Britain's Jewish Film Pioneer*

JewishHistorical Studies , volume 44, 2012

George Berthold Samuelson (1889-1947):

Britain's Jewish film pioneer*

GABRIEL A. SIVAN

Jews played a decisive role in the American filmindustry's growth and development,1yet their pioneering contribution to the industryin Britain tends to be overlooked.When motion pictureswere still in theirinfancy (1900-1910), they were generally considered to be "a low-gradeform of enter- tainment- suitableonly for the immigrant or theuneducated masses - rather thana validart form, and thoseconnected with films were held in contempt".2 Not havingto contendwith powerful vested interests, enterprising Jews in Britainand theUnited States opened littlepicture houses for the less affluent, enablingthem to enjoythe latest silent films. "Jews moved into motion picture productionand exhibitionfor the same reasonsthey had gravitatedto fields likesmall merchandising and the garmenttrades: little skill and littlecapital wererequired to participate.And since it was a new industry,all entrepre- neurswere on an equal footing".3Before long, those operating these cheap movietheatres (known as cinemasin Britainand as bioscopesin SouthAfrica) turnedto filmdistribution. Some became producersand directors;others, particularlyin Hollywood,went on to head largefilm companies with their own studios,hundreds of employees and a multi-milliondollar turnover. "For a long period", accordingto the EncyclopaediaJudaica, "American competitionmade it impossible for the British motion picture to gain a footholdin the world market"and it was a HungarianJew, Sir Alexander Korda (1893-1956), who "finallypulled the Britishindustry out of the dol- drums" afterhe establishedthe London Films Company in 1930.4 While doingjustice to Korda, thisassertion underrates the previousachievements ofSir Michael Balcon (1896-1977; in partnershipwith Victor Saville, Balcon 5 had spent£30,000 filminghis firstpicture, Woman to Woman, in 1923). It * Thisis a slightlyrevised version ofa lecturedelivered tothe Israel branch of the Society on 28 Feb.201 1. 1 SeePatricia Erens, The Jew in American Cinema (Bloomington, IN: 1984) and Neal Gabler, EmpireofTheir Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood (New York, 1988). 2 EncyclopaediaJudaica (Jerusalem, 1972; hereafter EJ' s.v."Motion Pictures", 12:446. 3 Erens,Jew in American Cinema , 53. 4 £112:451-52. 5 Oneof many facts omitted from the skimpy article inthe E J (4: 129-30). 201

Jewish Historical Society of England is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Jewish Historical Studies ® www.jstor.org GabrielA. Sivan completelyignores the still earlier pioneering role of George Berthold Samuelson (1889-1947), who had made no less thanseventy films by 1921. These includedmajor productions of the silent era, films that had successful runsin theUnited Statesand othersof a latervintage (1927-33) thatshowed bothJews and Judaismin a positivelight. When I began researchingG. B. Samuelson's filmwork, in 1994, there were scarcelyany referencesto him in books dealing withmotion picture history (a brief entry in HallirpeWsFilmgoer's Companionstates that Samuelsonwas "a Britishproducer and distributorof silent films" but gives incorrectdates forhis birthand death.6One exceptionwas the US writer David Shipman,who dismissedthe earlier British entrepreneurs as "mainly dilettantesand theatreshowmen" but hastened to add that"there were sound businessmenbehind the successfulcompanies, which were Stoll, Ideal, G. B. Samuelson,Gaumont, the team of Thomas Welsh and George Pearson- 7 the latteran alumnusof both Samuelson and Gaumont- and Hep worth". Shipmanobserved that Herbert Wilcox possesseda "ruthlessnessand drive [that]would not have disgracedan Americanproducer" and that,after the British industry'spost-First World War decline, Michael Balcon "also foughtback by raising quality and looking realisticallyto the American market".8Samuelson tried to do thesame but possessedneither the former's "ruthlessness"nor thelatter's considerable financial resources. In thecourse of my preliminary research I managedto obtainphotocopies ofvarious items relating to theSamuelson family which Linda Greenlick,the chieflibrarian of tht JewishChronicle , was kind enough to dispatch from London. I also had the opportunityof meetingDavid Samuelson,the film- maker'seldest son, who showedme the draftof a book he was writingabout his fatherand who allowedme to tape our conversationat his London home. That book appearedas a massive(11 10-page)illustrated volume,9 for private distributiononly, and the copy I was fortunateenough to receive in November2010 has enabledme to siftthrough the vast amount of authorita- tiveinformation which it contains. This paperis a muchenlarged and updatedversion of an articlepublished more than fifteenyears ago in South Africa.10Since then,much more has been writtenabout the Jewish film pioneer, both in printand on theinternet. Rachael Low refersto himin herseven- volume work on Britishfilm history 6 HalliwelVsFilmgoer's Companion , 9thedition (London, 1988), 61 1. 7 DavidShipman, The Story of Cinema (New York. 1982), 187. 8 Ibid.,188-89. HaroldDunham and David W. Samuelson, Bertie : The Life and Times ofG. B. Samuelson(3rd impression,2010; hereafter Bertie). 10"G. B. Samuelson",inJewish Affairs , 50, 2 (Johannesburg,Winter 1995): 21-27. To make amendsfor the EJTs disregard of'Bertie' Samuelson, I prepared anentry for the E J Decennial Bookiç8j-ç2 ; unfortunately,itcould not be processed intime. 202 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer and a biographicalentry has at last appeared in theDNB.n Thanks to these publications,G. B. Samuelson is no longeran unjustlyforgotten man.

