HOLIDAY FILMOGRAPHY PART 2 (1907 - 1913)

A Seaside Girl (1907)

1907:

When the Mistress Took Her Holiday, Alpha Trading Co. (Walturdaw) Directed by Arthur Cooper. Comedy. Servants don absent employers’ clothes and have party

A Sailor’s Lass, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Dolly Lupone, Lewin Fitzhamon. Chase. Bognor

Simpkin’s Saturday Off, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Thurston Harris. Chase. Bognor. Man rides carriage, goat-cart, cycle etc.

The chase around Bognor Regis in A Seaside Girl (1907) - Blair the dog (star of Rescued By Rover, 1905) appears in the final frame here

A Seaside Girl, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: May Clark, Frank Wilson, Thurston Harris. Chase. Bognor

A Tramp’s Dream of Wealth, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Thurston Harris, Gertie Potter. Comedy. Bognor

Dumb Sagacity (1907) - with Blair the dog

Dumb Sagacity (1907)

Dumb Sagacity, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Gertie Potter, Blair the dog. Animal. Bognor

Short-Sighted Jane, Gaumont. Directed by Alf Collins. Chase. Myopic woman collides with people and is chased into sea

A Letter in the Sand, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Dolly Lupone, Thurston Harris. Chase. Bognor

The Artful Lovers, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Thurston Harris, May Clark, Dolly Lupone, Frank Wilson. Comedy. Bognor. Suitor saves girls’ father from drifting bathing machine

Dying of Thirst, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon Adventure. Bognor

The Heavenly Twins, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Thurston Harris, Gertie Potter. Comedy. Bognor

Perserving Edwin, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: May Clark, Thurston Harris. Comedy. Bognor

1908:

A Day’s Holiday, Williamson. Directed by James Williamson. Comedy. Miseries of a family forced to spend holiday at home

Put Pa Amongst The Girls, Gaumont. Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy. seaside. Man flirts with girl and is caught by wife.

A Thoughtless Beauty (aka Forced to Consent), Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Gertie Potter. Comedy. Bognor. Couple tie girl’s father to pier post and marry in boat

A Fascinating Game, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Gertie Potter. Comedy. Bognor

An Unfortunate Bathe, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Gertie Potter. Comedy. Bognor. Girls trick old men by exchanging their clothes

A Visit to the Seaside, Natural Color Kinematograph Co, Directed by G A Smith Comedy. Brighton. Seaside scenes including girl falling in sea from boat and men peeping at bathing girls. (First British colour film).

The Schoolboy’s Revolt, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Bertie Potter, Gertie Potter. Comedy. Bognor. Two boys play pranks with bathing machine, boat etc.

Father’s Holiday, Wrench. Comedy. Misadventures of family man on holiday

1909:

A Seaside Episode, Cricks & Martin, Directed by A E Coleby. Comedy. Bexhill. Man flirts with girls and is caught by wife

1910:

A Night Attack, Empire Films (Butcher). Comedy. Seaside lodgers find fleas in bed

Off For the Holidays (Reissue: 1914), Clarendon. Directed by Percy Stow. Comedy

Looking for Lodgings at the Seaside, Acme (C & M), Directed by Fred Rains. Cast: Fred Rains. Comedy. Family sleep in boat and drift out to sea

His Majesty’s Guests Steal a Holiday, Barker. Produced by Will Barker. Comedy. Convicts overpower warders and have holiday in jail

A Spoilt Child of Fortune, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Drama. Lulworth. Tramp swims to save spoilt girl, cut off by tide

1911:

Tilly at the Seaside, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Alma Taylor, Chrissie White. Comedy

Happy Harold’s Holiday, Walturdaw. Chase

Simpkins’ Dream of a Holiday, Natural Color Kinematograph Co. Directed by (Walter Booth) Theo Bouwmeester. Trick, Clerk dreams of a country holiday and mysterious happenings to his clothes

A Seaside Introduction, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Hay Plumb, Alma Taylor. Comedy. Brighton

