Goode, I. (2011) Cinema in the country: the rural cinema scheme – Orkney (1946-67). Post Script: Essays in Film and the Humanities, 30 (2). ISSN 0277-9897 http://eprints.gla.ac.uk/54557/
Deposited on: 13th February 2012
Enlighten – Research publications by members of the University of Glasgow http://eprints.gla.ac.uk Ci n e m a i n t h e Co u n t r y : Th e Ru r a l Ci n e m a —Or k n e y (1946-67)
Ia n Go o d e
The act of transporting cinema to and Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar (formerly the exhibiting films for the rural communities of Western Isles Council), and North Ayrshire the Highlands and Islands of Scotland has Council. The mobile cinema serves the com- attracted a fair amount of press attention at munities of the Highlands and Islands of home and abroad recently (“Box Office”). Scotland and has also delivered cinema to This is partly due to the events pioneered UK troops during a four week visit to Bosnia by the British actress Tilda Swinton and the in 2001 (“Screen Machine”). writer and critic Mark Cousins. Beginning The current impetus behind mobile cin- with the film festival The Ballerina Ballroom ema and other community orientated forms Cinema of Dreams held in Nairn on the north of film exhibition has been supported by the east coast of Scotland in 2008, followed a soon to be abolished—UK Film Council. In year later by A Pilgrimage which involved 2009 the Distribution and Exhibition depart- tugging a mobile cinema along an exhibition ment of the Council launched an initiative route from Fort Augustus to Nairn incorpo- named the Rural Cinema Pilot Scheme rating Loch Ness. These initiatives and less designed to give “people in rural areas publicized others, such as The Small Islands the opportunity to enjoy the communal Film Festival (2007-2009), are born of a pas- experience of cinema” in England (“Rural sionate desire to not only take a preferred Cinema”). This scheme was allocated £1.2 vision of cinema to selected areas of rural million of Lottery funding and the use of Scotland, but also, to offer potential audi- digital technology offers the possibility of ences a different cinema going experience extending the geographical reach of UK film by challenging what might be considered exhibition (“Rural Cinema”). These recent the norms of film exhibition. developments in rural provision prompt The vehicle for A Pilgrimage was the the question: to what extent has that type Screen Machine, a custom built articulated of cinema which Barbara Klinger refers to lorry that converts into a self contained one as non-theatrical, and which I refer to here hundred and two seat cinema. This mobile as rural, been written into film history? cinema was painstakingly developed by (Klinger 2008). Highlands and Islands Arts Ltd. in conjunc- Rural cinema represents a relatively tion with CinÈmobile of France between under-researched and developing area of 1994 and 2005 to negotiate the narrow and film history in different national contexts twisting road network of rural Scotland. (Maltby; Allen; Stokes 2008; Meers; Bil- Screen Machine is currently managed by tereyst; Van De Vijver 2009). This work is Regional Screen Scotland and financially expanding the geography of historical re- supported by a combination of Scottish search beyond the urban context of cinema. Screen, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, What I am interested in here is extending
Volume 30, No. 2 17 Post Script this history of cinema and exhibition to Scot- and to show films periodically in different land, and specifically the remote location of villages” (1/1/249). The feasibility of this Orkney—the collection of islands ten miles suggestion was strengthened by the financial off the north eastern tip of the mainland - support offered by the Carnegie Trust for and in the policy directives and nature of 16mm projectors for use by rural community the conditions under which organized rural councils (GD281/82/74). The extension of cinema becomes possible. This in a period the 16mm film distribution market beyond that begins with the formation of the Scottish the home movie sector into education and Film Council in 1934 and in a country where other non-theatrical exhibition locations also over ninety per cent of the geography of its develops during this decade (Lebas 1995). land mass is rural and historically depopu- The institutional claim on this expansion lated (“The Scottish”). of access is demonstrated by The Scottish Educational Film Association a body formed in 1935 to promote the use of the educational UK Fi l m Institutions film and other visual aids in education (“Bi- i n Sc o t l a n d ography of”). C.M. Boyle declared that “in The 1930s represents a period of concern the years before the war, in the new field throughout the UK over the perceived effects of non-theatrical cinema, or might we call of the commercial cinema on a growing au- it Social Cinema, Scotland has occupied a dience. The 1932 report The Film in National foremost position” (Boyle 65). Life was commissioned by the Commission The beginning of the second world war of Educational and Cultural Films to inves- in 1939 quickened the implementation of tigate “the role of the cinema in education this policy, as the Scottish Film Council in and social progress” (“History of the BFI”). conjunction with the Ministry of Informa- The published report recommended the for- tion was directed to organize film shows mation of a central film institute and argued for children evacuated to rural communities 2 for the “recognition of film as a powerful using the apparatus of mobile cinema. The instrument for good or evil in national life” Evacuees Film Scheme delivered mobile (Commission on Educational and Cultural cinema in vans to audiences in reception Films 1932; Bolas 2009; Napper 2009). There areas across the Scottish Lowlands and is evidence here, in the emerging British film Highlands. More 16mm projectors were culture, that the national audience can be made available through the support of the maneuvered away from the distraction that Carnegie UK Trust and film programmes is the entertainment film, assuming as Jeffrey were transported to and exhibited in venues Richards has argued “an intelligent audience that included schools, halls and the kitchen 3 waiting to be discovered” (Richards 1984; of a private house. The precedent of non- Stead 1981). theatrical cinema schemes directed from It is against a background of