Family background

Towards the end of the eighteenthcentury, a Jewishfurrier named Jacob Metzenberglived in the Prussian town of Lissa (now Leszno in Poland), whereleading rabbisand graduatesof the local yeshivah(such as R. Akiva Eger) made thecommunity renowned.12 Samuel Metzenberg(c. 1798-1875), one ofJacob's fivechildren, had foursons and fourdaughters. Two of the sons, Elias (1826-1901) and Henschel (1829-1889), lefthome in 1841 and foundtheir way to Dublin, wherean uncle of theirs,Levy Metzenberg,had settledthe yearbefore. Levy, a hot-tempered,quarrelsome individual, was expelledfrom the Dublin Hebrew Congregationin September1845 (appar- ently,he was constantlyat loggerheads with the synagogue's honorary officersbecause of his unpaid debtsand misbehaviour13),which is probably thereason why his nephewschanged their surname from Metzenberg to the 14 patronymicSamuelson in 1846. Elias began tradingas an outfitter,married Sarah Solomon in July1845 and had thirteenchildren, three of whomdied in infancy.His merchantand militarytailoring establishment flourished, enjoying the patronageof the Duke ofConnaught and othermembers of the nobility. Elias servedtwice as thepresident of the Dublin Hebrew Congregation(in 1859 and 1865). After movingto London earlyin 1874, he transferredhis business to the Savile Row districtand had many celebratedclients but only Chavah (Clarissa; 1846-1911 ), Elias and Sarah's eldestchild, had Jewishdescendants.15 Henschel is thoughtto have been a jewellerin Dublin but evidentlyfound thistrade unrewarding since he boarded a ship forLiverpool in or around 1873 and thenmoved to Southport,a pleasantseaside townto the northof Liverpool. There he opened a cigar and tobacco storeat 41 Nevili Street, close to the promenade. His business prospered and, as a man of 46, he marriedBertha Weile (1855-1913) at the Maida Vale home of his brother Elias, the ceremony(on 21 December 1875) being conductedby the Chief Rabbi, Nathan Marcus Adler. Bertha's father,Solomon Weile, had died 11See the new edition of Rachael Low's History ofBritish Film (1997) and Luke McKernan, "Samuelson,George Berthold [Bertie] (1889-1947), film producer and director", Oxford DictionaryofNational Biography {ODNB; online edition, 2004). 12For more details see EJf 11: 52-53. 13Louis Hyman, The Jews of Ireland from Earliest Times tothe Year igio (London and Jerusalem, 1972),i4off. 14Bertie , 2-3. Some of the family information provided below is quoted from this book. 15A fact ascertained from the Samuelson family tree. 203 GabrielA. Sivan youngand hermother, Rahle, had contracteda secondmarriage in Germany witha widower,the Reverend Isaac Bischofswerder,prior to theirarrival in England. Isaac alreadyhad sevenchildren of his own and servedas themin- isterof the smallJewish community in Penzance, Cornwall,where his large familyhelped to keep a minyan goingfor about fourdecades. (This community'smost famous member, in theearly nineteenth century, was thedistiller Lemon Hart, 1768-1845, who later became a warden of London's Great Synagogue.)16 Bertha was probablyglad to leave home and move to Southport,even thoughHenschel was physicallyhandicapped and morethan twice her age. Their happinesswas marredby the deathof a firstbornson in 1877 but they wenton to have fourother children: Julian Ulric (1878-1934), who became England's "King of Pantomime"; Maurice Laurence (Lauri; 1880-1951), who also made his careeron the stage; Rahleen May (1886-1950), a busi- nesswoman;and GeorgeBerthold (Bertie; 1889-1947), with whom this paper is chieflyconcerned. (Having anglicizedBertha's maiden name, Julian later appeared on the stage as JulianWylie and Maurice followedhis example. Many ofBertha's descendants have also added Wylieto theirsurname.) There was no organizedJewish community in Southportuntil around 1890. (When its firstsynagogue was consecratedin May 1893, therewere about thirtyJewish families living in the townbut regularHebrew classes were not held there until 1896.) This must have obliged Henschel and Bertha,an observantcouple, to join one of theLiverpool synagogues(probably the New Hebrew Congregation)and attendservices there on the High Holy Days. (The factthat Henschel and Bertha were interredin the New Hebrew Congregation'sGreen Lane cemeterypoints to theirhaving become membersof Liverpool's Hope Place [NHC] Synagogue.)Bertie Samuelson was justseven weeks' old whenhis fatherdied ofbronchitis and heartdisease at theage of sixty,leaving his mothera widow in herearly thirties with four childrento bringup and a businessto run. She managedto dischargethese responsibilitiesand, by 1903,Julian and Morriswere living away from home, Rahleenwas attendinga privateJewish school in London and Bertiehad left school to findemployment in Southport.

Embarking on a film career

Over thenext few years (1903-08), BertieSamuelson triedto earnhis liveli- hood, firstas a shop assistant,then by runninga pennybazaar and managing a concertparty. His interestwas finallyaroused by the "animatedpictures" 16 EJ13: 269. For a historicalsurvey ofthe Penzance kehillah see Chris Richards, 'The Lost Jews ofCornwall' vJerusalem PostMagazine (11 March 201 1): 12, 14. 204 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer and "cinematograph"shows held occasionallyin rentedpremises. With 15 shillingsthat he had saved,Bertie purchased a rollof celluloidfilm measur- ing 45 feetin length,and runningfor less than a minute,in which King Edward VII could be seen openingParliament. This he managedto hireout in differentlocations for several weeks, the modest profit- and cash bor- rowedfrom his family- enablinghim to beginoperating Southporťs "New ElectricTheatre", with daily performances, at theend ofNovember 1909. It was a short-livedventure, prompting him to turnfrom exhibiting to renting films.Within a period of twelvemonths, Bertie developed his Royal Film Agency,made successfulbusiness deals withPathé, Vitagraphand other leadingcompanies, advertised first-class new productionsfor hire and (with hismother and sister)transferred their home and firmto Birmingham.There theyconducted a growingrental business and joined the old-established Singer'sHill Hebrew Congregation. What provedto be a turningpoint in BertieSamuelson's careerresulted froma chance remarkby his brother,Julian, who was runninga theatrical agencyin London at thetime. One Sundayafternoon in May 1912, while vis- itingand havingtea withhis familyat theirnew home in Edgbaston,Julian askedBertie why he had notthought of making a pictureof his own. "There's nothingI'd like more", Bertie replied. "I thinkI couldmake a successful picture,but I'd need a good strongstory - somethingwith a broad canvasas a background".Various ideas weresuggested, Julian proposed filming "the moreswashbuckling episodes ofthe Bible", but it was finallyBertie himself, deep in thought,who snappedhis fingersand exclaimed:"I've gotit! The life ofQueen Victoria,it willmake a wonderfulstory - adventure,historical inci- dents,drama, wars, romance - everythingyou could ask for".Those present agreedand Bertiestarted making arrangements for such a productionon the followingday. (There is no mentionin Bertieof Les amoursde la ReineElisa- beth(or QueenElizabeth , 1912), a 44-minuteFrench production,based on a playby Emile Moreau, withthe title role played by an agingSarah Bernhardt. Though poorlyfilmed, it enabled moviegoers to see "thedivine Sarah" trans- posed fromstage to screen.Imported to theUS by AdolphZukor and Daniel Frohman, this filmhad its American première in July 1912; shown in "respectable" theatresand reviewedin "quality" newspapers,it induced Zukorto declarethat motion pictures had become "a legitimateart form". G. B. Samuelson's firstproduction, made well over a yearlater, and his subse- quent careerin filmsmay thus have derivedsome inspirationfrom Zukor's success in exploitingLa ReineElisabeth,)11 Makingthis film required a largecapital investment and the use of studio facilitiesin London, promptingBertie to contacta businessassociate, Will