Didums and the Bathing Machine, Clarendon, Directed by Wilfred Noy. Comedy. Child exhibits father as Wild Man from Borneo

A Seaside Comedy, Natural Color Kinematograph Co. Directed by Theo Bouwmeester. Comedy

1912:

Didums on His Holidays, Clarendon. Directed by Wilfred Noy. Comedy. Child exchanges labels on Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s bathrooms

A Country Holiday, Directed by Stuart Kinder. Cast: Irene Vernon. Comedy

Brown’s Day Off (Reissue: 1915), Cricks & Martin, Directed by (Edwin J Collins). Comedy. Henpeck has day by sea, where wife takes his photograph

1913:

By the Sea, Selsior. Mercy Manners

Musical. Dance to synchronise with cinema orchestras: Bathing girls interrupted by masher

It’s Best to be Natural, Clarendon, Directed by Percy Stow. Comedy. Southend. Childhood sweethearts meet again and pretend to be still youthful

Bumbles’ Walk to Brighton, Ec-Ko (Univ), Directed by W P Kellino.. Cast: Phillipi. Comedy

What a Holiday! Cricks (C & M), Directed by (Charles Calvert). Comedy. Misadventures of three men on river camping holiday

Her Pony’s Love, Gaumont, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Cast: Constance Somers-Clarke, Fred Urwyne. Animal, Bognor

Bumbles’ Holiday, Ec-Ko, Directed by W P Kellino. Cast: Phillipi. Comedy

Landladies Beware, Martin (C & M), Directed by (Dave Aylott) Comedy. Seaside landlady forced to board tramp for a week

John Willie at Blackpool (Reissue: 1916 Smiffy at Blackpool), Sphinx (Davidson). Comedy

Henpeck’s Holiday, Sphinx, (Davidson). Comedy. Blackpool

The Dustmen’s Holiday, Ec-Ko (Univ), Directed by W P Kellino. Cast: Albert Egbert, Seth Egbert. Comedy. Swansea

By the Sad Sea Waves. Dart (Cosmo). Directed (Stuart Kinder). Comedy. Henpeck has day out while wife is away.




Bibliography:
Gifford, 2001, Catalogue of British Film

HOLIDAY FILMOGRAPHY PART 1 (1896 - 1906)

Landing At Low Tide (1899)

This is the first of a series of blog posts listing all the Holiday film titles I have found during my research over the past few years. Most of the information here as been sourced from Gifford, 2001, except the films released after 1994, the information for which I have gathered from the BFI database, and from the films themselves.

I have excluded American-British co-productions which have been funded mostly by American money, or have American stars, writers and/or directors, and therefore appear more ‘American’ than ‘British’. These include, for example: The Light in the Piazza (1961), The Roman Spring of Mrs Stone (1962), Two For The Road (1967), Funny Bones (1995) and Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2008).

Unfortunately, most of the early titles in this first entry (1896 - 1906) have now been lost.

1896:

Landing At Low Tide, R W Paul, Directed by Birt Acres

Comedy, Brighton

1897:

Children Paddling at the Seaside, G A Smith, Directed by GA Smith.

Comedy, Southwick

1898:

Sloper’s Visit To Brighton, Directed by James Williamson, Comedy, Brighton, Donkey rides, bathing

1899:

Landing At Low Tide, Haydon & Urry. Comedy

Landing At Low Tide (1899) - this is the earliest holiday film of which the BFI has a viewing copy

The Interrupted Courtship, Warwick Trading Company. Comedy,

Couple try to steal kiss in busy hotel lounge

They Do Such Things at Brighton, Warwick Trading Company,

Cast: Will Evans.

Comedy

1900:

An Incident on Brighton Pier, Directed by GA Smith. Comedy

‘The masher mashed’.

A Wet Day at the Seaside, RW Paul, Comedy,

Children make ‘seaside’ in their bathroom.

