Ma p p i n g Fi l m Ex h i b i t i o n In Sc o t l a n d Be f o r e Pe r m a n e n t Ci n e m a s
Ma r i a A. Ve l e z -Se r n a
A central idea in current film historiog- hub of global significance in shipbuilding, raphy is that “the experience of cinema does steel production, coal mining, and textile not exist outside the experience of space” manufacture. Most of this economic activity (Allen “The place” 16). This is reflected in was located within the central Lowlands, the wealth of studies about the places of to the extent that by 1900 three-quarters exhibition which has transformed the once of the total national population of 4.5 mil- text-centred perspective of film studies, its lion lived in that area (Flinn et al. 306). The sources and methodologies, by understand- Highlands, on the other hand, were being ing cinema-going in localized terms, as part depopulated; emigration was peaking, of the fabric of everyday life. and there was much overcrowding and This paper is based on the first stage of poverty in the booming cities. The present my research into the development of film approach to a non-metropolitan exhibition distribution and exhibition in Scotland. culture aims to understand how such local The tension between the reproducible text contingencies shaped the emerging film and the historically-situated audience is trade and informed the Scottish experience played out in the networks and practices of of cinema. regional film supply in a way that is highly responsive to a geographical approach. I use the locations of exhibition as a lateral way Th e Sc o tt i s h to find out about distribution. This is nec- Fa i r g r o u n d Ro u n d essary since specialized sources regarding Between 1897 and 1914, fairground distribution are scarce and, in any case, for showmen were amongst the most influential the pre-1905 period the compartmentalized film exhibitors in the UK. Our understand- view of the film industry is unhelpful. Ma- ing of the role of fairground showmen in terial from local newspapers and archives, popularizing moving pictures and sustain- as well as the trade press, sheds light on ing the incipient film industry has been con- the local and regional contexts of early film siderably augmented since the publication, exhibition, foregrounding the commercial in 1994, of a pioneering work by Vanessa networks that had sustained 19th century Toulmin, in which she argues that “the mov- practices of fairground showmanship and ing picture industry was shaped in its initial 1 lantern lecturing. years by the traveling showmen” (236). These existing institutions were them- Following this hypothesis, this section will selves undergoing profound change, as part look at the pattern of fairground traveling in of the broader historical processes associ- Scotland and the social relationships that it ated with the second industrial revolution. fostered, arguing that these forms of mobil- Scotland around 1900 was an industrial ity can be understood as part of the informal
Volume 30, No. 3 25 Post Script distribution channels of early film—which British railways (“Showmen and Van- led in turn to more formal modes of cinema Dwellers”). The turn-of-the-century boom exhibition. of steam-powered rides, of which more will Scottish fairground families formed be said below, popularized off-rail traction a distinct community, although they had engines for fairground transport; however, strong links with the North of England and traction engines still traveled on roads, not with Ireland, and they traveled on broadly railways, and were prone to accidents. stable but flexible routes.2 The sequence of There is scarcely a fairground family that fairs that a particular family would visit each does not have a story of loss of life, limb or year was in part determined by tradition and property when these heavy, temperamental contacts, in part by commercial reasons, and machines got out of control. The engines in part by the viability of transport, which were not much faster than the horses, so was always a challenge. The standard set-up the geographical constraints on touring did for film exhibition on the fairgrounds, usu- not disappear. The goal was still to find an ally called “a Bioscope show” after one of optimal string of fairs, maximizing the po- the earliest practicable projectors, consisted tential paying audiences while minimizing of a canvas tent, wooden forms for seat- the costs of transport and the off days. ing, the projec- tion equipment, and a decorative front. Up to 1905, most Bioscope shows could be packed into two or three horse- drawn wagons, but as the fronts grew more or- nate, and in- corporated me- chanical organs and electrical generators, this became more difficult. In some cases, the wag- ons were adapt- ed to travel on the railways; al- though the rates were high, the secretary of the Showmen and Van-Dwellers’ A s s o c i a t i o n reckoned in 1896 that more than four thousand Fig. 1. Traveling pattern of Scottish showpeople as described in The Era vans traveled and The Showmen’s Yearbook around 1900.4 weekly on the