17Bertie, 27-32,68-78. 205 GabrielA. Sivan

Barker,who had builthis own filmstudios at Ealing in 1910. Having a taste forspectacle as wellas realism,Barker agreed to startwork as theco-producer; Sir HerbertMaxwell's book, Sixty YearsA Queen, published to markthe DiamondJubilee in 1897,provided the film with its title and thebasis of a sce- nario.Barker and Samuelsonboth recognized the value ofadvance publicity: fromAugust to October1913, Bioscope and TheCinema told their readers that Sixty YearsA Queenwould be themost ambitious film ever made in England - and one ofthe most expensive. Outdoor scenes were often shot on location; interiorswere reconstructed and ceremonialregalia carefully reproduced; at least 1000 actorsand extraswere employed; and music drawnfrom popular tunesof the Victorian era was speciallycommissioned - one ofthe early occa- sionson whicha musicalscore was writtento accompanya featurefilm. The partof young Victoria was playedby a Miss Kastnerand ofthe queen in herlater years by Blanche Forsythe and Mrs HenryLytton. Those figuring in otherroles included GilbertEsmond, Fred Paul, Roy Travers and Rolf Leslie ("a masterof make-up" who played no less than27 differentcharacters, surpassinganything achieved in lateryears by Alec Guinness). Numerous eventsin Queen Victoria'sreign, from her accession to thethrone in 1837until her death in 1901, were of course portrayed,such as her coronation,the openingof the Great Exhibition,the Indian Mutinyand the Crimeanand Boer Wars.According to The Times(9 December 1913),life in thetrenches of theCrimea was depictedwith "almost painful realism" and scenesportraying theroyal family's domestic life also won theapproval of reviewers. Sixty YearsA Queen ran for67 minutesand proved to be a commercial triumph.It cost whatwas thenthe enormous sum of £12,000,part of which representedBertie's own investment,but thenet profit of 40,000 made him a wealthyman. The filmwas firstscreened at theNew Gallery,Regent Street, and theVictoria Palace on 8 December 1913; less thana fortnightlater, Will Barkerintroduced and showed it to a privateaudience at theHotel Astorin New York. WhileBarker was visitingthe US, Bertie"road-showed" the film throughEngland and Scotland, withRahleen and her fiancé,Harry Lorie, helping with the publicityand screenings.Although condemned by the Cinema Exhibitors'Association, this innovation resulted in "fantastic"business whereverthey went. Unfortunately, however, all thatremains of this pictureis a 46-secondfragment preserved in the ItalianFilm Archive.(The film'stheme obviously inspired two remakesdirected by HerbertWilcox: Victoriathe Great in 1937,based on a play,uncredited, by Laurence Housman; and Sixty GloriousYears in 1938, writtenby Charles de Grandcourt,Miles Malleson and Sir Robert Vansittart.Anna Neagle as Queen Victoriaand AntonWalbrook as PrinceAlbert starred in bothproductions.)18

18Bertie, 32and 1083. 206 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

Family affairs

BerthaSamuelson was probablyunable to affordthe cost ofa Jewisheduca- tionfor her three sons afterthey attained their religious majority. (Lauri was thefirst boy to celebratehis barmitzvahat Southporťs newlydedicated synagoguein 1893.There is a photographof him, wearing a top hatand silktallita at about thattime. Whether his two brothersalso had a barmitzvahcelebra- tionis not clear.)19Her daughter,Rahleen, however, was sentto a boarding school forJewish girls at Kew, whereone of her teacherswas the Reverend Michael Adler, DSO (1868-1944), the ministerof the Hammersmith Synagogue and an Anglo-Jewishhistorian, who had served as the senior Jewishchaplain to the Britisharmed forcesduring the First World War.20 He latermarried Bertha Lorie, an older sisterof Rahleen's husband,Harry Lorie. Defying his mother,Lauri Wylie marrieda non-Jewessin 1904, whereuponBertha Samuelson demonstratively"sat shivah". This had its effecton Julianand Bertie,as eventswould prove.Julian also "marriedout", in 1918,but evidentlytook care notto do so duringBertha Samuelson's life- time(an announcementof her death in theJewish Chronicle in 1918,inserted by all fourchildren, mentions the observance of a "shiva at 41 Sandon Road, Birmingham").21He mustalso have remaineda professingJew: when Julian died in 1934,the Reverend Adler was askedto conductthe Orthodox funeral service at Willesden cemetery(it was attended by 1000 mournerswho included"in additionto relativesand personalfriends, numerous members ofthe theatrical and vaudevilleprofession").22 Born in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, Harry Lorie (1877-1966) would no doubt have pleased BerthaSamuelson as a son-in-law.His family claimeddescent from Rabbi Shlomo Luria (Maharshal),a famousTalmudic commentatorof the sixteenthcentury. One of six children,Harry had been on activeservice during the Boer War and his mainoccupation was thatof an auctioneer.Following their move to Birmingham,the Lories becamefriendly withthe Samuelsons, which is how Rahleenand Harrycame to meetand fall in love. Aftertheir marriage, they appear to have become the Samuelson family'sreligious conscience. The weddingtook place on 7 April 1914 at the Singer'sHill Synagoguein Birmingham.It was a magnificentaffair, with 400 guestspresent at the ceremonyand no less than fourreverend gentlemen, headed by Rabbi Dr JoshuaAbelson and Dr AbrahamCohen, officiating. Bertieengaged his friend,Will Barker,to filmhighlights of this event and the arrangementswere made withtheir characteristic panache. Everything 19Ibid., 55. 20EJf 2:283. 21Jewish Chronicle (hereafter JC'5 April1918). 22Ibid., 14 Dec. 1934. 207 GabrielA. Sivan was timed like a militaryoperation: the bride and bridegroomwere both filmedleaving home and arrivingat the synagogue,where the huppahcom- mencedat i .30 p.m. By 2.45 p.m. thecameraman was boardingthe London trainand at about 5 p.m. he depositedthe film at Barker'sstudios for devel- oping and printing.The processed (8oo-foot) reel was then returnedto Birminghamon the 6.45 p.m. trainand shown to the guestsat 9 p.m. after dinner at the Grand Hotel. How many weddings could be filmedand screenedwith such rapidityeven today?

The Worton Hall era (1914-1928)