1901:

Interior of a Railway Carriage – Bank Holiday, Hepworth. Directed by Percy Stow, Comedy

1902:

Tommy Atkins and His Harriet on a Bank Holiday, Directed by GA Smith, Comedy, Coster couple dance

The Swells, RW Paul. Comedy, Men peep into girl’s bathing machine and die of shock

1903:

A Trip to Southend or Blackpool, Directed by James Williamson. Comedy, discomforts of a crowded railway compartment

1904:

The Great Sea Serpent, Directed by James Williamson. Comedy. Boy puts worm in seaside telescope.

Professor Richard Codman’s Punch & Judy Show, Directed by John Codman, Comedy, Llandudno, seaside puppet performance.

Mixed Bathing, Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy, Brighton. Fat husband flirts with swimming girls

Lovers on the Sands (aka A Stroll on the Sands), Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy, Brighton

On Brighton Pier, Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy, Brighton

A Day at Brighton, Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy, Brighton

A Trip to Paris (USA: An Englishman’s Trip to Paris from London), Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon. Comedy

1905:

Mr Brown’s Bathing Tent, Directed by Percy Stow. Comedy, Folkstone. Boys pin ‘Ladies’ sign on man’s bathing tent.

The Inquisitive Boots, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon.

Cast: Sebastian Smith

Comedy, Hotel ‘Boots’ peeps through keyholes

The Annual Trip of the Mothers’ Meeting, Hepworth, Directed by Lewin Fitzhamon.

Cast: Sebastian Smith, Thurston Harris

Comedy, Southend

Father’s Picnic on the Sands, Cricks & Sharp. Comedy

Peeping Tom, Cricks & Sharp, Directed by Tom Green. Comedy, Hotel guest bores hole in wall and is caught by girl’s husband

1906:

When Father Got a Holiday (Reissue: 1913), Directed by Percy Stow. Comedy. Mother, father and large family go for a cycle ride

Seaside Lodgings, RW Paul, (Directed by JH Martin). Comedy

A Lodging House Comedy, Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy. Boots has revenge on drunken toff by changing room numbers.

Our Seaside Holiday, Sheffield Photographic Company, Directed by Frank Mottershaw. Comedy, Family of six go to seaside by train

Seaside Views, Cricks & Sharp, Directed by Tom Green. Comedy, Tramps peep into bathing machine and get caught

Caught by the Tide, Clarendon (Gau) Directed by Percy Stow. Adventure. Couple cut off by tide, are hauled to cliff top.

The Troubles of a Seaside Photographer, Walterdaw. Comedy, Mishaps of a photographer at seaside

When Cripples Meet, Gaumont. Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy, Margate. Invalids fight when Bath chairs collide

Her Morning Dip, Gaumont. Directed by Alf Collins. Comedy, Margate. Peeping Toms surprised when comely girl is revealed by her costume as bony

Rescued by Lifeboat, Gaumont. Directed by Alf Collins. Adventure, Margate. Lifeboat launched to rescue capsized trippers

Seaside Swingers! The British Holiday Camp in 1960s British Film*

The beauty contest in Every Day's A Holiday (1964)

As British society became increasingly affluent at the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s, the holidaymaker was confronted with more choice about where to spend their annual vacation. With the increase in people choosing to go abroad for one or two weeks, holiday camps had to target new types of consumers, apart from families that had flocked to the camps in the previous decade (as represented in the film Holiday Camp 1947). Butlin’s for example, encouraged honeymoon couples and teenagers to visit his camps, with promotional films targeted at both consumer groups in 1959 – 1960[1].

The lengthy honeymoon sequence filmed at Butlin’s, Bognor Regis in The Leather Boys (1963), gives us a good idea of what the camps were like at this time. As had become increasingly common in British social realist films of the 1960s, the scenes are shot on location, rather than studio mock-ups, although the black and white photography tempers the gaudy colour schemes of the camp’s interiors. 

Butlin's Bognor Regis - The Leather Boys (1963)

In the film Bognor Butlin’s is still populated by people of all ages, and there is old-time dancing in the ballroom, although this gives way to the Twist as the evening wears on and the dancers lose their inhibitions.

