Norman Mclaren: Between the Frames

Dobson, Nichola. "Stirling’s Sons." Norman McLaren: Between the Frames. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. 53–81. Animation: Key Films/ Filmmakers. Bloomsbury Collections. Web. 27 Sep. 2021. .

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Copyright © Nichola Dobson 2018. You may share this work for non-commercial purposes only, provided you give attribution to the copyright holder and the publisher, and provide a link to the Creative Commons licence. 53

Chapter 2

S TIRLING’S SONS

John Grierson (1898–1972)

Figure 2.1 John Grierson (date unknown).

I oft en wonder what would have happened to me if I’d been born 2 years earlier, and never met John Grierson at the Scottish Amateur Film Festival in 1935. I was just very lucky – what a matter of chance! 1

John Grierson is oft en credited for much of McLaren’s success; he ‘discovered’ young McLaren at the Glasgow Amateur Film Festival in 1936 and off ered him a job at the GPO in London, and later at the NFB of Canada. Th ese key job off ers did indeed impact dramatically on McLaren’s career and is commonly referred to in literature on McLaren. Th e depth of their relationship could be argued to be more than a boss- employee role, but rather mentor, and eventually a friend. Th is chapter will examine their lasting relationship which developed over time

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54 Norman McLaren

to become what Forsyth Hardy referred to as ‘one of the most fascinating stories in the whole history of fi lm’.

I was sitting beside Grierson when we fi rst saw this fi lm at the Scottish Amateur Film Festival in Glasgow. One was made from painting directly onto the celluloid and, when Grierson saw this, he grasped my arm (I’ve still got the dent) and said, ‘Who made these?’ I told him a little about the man. Th at was the beginning of the contact between Grierson and McLaren. Th e other fi lm was about life at the Glasgow School of Art, called Seven till Five or something of the kind. It was full of amateurish camera tricks. Norman later told me Grierson was aghast at this fi lm because he thought it was full of sexual symbolism. Grierson took him off and gave him a proper wigging about making a fi lm full of sexual symbolism, and that certainly put Norman off . . . Th e link between Grierson and McLaren is one of the most fascinating stories in the whole history of the fi lm . . . Th e full inter- relationship between the two men is utterly fascinating. I think it would have happened anyway but it appeared stronger because both men came from Stirling. 2

Grierson is well known in fi lm studies as a pioneer in documentary fi lmmaking and is credited with much of the modern understanding of factual fi lm production. He was also well known outside of the academy as a prolifi c writer and presenter of Scotland. Th is chapter begins with a biographical approach and consider the parallels between Grierson and McLaren’s lives at home and how they intersected abroad. It looks at Grierson’s own relationship with Scotland and suggests that by maintaining this in a more explicit way than McLaren, he was able to perhaps enjoy more recognition at home, even while he lived away. Th is connection to Scotland is perhaps what inspired the initial enthusiasm, beyond the talent Grierson spotted, but was something which lasted over the years as an important link between the two men. From this biographical account, the relationship will be considered once again through McLaren’s letters to his parents and friends, about Grierson, but also to Grierson, and their opinions gathered in interviews. It is interesting to see how their initial meeting was recalled by each party and the how their practices complimented one another. Th ere have been numerous, detailed accounts of Grierson’s life over the years, perhaps most importantly the publications by Forsyth Hardy, who spent a considerable amount of time with him. He is also the subject of several notable articles and books on his work including Ellis 3 and Murray4 as well as several more general accounts on documentary, 5 Hardy’s books are far more in depth than this chapter needs to be but will be referred to throughout out as a vital resource. Th ough these other texts give full accounts of Grierson’s life, it is useful here to examine it further as both a reminder of his legacy, and to fully consider the nature of their lasting mentor and friend relationship.

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Stirling’s Sons 55

Born in Deanston Village, Perthsire, on 26 April 1898, John Grierson, like McLaren, was from a relatively comfortable family, with working- class roots in the fi shing industry in the northeast of Scotland, then transformed by his father Robert Morrison Grierson, who took a job as a schoolmaster in Deanston. Th e Griersons had a long family tradition of light keepers, but Robert’s success at the school saw him promoted to headmaster. Grierson’s mother Jane Anthony was also a teacher and was very politically active due to strong family infl uences from her own father; she was a suff ragette and a socialist. Th is had a great deal of infl uence on the young John, who was surrounded by political discussion from an early age. Grierson had three older sisters and a younger brother when they moved to Cambusbarron, Stirling, in 1900 (he later had three younger sisters [one died]). Notable among his siblings were fellow future directors Marion and Ruby, who would share his interest in political and social fi lms. Grierson attended Stirling High School in 1908, as McLaren would in the 1930s; he thought some of his father’s teaching focused too much on the indi- vidual and education for its own sake. He was concerned with social issues (as his mother and grandfather had been). Grierson did very well at school and was accepted to the University of Glasgow in 1914, but the breakout of war disrupted his education. He initially went to work in munitions in Alexandria then joined the Navy volunteer reserve (NVR) and trained at Crystal Palace in London. Forsyth Hardy makes reference to Grierson’s upbringing in Scotland as fun- damental – his parents were teachers who were ‘dedicated to their profession to a degree one seldom fi nds today, even in Scotland, with its long tradition in Education’. 6 Grierson’s mother came from a suff ragette background, her father a staunch socialist. Due to this exposure to a very specifi c educational and political life, John very quickly became aware of social inequalities in his local area and in the wider country. ‘For Grierson, therefore, education as we knew it in Scotland in the fi rst decade of the century was a way of life.’ 7 Th is suggests that he continued to have a desire to educate in much of his work; his fi lms and writing are educational (albeit for an adult audience), as well as trying to facilitate the creation of bodies which could provide education such as fi lm boards providing propaganda, something which would be the driving force of much of his later career. Th e distinction should be made here that Grierson viewed propaganda as a tool to educate and inform the state, rather than the perhaps more sinister connota- tions that the phrase has in contemporary, and particularly post- war society. In order to participate in the war, which had disrupted his studies, he lied about his age to become a telegraphist in the NVR and from 1916 was aboard minesweepers where he became ‘accustomed to shipboard life’ 8 and the regi- men of navy life. Grierson was fi nally able to join the University of Glasgow in 1919; however, Hardy described his classmates as ‘an angry generation’, “discourteous and arro- gant and impatient with our masters’, 9 and suggested that ‘the rebelliousness

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56 Norman McLaren

which had been generating in Grierson’s mind since his return from war service began to take deliberate and articulate form . . . Grierson was a member of the University Fabien Society . . . its star performer’. 10 Th e upheaval of war had left its impact but likewise the issues at home were of equal concern for Grierson, who had seen injustice and poverty in his local mining village. ‘In Glasgow and Clydeside it was a time of social upheaval and it would have been strange if Grierson, with the infl uence of his parents concern added to his own humanist inclination, had not responded.’ 11 Grierson began writing and focused on the problems he saw, Hardy suggesting that, ‘he was developing and strengthening his concepts of man and society which were so important to him in his later work’. 12 (He was known to be highly argumentative, a trait he was said to enjoy and used this passion in his work.) He wrote poetry for Glasgow University Magazine (1920– 23) and won several prizes at the university. 13 Despite his grandfather’s and mother’s socialist affi liations, Grierson was not so specifi c in his politics, having a ‘disinclination to make an explicit party commitment – a disinclination which was to be present throughout his lifetime’. 14 Th is refusal to sign up to any one party was similar to McLaren, who having originally identifi ed as a communist in his youth, was quick to disavow them when he saw Russia’s participation in the war. He later suggested that he was a pacifi st, but his politics, still left leaning, were very much humanist in nature. Th is shared interest in social issues would be evident in the work of both men as they progressed through their fi lm careers. Grierson’s world travels began in earnest in 1924 when he visited Chicago on a Rockefeller fellowship. Th ere he started a friendship with painter Rudolph Weisenborn. Th ough Grierson was there to witness the birth of jazz, he was not enamored of the University of Chicago: ‘He had to fi nd a more active involvement.’ 15 He was interested in immigration and mass media, particularly in how the press was diff erent in Europe and the United States. Th e fellowship gave Grierson the opportunity to see more of the country and he followed up his initial trip with a journey across the United States in 1925 and 1926. He began working in journalism in Chicago with a column on painting for the Evening Post. 16 It was here that Grierson began researching the box offi ce and looked at ‘success and failure’; he subsequently published seven articles for Motion Picture News in which he developed his forceful nature: ‘[he] accepted that fi lm was a popular art . . . but he argued strongly that the producers should not despise their audience’. 17 Like many others at the time, Grierson was influenced by the Russian fi lmmaking pioneer Sergei Eisenstein, and said of him, ‘He was the fi rst to make it plain that the fi lm could be an adult and positive force in the world. He was the fi rst to demonstrate what the deliberate exercise of the power of the cinema might be.’ 18 McLaren would also be inspired by what he saw from Eisenstein and the new exciting possibilities of moving images.