The record-breakingsuccess of his firstproduction enabled Bertie to set up his own filmcompany while the Royal Film Agencycontinued operating in Birmingham.George Pearson,who had workedfor Pathé, was recruitedas Bertie'sfilm director, after which the new magnate acquired Worton Hall and its nine-acreestate at Isleworth,near Richmond,where many indoor and outdoor filmingpossibilities existed. It had ground-floordressing rooms, officesand a canteen,with bedrooms upstairs for people who needed to stay overnight.The Samuelson Film ManufacturingCompany's new studios wereopened on 1 July1914 by Vesta Tilley, the 50-year-oldmusic hall star and male impersonator,whose husband, Walter de Frece,a notedsongwriter and impresario,chaired the celebration. (There is a mistakenbelief that Vesta Tilley wasJewish, probably because herhusband was a Jewby birth. The fact thathe came ofa Liverpooltheatrical family may explain his associationwith Bertie.Knighted in 1919, he servedas a ConservativeM.P. in 1920-31. By an odd coincidence,Elias Samuelson,Bertie's uncle, was engagedto design Tilley's stagecostumes after he transferredhis businessto London.) Three daysearlier, Archduke Franz Ferdinand,the heir to theAustrian throne, had been assassinated- a direevent which led to theFirst World War - and, with thisin mind,Bertie Samuelson deliveredan emotional,patriotic speech. Soon afterthe outbreak of hostilities in August,Bertie produced The Great EuropeanWar , a 20-minutefictitious newsreel completed in a matterof days. Since British moviegoerswere yet to learn about the horrorsof trench warfare,they gave this patrioticfilm an enthusiasticreception and new sequences were thenadded. By the end of Septemberan expanded version was also released."Bertie was renownedfor his freneticenergy. In addition to runninghis filmrental business in Birminghamand his filmstudios in South London, he organized,ran and fundeda Birminghamdivision of the St. JohnAmbulance Brigade". He also headed the CinematographTrade AmbulanceFund. Meanwhile, the company had begun work on A Study in Scarlet, an 208 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer adaptationof Sir ArthurConan Doyle's novel and one of the earlyfilm ver- sionsof a SherlockHolmes mystery.James Braginton, a memberof the office staffin Birmingham,was castas thefamous detective, because (whilelacking experienceas an actor)he looked and playedthe partsplendidly. One tech- nicalproblem had to be overcome:the Worton Hall studioswere not yet complete. Scenes representingthe Mormon "covered wagon trek" over the Rockiesto Utah wereaccordingly filmed by George Pearsonat the Cheddar Gorge in Somerset,while the desert scenes wereshot by Bertieand an assis- tantamong the sand dunesof his hometown, Southport. All thisneeded con- siderableorganizing and at Southportmany extras had to be drawnfrom the local (and moredistant) population. Released at the end of December 1914, A Studyin Scarlet was enthusiasticallyreviewed by the critics. (As itsopening itemin January2008, the Bioscope Festival of Lost Films advertisedwhat could onlyhave been an imaginaryre-screening of this picture, at a longvan- ished theatrein London.)23 Moss Empires,who laterhandled manyother Samuelson features,paid a recordsum forthe UK rights. This filmwas thefirst of a long seriesdirected by George Pearsonand his eventual replacements.So relentlesswas the speed of production that Pearsonleft for Gaumont after just over a year,compelling Alexander Butler, Fred Paul, Rex Wilson and othersto take over as directors.A numberof Samuelson filmswere adaptationsof popular classics, novels such as John Halifax, Gentleman(191 5) and LittleWomen (1917) or playslike J. M. Barrie's TheAdmirable Crichton (1918) and W. S. Houghton's Hindle Wakes(1918), a storyof class prejudice thatbroke all attendancerecords in the English Midlands (Michael Balcon's remakeof thisfilm was released in 1931). For The Valleyof Fear (1916), anotherSherlock Holmes mystery,the great detec- tivewas playedby H. A. Saintsbury,who had alreadymade morethan 1000 stageappearances in thatrole. Milestones(1916), based on a play by Arnold Bennett and Edward Knoblock, has oftenbeen hailed as Bertie's finest achievement. Not all the filmswere based on classics, however: The Girl WhoLoves a Soldier(19 17) featuredVesta Tilley,who could stillappear convincinglyas a younggirl; one ofher best-known songs was workedinto the musical accom- paniment.Bertie assembled a groupof actors and actresseswho made regular appearances in his films.They included Isobel Elsom, Campbell Gullan, PeggyHyland, Owen Nares and Tom Reynolds,who were laterjoined by Lillian Hall-Davis, a formerbeauty queen (unable to make the transitionto talkingpictures, she committedsuicide at theage of35 in London in October 1933)- Midway throughthe "War to end all Wars", Britishgovernment policy

23Bioscope Festival ofLost Films, London, 14 Jan. 2008. 209 GabrielA. Sivan

was suddenlyreversed and a 1916 Order in Council prohibitedthe export of filmswithout a speciallicence. This had a disastrouseffect on theBritish film industry,which lost the dominant position it had held,together with France, in the world market.24At that time,however, Bertie's companywas in a healthiereconomic position than many others in theUK and he was able to produce TheSorrows of Satan (1916) and My Lady's Dress(1917), two films starringGladys Cooper, as well as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor, The Elder Miss Blossomand otherfilms in 1918. During the next two yearshe made morethan 30 pictures,ranging from Quinney's to TheMagistrate, which were adapted fromstage plays. Damaged Goods(1919), based on a French drama by Eugène Brieux, reflectedwar experiencesand displayed considerable moralcourage, since it tackledthe problem of venereal disease resulting from promiscuity.Although endorsed by liberal churchmenand Members of Parliament,it had mixedreviews and thenewly established British Board of Film Censorsrefused to grantit a certificate. Duringthe period immediately after the war, difficulties were encountered by theBritish film industry, mainly due to competitionfrom the US, where "big money" was available forlavish productions.Having anticipatedthis development,Bertie organized the firstvisit to Hollywood by a group of Britishactors and technicians,after contracting to makea seriesof films there. The party,which included Rahleen and Harry Lorie, set sail aboard the Empressof France on 14 November19 19 and, afterdisembarking at Quebec, had a narrowescape fromdeath when their train ran into a blizzardand col- lided withanother express train en routeto Montreal.The Lories refusedto travelany furtherthan Chicago but a warmreception and usefulpublicity awaitedthe restof the partywhen theyfinally reached Los Angeles.Bertie made six movies in just fourmonths at BruntonStudios, Universal City, includingThe Night Riders , Love inthe Wilderness and The UglyDucklings but his aim to producemore films on a returnvisit was neverrealized. Afterwork began once moreat WortonHall, thecompany made sportthe themeof variouspictures. The WinningGoal (1921) had 22 Britishfootball internationalsin the cast but aroused criticismbecause of a "gratuitously brutal"episode; Prideof the Fancy (1921) and The Knock-Out(1923) intro- duced a warhero, Captain Rex Davis, MC, in therole of a boxer;and Stable Companions(1923) was a dramaof the turf. By contrast,several films released in 1922- such as TheHoney pot and Mr PimPasses By (a screenversion of the playby A. A. Milne) - dealtwith the husband-and-wiferelationship. Industrialunrest, beginning with a railwaymen'sstrike in September1919 and spreadingto minersin theWelsh pits,led to a downturnin thefilm business. The threatof a nationwideroad and railstrike in 1921 promptedBertie