Volume 30, No. 3 26 Post Script The basic template was the “Scottish about investment opportunities in grounds Round” of fairgrounds, which, as described available for lease, while also warning him to The Era by an anonymous showman, ran to be careful when talking to other show- from March to December (“The Showman men who were in opposition or were not World” 1899; Showmen’s Yearbook). Starting members of the Association (Swallow Letter from their winter quarters, showpeople 17 Jan 1905). These few fascinating letters could visit several towns before arriving at give a glimpse of the mix of social contacts, Kirkcaldy, to the North of Edinburgh across personal experience, business methods, the Firth of Forth, in the second week of and calendar customs that made the yearly April. A tour of Fife followed, and then two round of fairs a very flexible network rather weeks on “private business,” which meant than a strict schedule or circuit. renting ground privately for a couple of As the description above shows, the attractions, or attending events like temper- Scottish round in fact included several dates ance fêtes and local bazaars. Towards the in the North of England. Most of the families end of May some shows returned to England that traveled these routes originally had for the Cumbrian fairs at Cockermouth, their winter base in Lancashire, Sunderland Carlisle, and Maryport, before converging or Yorkshire.5 This might explain why no at the Scottish town of Hawick, close to the mention is made of the several important border, in time for the Common Riding. July horse and feeing fairs that fell to the north was when most of the main city holidays of the central belt, such as Aikey Fair in Ab- took place, so there were fairs at Greenock, erdeenshire in late July. This omission sug- Glasgow, Dundee, and Stirling, and then gests that the description given in the Show- at Aberdeen and Perth in August. After man’s Yearbook sees the main touring routes about a month on private grounds, October in Scotland in the context of the Northern brought several fixtures in the Lowlands and English fairground runs, in an area roughly Ayrshire. The season ended with a string stretching from Manchester to Perth. While of dates to the west and south of Glasgow, the routes of the grandest shows overlapped reaching Irvine or Kilmarnock in Ayrshire on with some of the Midlands circuits, which the first week of December, after which the in turn might include London dates, many showmen started preparing for the Christ- showpeople did not travel so far, relying mas and New Year fairs.3 mostly on local circuits not represented Around this template, there was ample here. The fairground trade can then be seen room for an individual showperson’s as a nation-wide network at variable scales, judgment, balancing ease of travel with often held together by family ties, but with their knowledge of places and audiences, internal regional dynamics. The bigger fairs, the conditions of the ground lease, and such as Nottingham Goose Fair, Ayr Races, the kind of opposition they were likely to and Kirkcaldy Links Market, were important encounter. This insider’s knowledge was junctions in these informal networks. shared and updated within the business and At the peak of their popularity there family bonds of the traveling community. were nine Bioscope booths at Hull Fair in The Scottish Screen Archive keeps a series 1900 (Toulmin 2008 20). The roundabout of manuscript letters from Peter Swallow, engineers, Savage’s, showcased their new a small-time but enterprising roundabout models at King’s Lynn, an important charter (carousel) proprietor, to George Green, one fair in the East of England, where the Van- of the most successful of Scottish showmen. Dwellers’ Association also held an annual In this hurried, pragmatic correspondence, meeting (“The Showman World” 1897). The Swallow reports on the (often parlous) state Scottish showmen had a charity concert and of the machines and grounds that he is ap- meeting at Paisley near Glasgow during the parently managing for Green. Having no races (“Travellers’ Meeting”). capital of his own, Swallow advises Green
Volume 30, No. 3 27 Post Script Since the fairgrounds represented such stock, immediate availability, and prompt a substantial part of the British film trade dispatch via railway or parcel post. But in in its first ten years, manufacturers were reality sales by catalogue reflected a market prepared to make an extra effort to get their where both the supply of, and demand business. The larger fairs in England and for, films were irregular (Brown and Barry Wales functioned as both showcases and 21), and where films were seen as durable marketplaces for equipment and films. Ac- goods that showmen should stock. Thus, cording to A. C. Bromhead, companies like for instance, Williamson’s advertised in Gaumont sent “a representative with a bag January 1902: full of films which the showman would be No showman who values his reputation allowed to try out on the screen before his can afford to be without a copy of The audience” (4). In some aspects, the early Attack on a China Mission Station [aka: trade in films was very similar to that of Attack on a China Mission—Bluejackets to other fairground necessities. Following the Rescue, Williamson 1900]. This film Gerben Bakker, films can be understood as has been before the public over a year, “intermediary products”—a good needed by and is still a Trump Card. showpeople to produce “spectator-hours,” which were what exhibitors actually sold The same advert, however, urged show- (320-21). The fairground business had a men to send their addresses so they could be number of other ancillary trades, including notified at once of “any new subject likely the design and construction of steam rides to interest you.” Gaumont’s monthly “Elge” and traction engines; the making of tilts list of films, a reliable system of catalogue and painted fronts; poster printing; and updates that allowed showpeople to plan the