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Stirling’s Sons 57

Perhaps one of the most pivotal occurrences for Grierson, however, was when he saw what is considered to be one of the earliest examples of documentary fi lm – Nanook of the North – and met director Robert Flaherty in New York in 1925. He became what Hardy termed his ‘critical attorney’. 19 It was while reviewing Flaherty’s fi lm Moana for the Sun (8 February 1926) that he coined the term ‘documentary’ which is so commonly used today. Th is key and lasting phrase was troubling to Grierson, who desired a better description but later said, ‘Documentary is a clumsy description but let it stand.’ 20 He would later defi ne documentary fi lm as ‘the creative treatment of actuality’.21 Th is term was repeated by other fi lmmakers, including McLaren, who would use it to distin- guish between ‘actuality’ and animation as an alternative to our more common term ‘live action’. Aft er his time in the United States, Grierson returned to the UK in January 1927 and was unsure whether he wanted to continue to work in journalism or seek opportunities in the cinema which had interested him so much. He began working with the Empire Marketing Board in London, arranging screenings of documentaries (such as Flaherty’s Nanook of the North ) in cinemas in London and then rural fi lms in Scotland, including an agriculture conference in Edinburgh. Keen to encourage Empire Marketing Board to embrace what he saw as the potential of fi lm, he was frustrated at the lack of pace and enthusiasm and decided to make his own fi lm, Drift ers . Th e fi lm took several months of preparation and research visits and several weeks of fi lming. Th e production team created sets to replicate real life 22 with approximately 20,000 feet of fi lm Grierson had to learn to edit as he worked. ‘Grierson had a lot to learn, and learn he did, driven by desperation to make a success of the fi lm.’23 During the editing process, he was assisted by Margaret Taylor, whom he met through the Empire Marketing Board; she would later become his wife. Hardy described an odd turn in the progress of the documentary when, ‘Grierson became involved in a curious diversion, the direction of puppet fi lms, which seemed an unlikely pursuit for a man seeking realism in cinema.’ 24 Th is refers to a project aiding an Italian family who had lost a 200- year- old mari- onette collection in a fi re at Wembley stadium. Grierson had been asked for advice and suggested remaking the puppets and using them to make ‘short burlesques about Hollywood’. 25 He directed some of these featuring likenesses of stars such as Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers and Gloria Swanson, among others. Th is seemingly divergent approach to fi lmmaking became ‘ an enthusiasm of Grierson’s which he would stoutly defend against all criticism’. 26 Th is interest in puppetry demonstrated that he was receptive to other forms of fi lmmaking, including animation – an attitude which would enable him to support McLaren later. Th e editing of Drift ers fi nished in 1929 and was shown to the Empire Marketing Board committee. Th ey were unsure about the relatively new use of montage and asked for sections of it to be removed (Grierson thought these were the best sections) but he did so and re- edited.

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58 Norman McLaren

It was a moment of immense signifi cance for Grierson. Here was the prod- uct, not only of eighteen months of hard demanding work but of all he had absorbed in the fi rst thirty years of his life. Behind it were the family’s light- house tradition, his own service at sea, his study in America of the social use of fi lm, his conviction that the drama on the doorstep could be as exciting as any studio confection. Failure was unthinkable. 27

Th e fi lm got a screening at the fairly prestigious Film Society in London on 10 November 1929. He asked that his fi lm be shown before Eisenstein’s Potemkin (Eisenstein was also attending). Th e fi lm received numerous highly favourable reviews (and many comparing it to Potemkin as the preferred fi lm on the bill) – this success led to the public release of the fi lm throughout Britain. Stephen Tallent of the Empire Marketing Board wanted to follow up this success with another fi lm, but Grierson instead wanted to encourage other fi lmmakers. He began to bring young fi lmmakers to the Empire Marketing Board, and due to the fi nancial success of Drift ers he was able to start gathering like- minded people in various positions. ‘For him documentary was never an adventure in fi lmmaking at all but an adventure in public observations.’28 Th is notion of the observational nature of the documentary fi lm would be one of its key, and arguably most enduring, defi nition. Rather than make his own fi lms, Grierson and Tallant formed a fi lm unit within the board and worked hard to make fi lms with others, while Grierson worked equally hard trying to secure funding. He married Margaret Taylor in January 1930. Th is role with the new fi lm unit would be the fi rst of many similar developmental, supporting positions he would fi ll over his career. While developing the board, Grierson returned to writing and began with fi lm criticism for Clarion , a socialist monthly publication, starting in June 1929. He also wrote numerous articles for New Clarion , Everyman and New Britain , increasing his film criticisms and reviews. ‘Grierson was moving constantly about the country, talking to audiences about the work of the Empire Marketing Board. Some lectures were to fi lm societies being organized on the model of the Film Society in London, on whose council Grierson was now serving. He spoke to the Film Society of Glasgow on 14 December 1930.’ 29 Th ese travels would also set a precedent of his position, which would lead him to meet McLaren six years later. Th e Empire Marketing Board sent him to Canada in 1931 to try to develop trade. He went to the Canadian government’s motion picture bureau where he was impressed by their equipment, but less so of their content. During this time, he continued working at Empire Marketing Board and completed the Industrial Britain series, and these fi lms were widely shown around the country.

Coupled with Grierson’s ceaseless propagandising, in Whitehall, in the public prints and in lectures all over the country, they demonstrated that documentary was something more than a theory . . . As for the theory, Grierson had

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Stirling’s Sons 59

begun to give formal expression of the ‘First principles of Documentary’ in articles he wrote for Cinema Quarterly .30

Th ese articles formed the basis for the modern documentary theory, something Grierson would passionately promote over the years. Despite initially wanting to encourage others, Grierson continued with his own fi lmmaking and made Granton Trawler in 1932 followed by Th e Private Life of Gannets in 1934 for which he won an Oscar in 1934 (this was fi lmed at the Bass Rock near the coast of Edinburgh, some thirty miles from his childhood home). Th e Empire Marketing Board ended in 1933 due to the depression; Stephen Tallents joined the GPO and took the fi lm unit and fi lm library of the Empire Marketing Board with him. He essentially saved Grierson from a commercial takeover which ‘for Grierson given the relationship he had established between fi lmmaking and public aff airs, that was unthinkable’.31 Th e new unit began in earnest, and in 1936, NightMail was made as a collaboration between many of the staff , seen as something of a peak of production. Th e GPO fi lm unit had a diffi cult beginning, with criticism from the British Film Institute (BFI) and various Conservative MPs, who were threatened by the fi lm unit and wanted to limit their activities. However, documentary fi lmmaking was on the increase in the 1930s and started to move into more socially aware topics. Th e British Commercial Gas Association sponsored several fi lms including Enough to Eat? Th e GPO began to establish its credentials as a place for developing new talent and doing good work. In 1935 New Zealander Len Lye arrived and the GPO ‘adopted Lye’s Colour Box . In the same style Lye made Rainbow Dance and Trade Tattoo’. 32 A year later, in January 1936, Grierson

was adjudicator at the Scottish Amateur Film Festival in Glasgow where he saw a fi lm, Colour Cocktail , by a young student at the Glasgow School of Art. Norman McLaren had been experimenting in the same area as Len Lye without being aware of Lye’s work: he did not see ‘Colour Box’ until about two years later. 33

Grierson was impressed with McLaren and ‘told him that when he completed his course there would be a job waiting for him’. 34 McLaren arrived in London in 1936 and during his time at the GPO made Mony a Pickle and later Love on the Wing among others, which he contributed to. In the early months of his post, he was sent to Spain as a cameraman (he had been working in the cutting room). Th e output was Th e Defense of Madrid . McLaren was sympathetic to the Republicans, and though it is not explicitly stated, it can be assumed, given his personal politics, that Grierson shared these sympathies. Th is trip was just one that led to an increase of international documentaries at the GPO, though according to McLaren, as will be discussed later, the GPO was not offi cially involved in the production of Madrid .