24Shipman, Story of Film , 187. 210 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer to investprecious funds in an ill-advisedventure, the Samuelson Transport Company, which by the end of Julyhad expanded to a fleetof 99 motor coaches and 56 luggage vans runningbetween London and a numberof coastal resorts.Most of these vehicleshad been acquired on hire purchase and, whenthe threatenedstrike was called off,Bertie's enterprise soon collapsed. In partnershipwith Sir WilliamJury, he then returnedto movie- makingthrough a new company,British Super Films; but one of its seven productions,The Rightto Strike (released in 1923), had a left-wingagitator as its villainand aroused working-classresentment because of its (perhaps unintended)anti-Labour slant. Risingproduction costs forcedBertie to set up a thirdand moreeffective company,Napoleon Films, in November1922. A RoyalDivorce (1923), filmed in England,France and Austria,utilized his original techniques and ambitious approach,turning the lifeof Napoleon Bonaparteinto a 150-minute screen "epic" thatportrayed the Emperor's campaigns, triumphs and lastexile after Waterloo.An internationalcast was engaged;a smallarmy of carpentersand artistsreconstructed Moscow; and entireBritish regiments, as well as 2000 unemployedex-servicemen, took part in thebattle scenes. One unpublicized eventthat occurred during the filmingin Europe involveda largecrowd of half-frozenactors who tookrefuge in thePalace of Fontainebleauand nearly setit ablaze whenthey lit a bonfireto keep warm.Although film critics agreed thatthe picture was too long (it finallyran to 100 minutesin Britain),highly favourablereviews appeared in The Timesand othernewspapers. (Renamed Napoleonand Josephine, the filmwas cut to 73 minutesfor screening in the US and Canada, where it made $11,500 fromone week's presentationin Washington,DC alone.) As it turnedout, A Royal Divorcewas Bertie'slast commercialsuccess. The screenversion of Leoncavallo's operaPagliacci (1923-24) also created a judiciousblend of dramaand spectaclebut producingthis film must have been an enormouschallenge due to the lack of sound. Shot mostlyon loca- tionin Italy,the productionoverran its budget,compelling Bertie to solve the problemin a typicallyunorthodox way. Aftera hectic rail journeyto Paris, he went to the Sporting Club, tried his luck at cheminde fer and managed to win nearly£3000, thus enabling him to cover the picture's deficit.Always ready to experimentwith a new technique,he gaveaudiences an unexpectedthrill when they discovered that one sequenceof Pagliacci had been filmedin Prizmacolour. In common withDamaged Goodsfour years earlier, however, two more "problem"films gave rise to widespreadcriticism in 1923. A book writtenby Dr Marie Stopes was thesource of Married Love , whichemphasized the need forsex educationand birthcontrol. This picturemet with strong objections fromthe Catholic Church and it was onlyafter an agreementwith the British 211 GabrielA. Sivan film censors that its release was permittedunder a new title, Maisie's Marriage.Further controversy was arousedby Shoulda DoctorTellig which tackledthe issue of doctor-patientconfidentiality. A BritishLion remakeof thisfilm (1930) made use ofthe original story by G. B. Samuelsonand Walter Summers, also providingAnna Neagle with a key role. Like some of his Hollywood contemporaries,Bertie had the knackof discoveringpotential moviestars. Those who made theirscreen debut in his filmsincluded Gladys Cooper, JohnGielgud, Roger Livesey, C. AubreySmith, Godfrey Tearle and Kay Walsh. Even withhis experienceas a filmproducer, Bertie Samuelson was any- thingbut a ladies' man. When he firstmet his wife-to-be,Marjorie Vint (1901-1989), she was a sixteen-year-oldwaitress at theCriterion Restaurant in Piccadilly.He feltthat she had themakings of a starand gave hera screen testat WortonHall but thenlost sight of her for a fewyears. Marjorie's father had been a mercantileofficer in Calcutta(Kolkata), India; hermother and two sistershad alreadyappeared on the stage. She began her actingcareer as an understudy,adopted the stage name of Marjorie Statler and eventually playedthe role of Mary,Queen of Scots, in ThisEngland, a historicaltrave- logue whichBertie filmedin October 1923. The role of Edward, Prince of Wales, was assignedto JessieMatthews, a Jewishteenager from Soho, who laterbecame a famousactress, dancer and singer.After Marjorie and Bertie resumedcontact, their friendship blossomed into a permanentromance.25 (As Marjorie Statler,she appeared in three of her husband's films:This England, She and For Valour.) They now had to face an obvious problem: Marjorie was a Gentile. Recallinghis late mother'sstern rejection of intermarriage,Bertie dreaded " the prospectof Rahleen followingBertha's exampleby "sittingshivah for him as well. Accordingly,his intendedwife agreed to embraceJudaism and applicationwas made to theLondon Beth Din foran Orthodoxgiyyur. Years later,Marjorie called to mind the instructionshe received: "I had to learn Hebrew,which was farfrom easy. Certainly,nothing was made easy forme . . . OrthodoxJudaism did not striveparticularly hard to obtainconverts. In fact,it seemedto me thatevery possible obstacle was beingplaced in mypath (though,of course,looking back, this may well have been to testmy sincer- ity).The finalexamination by six stern-lookingRabbis was not farshort of a nightmare.What pulled me through?- stubbornperseverance and mylove forBertie!"26 Having successfullypassed her tests,Marjorie accompanied himon a businesstrip to theUS and Canada in theautumn of 1923,with her motherserving as chaperone.Bertie made an additionalarrangement during thattour: "I marriedmy wifethree times, on consecutivedays. We werein 25For fuller details see Bertie , 342-44 and 457-58. 26See Bertie , 587. 212 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

Platei Portraitof Bertie Samuelson, c. 1911 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate2 Stillfrom Sixty Years A Queen,19 13 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

213 GabrielA. Sivan

214 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

Plate3 (topleft) Samuelson-Lorie wedding group,Birmingham, 1914 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate4 (left)A dramaticscene from A Study inScarlet, 1914 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate5 (above)A Studyin Scarlet : filming the MormonTrek sequence among the sand dunesat Southport Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate6 Cartoonof Bertie in action,£.19 15 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

215 GabrielA. Sivan

Plates7 and8 Two advertisementsfor A RoyalDivorce, 1923 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate9 SirJohn Gielgud's film Plate10 Bertieand Marjorie debutin TheUnwanted , 1924 Samuelson'swedding photograph, Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson 1923 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

216 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

Plate1 1 FilmingSir Henry Rider Haggard's She inBerlin, 1925 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate12 Advertisementfor She , 1926 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

217 GabrielA. Sivan

Plate13 Familyphotograph, c.1926 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate14 Last photographof Bertie and Marjorietogether, November 1946 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate1 5 RAF SgtDavid Samuelsonwith hismobile kitbag, 1945 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson 218 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

Plate16 MichaelSamuelson with Prince Plate17 Portraitof Sir Sydney Charlesand Princess Diana, ¿'1990 Samuelson Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate18 David Samuelsonreceiving hisOscar in Hollywood,2003 Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

219 GabrielA. Sivan

Plate19 Allfour Samuelson brothers togetherin the late 1970s Bycourtesy ofDavid W. Samuelson

Plate20 Memorialwindow at Southportsynagogue Photo:Arnold Lewis , courtesy ofSouthport HebrewCongregation 220 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

New York and on the firstday we marriedat the City Hall accordingto Americanlaw. On thesecond day, we wentto theBritish embassy [consulate] and marriedaccording to Britishlaw. On the thirdday, we weremarried in synagoguein accordancewith Jewish rites [that is, 'accordingto the Law of Moses and of Israel']. People in the hotelwe stayedat thoughtwe had gone ravingmad."27 Everystage of the relationship- Bertie'scourtship of Marjorie,her con- versionand theirwedding - had been keptsecret and it was not untilMarch 1924, aftertheir return to England, thatthe factswere revealedto his close relatives.Once she was introducedto them,however, Marjorie made a good impressionand was fullyaccepted by the Samuelson and Lorie families.