institutions institutional centers to geographical periph- and individuals such as John Grierson seek- eries and organized under the duress of war ing to instrumentally direct the use of film was continued in the post-war period. towards non-commercial and educational The Highlands and Islands Film Guild ends that the British Film Institute and its was formed in October 1946 following branch in Scotland, the Scottish Film Coun- an Inverness conference involving public cil, emerged.1 The four panel structure of bodies with common interests in the area the Scottish Film Council consisted of Edu- (Morris 269). Negotiations between local cation, Entertainment, Amateur and Social authorities, government departments, social Service. Concurrent with these institutional organizations and headed by the Scottish developments was the suggestion from the Agricultural Organisation Limited led to the Social Service Panel “that a mobile cinema public announcement of the Guild’s forma- van should be purchased to tour rural areas tion. Press coverage of the event emphasizes
Volume 30, No. 2 18 Post Script the defining functions of the organization provisional nature of non-theatrical cinema and the necessity of aid for rural Scotland. and the dependence on and involvement The necessity of economic and cultural pro- of the community in its transportation and vision had assumed renewed significance as operation are key factors in the identity and a means of countering isolation and depopu- appeal of rural cinema in the post-war years lation as servicemen and women returned (Morris 1955; Ross 1966; Cameron 1993). home after the second world war. The Guild began delivery of mobile The functions of the new body were cinema in 1947 with two units serving the made public as follows: areas of Shetland and Caithness and North (a) improving the educational, cultural Sutherland. In that year of operation 441 film and recreational amenities avail- shows were offered to 29,400 spectators (Ross able to rural communities in the 271). During the following year the Guild expanded its activities to fourteen mobile Highlands and Islands of Scotland cinema units that covered the five crofter by exhibiting and organizing the counties of Argyll, Inverness, Ross, Suther- exhibition of films on a non-profit- land and Shetland, including the Hebrides. making basis; The geography of the Guild’s exhibition (b) in close association with education areas omits the Border counties to the south authorities and other statutory or and also the Orkney Isles to the north east. It voluntary bodies concerned with is the development of the provision of rural the welfare of rural communities cinema in Orkney which interests me here in Scotland, advising, assisting and as a preliminary case study and precursor co-operating with local organisa- to a larger project on the history of rural tions, such as community associa- cinema in Scotland. I select Orkney, because tions, whose objects might include of its history of Nordic connections, and its the use and development of films geographical location and above all its deci- for the purposes of education and sion to organize its own rural cinema scheme recreation, and to promoting and semi-independently of the Film Guild in 1946 encouraging the formation of such (CO5/1/14). organisations and associations in The particular history of rural cinema areas where they did not already in Orkney occurs from the social and cul- exist; tural conjuncture of state concern with youth (c) assisting education authorities in education and the geographical significance furthering the educational use of of the area’s strategic role during the second films in rural schools and com- world war. I want to outline the importance of munities; these antecedents before plotting the growth (d) producing or encouraging the and identifying the key characteristics of the production of films which might exhibition of rural cinema in Orkney. become permanent records of Scot- tish life etc. (Film User 1956). These functions make clear the institu- Or k n e y a n d t h e tional role of channeling culture in the form Se c o n d Wo r l d Wa r of cinema to the rural communities of the The sheltered area of water to the Highlands and Islands. The initial finance re- south of the Orkney archipelago named quired to launch the Guild came from grants Scapa Flow formed a key natural harbor provided by the Scottish Education Depart- for the Royal Navy during both world wars ment and the Carnegie Trust and aided by (“Welcome to”). The capacity of this area to amendment of Entertainment Tax legislation function as a sheltered harbor meant that it pertaining to non-profit making bodies and assumed defensive importance. During the educational purpose (GD281/92/8). The second world war there was an influx of
Volume 30, No. 2 19 Post Script up to sixty thousand military and civilian that were accustomed to hire them out for personnel into Orkney and the creation and electioneering purposes (Dean 51). The or- adaptation of buildings for residential and ganized mobilization of cinema during the communal use to accommodate them (Wood war created a legacy of provision that could 18). Purpose-built and pre-fabricated Nissen be adapted to serve the rural communities huts and other service buildings were gener- of Scotland in the post-war period. This was ally of the type which prevailed elsewhere particularly evident in Orkney where previ- in wartime Britain. Included amongst the ous distribution arrangements and potential recreation facilities offered to the personnel exhibition spaces could be adjusted to serve of naval bases and army camps was cinema. the local population during the immediate Films were shown in buildings constructed post-war years. from the same functional architecture as the rest of the bases (Wood 18). Responsibility for the organized provi- Yo u t h Ed u c a t i o n sion of cinema and entertainment for the The British government decided in forces fell to the Entertainments National 1939 that the Ministry of Education would Service Association (ENSA), which was “undertake direct responsibility for youth formed in 1939. Basil Dean’s account of welfare” and require local authorities to ENSA highlights how the provision of appoint youth education officers (Percival relatively recent feature films on 16mm 1951).5 The 1944 Education Act is noted for (sub-standard) had to be guaranteed with extending the education process through the