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60 Norman McLaren

Th e GPO developed their output, and in April 1936, they incorporated the journal Cinema Quarterly into World Film News and Television Progress as a less theatrical publication which ‘resembled a tabloid’; however, this lasted only until 1938 due to poor circulation and lack of fi nance.35 Th e next few years were particularly busy for Grierson as he began to diver- sify some of his work. He became a consultant on Richard De Rochemont’s Th e March of Time documentary series. He was involved in persuading the forma- tion of Films of Scotland Committee in 1936 to help Scottish fi lmmaking ahead of the Empire Exhibition to be held in Glasgow in 1938. At New York’s World Fair, Grierson struggled to have fi lms shown as part of the British selection as they didn’t refl ect tradition and ceremony. Th e fi lms were shown within the American Science and Education section instead. Grierson resigned from the GPO on 30 June 1937 (he was accused tenuously of communism, something which would aff ect him again in the future). He was looking for more to do, feeling that during his tenure at the GPO he had been successful in both training and developing new talent, as well as having ‘stimu- lated a demand for documentary’. 36 His success in developing talent and increasing the rate of documentary fi lm production was noticed in 1937 when the high commissioner for Canada came to London and was interested in film and wanted to study the British documentary movement. Th is was delayed by various things, including wars in Europe and the death and coronation of the monarch in the UK, but Grierson was invited to Canada in 1938 to survey their fi lm developments. Aft er his visit to Canada he compiled a lengthy report to the government recommending what would eventually become the National Film Board. Th ey were slow to initiate his recommendations, but eventually did so, asking him to be commissioner (various others were deemed unsuitable or left early in the role). He also spent more time in the United States making connections and trying to think about the potential for war propaganda. During this time Grierson also visited other British Commonwealth countries, including New Zealand which was enthusiastically receptive to his ideas and adopted many of them very quickly. He was less successful in Australia, which did not develop a national fi lm board until aft er the war – the country was said to be too large and spread apart with no central will. Aft er he returned to Canada the NFB was quickly established in an old ware- house in Ottawa. He set about bringing in the best staff he could from various other projects he had worked on around the world, including Norman McLaren who was working in New York for the Guggenheim. McLaren came to Ottawa on the promise that he would not work on war propaganda fi lms and was given the freedom to work ‘where his genius was to enrich Canadian fi lmmaking over a span of thirty years’. 37 Grierson was renowned for his work in establishing these boards and once said,

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Stirling’s Sons 61

Th e greatest export of the Film Board has been the Film Act itself. It’s been translated into many languages, it’s become the model of serious intention by the cinema in the service of government, all over the world. Th e success of the Film Board has been in its helping [the Department of] External Aff airs to present the Canadian capabilities. Th e Film Board has been important in saying to countries of diff erent kinds, all over the world, that the fi lm is an instru- ment of great importance in establishing the patterns of national imagination . 38

Indeed the act of establishing these boards around the world could be considered as one of Grierson’s greatest contributions to fi lm history, were it not for the litany of other achievements, including his own award- winning fi lm productions, the continuous incubation of new talents and the promotion of diff erent lands, most notably his home. Th e NFB of Canada achieved a higher output of fi lms in its fi rst few years than its predecessor had in its history. Th is included French language fi lms and an award- winning output, and signifi cantly for such an early stage of its existence, prestigious Academy Awards. When Grierson wanted to leave at the end of his fi xed term, people campaigned to keep him. He joined the Wartime Information Board in 1943 and had great aspirations as to the educational potential. Once more his interest in education and the possibilities of fi lm as an educational tool became a driving force behind his work. In 1946, the communist issue which had arisen at the end of his GPO post returned and Grierson was asked to testify at the Royal Commission – it seemed that one of his past secretaries (Freda Linton) had some Russian involvement and there were suggestions of communist sympathies at the NFB led by Grierson. He testifi ed but the very fact of his presence at the hearing sullied his reputation; it was also the start of the McCarthy trials in the United States. In a shift away from Canada, he moved to New York to start a documentary company ( Th e World Today series) taking some of the NFB colleagues with him, including Guy Glover. Th ough funding decreased, some fi lms were made and he continued seeking support, but as the money ran out and the anti- communist mood grew, it became more diffi cult to work in the United States. Over the next year, diff erent opportunities arose, fi rst, an off er of a post by the UK government as head of information at UNESCO. He viewed this as a positive development and attended a conference to help draft plans on mass communication. He was off ered a position in the United States but his visa was refused, something which he remained angry about. He took up the UNESCO role based in Paris in 1946, encouraging the making of fi lms which would fi t their remit (they had no budget). Th is post at UNESCO was another connection to McLaren who would travel with the organization to both China and India to develop fi lmmaking in the early 1950s. Another McLaren connection came in 1947 when Grierson was invited to open the fi rst international festival of documentary fi lms in Edinburgh in

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62 Norman McLaren

1947. 39 Of the festival he said, ‘Here you are doing a great work . . . It is good that Scotland is making herself known, and on the higher levels of human relations, that is the only true publicity for one nation in its speech to another.’ 40 Th ese encouraging words demonstrated Grierson’s commitment to both fi lm and the increasing profi le of Scotland in the industry, an area he would become part of again later. Th e UNESCO post, like every other, did not last long as Grierson came back to London as controller of Central Offi ce of Information fi lm operations. He found a lack of enthusiasm for the documentary form that he had founded. Th ere was a lack of political will and what he viewed as ‘indiff erence’ from the fi lmmakers. He became involved in developing European fi lm bodies to col- laborate on the type of fi lms he felt should be made. He visited South Africa and he enjoyed his trip but knew it was a very diff erent place. In 1951, the Conservatives won the UK general election and disfunded the crown fi lm unit, destroying the documentary movement in the form which Grierson had established it. Th e movement had peaked during the war and began to fi zzle out due to politics and economics. Meanwhile, in 1950 he was off ered a position as executive producer for Group 3 – a fi lm cooperative production fi nanced through the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC) – making features for cinemas. Forsyth Hardy suggested that he was interested in the change and opportunity to work with new fi lmmakers. Murray41 suggests that this opportunity could reinforce Grierson’s view of a ‘Scottish Cinema’, or certainly one which was free from the ‘grip’ of London. 42 Murray quotes Grierson from a broadcast transcript in which he said,

I like the thought that in Scottish fi lms one is making movies about one’s own people . . . One advantage is that it gets you away from the standards of London, and the west- end in particular . . . I think they are at one remove from the observation of real situations and real people. Making Scottish fi lms or Irish fi lms or Lancashire fi lms is a necessary corrective to the pursuits of the artifi cial in the metropolis.43

Th is once more reinforces the importance of realism and observation to Grierson. It also speaks of his view of Scotland and how important it would be later in his career. You’re only Young Twice (1951) which was set in Glasgow was not without its problems: ‘the leading lady’s plumy accent was unsuitable. Molly Weir’s voice was substituted. Th e fi lm had a rough reception critically in London, unsympathetic to anything with a strong Scottish fl avour’.44 Th eir later production, Th e Brave Don’t Cry about the Knockshinnoch pit collapse in Ayrshire was chosen to open the 1952 Edinburgh International Film Festival but was met with resistance from fi lm companies who, according to Hardy’s recollec- tions, and potentially biased viewpoint, did not want Group 3 to succeed. Th e fi lm opened Edinburgh with great success and reviews. Despite the positive