wholesale of small prizes, gingerbread their purchases, probably helped make this and coconuts. A look at the Showman’s Year one of the most successful firms in the trade. Book for 1902 reveals that relatively few of But even with increased regularity, catalogue the advertisers were based in London. The sales continued to lack exclusivity: once a greatest concentration of fairground-related film was available on the catalogue, it was traders was in Lancashire in the North-West available for everyone. Enterprising show- of England, although this may in part reflect people had the option to travel to London the fact that The Showman was published in or Continental Europe to seek out novelties the then Lancashire town of Oldham. Heavy before they were offered by the agents; machinery came mostly from the East of they could also make or commission local England, and coconuts could be acquired films. The Blackburn-based film, Mitchell near their ports of entry, mainly London or & Kenyon, had several clients who worked Liverpool. in Scotland, of whom the better studied is In comparison, the film trade seems George Green (McBain 113-21). highly centralized. Although there were In any case, it was not easy or cheap several producers making films in the prov- for a Scottish exhibitor to put together an inces, small firms tended to sell their prod- attractive program. Before the adoption of uct to London-based dealers like Philipp film rental, exhibitors needed to buy films Wolff, Gaumont, and the Warwick Trading outright, which they could then keep, use Company. Like the other advertisers in The and re-sell with no restriction. In 1897 each Showman, these companies encouraged their “view” of around 50ft (under a minute) potential clients to visit the showroom, but cost between £2/10s and £4,6 a substantial they were also happy to send a price list amount even after it was halved by the end on application (see Christie 209-17). The of the Boer war in 1902 (Brown “War on” promises of film suppliers were the same 28-36). By then, having a local film made as those of other wholesalers of fairground by Mitchell and Kenyon cost 10d per foot paraphernalia: variety and novelty of their
Volume 30, No. 3 28 Post Script plus the operator’s fee and expenses, which scrambled to get into the grounds as soon worked out at about the 1897 rates (Neal, as they were open in order to secure a good Toulmin, and Vick 6). Second-hand films, location. But in the later decades of the nine- on the contrary, could be bought cheaply teenth century, local authorities had started in many locations. Manufacturers had no transferring responsibility over the grounds control over the circulation of their prints, to a single private lessee, who would then and the only limit was set by the physical collect rents and determine pitches for all deterioration of the film stock. Showpeople the attractions. Since these were assigned in with available capital accumulated more advance, it became more important to have films than they needed; for instance, when a pre-arranged plan. Joseph Wingate had to sell all his equipment The need for pre-determined spatial after a devastating fire near Stirling, he of- arrangements in the grounds also reflected fered 60,000 feet of film (Scrivens and Smith a change of emphasis brought about by the 160-1). The December 1900 and January 1901 development of steam-powered rides. The issues of The Showman contain classified ads swings and roundabouts moved from the from sellers in several provincial towns in sidelines to the center of the fairground, England, while in Scotland the Border Kine- and, being expensive machines, their owners matograph Company was selling used films could not risk getting an unsuitable location out of their public-hall exhibition venture or too much opposition when they arrived at Hawick. As noted before, Hawick was a at the fair (Swallow 52; Toulmin 2003 9-10). crucial node in the fairground calendar, be- But the spatial reordering of the fairgrounds, ing one of the points of convergence between and the proliferation of private business and the Northern English and Scottish rounds. holiday carnivals, also reflect a change in their Thus, the second-hand film trade exploited social context. potential network connections and linked Throughout the nineteenth century, as fairground and public hall exhibitors. The Trevor Griffiths has shown, the leisure aspect next section will argue that the increasing of fairs had surpassed their functional value regularization of the fairgrounds reduced as an opportunity for the hiring of farm hands the flexibility of the network pattern of and the trading of goods (181; see also Bakker movement and trade. The new conditions 72-85). Leisure time and disposable income favored the growth of better-capitalized were on the increase amongst industrial pop- showpeople and required different forms ulations, creating new opportunities for the of film supply. so-called “amusement caterers,” who were no longer obliged to adhere to the traditional calendar of fairs. The permanent or semi- permanent amusement sites that opened Th e Tr a n sf o r m a t i o n around the turn of the century in Glasgow’s Vinegarhill and Portobello in Edinburgh were o f t h e Fa i r g r o u n d devoted exclusively to amusement.7 The ex- Around the turn of the 20th century, pansion of private grounds encouraged some the fairground business was in the throes showpeople to develop a more managerial of a substantial transformation, both in its side, without giving up touring. One of the management practices and in its physical most important in Scotland was John Wilmot, shape. As Vanessa Toulmin points out, “the who was a highly respected figure in the trade technological changes that transformed the and managed the indoor Christmas carnival landscape of the Victorian fair also had con- at Edinburgh Waverley market for the music- sequences for the organizational aspect of the hall magnate, H.E. Moss, as well as running business” (Toulmin 2003 62). Traditionally, a series of other fairs (Swallow 54). the ground where the rides and sideshows Bridging the gap between theatrical were pitched was controlled directly by lo- seasons, the semi-permanent carnivals re- cal councils, who collected a levy. Showmen