distributors before a cinema service for the raising of the school leaving age to fifteen, forces could be started effectively: increased further education provision and distributors had not taken the sub- the prioritization of youth education (Tin- standard market very seriously; they kler 2001; Jones 2003; Barber 1994). Penny had usually disposed of these rights Tinkler suggests that the publication in 1946 in their films to film libraries for small of a Ministry of Education pamphlet called lump sums after the other rights had Youth’s Opportunity represented an attempt been fully exploited, which meant that to offer “some form of compensatory educa- the films were several years out of date tion” (Tinkler 79). Ken Jones also identifies before they were shown in miniature. in the Ministry of Education the view that The sub-standard has certain physical the rapid industrialization of the previous advantages which made it the ideal century had delivered many benefits, but solution to a large part of our prob- that this had come with consequences for lem. It is printed on non-inflammable the town and city life enjoyed by young- stock, and can be shown over small sters. These included a loss of community, projectors mounted in light vans and reduced proximity to nature and increased using the local electricity supply. Thus complexity of social relationships (Jones 27). entertainment could be taken to men This antipathy towards the effects of indus- in the most lonely places, such as gun trialization was also shared by the Scottish sites and small canvas camps, where Education Department who, in a 1947, re- the need was often greatest, without port deplored the cultural life and linguistic the necessity for heavy transport, motor habits of those areas where “language had generators and special fire precautions degenerated into a worthless jumble of (Dean 51). slipshod ungrammatical and vulgar tones, still further debased by the less desirable Michael Balcon assisted the cinema Americanisms of Hollywood” (Jones 34). division of ENSA by obtaining a number of These years are notable for an education mobile cinema vans, equipped with 16mm policy that seeks to intervene in culture as projectors, from various organizations part of an attempt to influence young people
Volume 30, No. 2 20 Post Script “in order to further the progress of the young and subsequently indicated to the council towards social selfhood” (Jones 34). The “that a more satisfactory and more economi- orientation of cinema towards education cal service could be provided in Orkney on initiated in the 1930s corresponds with these an independent footing” (CO5/1/16). This developments in youth education. early indication of independence can be con- Minutes of the Orkney Education Com- trasted with the decision of Zetland Educa- mittee show local evidence of the national tion Authority (Shetland - a group of islands developments outlined above. In April 1946 to the north of Orkney) to offer its own finan- reference is made to a directive from the cial support to the Guild in exchange for it Scottish Home Department and the Scottish being included in the Guild’s first planned Education Department that points to “the exhibition routes (GD281/92/8). statutory duties of an Education Author- Existing cinema provision on Main- ity in regard to the provision not only of land Orkney was provided by the Albert formal education facilities, but of facilities Kinema in the main town of Kirkwall. The for physical and social welfare also” and Albert was destroyed by a fire in 1947 and calls for applications for “schemes to secure replaced by the Temperance Hall, which had provision of voluntary leisure time occupa- operated as a Royal Navy cinema during the tion, in such organised cultural training war until the new cinema opened in 1955, and recreative activities as are suited to appropriately named The Phoenix (Crisp their requirements for persons over school 1994). The Naval Cinema Service continued age” (CO5/1/16). Grants were offered to to operate at the Naval Base on the South support these initiatives and while there is Mainland after the war, but these facilities no evidence to show that Orkney directly remained a considerable distance from the benefited in the way that the Guild had, it people on the edges of the Mainland and is the wartime provision of accommodation particularly for the communities resident and entertainment and post-war education on the numerous islands that surrounded policy that assists the development of the the Orkney Mainland.7 rural cinema scheme in Orkney. Another key factor in the feasibility of the scheme was the support available to the village halls and the recognition of the role Th e Organization a n d of these venues to the cultural life of rural De v e l o p m e n t o f communities. Jeremy Burchardt shows that the social and economic welfare of the rural o m m u n i t y x h i b i t i o n C E communities had been an area of concern for The Education Committee minutes in- the National Council of Social Service (UK) dicate that Alex Doloughan was responsible since the 1920s (Burchardt 1994 and 2006; for implementing the state policy directives National Council of Social Service 1945). in Orkney. Doloughan, formerly a school- Once the war was over, the Scottish Council teacher on Fair Isle, occupied the roles of of Social Service continued its support for County Youth Organiser, Assistant Direc- the facilities that could be offered by Village tor of Education and Director of Further Halls as meeting places and centers for the Education throughout his career with the cultural life of the community (CO5/1/14). county; he went on later to act as election The combination of existing halls and the agent for the Liberal Member of Parliament hastily-erected architecture of the war meant for Orkney and Shetland, Jo Grimond.6 The that the sum of these spaces could now proposition that Orkney should have a Rural support the comprehensive ambitions of Cinema Service was concurrent with the community schemes - such as rural cinema beginning of the Highlands and Islands Film (“NCVO”). Guild. Doloughan attended the conference Capital expenditure of approximately that agreed the establishment of the Guild £800 on the necessary equipment for the
