in and followed, the betting shops banned
children and created an atmosphere that often excluded women. Even when I was working there, as a woman
walking into some of the more down at heel branches I did at times feel daunted
and under scrutiny.”
2. Carry on NHS
This takes
three of the medical Carry on films and looks at how our favourite bit of the
welfare state changed during its first three decades.
“The respect for the NHS and medical
profession is considerably less than in ’Carry On Nurse’. Frankie Howerd’s character, Mr Biggar, is
highly vocal in his criticism:
Nurse: “No bleeding. Good.”
Mr Biggar: “Just like the service.” “
3.
Tunnel
of Time
The British love railways, even when they
don’t do what we want them to. This
looks at how our rail services have been portrayed on film, from ‘Oh! Mr
Porter’ to ‘The Titfield Thunderbolt’.
“Even that most famous of 1940s railway
films, ‘Brief Encounter’, gives no indication of shortages or the poor
condition of the engines and coaching stock that were in general use at the
time. But perhaps the omission of this
information is instructive in its own way.
Even when the war had been won, there was still a need to keep morale
up. “
4.
Let
George Win it!
George Formby made films throughout World
War Two. He was a man of the people, so
what do his films tell us about how the people fared in the war?
“If Formby’s entertainments were a gentle
morale boosting contribution to the war effort, his war themed films made up
for any subtlety. Indeed, subtlety is
cast aside like a grenade. First among
these is ‘Let George Do It’ (1940). It
all starts off quite normally, with a mix up on a railway station and a healthy
dose of innuendo. But George soon
accidentally finds himself in Norway, as only George can do.”
5.
Films
With Spirit
Spiritualism was in the air after World
War Two…how was this handled by film?
This one looks at three of my favourite post war films- ‘Blithe Spirit’,
‘A Matter of Life and Death’ and ‘The Ghosts of Berkeley Square’.
“Powell and Pressburger depict an
afterlife which has all the trappings of the traditional idea of the place,
including a misty position among the stars.
One of the features of this otherworld is its unswerving
bureaucracy. Peter’s time is up. That is an end to it and he must be called
in. A Conductor is despatched to collect
him. This, I think, is a reflection of a
fatalism that must have been rife at that point in time. “
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