Bertie's decline and fall

A new and moremenacing depression hit Britain's film industry during the second halfof 1923, althougha fewproducers (notably Wilcox and Balcon) managedto weatherthe storm.After making The Unwantedand two other pictures,Bertie Samuelson ran into financial difficulties and Napoleon Films collapsed at the end of 1924. Desperate to findanother winner, he thought thata new versionof Sir HenryRider Haggard's She (filmedearlier in 1916) offeredthat prospect. The scheme originatedwith H. Lisle Lucoque, who had made theoriginal film as well as two otherRider Haggard movies,Allan Quatermainand KingSolomon s Mines,in 1917. Althoughbankrupt, Lucoque had succeeded in engagingLeander de Cordova, an experienced(and flam- boyant)director, and BettyBlythe, a Hollywood movie star,for the partof Ayesha, "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed". Since he needed a production companyand some initialfunding, Lucoque asked Bertie to help and he unwiselyagreed, partly because the scheme had Rider Haggard's blessing. Not even Hollywood could providea studio largeenough to accommodate the sets needed forShe but space was available in Germanyand the co- producersthen signed a contractwhereby Prometheus FV would financethe studio,scenery and stagecosts in returnfor the Germandistribution rights. Prometheusoffered the use of two studios: those of the Europäische Film Allianz(EFA) in centralBerlin and ofthe Zeppelinhalle in outlyingSpandau, whichboasted the world's largest floor-space of nearly 1 5,000 square metres. That was Bertie's firstmistake. The second was engagingand working withthe self-centredBetty Blythe, whose recurrentmishaps upset the production schedule. The third and worst of all was riskingmost of the Samuelson family'scapital to pay for salaries, filmstock and laboratory charges (amountingto some £10,000). Work proceeded in Januaryand 27See Bertie, 587. 221 GabrielA. Sivan

February1925 but was doggedby one misfortuneafter another and had to be completedin northWales. Rider Haggard, who apparentlywrote the sub- titles,was no admirerof "the Huns" and told his friendRudyard Kipling about Germanefforts to impoundthe negative for alleged debts. He died on 14 May 1925,less thana fortnightbefore the trade show. Bertie's 105-minute filmhad mixedreviews after its release in January 1926 and did notlive up to his expectations.A doubtfulenterprise from the verystart, She was a financial disaster,involving him in legalactions and adversepublicity from which he neverrecovered.28 Bertie persevered,though short of cash, with what became known as "quota quickies" - a dozen one-reel films in each presentation.They includedtwo series of TwistedTales that were released in 1926. He thentried to stagea comebackwith three "patriotics" entitled Land ofHope and Glory, Motherlandand For Valour.Thanks to his formerprestige, Bertie managed to persuadeSir Edward Elgar to conductthe musical prologue when Land of Hope and Gloryhad its tradeshow on ArmisticeDay, 11 November 1927. Althoughhis methodof production was now judged to be old-fashioned,the secondand thirdof these films call forattention because oftheir Jewish inter- est. The storyof Motherland, writtenby Bertie and Marjorie Samuelson, deals withthree families - one Protestant,one Catholic and one Jewish- whose sons meet in the trenches during the Great War. After Ikey Abrahamsonis posted "killed in action", a Christiangirl visits his parents, tellsthem she is his wifeand declaresthat she intendsto embraceJudaism. The Abrahamsonswelcome her and then,after the Armistice,Ikey returns alive and well,having been a severelywounded prisoner.Critics pointed to the innovatorystress laid on theJewish family, their home lifeand religious ceremonial.Kine-Weekly appreciated the lightrelief and pathosmingled in these scenes, while The Cinemapredicted that the Jewish emphasis would guaranteethe film'spopularity "in certaindistricts".29 (This dénouement runs counter to the assimilationistline of Hollywood movies, in which "good" screenJews discarded their religious values and practicein orderto mergewith the world of Americanism [and findattractive Gentile partners]. Two late examplesof that trend are ThejolsonStory [1946] andJolson Sings Again [1949]. In the firstmovie, Cantor Yoelson [Al Jolson's father]is a strictlyOrthodox Jew; in the second,he discardshis yarmulka, dances with his son's Gentilewife and eats whateveris set beforehim.) The filmFor Valour (1928), written,produced and directedby G. B. Samuelson,made imaginativeuse ofa television-ageframework to relatethe storyof the VictoriaCross and its notablerecipients. Leonard Keysor,VC, 28For this and the Blythe vs. Samuelson High Court battle (April 1926, which vindicated the producer'scharacter), seeBertie , 676-85 and 694-705. 29Ibid., 716. 222 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

one of the fiveJews who gained this medal duringthe Great War, played himselfin the film.An Australianby birth,he had displayedrare courage duringthe Gallipoli campaignof 1915, pickingup live bombs hurledby the Turks and throwingthem back like cricketballs to explode on the enemy side. Unfortunately,when this scene was re-enacted for the camera, a "dummy"charge exploded in Keysor'sface, causing severe injuries for which he was laterawarded damages.30Bertie's misfortunesled to the sale of his WortonHall studiosin 1928 and to his bankruptcyat theend of 1929. By thenhe had directedtwo picturesbased on novelsby Edgar Wallace, TheForger and The Valleyof Ghosts. Wallace, thenewly appointed chairman ofBritish Lion, had asked himto makethese films but the second was badly affectedby thearrival of Hollywood "talkies" with The Jazz Singer,starring Al Jolson,at theforefront. The futureof silent pictures was now beingques- tionedand BertieSamuelson, who "didn't believein sound and didn'tmake it intosound",31 was henceforthconsigned to the fringesof the Britishfilm industry.With Sir E. Gordon Craig as producer (or co-producer), he managed to direct eight more pictures, such as The WickhamMystery , Inquest, MatineeIdol and Spotting. A seriesof 12 "shorts"containing delib- erate errors,Spotting (1934) was probablywritten by Bertie himselfand includeda 13-minutefilm entitled "Lipsky 's ChristmasDinner" in whicha Jewishshopkeeper thwarts a crook'splan to relievehim of a valuableemerald. Security, devised soon afterNeville Chamberlain'sMunich agreementwith Hitler in September 1938, was never filmed.The antisemitic"foreigner" whose gang victimizesa Jewin thisstory could well have been a thinlydis- guisedOswald Mosley, theleader of the British Fascists.

A sad end (1930-1947)

Meanwhile, Bertie had to take care of a growingfamily after his wifegave birthto David (in 1924), Sydney(in 1925) and Neville Anthony(in 1929). In order to earn a living,he set about inventingvarious domestic products togetherwith a storybook thatcombined the textin frontwith a "pop-up" toy theatreat the back. This was patented by Marjorie in 1930, as her husband was only dischargedfrom his bankruptcyin March 1931, a few weeksafter Michael, theiryoungest son, was born. The Samuelsons had a comfortablehome in Hendon buteconomic pressure forced them to letit and moveto Worthingon theSussex coastin 1933. There Bertieset up a number of"tuppence a week" lendinglibraries that ensured him a reasonableincome forthe nextfew years. This improvementin theirsituation enabled Bertie, 30Ibid., 717-18 and 780-82; see also EJ 11: 1553-54. 31David Samuelson, interview with the author, June 1994. 223 GabrielA. Sivan