Volume 30, No. 2 21 Post Script establishment of the Rural Cinema Service in necessary electricity. The operator depended Orkney was approved in 1946 (CO5/1/14). on the voluntary contributions of the com- The initial exhibition route for the scheme munity to assist with the transportation of would take in the isles of Rousay, Shapinsay, equipment to and from the island venues. At Eday, Stronsay, Sanday, and Westray with this point the cinema is conditional because the subsequent addition of the most distant it is subject to the operator negotiating dif- northern islands of North Ronaldsay and ficult weather and seas, and often precarious Papa Westray. Within two years of opera- landing conditions, and then converting the tion the scheme covered all of the occupied venues into temporary cinemas (Cameron islands. The scheme would be non-profit 25).8 making but also aim to minimize annual The journeys undertaken during the deficits with a capital outlay of £1,217, and winter to reach the exhibition locations estimated annual running costs of £1,207. were inevitably subject to adverse weather The admission charge was initially set at 1 conditions: the island of North Ronaldsay shilling and 6 pence (d) for adults and 9d for proved the most distant and difficult loca- children (CO5/1/15). This tariff was in line tion to reach. The report on the service for with the average price for a cinema ticket in November 1948 describes a crossing to this the rest of the UK (“Cinema Average”). The island when early organization of the scheme signals the the sea was so rough that the oper- desire for a relatively autonomous service: at ator’s suitcase was washed overboard. this point, however, Orkney is still a mem- It contained his personal luggage for the ber of the Film Guild (then in Edinburgh) trip including a camera valued at £49, and dependent on them for the booking a large collection of photographs, the and distribution of films to Orkney, and proceeds of the show held at Dounby on for the servicing of equipment. Equipment October 26 (about £8). The case sank be- provision and the organization of exhibition fore it could be retrieved. The operator would be carried out by Doloughan and was stormstayed on North Ronaldsay the first operator recruited to work for the until October 31st (CO5/1/15). service, Sandy Wylie (CO5/1/15). In order to reduce the threat of the cinema service not reaching the outer is- Ex h i b i t i o n Jo u r n e y s a n d lands, the journeys undertaken in the early Co m m u n i t y Au d i e n c e s entirely mobile stage of the scheme were Rural Cinema Service screenings began later reduced North Ronaldsay was given in January 1948 with initial attendances its own projection facilities, a local opera- exceeding previous estimates. The audience tor was recruited and the island became a addressed by the scheme consisted of adults “static unit” with the films distributed by 9 and children with the first thirty shows post (CO5/1/16). attracting an aggregate audience of 2,531 The reporting of the progress of the adults and 996 children—3,527 persons, scheme to the monthly meetings of the with an average of 117 persons per show Education Committee reveals the priority (CO5/1/15). At this point the service was given to regular delivery of pre-selected film delivered personally by a single operator programmes to the isles. Attendance and a —Sandy Wylie, who traveled to the islands breakdown of revenue and costs for the exhi- with projector, screen, speaker, transformer, bition routes are reported along with related gramophone, records, sundry cables and issues of shows lost, equipment maintenance spares—as well as films (Cameron 25). Given and purchase, staff illness and recruitment. that the venues for exhibition were local The council meeting minutes indicate that halls and huts projection was only possible the consistent transporting of the apparatus if generators were available to provide the of cinema to rural communities to provide a
Volume 30, No. 2 22 Post Script reliable exhibition service took priority over The mainland service also extended to the the films that the audiences were seeing. tuberculosis ward of the hospital with films Attendances continued to increase in projected from the main corridor into the the islands through 1948, in line with cin- ward (CO5/1/16, Cameron 24). ema attendance elsewhere in the UK: the The following report for the year of
scheme was extended to Orkney Mainland 1953-54 details the geography of exhibi-
in 1949, beginning with fortnightly visits to tion for the scheme and the recorded at-
five dispersed centers: Finstown, Stenness, tendances:
Harray, Dounby and Holm (“British Film”).
Or k n e y Ed u c a t i o n Co m m i t t e e Rural Cinema Scheme Unit Center No. of Average Average Total shows audience: audience: Adult Children I Flotta 26 29 22 51 (50) Graemsay 26 21 3 24 (27) Hoy 25 16 6 22 (27) Burray 26 55 37 92 (103) Eday 25 42 19 61 (70) Papa Westray 25 25 10 35 (31) Sanday 26 85 31 116 (107) Westray 26 60 21 81 (58) Stronsay 26 70 26 96 (98) Shapinsay 25 69 13 82 (84) Total 256 II Deerness 39 68 28 96 (116) Dounby 38 117 50 167 (189) Rendall 26 42 22 64 (74) Stenness 26 56 34 90 (87) St. Andrews 26 45 18 63 (82) Holm 26 53 30 83 (65) Orphir 25 41 23 64 (65) Harray 24 48 28 76 (81) Quoyloo 26 43 30 73 (79) Evie 25 61 35 96 (92) Finstown 26 39 20 59 (65) Total 307 Static Units Wyre 24 17 7 24 (28) Rousay 25 50 17 67 (59) Egilsay 23 17 4 21 (23) Volume 30, No. 2 23 Post Script N. Ronaldsay 25 28 7 35 (44) Extra Rockworks 1 26 26 52 Total 98 Hospital Eastbank 29 15 - 15 Grand Total 690
7
Unit Center No. of Average Average Total shows audience: audience: Adult Children I Flotta 26 29 22 51 (50) Graemsay 26 21 3 24 (27) Hoy 25 16 6 22 (27) Burray 26 55 37 92 (103) Eday 25 42 19 61 (70) Papa Westray 25 25 10 35 (31) Sanday 26 85 31 116 (107) Westray 26 60 21 81 (58) Stronsay 26 70 26 96 (98) Shapinsay 25 69 13 82 (84) Total 256 II Deerness 39 68 28 96 (116) Dounby 38 117 50 167 (189) Rendall 26 42 22 64 (74) Stenness 26 56 34 90 (87) St. Andrews 26 45 18 63 (82) Holm 26 53 30 83 (65) Orphir 25 41 23 64 (65) Harray 24 48 28 76 (81) Quoyloo 26 43 30 73 (79) Evie 25 61 35 96 (92) Finstown 26 39 20 59 (65) Total 307 Static Units Wyre 24 17 7 24 (28) Rousay 25 50 17 67 (59) Egilsay 23 17 4 21 (23)
N. Ronaldsay 25 28 7 35 (44) Extra Rockworks 1 26 26 52 Total 98
Hospital Eastbank 29 15 - 15 Grand Total 690
No. of shows lost - Weather 7 (5) Illness of operator - (1) Mechanical Trouble 2 (2) Holidays and Local Functions 7 (5) Other caus7e s outwith control 2(0)
18(13) Note: Figures within brackets are for the previous year.