Dot (Rita Tushingham) does the Twist

The camp’s chalet gives Reggie (Colin Campbell) and his new wife, Dot (Rita Tushingham), the opportunity to be completely alone together for the first time, and on their third day, Dot complains that she hasn’t seen anything of the camp since they arrived. 

Reggie (Colin Campbell) and Dot in their chalet

As we might expect from this genre of film, there is a grim undercurrent to the jollity of the camp. As Dot becomes accustomed to its attractions, she becomes increasingly loud and brassy, represented by the bleaching of her hair into a back combed, candyfloss peroxide. 

Dot in a Butlin's hair salon

She is determined to enjoy herself and gets drunk in a typical Butlin’s Beachcomber bar – replete with tribal masks and palm tree decorations. Reggie sulks in their chalet, and when Dot returns, all giggly and tipsy, he chastises her for telling ‘dirty jokes’ to strangers. 

Dot asks Reggie to tell a joke

She considers this all part of the holiday fun, but he reminds her that they are on their honeymoon, rather than their holiday. This highlights the difference in attitudes that a holiday and a honeymoon appear to invite, with Reggie not wishing Dot to share their fun with anyone else. The disagreements that they have during the honeymoon are the beginning of the problems which eventually drive their marriage apart.

By the fountains at Butlin's, Clacton, Every Day's A Holiday

In contrast to the relatively miserable experience described above, the appeal of holiday camps for teenagers is best exemplified in the rock ‘n’ roll musical Every Day’s A Holiday (1964), which goes some way to cashing in on the success of Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday (1963), but without the exotic locations. This film was shot at Butlin’s, Clacton, in widescreen and Technicolor, and unlike The Leather Boys, the holiday camp setting is celebrated as a place where communities are constructed rather than undermined. The film also appears to be an invitation to teenagers to either visit the camps for work, or for their holidays, and therefore captures some of Butlin’s intentions of the time. As Read points out:

The ‘Swinging Sixties’ brought a new breed of holidaymaker, single teenagers. They had money and the freedom to go on holiday without their parents. They leapt onto their Lambrettas and into their Ford Cortinas and they headed for Butlin’s, where there was free entertainment during the evening and free activities during the day (Read, 1986: 170).

In order to attract the teenage market, Butlin’s incorporated rock ‘n’ roll ballrooms, juke boxes, coffee bars, and special teenage chalets which could sleep four in double bunks. ‘During the summer months it wasn’t unusual to find 3,000 single young people at one camp in any one week’ (Read, 1986: 170). 

Mike Sarne, John Leyton and Grazina Frame

This was the era in which Every Day’s A Holiday was released. The film follows the exploits of a group of youths who take summer jobs at Butlin’s, their romantic encounters, and their involvement in a talent contest which is televised from the camp. The film’s cast includes pop stars such as Mike Sarne (who had previously had a hit with the single ‘Come Outside’), John Leyton (of ‘Johnny Remember Me’ fame), Freddie and the Dreamers (as the camp’s chefs), and The Mojos as themselves.

Freddie and the Dreamers sing 'What's Cookin'?'

The Mojos performing in the South Seas Bar -
note the window into the swimming pool behind them

The film makes full use of the Clacton camp’s location, with scenes around the pool, the infant’s playroom, the South Seas Bar, and the Crazy Horse Saloon. Timely references are made in the film to the burgeoning ‘free love’ of the 1960s, and its consequences. In the opening scene the camp’s secretary, Miss Slightly (Liz Fraser) is seen reading a book entitled Sex and the Unmarried Girl. 

Liz Fraser

Later on the identical twins Susan and Jennifer (Susan and Jennifer Baker) are working in the camp’s nursery where they tend to the children’s bath time, and sing ‘Romeo Jones’. The scene offers an ideological representation of a woman’s place in the home as the twins tend to the toddlers and sing lyrics that highlight the importance of looking for an ordinary man ‘to hold forever’.