Marjorieand thetwo youngerboys to returnto London. David and Sydney remainedas boardersat ShorehamGrammar School but wenthome by train each weekend.One thingis clear: both parentstook theJewish training of theirchildren very seriously. "Although we werethe only two Jewish boys in the school", David recalls,"we stillmanaged to observethe Jewish laws we did at home . . . We alwayshad cerealsfor breakfast instead of bacon and egg and avoidedother forbidden foods; we each woretsitsis and coveredour heads at nightwith our hands when we said our prayers".According to Sydney, "Morning assemblywas fairlyreligious-oriented, and my fatherwas not happy about our attending.The school's problemwas what to do withus duringthe ten-minuteassembly and the followinghalf-hour of Religious Instruction,and so we spent this extratime each morningat woodwork." David Samuelson wrylyobserved that "while the restof the school learned aboutJesus Christ, we learnedhis trade".32 Afterthe lendinglibrary scheme proved a failure,Marjorie and her chil- drenreturned to thesouth coast, where she opened a wool shop at Shoreham- by-Sea in 1937. Bertie,the man whom othersremembered as a generous friend,colleague or employer,was now readyto acceptany job - fromediting BritishLion films(1938-40) to workingfar away in a Glasgow amusement park. "Throughout all the lean times", David affirms,"my parentsnever totallylost sightof theirfaith. My motherinvariably lit candles on Friday night,we neverhad the forbiddenfoods in our house or ate themwhen we wereout, my father always observed his mother'syahrzeit on theanniversary of her death [erevPesah ], we observed Passover . . . and fastedon Yom Kippur, even thoughwe livedmany miles from the nearest synagogue".33 A traumaticexperience put theirfaith to a severe test,which David has described:

As thetime approached for my barmitzvah, Sydney and I usedto travel by train to theHolland Road (Orthodox)Synagogue, Hove, on Sundaymornings to attendcheder . . . On oneof his infrequent visits to London,and although he couldill affordthem, my father brought me back a tallis[prayer shawl] and a pairof tefillin [prayer accessories], all in preparationfor the great day. Then, oneSaturday morning, Sydney and I wentthere to attend the Sabbath service. Immediatelyafter the service the rabbi, Rabbi [Berel] Wilner, came rushing out ofthe synagogue to catchup withus in theentrance hall as we wereleaving. "How did youboys get here?" he demandedto know.We werehonest (and naive)and replied "We cameby train." He thensaid, "Well, I wouldrather you didn'tcome." Sydney and I, andour parents, were devastated. We neverwent tothat synagogue again. Sydney and I neverhad barmitzvahs, neither did Tony 32Bertie, 851,856. 33Ibid., 868.

224 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer

orMichael, and we werenever able to mixwith the Jewish community until manyyears later when we werein theRAF - andBertie was denied the joy of seeinghis sons "barmitzvahed". [David Samuelson added that he "putmatters right"by having a long-delayedbarmitzvah celebration on hiseightieth birth- dayin 2004.]34

In hiszeal to upholdSabbath observance, Rabbi Wilnerclearly forgot HillePs gentlerway of "drawingpeople near to the Torah" ( Avot 1:12). Clearly, makingsome discreetenquiries and arrangingfor the boys to receivehome hospitalityover Shabbat never occurred to thisshortsighted Rav' as a result, he might well have driven a whole familyout of the Jewish (let alone Orthodox)fold. Attitudes have fortunatelychanged since then. Soon afterwar broke out in 1939,Bertie Samuelson was givena new job as the supervisorof two filmstorage depots at Great Barr,near Birmingham. For anyonewith his backgroundin the filmindustry it would have been a thanklesstask; but forBertie, a diabeticweighing about 280 pounds, such a lonelyexistence must have been heartbreaking.Rarely able to see his wifeand children,he fellill and died in his sleep on the morningof 17 April 1947, whenhe was scheduledto enterhospital.35 David Samuelson, thenserving withthe Royal Air Force in West Germany,flew home on compassionate leave and had to deal witha seriousproblem. His fatherhad expresseda wish to be crematedbut the Lories, Rahleen and Harry,were upset and strongly objected on Orthodox religious grounds. David remembersgoing to see Rabbi Israel Brodie,the SeniorJewish Chaplain, whom he had oftenmet in the past (and who succeeded Dr J. H. Hertz as Britain'sChief Rabbi in the followingyear), to know how he should proceed in the circumstances. David's accountof the interview is rathersurprising: "[Rabbi Brodie] was in no doubt and said thatif it was the wish of the deceased and his widow that he should be cremated,then that is whatshould happen. I recallhim taking a book offthe bookshelf and showingme a passage whichjustified his advice. I was thenable to tellthe Lories thatwhat we weredoing was correct.They said theywould liketo arrangea memorialservice at a laterdate, but I don't thinkthey ever did."36Now, althoughthe United Synagogue's hevrakad- dishahad at one timepermitted the burial of a crematedJew if the ashes were firstplaced in a coffin,this was no longerthe practice and it is hardto believe thatRabbi Brodie would have told anyonethat cremation was halakhically permissible.David described the finalscene: "I then went to PerryBarr, whereonly Sydney, Tony and a couple oflocals attendedthe funeral [which Sydneyhad arrangedwith an undertaker].We had no Ministerand I readthe 34Ibid., 868-69. 35Death announced inthe^C, 25 April 1947. 36Bertie , 896-97. 225 GabrielA. Sivan

funeralservice from the Jewish prayer book in English,because myHebrew was not good enough".37The factthat no rabbi or "minister"officiated stronglysuggests that Rabbi Brodieknew it wouldbe a goyisheraffair and that whateveradvice he gave had been misunderstood. It was, in any case, a tragicend forthe pioneerwho had made well overa hundredfilms, chiefly as theirproducer but sometimesalso as theirdirec- tor.38His greatvirtue, courage, was particularlyemphasized in a tributeby one ofBritain's great film producers, Sir Michael Balcon, whoseown career began whenBertie's was alreadyin decline: "Things werenot easy in those days,but one alwaysknew that Samuelson would put on a bold faceand keep going,come whatmay. We all knewthat he had his disasters,but he always gotback - you feltthat nothing could knockhim down. He was a completely dedicatedfilm man . . . Samuelsonand a fewcontemporaries were the nucleus upon whichthe present [British] industry is based ... If I wereasked to pick thecharacter of my day in thefilm industry, I would say,without hesitation, thatit was G. B. Samuelson."39 In the twilightof his life,when he was regardedas a failureand all his achievementsseemed a thingof the past, Bertie wrote: "The curtainis down, thecameras are silent,the film has fadedout - butwho knows? At somefuture date a new generationof Wylie-Samuelsonsmay carry on the traditionsfor theiruncle and theirfather; then the curtainwill riseagain, the cameras will grindand thefilm will fade in".40 It was an astonishinglyprophetic remark.