Table 1. Orkney Education Committee Audience Attendance Report, 1953-54.
This table was accompanied by a finan- towards the end of the 1950s. The first record cial statement for the same period which of concern occurs in December 1957 with “fig- showed an overall deficit and a written ures showing a steep decline in attendance at account of the year with a list of costs that Evie Drill Hall, a privately owned hall which reveals the highest outlay to be the hire of was the most uncomfortable to which the Ser- films (CO5/1/18). vice went” (CO5/1/20). There were attempts The initiation of the Rural Cinema to reduce costs through negotiations with Scheme was assisted by government policy hall committees as deficits increased and the on youth education. This table offers no scale of the scheme was reduced with shows conclusive evidence that teenagers formed cancelled first on the mainland (ED30/24). a significant part of the audience in 1953-54. The evening film programmes were attended o n d i t i o n s o f x h i b i t i o n by audiences of adults and children with C E adults in the majority at all venues. The at- The impediments to transporting films tendance figures also reveal how important and equipment to the islands and the archi- the scheme was to the smaller islands such tectural particularities of the non-theatrical as Shapinsay, Stronsay and Sanday as these exhibition spaces were key characteristics of locations provide some of the highest audi- 16mm cinema in rural Scotland. The condi- ence numbers and revenue. The static units tions of exhibition dictated by the local halls operated more economically by local people and huts of Orkney are recalled here by the do not appear to suffer in attendance by not operator Ian Cameron:
having the films delivered by the travelling Monday, Rendall was the first hall operators. visited on the Mainland. It was Audiences grew during the first ten a pre-fab[ricated] concrete type years of the scheme and began to decline of building. It could be very cold
Volume 30, No. 2 24 Post Script
8
recalled here by the operator Ian Cameron:
and had very bad acoustics. AfterMond ay, Rendall wa16mms the first apparatushall visited on t halsoe Mai ndependedland. It was a p uponre-fab[ri ctheated] as con-crete type of building. It could be very cold and had very bad acoustics. After several visits I several visits I persuaded the hallpersu aded the hall csistanceommittee to ofcut thea six localinch sq ucommunitiesare hole in the wall andof a sm offeredall room a t the committee to cut a six inch squareend o f the main hallthe, thus possibilitythe projector cou lofd b einvolvement set up outside the h ainll p ritsope rregular and this gre atly improved the sound quality. hole in the wall of a small room atT uesday was theassembly, turn of Stenne operationss. The hall wa sand an ex -disassembly.army hut and this type of wooden the end of the main hall, thus btheuildi ng always gave a good sound reproduction since the rafters helped to soften any echoes there might be (Cameron 26). projector could be set up outside Operators such as Cameron were trainedr by o W gyl rie ain mthe musei o nf p grojection equipment and the hall proper and this greatlylearnt ab out the steps required to offer a ciPnema experience to an audience accommodated in a improved the sound quality. utilitarian space.10 This prAofe stypicalsional exhib itprogrammeion in what might be forcalled theamate uRuralr spaces demonstrates how the imCinemaprovised, an dScheme home made qwouldualities of rcompriseural cinema exh iabi tiPathéon define the Tuesday was the turn of Stenexperien-ce of rural cinema-going for local communities. It is a cinema that was made possible by the journeys; transportatnewsreel,ion of the 16mm followed apparatus also dbyepe nade dcartoon upon the as soristan ctravele of the l ocal ness. The hall was an ex-armyc ohutmmu nities and offered the possibility of involvement in its regular assembly, operation and film, a preview of coming attractions and and this type of wooden building disassembly. finally the main feature (Cameron 24). This always gave a good sound repro- [!!!]Figure 1 here Fig. 1. Typical exhibitextraction condition s fromat the loc aal v illlistage ha lofl on ththee isla nfilmsd of Stron saofferedy as an audie ntoce duction since the rafters helped etonjo y a screening of an Abbott and Costello film, Christmas 1950s (© National Museum of Scotland). audiences during 1954 give an indication soften any echoes there might be of the typeP ofrog rmainamming features shown; it also (Cameron 26). A typical programme for the Rural Cinema Scheme would comprise a Pathé newsreel, followed by a cartoon oillustratesr travel film, a p rhoweview o thef com ifilmsng attrac tishownons and fin allwerey the maupin fetoatu re (Cameron 24). This extract from a list of the films offered to audiences during 1954 give an Operators such as Cameron wereindi ctrainedation of the type othreef main f eyearsatures sh ooldwn; i t(Cameron): also illustrates ho w the films shown were up to by Wylie in the use of projection three years old (Cameron):