The Baker twins sing 'Romeo Jones'

Butlin’s introduced an Every Day’s A Holiday competition to tie-in with the film, with prizes to the value of £1,500 including 95 holidays and £100 cash [2], (ABC Film Review, January 1965: 24 – 25). Entrants had to list ten advantages of taking a Butlin’s holiday in the correct order, in what appears to be a thinly disguised exercise in market research: did entrants prefer the ‘variety concerts and repertory shows’ above ‘separate ballrooms for Modern, Rock ‘n’ roll and Old Time dancing’ for example? (ABC Film Review, January 1965: 24 – 25).

Kinematograph Weekly commented that ‘practically every known ingredient of success has been mixed into this jolly film, and it should extend its appeal well beyond the wide fringe of “pop” stardom. Good musical attraction for all but stuffed shirts’ (Kinematograph Weekly, November 5, 1964: 8). Whilst The Daily Cinema’s review highlighted the appeal of the youthful cast but also referred to the holiday setting as if this was a now well-established formula in film:

The film follows the time-honoured routine of getting together a bunch of attractive youngsters, dumping them down in a holiday setting and providing just enough complications to delay the inevitable happy ending for ninety odd minutes …It’s all good family fun with loads of teenage appeal and most filmgoers should find it a sure cure for the January blues (M.H. The Daily Cinema, October 30, 1964: 6).

Monthly Film Bulletin was less favourable, but appreciated the director’s quiet ‘laughs at the real-life camp…notably during an amateur beauty contest’ (Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1964: 176).

Mass catering in Every Day's A Holiday

This youthful representation of the British holiday camp was relatively short-lived: Billy Butlin’s son, Bobby, took over the responsibility for the camps in 1968, and decided to no longer take bookings from teenagers. By this time Butlin’s had a reputation for being ‘a glorified knocking shop’ (Read, 1986: 171). Bobby wanted to bring families back to the camps, and by 1971, figures were up again, with the company taking record bookings (Read, 1986: 172). Butlin’s peak year was 1972, when six million holidaymakers visited the camps (Barker: 2005).

*Seaside Swingers was the American title given to Every Day’s A Holiday. The film's release date is sometimes given as 1965. It was released at the end of 1964 / beginning of 1965.

Bibliography & Further Reading:

ABC Film Review, January 1965: 24 – 25

Barker, Jonathan (Producer and Director), 2005, Coast, BBC/Open University

Butlin, Billy, 1982, The Billy Butlin Story, A Showman to the End, London: Robson Books

Kinematograph Weekly, November 5, 1964: 8

M.H. The Daily Cinema, October 30, 1964: 6

Monthly Film Bulletin, December 1964: 176

North, Rex, 1962, The Butlin Story, London: Jarrolds

Read, Sue, 1986, Hello Campers! Celebrating 50 Years of Butlin’s, London: Bantam Press

Information on Butlin's, Bognor Regis

Information on Butlin's, Clacton

[1] BFI database: Butlin’s By The Sea Campaign: Honeymooners 1 (1959), and Honeymooners 2 (1960), and Butlin’s By The Sea Campaign: Teens 1 – 5 (1960). Winter breaks were also promoted in similar films.

---

[2] Butlin’s kindly offered to refund deposits to any winners who had already booked a Butlin holiday and also give them £5 spending money.

---

The Holiday and British Film

 

From the cover: ‘Using the history of the British holiday as a framework, Matthew Kerry offers a refreshing insight into a previously neglected area of popular British cinema – the holiday film. Looking at key films from the silent period to the recent past, Kerry considers how these representations may reinforce feelings of national identity. The book includes production histories and textual analyses of films such as A Seaside Girl (1907), Holiday Camp (1947), Summer Holiday (1963), and Bhaji On The Beach (1993), and provides an exploration of their social function.’