Epilogue: the Samuelson dynasty

"If you mustgo intothe film business", Bertie told his eldestson, "be a tech- nician, not a producer. Let otherpeople worryabout the money". It was sound advice.In 1939 Bertiewrote a letterto his old associate,Sir E. Gordon Craig,the managing director of BritishMovietone News, askingif he could finda job forDavid Samuelson,who was stillonly 14. "Wait untilhe's 16", Craigreplied, "then write again". That is how David begantraining as a cam- eramanin 1941. Two yearslater he joined the Royal Air Force, servedas a flightengineer until 1947 and thenresumed his careerwith Movietone. Like David, SydneySamuelson also workedas a cameramanafter serving 37Bertie, 897. 38Most of these films have been lost but they are fully catalogued byDavid Samuelson inBertie , 1041-82.Asmall number are preserved inthe National Film and Television Archive. The frag- mentof Sixty Years A Queenis mentioned above. Ten complete films have survived, including DamagedGoods ,Maisie's Marriage and (by a luckychance) She. Of others, such as Motherland , onlysections remain. 39Quoted in Bertie , 903-04. w Ibid.,905. 226 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer in theRAF and firstwent into business hiring out his equipmentwhen it was not required. He and his two youngerbrothers, Neville Anthony(Tony, 1929-20 10) and Michael Edward (1931-1998), each invested £100 in a familyenterprise originally known as SamuelsonFilm Service,which became theworld's largest rental agency for motion picture and televisionequipment. Each ofthe brothers had a specificrole in thecompany - Sydneyas chairman and managingdirector, Michael as jointmanaging director and Tony as the one dealingwith financial and legalmatters. David leftMovietone in i960 to becomeSamuelson's director of engineering. By 1980,the Samuelson Group occupied a large site in the north-westLondon districtof Cricklewood, employinga staffof 400, with branches in France and Australia.41Film creditsin major productionsacknowledged the services renderedby the group, which was finallyabsorbed by the BirminghamEagle Trust con- glomeratein 1987 aftera takeoverestimated at some 38-48 million. Bertie's widow, Marjorie Samuelson, who naturallytook pride in their achievements,died at theage of 88, withall herwits about herand thejoy of havinggreat-grandchildren.42 The fourSamuelson brothersgained distinctionin variousfields, public as well as private.While performinghis National Service,Michael learned skillsin the photographicsection of the RAF whichproved useful when he workedfor Movietone and theSamuelson Group, producingmany Olympic Games and World Cup soccerfilms. He was electedthe president of Variety Club Internationalin 1980 and raisedmillions of pounds forchildren's char- ities,often in cooperationwith Prince Charles and PrincessDiana. Awarded 43 a CBE in 1989, he died at the earlyage of 67. Tony qualifiedas a barrister at the age of 19 but could not practiselaw foranother two years,by which time(as an armyofficer) he had defendedother national servicemen at courts martial.Flying was his hobby:in 1969 he was the jointwinner of a transat- lanticair race forlight aircraft; he also collectedvintage fighter planes and at one timeowned two Spitfiresand one of thethree surviving Hurricanes. A permanenttrustee of BAFT A, the British Academy of Film and TelevisionArts, Sydney has receivedmany honours including a CBE in 1978 and the Michael Balcon award in 1985. He became the firstBritish Film Commissionerin 1991, responsiblefor attracting overseas film productions to theUK, and receiveda knighthoodin 1995 forhis "servicesto theBritish Film Commission". As a loyal Jew, Sir Sydney has headed the British Friends of Akim,Israel's Society forthe rehabilitationof mentallyhandi- capped children,presided over Jewish film festivals and denounceda leftist 41See James Clement' 'Has Anyone Not Heard of Samuelsons?', British Journal ofPhotography (Feb.1981). 42Death announced inthe JC (28 April 1989). 43Death announced inthe jfC (4 Sept.1998); obituary inthe JC two weeks later. 227 GabrielA. Sivan trade union ban on acceptingfilm work in Israel. About 20 yearsago, an evocative"This Is Your Life" programmewas devotedto himon Britishtel- evision. Two of his sons, Peter (1951- ) and Marc (1961- ), established Samuelson ProductionsLtd in 1990,thus continuing the family tradition. David Samuelson developed the "Candid Camera" techniquefor ABC Television and filmedthe "World in Action" documentariesfor Granada. Over theyears, he also helped to filmQueen ElizabethIPs coronation,three royalweddings, the funeralof Sir WinstonChurchill and otherimportant events.In 1968 he made a special documentaryabout Carmel College, the now defunctJewish public school, in which "a lot of sophisticatedtech- niques" were employed.44The photographicprocesses that he invented secured his election to the British Screen Advisory Council, the Royal Television Society and the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. For theremote-control head of the Louma cameracrane - a tech- nicalinnovation that "changed the way films are made" - David was awarded an Oscar in 2003. (This device was used in themaking of Gandhi, Raidersof theLost Ark and otherpictures.) He has also devotedtime to researchingthe Samuelson family'shistory and to publishingan illustratedrecord of his careerin films.45 Professionalsuccess is not everything,however: only David and Sydney marriedwithin the Jewish community (they belong to Reformsynagogues in London) and only Sydney's grandchildrenare halakhicallyJews. The rest, in David's words, are all "mixed up" and his own two sons, Paul Julian (1956- ) and Adam Wolf(1961- ), thougheducated at CarmelCollege, chose to "marryout". Michael's youngerdaughter, the actress Emma Samms (i960- ), who starredin Dynastyand other televisionproductions, has divorcedall threeof her Gentile husbands. Because of her "English Rose" good looks, she receivedtwo offersto featureas a Playboycentre-fold and rejectedthem both. In April 1996, David and Sir Sydney togetherwith Michael and Tony (who were then alive) and about 30 other Samuelsons - includingfamily memberswho had flownin fromNew York and Los Angeles- paid a nostal- gic visitto Bertie's home town,Southport. A double commemorationwas held thereas a preludeto nationwideevents marking the British film industry'scentenary. The Samuelsonshad reserveda wholerailway coach fortheir journeybut thetrain did notarrive on timeat LiverpoolLime Street,nearly disruptingtheir schedule.46 Once theyreached Southport, a plaque record- ing G. B. Samuelson's contributionto Britishmovie-making was affixedto the old familyhome in Nevili Street. Later, as the Jewish Chronicle 44Report in the JC. (2 Aug. 1968). 45His 54-page work issubtitled A Life Behind and Among the Cameras (2010). 46JC (3 May 1996): 30. 228 GeorgeBerthold Samuelson (1889-1947): Britain's Jewish film pioneer reported,47a memorialwindow bearing the names of Henschel and Bertha Samuelson was unveiledat the SouthportHebrew Congregation'sArnside Road synagogue. "It's a very exciting day for all of us", Sir Sydney Samuelson,the British Film Commissioner,declared. His sentimentswere echoed by the mayorof Sefton,who hosted a town hall receptionfor the family. At a luncheonin the synagoguehall, David Samuelson, the eldest of the fourbrothers, told theguests how a weekearlier he had discovereda beauti- fullybound siddurpresented to his uncle,Laurence Samuelson,on theocca- sion of his barmitzvah in 1893. This happened to be the Southport community'sfirst barmitzvah celebration, as notedearlier. Fittingly, David now returnedthe siddurto the congregation."To go back to one's rootsis somethingeveryone should do fromtime to time", he observed. "It is a voyageof discovery".

47Ibid., 15.

229