equipment and learnt about the Date Film Date Film steps required to offer a cinema 7th May Singin’ in the Rain 7th June Derby Day (1952) experience to an audience accom- 13th May Deadline (1952) 17th June Blackbeard the Pirate 1 0 (1952) modated in a utilitarian space. 14th May Cry Danger (1951) 1st July The Snows of This professional exhibition in Kilimanjaro (1952) 20th May The World in his Arms 15th July Folly to be Wise (1953) what might be called amateur (1952) spaces demonstrates how the 27th May Treasure of the Golden 2nd Aug. Pat and Mike (1952) Condor (1953) improvised, and home made TTableable 2. A t2.yp icAal ptypicalrogramme f oprogrammer the Orkney Rural C ifornema theSchem Orkneye. Rural Cinema qualities of rural cinema exhibi- tion define the experience of rural TScheme.he composition of programmes addressed a family audience, with popular Hollywood genre films such as westerns, war films (particularly those involving naval conflicts) and musicals - as cinema-going for local communi-well as British/Scottish films - gaining approval with the audience. This policy meant that when the restricted X certificate was introduced in 1951, films carrying this rating were not normally ties. It is a cinema that was made The composition of programmes ad- possible by the journeys; transportation of the dressed a family audience, with popular
Hollywood genre9 films such as westerns, war films (particularly those involving naval conflicts) and musicals - as well as British/ Scottish films - gaining approval with the au- dience. This policy meant that when the re- stricted X certificate was introduced in 1951, films carrying this rating were not normally included in the programmes. Audiences were able to comment on the programmes provided for them by completing an annual questionnaire issued by the operators. An- nual reports on the scheme summarized the feedback of audiences gathered from the an- Typical exhibition conditions at the local nual questionnaires. This is an extract from village hall on the island of Stronsay as an the report for 1953-54: audience enjoy a screening of an Abbott and The most popular films The Costello film, Christmas 1950s (© National Cruel Sea [Frend 1953], Johnny Museum of Scotland). Belinda [Negulesco 1948], and Appointment with Venus [Thomas
Volume 30, No. 2 25 Post Script 1951]. The most popular stars screen” (ED30/24) reveal that the need to Gregory Peck and Jack Hawkins, appeal to audiences now took priority over Glynis Johns and Jane Wyman, any education-based policies designed to while nobody had a good word to foster their improvement (Meason). say for Orson Welles’ classic film The growth of film culture in the Orkney Citizen Kane [1941] (CO5/1/18). area was supplemented by the formation of the Kirkwall 16mm Film Society in 1953. This is not directive programming de- This extension of provision was supported signed to enhance film appreciation in the by the eighty members who had already way of the growing film societies movement, enrolled and expanded to Stromness on the but it aims instead to attract and retain rural West mainland. The society programme is audiences in non-theatrical exhibition spaces described as “experimental” and clearly (Macdonald 2009). The most popular film differs from the Rural Cinema Scheme for this year was the Rank Studio produced (CO5/1/17; CO5/1/18). For the Education documentary film of the Coronation of Committee these developments increase the Elizabeth II, A Queen is Crowned (Fry 1953). level of provision in the county, but they The annual report claims that this film was also illustrate how, in remote areas such as seen in Orkney before other parts of the Orkney, there is a clear center and peripher- country: ies: the experimentalism of the film society the highlight in our programmes for the located in the two key areas of the Mainland, year was unquestionably the screening remains separate from the popular cinema of the Coronation Film which brought of the more geographically extensive - Rural out our largest audiences in every cen- Cinema Scheme. tre. Through the co-operation of the renters we were able to screen the black and white newsreel of the Coronation Lo c a l Pr o g r a m m i n g before the end of Coronation Week, and The thirst for films about the monarchy the memorable A Queen is Crowned was was further underlined by the inclusion in on our screens earlier than in most other the programme of a local amateur film docu- parts of the country (CO5/1/18)11 menting the Queen Mother’s visit to Kirkwall The rhetoric of this extract indicates in 1956. This attracted record attendances all that Doloughan was aware of the audience around Orkney. Almost 2,500 people had appetite for the Coronation film, and in seen the film, roughly 1,000 more than turned the years before the widespread take up of out for the average programme (CO5/1/19). television, this was an example of the Rural Doloughan reasoned that this represented a Cinema Scheme exploiting the opportunity strong argument for the inclusion in future of the pre-television audience, with recorded programmes of locally produced films of coverage of national events on 16mm film. local interest. These could be provided by The evidence of programming suggests amateur film makers and this initiative would that the young are seen as part of a family be promoted in a local monthly magazine of audience for feature films with the regular films,The Orkney Magazine This initiative was presence of cartoons in the programme authorized for one experimental programme representing a more explicit acknowledge- (CO5/1/19; Crisp 94). ment of their needs. The inclusion of films The most ambitious example of lo- in programmes of the 1960s such as Rock cal filmmaking contributing to the Rural around the Clock (Sears 1956) Carry on Sergeant Cinema Scheme was provided by the local (Thomas 1958), and Carry on Teacher (Thomas filmmaker Margaret Tait with her film, The 1959) indicate shifting cultural values and a Drift Back about a family deciding to return more direct address to youth, while rising to the northern isles of Orkney (Neeley 2009). costs and the specter of “that devilish little Owing to costs this experiment was not con-