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reviews the fi lms were slated as ‘support’ in cinemas rather than leading the bill. Grierson was diagnosed with TB in both lungs in 1953 and was hospitalized for two weeks. He spent the next year convalescing at home – though he still looked at scripts and papers. Box offi ce returns were not satisfactory to NFFC as funders and resulted in the end of the Group, ‘An idea launched with high promise could not survive in the cold climate of the commercial cinema.’ 45 On the closure of Group 3, he returned to Scottish fi lms. As Hardy said of Grierson, ‘he had always returned to his native country whenever he had the opportunity and from the beginning his fi lms had been of Scotland whenever that was possible’.46 Hardy also recounted, ‘I like the style of Scottish humour. I like the compli- cated Scottish approach to emotions.’ 47 Th e Scottish offi ce had no funding or control over fi lmmaking so he ‘reconstituted the Films of Scotland Committee, under the umbrella of the privately fi nanced Scottish Council Development and Industry’.48 Still trying to develop public bodies to support fi lmmaking, Hardy recalled that ‘Later he was to say that the Films of Scotland Committee was the happiest and most selfl ess body he had encountered since he was in Canada.’49 Th e output from the committee included Seawards the Great Ship , a fi lm about Clydeside shipbuilding, which won numerous awards, including an Academy Award in 1961 and Th e Heart of Scotland which featured his native Stirling. Th roughout these other ventures Grierson kept in touch with Canada and the NFB and wanted to return to see it. Sydney Newman invited him to visit in 1957, and during the trip he travelled to Vancouver, Edmonton and Toronto doing talks and interviews. He went on to Montreal to the NFB, which had moved in 1956. True to form, he wrote a report on the NFB aft er spending just a week there, commenting on what he had observed and how it had changed from his tenure and was unhappy with what he found, ‘He was aghast . . . Instead of the management serving the creative force, the creative force was serving the management.’ 50 However, the fi lm board was no longer his concern and his attentions turned elsewhere, that is, back to his homeland and a project which would bring together so many aspects of his previous roles. As well as Hardy’s assertion of the level of interest in the relationship between Grierson and McLaren, one of the areas of interest in the initial conception of this book, was in the relationship between the two men and Scotland, and the extent to which each is remembered there. It was evident early on in the research process that Grierson was the better known of the two, and in terms of his wide- ranging and wide-reaching achievements in the development and promotion of the educational property of fi lm, it is rightly the case. However, to those unfamiliar with the roles he played in the various fi lm boards, Grierson became best known for his presentation and promotion of Scotland in a 1960s television series. Hardy’s 1979 edited collection of Grierson’s essays opens with a telling quote,

It was not through his writing but through television that Grierson became most widely known in Scotland. Th e programme, Th is Wonderful World ,

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64 Norman McLaren

which he presented for some ten years . . . Grierson almost immediately captured a large popular audience which steadily grew, north and eventually south of the Border, until the programme reached the Top Ten. 51

In the opening introduction to this collection, Hardy describes the close connection between Grierson and Scotland. As we have seen, he was inspired by the land and its people which became the subject of many of his fi lms, particularly his own family history in Drift ers , throughout his career. Th ough he left the country he visited oft en and was instrumental in the development of various fi lm bodies over the years, including the Film Development Committee, discussed earlier. He also wrote about Scotland in a regular magazine column. We can see that his ‘physical’ connection with Scotland as well as the inspired content (and, of course, the programme on television) kept a visible connection which McLaren lacked. I would argue that this is the main reason that of the two Stirling fi lmmakers, Grierson remains the most well known.

Th is Wonderful World debuted on 11th of October 1957. Th e series was screened on Scottish Television (STV) commissioned by the Scots-Canadian, Ray Th omson. Grierson produced the series but was dissatisfi ed with the scripts and took over the whole venture. Th e series ran on television for 10 years but is still remembered some sixty years later. Th e fi rst episode included an excerpt from, ‘a burst of jazz from Norman McLaren’s Boogie Doodle , with the great Albert Ammons himself on the piano’. 52

Th e series was also transmitted in England since February 1959 with good reviews. Several other episodes included McLaren’s fi lms suggesting that Grierson was keen to continue to promote his prot é g é even though it was twenty years aft er their fi rst meeting. Th ese television screenings provided audiences an opportunity to see McLaren’s work outside of a cinema setting, which would have been a fi rst for many in the country. Grierson was awarded the OBE in June 1961. He was fi nally invited back to the United States in 1962, and got a visa for the fi rst time in fi ft een years. Grierson was also invited to the 25th anniversary of the NFB in Montreal; McLaren was still there. Grierson won various awards in the 1960s and travelled extensively until his death in 1972. His legacy is undoubted and he is still the subject of discussion in the areas of documentary, viewed very much as the founder of this fi lmic form, public fi lm bodies and the history of the NFB. He is also now increasingly discussed in relation to Norman McLaren. 53

Grierson – Mentor and Friend

McLaren’s relationship with Grierson is one of the most fascinating, and in terms of his career advancement, the most signifi cant than all of the people

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in his life. Forsyth Hardy’s oft en retold account of their fi rst meeting as outlined at the start of the chapter was also remembered by McLaren in interviews, though his recollection was slightly diff erent; in an interview from the 1970s he recalls the adjudication aft er Grierson saw his fi lms, ‘he came to Camera Makes Whoopee and blasted it to hell’. 54 It was later that he was invited for a drink and Grierson told him off for the sexual imagery, but told him there would be an apprenticeship waiting for him when he fi nished his course. Grierson was pleased by their Stirling connection but clearly saw a potential new talent which could be nurtured. Th e Stirling connection was also noted by the local press, who wrote of the new opportunity in London for the young McLaren:

Stirling has again produced talent for the benefi t of the fi lm industry. Mr William Norman McLaren, son of Mr William McLaren, Albert Place, has been invited by Mr John Grierson, son of a former Cambusbarron schoolmaster, and internationally famous as a producer of documentary fi lms, to serve his apprenticeship with the G.P.O Film Unit in London . . . last year he was given high praise for a short feature entitled ‘Camera Makes Whoopee.’ MR GRIERSON was quick to take notice of the young man’s work and in January of this year referred to him as ‘the sensation of the Festival’. In the making of Colour Cocktail he had shown that he knew more about trick work than 99 out of 100 professionals. 55

Th e local press of the era frequently noted the success of those who had once called the area home. It is interesting to notice how the pattern of press coverage is very much confi ned to particular events and times in both men’s lives which would garner most attention. Unfortunately, the nature of the press is to cover what is contemporary and the historic is rarely mentioned, hence perhaps why few people are aware of McLaren in the country today. At the start of the apprenticeship, McLaren’s letters began in earnest, writing to update his parents on his living arrangements, including managing his fi nances and what his job entailed. His letter of 11 November 1936 told them the news that he was being sent to Spain as cameraman to Ivor Montague, ‘Mr Grierson has given me three weeks leave of absence my post at the GPO unit, in order that i can be one of a party of fi lmers who are going to Spain to fi lm on the Borders there.’ 56 He reassured them that it would be safe as he was on the border and would fi lm the refugees. He told them about the technical details of the planned fi lming process, that they would be using 16mm fi lm and send- ing it back to London to edit. He also told them what he would be packing and that he would be using his old suitcase, the one he ‘took to Russia!’ He was aged twenty- two at this point, and as discussed in the next chapter, excitedly told the news to friends as well as his parents. Once McLaren arrived in London (and aft er Spain), he worked his way through various departments and tasks, learning every aspect of fi lmmaking.

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66 Norman McLaren

Th e work was largely collaborative and gave McLaren the chance to work on fi lms for the world’s fair and the Glasgow exhibition in 1938. One of the most interesting things about the relationship viewed through the letters is the way in which McLaren refers to Grierson. In the early days (and to his parents) it’s a very respectful relationship – ‘Mr Grierson’ – though to Helen Biggar it is simply ‘Grierson’ when referring to his role at the GPO. ‘No; Grierson’s never down at the studio. Basil Wright, who is next in chief to Grierson is a bit about here. Th ey both have to OK the products! Most fi lms feel the eff ects of Mr Grierson! fortunately or unfortunately.’57 Th e letter to Helen has the tone of an informal, casual discussion of his new boss, one whose working practices and demands McLaren quickly got the measure of. Th e GPO is discussed in more detail in the next chapter, but as Grierson left in 1937, there were fewer reasons to discuss him in much detail. References to Grierson reappeared in 1939 once McLaren arrived in New York. In a letter dated 23 October 1939, 58 he refers to Grierson, that he was travelling between Ottawa and New York and wanted to hear from him in case he has anything going in Canada; it seems that it was Grierson who had initially advised McLaren to head across Atlantic. Two weeks later he followed up on this possibility with less than positive news, ‘I got a very nice note from Grierson in Canada welcoming me. In it he said that he couldn’t off er me any job at the moment – but he said things would soon be happening’ (2 November 1939). 59 Grierson not only believed in his talent and pushed him to develop it further (without getting ahead of himself), but McLaren kept in touch with him, updating him on his progress. Th is was in part to see if there was any kind of help that Grierson could off er, but I think he was keen to maintain the connection and show him how he was managing. In letters to his parents in the early stages of his New York move, he was keen to stress that he was not asking Grierson for a job. He mentioned that he had heard back from his report sent to Grierson:

saying very little, and nothing to the eff ect of asking me to come to Canada and work with him. Actually I have not encouraged him to suggest this, because I think I would be best to try to go ahead on my own here – if at all possible – As the work I would be doing in Canada would be very similar to . . . the GPO, I think it would be best to get a diff erent experience for a change. (19 December 1939) 60

Despite this, however, McLaren was very aware of the reach of Grierson’s infl u- ence. Th e month before this last quote, McLaren told his parents that he was trying to decide whether to pay the duty on his fi lms to keep the rights for himself and be able to send them to a chap at Minnesota University who wanted to screen them: ‘Quite confi dentially I heard from Mr Legg [Stuart] that it was Grierson who had interested Mr Kirsach in me. – so it would be wise to spend that £ 4 on the customs dues’ (28 November 1939). 61

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So while he did not want to ask Grierson for a job as such, he was pleased to know that his mentor was aiding him and wanted to help where possible. In December 1939, McLaren wrote to Grierson again to update him on some news of his progress in fi nding work, and as seen in the previous chapter, introducing Guy Glover to him.