Volume 30, No. 3 29 Post Script sponded to a steadier demand for entertain- halls to avoid the need for patrons to stand ment, and thus required different business around in freezing sheds. The projects were practices. The emerging film rental sector often started with money collected by a eventually supplanted the distribution func- temperance or friendly society such as the tion of the fairground routes, creating the Good Templars, and completed with dona- chain of supply that sustained permanent tions from wealthy local individuals and cinemas. Since many fairground Bioscope community fundraising. In rural areas, the owners became cinema proprietors and even halls were governed by committee instead film renters, some of their personal connec- of being managed by a single entrepreneur tions and touring arrangements must have or lessee, which distances them from music been imported into the new trade. However, halls and American opera houses (Waller 223- the delivery of films to fixed locations was 34). The minutes books and plans of many a fundamentally different operation. More of these halls are kept in local and regional regularized methods of film supply consti- archives all over Scotland. One example will tuted adaptations to more regularized leisure serve to illustrate the context in which the practices. As Griffiths argues, new forms of first traveling cinema shows were received production and employment emphasized in smaller towns. clock-driven regularity at work, but were The accounts of the Uphall Public Hall also connected to “a deliberate project of are kept at the West Lothian Archives, on cultural and political reform,” which sought the outskirts of Livingston, halfway between to transform the use of time outside work- Glasgow and Edinburgh. The village of Up- ing hours too (171). Central to this project hall was not very far from this location, and was the notion of “rational” entertainment it was at the heart of the shale mining district and the rise of the temperance movement. which supplied the paraffin oil industry. Fol- Both issues informed the history of the other lowing the establishment of Young’s Paraffin main strand of early exhibition which I will Works, the population tripled in the twenty consider, namely public hall shows. years to 1891, reaching 922 (Groome). This industrial workforce was, as so often, the target for a series of organizations, most of Pu b l i c Ha l l Sh o w s them aligned with a self-improving ethos (although there was also a soccer club!). The When I travelled with Mr William hall, a stone building dating from 1875, had Walker’s Company, the country towns been built primarily to house the Sunday did not have the convenient and com- school, but it was used for all other social modious halls they boast now-a-days, functions, from weddings to political meet- and many a time and oft we had to fit ings. In 1902, the Workmen’s Union had up a tent (begged, borrowed, or sto- monthly meetings; the Rechabites and the len!) or commandeer a barn in which Shepherds had temperance concerts; there to give our “show”. Even on occasions were bazaars, flower shows, and weekly we improvised a stage in a fish shed, in dances during the summer. which the fishermen and women would This diversity of uses, together with the stand for two hours and more without governance by committee, helped to protect a murmur (Skinner 53). public halls from moral suspicion, and hence As the celebrated fiddle player James created a reception context for cinema that Scott Skinner recalled, writing about the late was arguably far removed from metropoli- nineteenth century before moving pictures, tan concerns over the immorality of popular there was a history of winter entertainments entertainment. The constitution of the Dun- taking place in any enclosed space of suf- rossness Temperance Hall in Shetland, for ficient capacity. During the second half of instance, stipulated that “in no case shall the that century many Scottish towns built new Hall be available for purposes of a disrepu-