Volume 30, No. 2 26 Post Script tinued; it represents the extent of the ambition years of austerity audiences were willing to of the scheme to combine film exhibition watch a film in an under-heated hall, but as with support for local production. Whilst this moment of community cinema was cur- this particular initiative was not continued, tailed by the arrival of television and other Doloughan did continue to support the no- forms of organized leisure in Orkney during tion that local amateur films should be part the 1960s, efforts were made to ensure that of the programmes offered by the scheme the contribution of film to rural life is partially (CO5/1/20).12 maintained in education - the sphere that first gave rise to the scheme’s institutional formation. In d e p e n d e n c e , Fi l m As early as 1949 it was reported that Distribution a n d t h e “the static unit on the island of Rousay had En d o f Au s t e r i t y given two general interest shows which had The aptitude of Doloughan for minimiz- been much appreciated, and that the head- ing the costs and increasing the indepen- master was preparing to use the cinema in dence of the Orkney scheme is highlighted school as an adjunct to geography teaching” by decisions taken regarding the supply of (CO5/1/16). In 1956 the Orkney Education films. Recognizing that it might be possible Committee established an experimental to secure a preferable rate for film hire, Do- scheme with Zetland (Shetland) County loughan contacted the film renters in order Library whereby filmstrips were supplied to compare rates with the latest reduced rate to schools by either of the county libraries. offered by the Highland and Islands Film This was followed by the establishment Guild (CO5/1/17). of a Central Library of Film Strips, and a Doloughan negotiated terms that com- projector for use in small rural schools. The pared favorably with those offered by the filmstrips were also used in churches and Film Guild including a course of training for youth fellowship groups (CO5/1/19). It is the first operator Sandy Wylie in servicing the important to recognize that the presence of equipment. Gaumont would also provide the the 16mm film apparatus in Orkney enabled tools and equipment for Wylie to perform the film to enter school classrooms as well as functions normally carried out by the visit- community halls. ing Guild engineer. Wylie’s operating duties In 1967 the mobile and static services would be reduced, allowing him to work on ceased in Orkney; this was followed three equipment maintenance in Kirkwall. This years later by the end of the Film Guild. The was the decisive step that would enable the end of organized rural cinema in Scotland independence of the Orkney scheme to be in the post-war years is explained by the fully realized, giving it full responsibility for National Archive of Scotland catalogue as film programming, booking and equipment follows: “with the advent of mass-media maintenance; the latter being increasingly communication the size of the audiences important as the demands on the ageing gradually dwindled until it was no longer projectors had increased as the scheme had practical to continue film shows. The Guild expanded. Despite this dilution of the rela- was eventually wound up in 1970” (www. tionship with the Film Guild, correspondence nas.gov.uk/onlineCatalogue). The ability of between Doloughan and Tom Morris the television to transcend geography through secretary of the Guild, indicates that a sup- transmission meant that the geographical portive and co-operative relationship was isolation that demanded rural cinema in the maintained (ED30/24). early post-war years is diminished by the new The success of the scheme was made domestic medium. possible by the availability of 16mm films, The Rural Cinema Scheme in Orkney projection equipment and an exhibition route emerged out of the youth-orientated and pa- of makeshift locations. In the early post-war ternalistic initiatives of state education policy
Volume 30, No. 2 27 Post Script and the cultural legacies of world war II that competition of television and related media, were especially significant in Orkney due continues to do so. The 2009 A Pilgrimage to the strategic role of Scapa Flow. Further event, Regional Screen Scotland via the confirmation of education policy attempt- Screen Machine and the growth of commu- ing to intervene in leisure is highlighted in nity cinema ensure the continuity of mobile this circular from the Ministry of Education cinema exhibition and non-theatrical cinema of 1944: in rural areas (“The Rise”). That Orkney was Experience has shown that men and able to initiate and maintain its own Rural women do not make best use of their lei- Cinema Scheme relatively independently of sure if the only facilities available outside the wider Scoittish Guild is testament to an the home are those provided by commercial ongoing desire of the Orcadian population enterprise…[W]e are of opinion that the pro- not to rely on mainland Scotland, as well as vision of communal facilities for the rational an astute awareness of the implications and and enjoyable use of leisure, wherever this possibilities of its geographical location. It is may be needed, is a necessary part of the aided by the commitment to the community country’s education system (Ministry of of its organizer and operators, and the sup- Education 3/4) port offered voluntarily by the communi- Rural cinema in Scotland exploits this ties. The organizing figure of Doloughan motivation of national government to ratio- occupies a mediating role between