I have also been pot- boiler hunting (and not without a stroke of bad con- science) to Paul Terry of “Terry- toons”. He was impressed by the technique, if not the surrealism, of my latest GPO fi lm, and will probably give me something that will fi ll the pot.

In an earlier part of the letter he talks about the creation of a fi lm for television network NBC, in the form of a fi lm Christmas card:

I very much regret that I seem to be getting caught up in work of such insig- nifi cance of subject and substance, when there are so many serious things crying out to be dealt with in fi lm. Th e one consolation is that it may be a means of pushing a technique to new horizons (for I feel that Len Lye went so far and then no farther- and not really because of the limitations of the medium). (12 December 1939) 62

Th e openly opinionated discussion of fellow animators here demonstrates that by this time, though still in deference to Grierson, McLaren felt more able to be critical of the type of work that he perhaps felt his mentor would similarly criticize. Th is emphasis on the lack of substance suggests that he was keen to impress upon Grierson his desire to return to the type of ‘useful’ work which he had previously been doing in London. Th is report was slow to gain a response though, and in the next letter to his parents, McLaren tells them that he still hadn’t heard anything back. Rather than impatience I would suggest that this is concerned with reassuring his parents that he is doing all he could in the hunt for paid work. Th e New York experiences, outlined in the next chapter, provided enough work for McLaren to continue working without involving Grierson. By January 1941, however, he reappeared on the radar; Grierson was keen to have McLaren join the NFB, contacting him a number of times and travelling to New York to meet. Th e timing was never quite right in terms of projects and McLaren also had to consider what work opportunities there would be for Guy.

On Friday, the week before, I met John Grierson (he was here from Canada for a couple of days). He was interested in what I had been doing and wanted to see my fi lms. So on the Saturday morning we had a special show for him. He thought highly of my latest work and wished me to send some of my fi lms up to Canada to let the government fi lm people see them. He thinks possibly there may be an opportunity to make one or two such fi lms for

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68 Norman McLaren

the Canadian Government Film Unit, if he persuade them to the idea. (18 January 1941) 63

By July of that year he wrote to his beloved aunt to tell her of a fl ush of good fortune in his job prospects:

Television has started up again here since the fi rst of this month, and Arthur was telling me that perhaps there is the possibility of my doing some work for them, in the way of making trick fi lms. If it does come off , I shall be getting paid fairly well for it. Th en this morning, someone phoned me up from the American Film Center, to say that John Grierson was wanting me to send my fi lms up to Canada, as he is thinking of getting me to make some fi lms for him. Altogether things, are looking bright so far as my fi lm work is concerned. (7 July 1941)64

Th is phone call led to a more concrete plan for showing the work to Grierson and his Canadian colleagues.

FRIDAY 11TH JULY

Since writing yesterday [continuation of letter], several things have happened, which you would be interested to hear about. Grierson has sent me a wire to say that he will be in New York tomorrow, and wants to see my fi lms. I know that he is wanting me to make some for him. Some of my own special kind of hand drawn fi lm. So something may come of it.65

Th ings moved very quickly aft er this screening, and by 26 July McLaren wrote to his parents to tell them that the trip was successful and that he had been off ered a job, ‘a permanent position as a producer in his fi lm unit in Canada, and wanted me very much to come immediately. He wants me to make my own special kind of trick fi lms for publicising things like War Savings and so on. Well the job seemed to be full of Artistic opportunity’ (26 July 1941). 66 Th e artistic nature of the off er is key here, as McLaren had spent two years in New York working on both commercial and abstract fi lms, giving him the opportunity to build on his early experiments. As seen in the next chapter, he had a diffi cult decision to make, as he already had a well- paid job when the off er from Grierson came in and was settled into his New York life; however, I think the opportunity to work with Grierson again was too attractive. McLaren knew what type of fi lmmaking Grierson favoured and would have hoped that this would be a welcome environment for him to join. Getting out of his contract was slightly complex and he explained to his parents in the next letter that he had managed to be released from his contract,

I decided in the long run that it was the right thing for me to be doing the sort of work I am best fi tted for and like doing rather than make a lot of

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money here in New York. I shall also be much lonelier and out of the stream of things in Ottawa as compared with New York, which is such a lively place; but I shall just put up with that. Doing the sort of work I want to do, will compensate for a lot. If Grierson should put me on to other work, I shall be bitterly disappointed for I shall have given up an interesting job and very good prospects and better money in New York. . .I am already dreaming of the sorts of fi lms i shall invent up there . . . I don’t know how long I shall be in Canada, perhaps six months, perhaps several years, or even more. I don’t know. (3 August 1941) 67

Th is trust in Grierson paid off and he was given relative creative freedom with his fi lm briefs.

I started work yesterday morning – Grierson is in England just now & wont be back for some time so the next in charge, a man by the pure Scots name of Ross McLean, looked aft er me. Two of the people I knew in London are also working here. I was shown round the place yesterday & introduced to some of the folks who work here. I started designing a new apparatus for drawing my fi lms on. the fi rst fi lm I am to make is a 2 1/2 minute color cartoon, publicising War Savings certifi cates. I hope to get started as soon as possible, as I am feeling terribly home sick for New York . . . MONDAY 15 SEPT I have been exactly a week at my new job and I am beginning to like it very much. (9 September 1941) 68

So though Grierson was not there to welcome him in person, the familiar colleagues from London and the exciting work helped him settle in a bit more. Once he made the move to Canada, he told his parents of his initial experiences and refl ected back on New York:

It is strange to think that only a year ago I was still desperately looking for work and now I have given up one good job to come to a better one. I am being given almost an absolutely free hand here. All that I have been told is, ‘Go ahead and make some short two minute fi lms in color, that will advertise War Savings certifi cates.’ No specifi cations as to how they are to be done, or in what time. Grierson has a lot of confi dence in me, and I guess he thinks he can get the best results in leaving me alone. I think he is right. We shall see. (27 September 1941) 69

Over the next few weeks he threw himself into the work and seemed to be enjoying it, though he was already showing signs of what would eventually become a pattern of overwork. Th e requirement for close concentration was entirely his choice as he was using a complex technique, but as we see throughout his career, he strived for the most interesting methods, which also yielded interesting results.