Well, the books finished and out at last. Very pleased with the results. I’ve already heard that wisecrack “what’s next?” from a couple of folks… but never mind. Sometimes you need to stand still and enjoy the moment. They don’t come round too often. In coming weeks I’ll blog a few entries on the contents of the book here and also some extra thoughts that didn’t make it to the final draft.

Here’s a break down of the contents:

Introduction – Here I consider the analogy between film and the holiday. Jeffrey Hill considers that holidays are ‘imagined events’ claiming succinctly that holidays  ‘exist in the mind’ and are ‘capable of generating immense pleasures of anticipation and remembrance’ (Hill, 2002: 86). In some respects the idea of the holiday as an ‘imagined event’ is what links the holiday to cinema. Kuhn argues that a common feature of 1930s cinemagoers’ accounts of their visits to the pictures is a pattern of ‘anticipation, transportation and elevation’ with audience members looking forward to-, then being ‘carried away’ by the films, and subsequently hanging onto this feeling until their next visit (Kuhn, 2002: 229, 230 and 233).

Chapter 1: The British Holiday Film and Its Audience – In this chapter I offer a speculative analysis of the ways in which the holiday film might engage with society, and consider whether it reflects or critically engages with it.

Chapter 2: Theorising the Holiday – I look at the ways in which the holiday has been theorised including Urry’s ‘tourist gaze’ (2002) and theories of national identity (Anderson, 1991 and Billig, 1995) and consider how these might be linked to ideas about the British holiday film.

A patriotic advert for Blackppol Pleasure Beach

Chapter 3: The Postcard Comes To Life: Early British Film and the Seaside –

This chapter focuses on representations of the seaside holiday in postcards and films of the late Victorian and Edwardian period. Films under analysis include Landing at Low Tide (1899) and A Seaside Girl (1907), the latter being one of the few surviving films that Cecil Hepworth made in Bognor Regis.

A Seaside Girl (1907)

 

Chapter 4: Holidays With Pay: The Working Holiday of the 1930s – This chapter is themed around the idea of the working holiday on film, and I analyse the Fields film Sing As We Go (1934) and Formby’s No Limit (1935), to support my arguments. I also refer to the little-seen Sam Small Leaves Town (1937) and Bank Holiday (1938).

Chapter 5: Reconstructing the Family Holiday: The Holiday Camp in Postwar British Film  – In this chapter I consider how Billy Butlin appeared to capture the postwar mood with his large commercial camps, and how this idea was represented in the film Holiday Camp (1947). I examine how the film’s narrative works to ideologically reconstruct the family unit, and its traditional gender roles which had been deconstructed in the Second World War.

Chapter 6: From Austerity to Affluence: Holidays Abroad in Postwar British Film – In this chapter I investigate the foreign holiday in the latter postwar period. Films under analysis include Innocents In Paris (1953), Doctor At Sea (1955), Carry On Cruising (1962) and Summer Holiday (1963).

Cliff Richard in Athens for Summer Holiday (1963)

Chapter 7: Grim Nostalgia and the Traditional British Holiday of the 1970s – In this chapter anxieties concerning British identity in a period of cultural and economic crisis are examined by looking at the representation of the traditional British holiday in the 1970s. The films I analyse to support my arguments include Carry On At Your Convenience (1971), The Best Pair of Legs in the Business (1973), That’ll Be The Day (1973), Carry On Behind (1975) and Confessions From A Holiday Camp (1977).

Chapter 8: Interrogating Representations of National Identity in the Recent British Holiday Film – In this chapter I consider if there is a sense of Britishness that accommodates multiculturalism through the use of the holiday in Bhaji on the Beach (1993) and Last Resort (2000). I also look at other representations of the holiday film of the past few decades including Guest House Paradiso (1999), Kevin and Perry Go Large (2000), A Room For Romeo Brass (2000), Venus (2004), Somers Town (2008) and Never Let Me Go (2010).

The book’s conclusion summarises all of the above, and the Select Filmography lists all of the films mentioned in the book. I will post a more comprehensive list of Holiday Films elsewhere on this Blog.