the top nalize popular culture on behalf of young down educationalist cinema of improve- people. The Orkney Rural Cinema Scheme ment cultivated by institutional policy and took advantage of the support for non-com- a locally addressed programme of provision mercial initiatives that appear to meet this that necessarily included entertainment and aim, while increasingly in practice ensuring pleasure. He also recognized the feasibility that programming offered the pleasures of and benefits of independence for the Orkney entertainment made available by popular scheme. This pursuit of independence is not commercial cinema to rural audiences and born of a political creed but is based upon the became, through the life of the scheme, much prospect of delivering cultural facilities and less prescriptive than the authors of the circu- social benefits for geographically marginal lar above might have envisaged. This “Useful communities who might not have normally Cinema” as Charles Acland describes it, is expected to receive them. part of a broader movement across Europe, The relative independence of Orkney’s North America and beyond that makes it pos- Rural Cinema Scheme underlines its particu- sible to direct the use of film as an educational lar geographical location as a set of islands off and cultural instrument, but also as a source the north east coast of Scotland that is also of entertainment and pleasure (Acland 2009; connected historically to Norway. This region Film User 1956). It is made possible by the is resistant to being interpolated into the enti- industrial expansion of the 16mm apparatus ty of the Highlands and Islands in preference and this is confirmed by the greater presence for an autonomy that, this small history (and in recent film history of the smaller gauge and others) suggests, has worked to the cultural non-theatrical cinema. and economic advantage of the area, rather The traditional and communitarian than towards its marginalization. space of the village hall and the regimental space of the army/youth that created the exhibition conditions for the eager consump- No t e s tion of British and, predominantly, American 1The figure of John Grierson and his feature films defines rural cinema in Orkney promotion of the documentary film move- during this period. The geography of Scot- ment in Britain in opposition to the com- land in general and Orkney in particular mercial and fictional cinema is key during demands rural cinema, and despite the this period.
Volume 30, No. 2 28 Post Script 2The Scotsman, 21/10/39. 3 Works Cited The Scotsman, 9/11/39. Primary Sources 4 Glasgow Herald, 7/10/46. Minutes: Scottish Film Council, Social 5 Percival’s work predates the teenager Service Committee, Scottish Screen of the 1950s and traces the beginnings of the Archive, National Library of Scotland, Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Glasgow, 1/1/249, 1934-36. and the Young Women’s Christian Associa- Minutes: Orkney Education Committee, tion (YWCA) back to the nineteenth century Orkney Library and Archive, Kirkwall. demonstrating how the history of British CO5/1/15-CO5/1/24, 1945-69. paternalism towards the young precedes the Cinema Projectors for Rural Community twentieth century. Councils, GD 281/82/74 1937-42. 6 Obituary. The Orcadian, 6/8/87. Highlands and Islands Film Guild, 7 The minutes of show that the Naval GD281/92/8, 1946-48. Cinema Service continued operating in Ly- Correspondence: Highlands and Islands ness until March 1957. (CO5/1/21) Film Guild and Orkney County Council 8 The role of volunteering in postwar Education Committee, ED30/24, 1954- culture in rural Scotland is confirmed by the 1967, National Archives of Scotland, minutes of April 1952 noting how youngsters Edinburgh. from schools helped out with the potato crop. (CO5/1/17). Secondary Sources 9The suggestion that the geographical Acland, Charles R. “Curtains, carts, and isolation of North Ronaldsay on the outer lim- the mobile screen”, Screen, 50.1 (2009): its of Orkney has a bearing in programming 148-166. decisions is indicated in feedback contained Barber, Michael. The Making of the 1944 Educa- in questionnaires for the year 1953-54: “we tion Act, London: Cassell, 1994. know there are pictures made which are not “Biography of ‘Scottish Educatuional Film worth showing, but why send them all to Association (SEFA) at Scottish Screen North Ronaldsay!” (Cameron 25). Archive
Volume 30, No. 2 29 Post Script __. “ ‘A new rural civilization’: village Borough Council’s Public Health De- halls, community and citizenship in the partment, 1923-1953”, History Workshop 1920s”, in Brassley , Paul, Burchardt Jer- Journal, 39 (1995): 42-66. emy, Thompson, Lynne. eds. The English Maltby, Richard, Melvyn Stokes, and Al- Countryside between the Wars, Regenera- len, Robert C. eds. Going to the Movies. tion or Decline, Woodbridge: The Boydell Hollywood and the Social Experience of Press, 2006. 26-35. Cinema, Exeter: University of Exeter Cameron, Ian. “The Orkney Rural Cinema Press, 2007. Scheme: Reminiscences of a part-time Macdonald, Richard. “Screening Classics”, operator”, Orkney View, 47, April/May Movies on Home Ground: Explorations in 1993: 11-15. Amateur Cinema, Cambridge: Cambridge __. Private correspondence, 20/12/09. Scholars Publishing, 2009. 208-236. “Cinema Average Ticket Price” at Terra Media Meason, Kenny. Private Correspondence,
Volume 30, No. 2 30 Post Script Scottish Film Council, 21 years of the Scottish land.com/?p=654>. Accessed 23rd Film Council, 1955. March 2011. “Screen Machine” at Regional Screen Scotland “The Scottish Government: Publications” at Volume 30, No. 2 31 Post Script