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70 Norman McLaren

I have been making very good progress on my fi lm this past week. I have been doing the drawings on the fi lm itself. Hundreds of tiny fi gures dancing around, and performing antics. I fi nd it very fascinating work . . . although it takes a great deal of concentration and energy, because I have to be so careful when drawing on such a tiny size . . . Grierson arrived back from England the other day and he came down, to see me for a moment, to ask if I was happy working here, and to tell me he was glad to see me here. (19 October 1941) 70

He very quickly settled into living in Ottawa and started to make the right impression on his boss, ‘Another week past & my fi lm progresses. Grierson saw it yesterday and like it as far as it had gone – tho’ it is not yet fi nished. I had a little chat with Grierson & he invited me round to his house, anytime I like’ (25 October 1941). 71 Th is invitation would mark the start of the change in their relationship from that of simply boss and employee. I would argue that he considered Grierson to be his mentor for many years to come, but the shift would also mark the start of a friendship. Th e developing relationship is described in a letter from 21 February 1942, where he tells his parents about a social evening with fi lm board friends:

Grierson and I had a wonderful evening of discussion, aft er most of the guests had gone . . . Grierson thinks an awful lot of me, and wants me to have absolutely perfect freedom in what I do. He thinks I am doing a great service to Canada, by making fi lms of real artistic worth, that will stand up to the test of time, when almost all the other fi lms they are making just now will soon be forgotten. It is wonderful, to be thought so highly by one’s chief. It fi lls me with renewed vigor, and makes me want to put still more eff ort and care into my fi lms. (21 February 1942)72

His pleasure in knowing that Grierson valued him so much reinforces the mentor notion and he was eager to spend time with him. Th e social nature of their friendship extended to Grierson’s wife, Margaret, who shared McLaren’s love of painting. ‘Mrs Grierson has invited me round this evening to their house. Mrs Grierson is such a sweet person. Grierson wants me to help make a fi lm to teach Canadian children how to draw and paint. Th at is an exciting subject and I am very interested in working out ideas for it’ (21 March 1942). 73 In letters written over the next couple of years, it is rare to fi nd one without mention of either Griersons’ opinion of a fi lm or of time spent with them. In a letter about his health and work progress he noted, ‘I ran into Grierson, who was going home, and he asked me to come along with him and have a drink. I don’t drink (for it makes my hand shakey for drawing) but I didn’t want to refuse, so I went along to their house . . . I left shortly aft er 9 p.m’ (2 November 1941) 74 . Mrs Grierson had insisted he stay for dinner. Th is kind of casual invitation also reinforced the nature of their friendship. Th is is seen again in March

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1942 when he casually mentions a party that they attended at the Griersons’ house, ‘I was just going to a party at Grierson’s, last Saturday aft er I wrote the letter to you. It was quite a lively party with a lot of people at it. I met Walt Disney’s brother there’ (29 March 1942). 75 As well as the notes updating his parents on his busy social life, there are points where they seem to attend and host a frequent number of parties for friends from the board; he also tells them about Grierson’s achievements, clearly proud of his mentor, ‘Grierson is a man of great initiative and imagination and is building up an important fi lm industry here in Canada. He is quite a pioneer in his way’ (22 November 1942). 76 Th is references his expansion of the board and development of the animation department and French language division. Along with pride in Grierson, McLaren was obviously rather proud of his own work at the board and frequently took the opportunity to tell his parents how well Grierson thought of him, but also wrote more about the work itself:

I got very interested in what I was doing. I am doing the animation on the fi lm about hens77 , and fi nd it very fascinating and great fun. I have been making them do jigs, waltzes and reels. I know it sounds all very crazy to you, and you must be wondering how this can be helping he war eff ort. Well I have slogans worked into the fi lm, urging people to buy War Savings Certifi cates. But apart from that Grierson thinks that my fi lms are particularly valuable because they are jolly and happy and light hearted, and people need to see these sorts of fi lms, especially when so many fi lms about the war are serious and depressing. Th ey are a tonic, he says. (11 April 1942)78

Th is notion of his fi lms being ‘a tonic’ is interesting. Aft er the success of McLaren’s political fi lm Neighbours, Grierson commented that McLaren was more suited to lighter subjects and shouldn’t meddle in politics, but at this early stage of his career he was happy with the compliment of the fun and relief his fi lms are adding to the war eff ort. He saw this as pivotal in the propaganda campaign.

Yes, Grierson at least, thinks what I am doing is of national importance. Th ere is a great demand for my stuff and many war departments, which have public relations, are crying out for my fi lms to be made for them. In fact so many requests for fi lms along my line have come in recently that my department here has expanded and we are hunting for new assistants. Mary Ellen Bute may be coming up to make a fi lm under my supervision here. I cant cope with all the work myself. Th e sudden spate has just recently occurred. Grierson is doing all he can to retain us at the Board. He would like us both to become Canadian citizens, as it would make it simpler for him to avoid our being caught up in the draft . He has a high- grade priority with the Canadian Selective Service. But he may go down to Washington personally, in order to get us transferred from the US selective service system. (30 October 1942) 79

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72 Norman McLaren

A year later he continued on:

Did I mention in my last letter, that Grierson has been appointed Director of War Information for Canada . . . a very infl uential position, as he has control of all propaganda by radio, posters, and fi lm, throughout Canada. He is still going to be carrying on his job as Film Commissioner; but I guess we wont be seeing very much of him around the Film Board from now on. His eff ect, in his new post, will, I am sure, soon be felt, as he is a very dynamic and forceful personality. (7 February 1943) 80

Despite Grierson’s new post, McLaren and Guy still saw plenty of him in both work and social capacities. By January 1943, McLaren seemed to be spending even more time with the couple. He wrote:

I have been skating occasionally. Twice with Grierson, who hasn’t done it for a long time and is sort of shaky still. Last Saturday Th e Griersons came round for dinner; Grierson came earlier in the aft ernoon and did a bit of skating on the pond behind the house, with me before hand. Th e Monday evening aft erwards he came round again and went out for half an hour or so. But his ankles got tired very quickly. Mrs Grierson brought round her drawings for me to see and criticise. She is fairly coming along with her drawing and has been doing some interesting portraits of people. (24 January 1943) 81

Th e connection to Mrs Grierson is also interesting, as the friendship with McLaren fostered through their shared love of painting must have been good for a woman who had spent so much of her time moving around in support of her husband’s exceptionally demanding career. Th is friendship was discussed again in a September letter (note the use of the shorter name for Mrs Grierson),

Last Saturday evening we were round at a party at a fi lm board friend’s. Grierson and his wife were there. I went home with them, to borrow some turpentine, as I wanted to paint the following day, and Mrs G lent me some as it is very diffi cult to get in the shops. On Friday evening I was at a staff fi lm show, to see a French fi lm, called ‘Carnaval in Flanders’, a very good fi lm. (12 September 1943) 82

Th e social side of their relationship would reach a pinnacle of occasions in 1943 when they would spend their Christmas meal together. In the early years of the fi lm board, McLaren oft en talked about stragglers who were far from home, coming together for the Christmas holidays. Guy oft en visited his family in Western Canada, leaving McLaren in Ottawa. It became common for McLaren to describe fairly lavish feasts and thoughtful gift s given and received. Th e nature of the friendships was reinforced in these letters and revealed a sense of extended family which many of the fi lm board members would become.83

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Stirling’s Sons 73

Figure 2.2 John and Mrs Grierson (date unknown).

Within only three years of being at the fi lm board, McLaren had established and trained an animation department. In a letter, sent in 1944 (unfortunately undated clearly), he described the next stage of his work. Th e project included the work of a new member of staff , the recruitment of whom sounds very similar to how McLaren himself was recruited by Grierson. He had shift ed roles and was now in a position to spot and nurture talent, as his mentor had done with him some eight years earlier.

I am now starting to work on some films of my own, and most of my duties in training and teaching my staff are about over. I am highly elated at the pros- pect of doing drawing on fi lm again. We are now in bigger and better prem- ises at the fi lm board, but it is still very crowded . . . I am going to be making a fi lm to an old French Canadian folk song, about the lumber men canoeing on the rivers. I have a very fi ne artist now working for me called Art Price. I got Grierson to get him out of the army, he is such a good artist. . .he will be a great asset to our work at the fi lm board . . . I now hold a life drawing class

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74 Norman McLaren

at the house here, for my staff to draw at. Th ey have been anxious to hold one for some time back (Sunday, 20 1944) 84

Th e relationship between Grierson and McLaren began to change in 1945 when Grierson left the board:

Grierson has resigned from the fi lm board and is starting up a new an private fi lm agency, probably centred in New York. Margaret Anne and a few other people from the fi lm board will be going with him probably, so we shall miss her as a very good neighbour. I don’t know many details yet, as it was just announced recently. I expect however that we shall still see quite a bit of Grierson as he may be doing work which requires a lot of contact with the fi lm board . . . I don’t think this will aff ect me and what I am doing in any way. However we shall see. 85

