Welcome
to the second guest blog on The History Usherette. This time, Dr Matt Kerry tells us about a
little known 1937 film called ‘Sam Small Leaves Town.’
Matt
is an enthusiast of both British cinema and holidays. He is the author of a book called ‘The
Holiday and British Film’ (published by Palgrave Macmillan) and also writes a
blog that can be found here: http://drmattkerry.blogspot.co.uk/
Sam
Small and Butlin’s, Skegness
'Sam
Small Leaves Town' (1937) is a little-seen British film starring Stanley
Holloway in the title role – although strictly speaking, Holloway actually
plays a character called Richard Manning who masquerades as Sam Small in order
to hide at a holiday camp for two weeks as part of a bet. The character of Sam
which Holloway invented, had become popular on stage, on records, and in short
films from the late 1920s. In his autobiography Holloway claims that ‘there was
a time when people used to insist that Sam Small was better known than Stanley
Holloway and I’m not arguing about that’ (Holloway and Richards, 1967: 83).
Perhaps
it was more than a coincidence that 'Sam Small Leaves Town' was shot at Butlin’s
first holiday camp at Skegness a year after it opened. Billy Butlin was firstly
a showman, but one with a keen business sense. He knew the importance of good
publicity and marketing, bringing stars such as Gracie Fields to pose for
publicity shots at the camp (Ward and Hardy, 1986: 58).
Unlike
the more raucous representation of Butlin’s at Filey in 'Holiday Camp'* (1947),
Butlin’s in the Sam Small film seems much more upmarket. Customers in the film
drink champagne, the women in the bar wear long evening gowns, and the dining
hall (although supposedly catering for ‘2000 people’ as one character points
out to Stanley Holloway) has an atmosphere more like a restaurant, than a
canteen.
The
holiday camp location and the surrounding countryside are exploited to the
full. A musical number built around a cycling excursion is filmed in
Lincolnshire’s country lanes, and there are scenes set in the camp’s ballroom
and poolside. Holloway leads the campers in the song ‘Penny On The Drum’ to
which everyone processes out of the bar and round the Butlin’s pool, with its
distinctive fountains.
One
interesting aspect of this film is its inclusion of the African American
musical comedy performers Brookins and Van, who take part in the stage show in
the film’s finale. The characters lend an air of relatively sophisticated
American musical entertainment to the film – one plays the piano whilst the
other tap dances – although, culturally, they could also arguably represent an
Americanisation of holiday attractions which cultural critics of the 1930s and
‘40s found to their distaste.
'Sam
Small Leaves Town' is notable for prefiguring the Holidays With Pay Act (1938)
by recognising the rights of a decent holiday for the working classes, and also
for its representation of a Butlin’s style which as yet was not fully formed.
Holloway sings a song that includes the lyrics ‘Hi De Hi, Ho De Ho’, but the
semi-sophisticated holiday camp here does not quite match the general
perception of the boisterous holiday camps that later films and television
programmes like 'Holiday Camp' (1947) and 'Hi De Hi' (1980 – 1988) helped to
construct.
Follow us on Twitter: @agathadascoyne @DrMattKerry
Further
reading:
Butlin,
Billy, 1982, The Billy Butlin Story, A Showman to the End, London: Robson Books
Holloway,
Stanley and Richards, Dick, Wiv a Little Bit o’ Luck, The Life Story of Stanley
Holloway, 1967, London: Leslie Frewin
Kerry,
Matthew, 2012, The Holiday and British Film, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan
Read,
Sue, 1986, Hello Campers! Celebrating 50 Years of Butlin’s, London: Bantam
Press
Ward,
Colin and Hardy, Dennis, 1986, Goodnight Campers! The History of the British
Holiday Camp, London: Mansell Publishing Limited