Before leaving for New York, however, the Griersons maintained the social contact: ‘Aft er dinner, the Griersons came round and a few other people. Th e Griersons are leaving for a visit to Britain in a few weeks time. I told them, if they were ever passing thru Stirling to be sure and drop in and say hullo to you for me’ (8 October 1945). 86 Aft er the move, McLaren still passed on news, in part due to Glover’s appointment with Grierson’s new company as seen in the previous chapter, and also to relate the news of other fi lm board friends who moved as well: ‘Margaret Anne was in New York on business. She has now got a fl at there, as she will be going to work for Grierson, and his headquarters are going to be in New York’ (23 April 1946). 87 McLaren obviously still valued Grierson’s position as someone of infl uence, and in June 1946, told his parents excitedly about a paper he had written on a new tech- nology which he was quite sure no one had used before – stereographic painting (this will be discussed further in Chapter 5 . ‘Grierson was up here on Saturday . . . I have been very busy writing and illustrating a paper on “Stereographic Art”. Grierson is very interested in it, and has taken it back with him, and will try to get some person or body to sponsor it’ (25 June 1946). 88 In the next letter, dated only a few days later, he told them of Glover’s possible move to New York, but as discussed previously, he would not be going. However, he still hoped the Grierson would be able to help him fi nd funding for his stereoscopic project. All these letters give a greater sense of what began as an employer– employee relationship, to mentor– prot é g é , at least from McLaren’s point of view as deduced from the letters, and then as mentioned to a friend. In 1947, when Grierson was accused by the American government of aiding communists, McLaren responded to his parents news clipping on the subject,

Th anks for your cutting about Grierson. Knowing Grierson as well as I do, the allegation that he is a communist is preposterous. It is interesting to see

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Stirling’s Sons 75

how much the story gets distorted by the time it reaches the Stirling local papers. He was called to give evidence at the Spy trials, not because his name was mentioned in the documents, but because a girl who happened to be employed at the fi lm board was mentioned. (15 April 1947, underlines in original) 89

As seen earlier in this chapter, Forsyth Hardy suggested that Grierson involved himself perhaps more than he should by taking the stand to clear the situation, but it was not one he could talk his way out of and he was not able to return to the United States for many years. Despite the divergent paths the men took, there were numerous opportunities to keep in touch over the years. While visit- ing Glover in New York, he ran into his old boss, ‘I saw Grierson at a screening of fi lms that Guy arranged; some of the latest fi lms that Guy has been working on. Grierson left for Mexico yesterday’ (1 November 1947).90 A year later, the British fi lm company, Gainsborough, made an off er of interest to McLaren, about him going to work for them in England. He was not entirely sure about the off er but was pleased that if he took it, he would live closer to his parents. In the meantime Grierson heard about it and once again off ered McLaren a job of sorts, ‘I have not heard any word from the English fi lm off er – though it is about a month since I wrote – But Grierson heard about it and sent me a wire, asking me to get in touch with him, before accepting this other off er, as he also wants to off er me some possibilities’ (4 April 1948). 91 By the end of the month, nothing had come back from Gainsborough and McLaren was holding off on the decision to work for Grierson again until he knew more. Th ere was no further mention of either off er in the letters which followed. It is unknown if the Gainsborough off er ever came to anything, or indeed what the role with Grierson might have involved, but it suggested that Grierson was keen not to lose McLaren to another company, certainly not to a commercial one, which might be less useful in terms of the socially important or artistically interesting work he could continue to do at the fi lm board at the very least. From this time there were fewer mentions of Grierson, as each man continued on with his work. As discussed earlier, Grierson continued travelling to other parts of the world and returning to fi lm production in the United Kingdom with Group 3. Th ey crossed paths during Grierson’s time in Paris, when McLaren was heading to China to work with UNESCO. Th ough they rarely saw each other, their news was always passed on. As Grierson was typically modest about his achievements, the news of his OBE in the Queen’s birthday list did not come through to the board directly but was sent to McLaren via a press clipping of the news from his parents. In 1952, when Grierson attended the Edinburgh Film Festival, which featured a fi lm from each of them, a local Stirling reporter took the chance to interview Grierson and was keen on the angle of the two local successes.

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76 Norman McLaren

Dr Grierson, although he gave me the inside story of his own fi lm, ‘Th e Brave Don’t Cry,’ waxed much more eloquently on Norman McLaren’s contributions to the Festival, which he described as being of the utmost signifi cance both in technique and accomplishment . . . ‘Talk about a local angle,’ cried Dr Grierson, ‘what more could you ask than that – outstanding fi lms by two old boys of Stirling High School, both on the same programme.’ (September 1952) 92

In a letter to Biddy Russell, with whom he would also occasionally discuss Grierson (though far less than with his parents), he told her of his later meeting, perhaps his fi nal meeting. Grierson had returned to Canada to lecture at McGill University and they had crossed paths, ‘Grierson is here, I have seen him a couple of times, but briefl y’ (23 March 1969). He noted that Grierson had not come to visit the board and that he was more ‘interested in new generation of students’. He had moved on to seeking out new talent, and this suggests that the mentor relationship was no longer required. Aft er Grierson’s death in 1972, McLaren informed his parents of a tribute which he had contributed to ‘the BBC . . . is showing a “tribute to John Grierson”. It may be a fascinating program. Included in it, there is a short interview with me talking about Grierson – also of my close friend Jim Beveridge doing same. Th ey sent someone over here to interview us. It is a SCOTS originated program’ (7 February 1973). 93 Th e emphasis placed on the Scots is interesting here and suggests that just as Hardy had suggested, 94 McLaren also felt a connection with his former mentor through their shared Scottish heritage. He obviously felt it was an important detail of the production to mention. As I began this project I was quite fascinated by the Stirling connection between the two and found it odd that Grierson was well known, but McLaren less so. From researching the former in some detail and the latter obviously more so, it is clear that Grierson’s personality and enthusiastic persuasiveness made a lasting impression. As the creator and presenter of Th is Wonderful World on Scottish television (1957) he kept a link with audiences. He did show some of McLaren’s work on the show but the lack of more mainstream screenings (and McLaren’s remaining in Canada) will have played a part in maintaining McLaren’s relative obscurity. Th e press coverage of the time did make the connection rather proudly, particularly during the Edinburgh Film Festival, where both men received a reasonable amount of coverage, but this (as in Canada) had obviously reduced as other news took over. In a fascinating article by Magnus Magnusson in Th e Scotsman Newspaper in 1962, there is an interview in which McLaren discusses his work. Th e profi le highlighted his biography and work and included an amusing comparison between Grierson and McLaren:

Last week I met for the fi rst time Norman McLaren, the legendary Scots fi lmmaker who has been working with the National Film Board of Canada for

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Stirling’s Sons 77

the last 20 years or so. A shadowy fi gure, McLaren: no trace of the extrovert outspokenness of his great mentor, Dr John Grierson, who has rammed his rambustious personality on to everything he does, gruffl y impatient, inex- haustibly articulate, furiously energetic . . . McLaren, on the other hand, is acutely slim and diffi dent to the point of humility, whenever possible letting his work speak for him instead in a tiny controlled whisper. 95

Th e two men were described in the same publication again in 1977, when the British publication Th e Radio Times included a synopsis of a programme titled, ‘Th e Light Fantastick’ which was produced by the NFB’s Wolf Koenig,

Th e story of Canadian animation. Nearly 40 years ago, the distinguished Scottish Documentary fi lmmaker John Grierson founded the National Film Board of Canada. Since then, this remarkable organisation has produced amongst its varied output, a steady stream of brilliant cartoon fi lms – witty, irreverent, informative, sometimes didactic but never dull. Th is programme looks at many of these cartoons and at the animators who made them, including Norman McLaren, who is recognised as one of the greatest animators of all time. (5 May 1977) 96

In 1981 the new Film House cinema in Edinburgh, host of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, dedicated two seats in their names, gifted by the NFB, essentially cementing the relationship between the pair and Scotland, as well as between the two men themselves. Accounts from those who worked with Grierson suggested that he was a principled man in his outlook and politics and was clever at encouraging the best work, albeit through seemingly abrupt or odd means (such as telling McLaren that his fi lms were not great) by making people challenge themselves to get the best results. McLaren’s own feelings on Grierson can be summed up with a quote from an undated postcard to Biddy Russell, ‘I am on the best of terms with John Grierson . . . I think he is a remarkable person. A mad strange brilliant person – whose talents for the past 10 years have not had a chance to fl ourish at fully.’97 Grierson, too, said much about McLaren when interviewed in later years, and crucially is sure he took credit for his discovery, as seems fi t- ting to Grierson’s personality,

Th ere is a man who belongs to my home town. He was a very young man who went to my own school, and I got interested in him because he came from my home town. He made a little amateur fi lm when he was at the School of Art in Glasgow. I went to judge an amateur fi lm competition and gave it a prize. I saw the fi lm and then invited him to work with Len Lye, who was my abstract operator . . . He came down and was with us with that unit through the 30’s. I remember his mother saying to me, please would I look aft er him, and I said I would. When I started the Film Board I pulled him up from

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78 Norman McLaren

New York . . . we established the right of Norman McLaren to operate as our sort of court amuser. And, of course he has been one of the most vital products of the Canadian people. (22 September 1969) 98

Grierson was sure to keep track of those he considered close, ‘All of my people, I know where they are. We were closer than the free masons. We still are.’ 99 His sense of pride of his own accomplishments is always demonstrated through the discussion of others, none so as when he was talking about Norman McLaren.

Notes

1 Norman McLaren’s letter to sister Sheena, 1 June 1986, not catalogued, University of Stirling Archive. 2 Forsyth Hardy in Th e John Grierson Project John Grierson and the NFB (Montreal: McGill University ECW Press,1984), p.160. 3 Jack C. Ellis, John Grierson: Life, Contributions, Infl uence (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2000), p.158. 4 J. Murray, ‘ “Keep Your Head Down and Save Your Breath”: “Authentic” Scotlands and British Cinema in Th e Brave Don’t Cry’, Th e Drouth , Scottish Arts Council, 2002, pp.7– 17. 5 Grierson is commonly the subtitle in books on Documentary, as seen in Ian Aitken, Film and Reform: John Grierson and the Documentary Film Movement (London: Routledge, 1990); G. Evans, John Grierson and the National Film Board: Th e Politics of War Time Propaganda (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 1984); and Brian Winston, Claiming the Real: Th e Griersonian Documentary and its Legitimations (London: British Film Institute, 1995) and Claiming the Real II: Documentary: Grierson and Beyond (London: British Film Institute, 2008). 6 Forsyth Hardy, John Grierson: A Documentary Biography (London: Faber & Faber, 1979 ). p.102. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. , p.21 9 Ibid. 10 Ibid. , p.23. 11 Ibid. 12 Ibid. , p.23. 13 Ibid. , p.28. 14 Ibid. , p.29. 15 Ibid. , p.34. 16 Ibid. , p.35. 17 Ibid. , p.38. 18 Ibid. , p.41. 19 Ibid. , p.42. 20 Th is quote is taken from the article ‘First Principles of Documentary’, Cinema Quarterly , (Winter 1932): 43. 21 John Grierson, ‘First Principles of Documentary’, in Grierson on Documentary, ed. Forsyth Hardy (London: Faber, 1979), pp. 35– 6

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Stirling’s Sons 79

22 Th is is an interesting point about one of the key defi nitions of documentary – the representation of the real or the captured real. Several schools of thought have developed over the years in which the level of ‘realism’ has varied. See authors in Brian Winston (ed.), Th e Documentary Film Book ( London : Palgrave Macmillan , 2013) for more information on the contemporary documentary debate. 23 Hardy, John Grierson, p.53. 24 Ibid. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid. , p.54. 27 Ibid. 28 Ibid. , p.59. 29 Ibid. , p.62. 30 Ibid. , p.65. 31 Ibid. , p.77. 32 Ibid. , p.83. 33 Len Lye will be discussed further in Chapter 4 . 34 Th is particular story has been recounted many times and in several ways. Suggestions were that Grierson took the young McLaren to task for what he perceived as ‘sexually suggestive imagery’. McLaren innocently denied this as we see later in the chapter. 35 Hardy, John Grierson, p.85 36 Ibid. , p.88. 37 Ibid. , p.115. 38 A 1972 interview cited in John Grierson and the NFB(Th e John Grierson Project, McGill University. ECW Press, 1984). Emphasis in original. 39 Th e festival ran from the 31 August to 7 September and was the fi rst of what would become the Edinburgh International Film Festival, or EIFF. Th ough McLaren’s letters don’t explicitly say he attended, earlier in the year he mentioned it and was back in Scotland at that time so we can guess that he did attend. 40 Hardy, John Grierson, p.166. 41 Murray, ‘Keep Your Head Down’. 42 Ibid. , p.7. 43 Grierson quoted in Murray, ‘Keep Your Head Down’, p.7. 44 Hardy, John Grierson, p.182. 45 Ibid. , p.190. 46 Ibid. , p.191 47 Ibid. 48 Ibid. 49 Ibid. , p.192 . 50 Ibid. , p.202. 51 Ibid. , p.13. 52 Ibid. , p.205. 53 Grierson’s archive is also held at the University of Stirling. 54 McLaren, quoted in James Beveridge, John Grierson: Film Master (New York: Macmillan, 1978), pp. 80– 81. 55 Stirling Sentinel 14 April 1936. 56 University of Stirling Archive GAA.31/C/ 1/1936/ 1. 57 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 3/ 1936/24.

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80 Norman McLaren

58 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ C/ 1/1939/ 4. 59 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ C/ 1/1939/ 5. 60 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ C/ 1/1939/ 9. 61 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ C/ 1/1939/ 7. 62 University of Stirling Archive – Grierson Archive, G4-23- 54- 1. 63 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/2. 64 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/20. 65 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/21. 66 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/22. 67 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/23. 68 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/25. 69 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/26. 70 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/28. 71 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/29. 72 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1942/4. 73 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1942/6. 74 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1941/30. 75 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1942/7. 76 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1942/21. 77 Th is would be the fi lm which was released as Hen Hop in 1942. One of the fi rst of McLarens fi lms which would feature the playful nature and movement of birds. 78 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1942/8. 79 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1942/20. 80 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1943/4. 81 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1943/3. 82 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1943/13. 83 Th is is exemplifi ed by a letter home on 25 January 1944 (GAA31/C/ 1/ 1944/ 1) which outlines the festive season and talks about hosting parties and Xmas dinner (the Grierson’s attended and supplied the birds). 84 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1944/2 – this letter has no month written by McLaren, but his brother Jack seems to have written ‘January, cant be’ on the letter as though trying to date it. 85 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1945/2. 86 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ C/ 1/1945/ 3. 87 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1946/4. 88 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1946/6. 89 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ C/ 1/1947/ 4. 90 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1947/8. 91 University of Stirling Archive GAA31/C/ 1/ 1948/6. 92 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ PC/ 1952/5. 93 University of Stirling Archive, not catalogued. 94 Hardy , John Grierson’s Scotland. 95 Magnusson, 23 July 23 1962, University of Stirling Archive GAA/ 31/PC/ 1962/ ?. 96 University of Stirling Archive GAA/31/ PC/ 1977/?. 97 National Library of Scotland Accession. 5649 n.d. 98 University of Stirling Archive – Grierson Archive G7A.5.1. 99 Ibid.

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Chapter 3

W ORLD TRAVELLER

Norman McLaren was fortunate throughout his life to be able to travel quite extensively. From trips to Europe with his family during his late teenage years and an informative trip to Russia, to the eventual winter breaks in Mexico and frequent trips as jury member for the increasing number of fi lm festivals he was invited to. He enjoyed the experience of travel and lived during an exciting time of new developments including air travel and later in his life, the bullet trains of Japan. His letters home detailed his weeklong sea voyage to the United States from Glasgow and later his fi rst fl ight. Th is chapter examines some of the most infl uential voyages, looking at his fi rst job in London, his eye- opening trip to Spain at the start of the Civil War, his move to New York and later to Canada for his career at the NFB. Th e trip to China for UNESCO gave him another perspective and reinforced his humani- tarian politics, leading to one of his most obviously political fi lms, Neighbours (1952). Th e chapter also discusses some of the other places he enjoyed visit- ing, particularly when the cold Montreal winters made working more diffi cult. All of these experiences informed his work in some way, from the political extremes of war, to the Indian music of Ravi Shankar, who would contribute to the soundtrack of the fi lm A Chairy Tale (1957). Th ough he did not always enjoy the social aspect of the duties at fi lm festivals, he appreciated the opportunity to visit new places, oft en travelling via Scotland, and as discussed previously, the chance to catch the sun.

Russia

Th roughout the letters, and throughout various times in his life, McLaren was interested in Russia in terms of both its culture and politics. Th e fi lms of the Russian, Sergei Eisenstein inspired him to turn to the moving image, and in his formative years he looked to Russia as an example for political success. In the script for the Creative Process documentary, he recounted how shocked he was at the scenes of deprivation in the slums in Scotland during the Depression.

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