Volume 30, No. 3 30 Post Script table nature, nor shall the Hall be available for propagating sectarianism;” this gave grounds for their rejection of a Salvation Army meet- ing in 1908 (Story of the Dunrossness Central Public Hall 14/19). For a showman, falling out of favor with the hall committees could mean being shut out of the public hall circuit altogether, as well as losing private contracts. Although the character of the programs var- ied greatly, and objections were sometimes raised, in general the prudence exercised by Scottish exhibitors in their choice of subject allowed their cinematograph shows to reach conservative rural areas without the con- troversy that surrounded cinema in some urban contexts. By staking so much on their reputations, exhibitors in this guise served as mediators, assuaging potential anxieties about the new medium, as Joe Kember has argued (44-83). The spaces where their shows took place played an important part in legiti- mizing moving picture entertainment. Fig. 2. Aberdeen Journal Sept 24, 1897. Paul Maloney has argued that the popu- lar concerts organized by religious, improv- ing, and municipal societies in Glasgow’s company. These were: halls broadened the audience for variety a. The lantern lecturer model. Single entertainment in the city by setting it in “a engagements—either at showman’s secure, publicly regulated environment” with financial risk or for a set fee. Operator, “the unmistakable imprimatur of respectabil- machines and films went back to com- ity” (Maloney 7, 192). This contrasted with pany headquarters immediately. The the more disreputable associations evoked by show could be a complete program music halls. The village hall was an inclusive including musical acts, a stand-alone space, at least symbolically, since tickets were film program, or an addition to a bill not cheap (usually starting from 6d—around outside the showman’s control. half a day’s wages for a rural laborer). The b. The concert party model. A company permanence of these stark stone buildings was assembled temporarily to tour contributed to the sense of seamless continu- in a region for a few months, with ity from legitimized pre-cinematic practices, live performers and films. The owner through traveling film shows, to the transfor- of the cinema equipment could be mation of the hall into a picture palace. the manager of the company, or the In contrast to the decentralized interac- cinematograph could have been hired tions made possible by the fairground net- as a variety turn. work, Scottish public hall showmen worked c. Longer runs in large urban halls hired out of regional centers, and they seem to have by the exhibitor. had relatively little contact with each other. The impermanent film shows that occupied The following section will focus on the public halls in Scotland worked within three case of Aberdeen bookseller-turned-lanternist, patterns of traveling with corresponding William Walker, who was involved with the three types of non-permanent show. Perhaps business models, which could however be the most celebrated of early Scottish exhibi- implemented at different times by the same
Volume 30, No. 3 31 Post Script Fig. 3. Walker & Co. in North-East Scotland.
tors, Walker claimed to have ten thousand lan- provement, not entertainment; in places like tern slides by the time he acquired a Wrench Dunrossness, the implicit tension between the cinematograph projector in September 1896. two models led to protracted discussions over He hired the slides out to professionals and the distribution and partitioning of the floor amateurs at 6d per dozen per night. He also area (Story of Dunrossness Central Public Hall; had several skilled lanternists who could see also Nobbs). Its educational overtones provide a complete show on request, for meant that library committees might look private parties, parish concerts, and school to “Walker & Company’s Unique Cinemato- events (Thomson 7). To this line of work he graph Exhibition” as an appropriate means added film shows under the same on-demand to raise funds, which could then be invested model. Walker represented the higher end of in books—bought from Walker! the public hall spectrum, listing appearances In this kind of low-risk arrangement, at the royal residence in Balmoral as well the exhibitor did not need to arrange hall as Christmas shows in Highland estates. bookings or bill-posting, and would not sus- Keeping a clean reputation was therefore tain any losses if the event turned out to be a paramount. failure; however, he was not paid more than Besides, Walker was involved in an- the flat rate either if it was successful. Walker other form of trade, namely bookselling, & Co. combined these on-request appear- both wholesale and retail. In fact, selling ances with their own shows, for which they books and giving lantern entertainments engaged musicians and elocutionists. These were economic activities that could feed into shows were run as single engagements in each other: libraries were being built with the small towns, but increasingly as longer stays donations from Andrew Carnegie—the Scots- in Aberdeen, Dundee and other larger settle- born millionaire founder of the Carnegie Steel ments. The relatively low rents charged by Company in Pittsburgh, PA—but he did not provincial public halls, and the network of provide money for books. Carnegie insisted contacts established within previous trades that his libraries should be places for im- such as Walker’s book business, allowed the
Volume 30, No. 3 32 Post Script cinematograph to reach even surprisingly the machine work. This was unfortunate for small villages and remote locations. Mathieson, who had to cancel the whole tour after having paid deposits on all the halls, so he took Calverto to court and won damages Co n c e r t Pa r t i e s and expenses. The correspondence submitted Concert parties had long been an im- for the legal process is very useful historical portant part in the life of Scottish rural com- evidence, as it shows how Mathieson com- munities; around 1900, there were plenty of municated with hall-keepers, bill-posters and companies touring the length and breadth owners of pianos in each town. It confirms of the country. Walker’s main competitor that managing a touring concert party was in Aberdeen, Robert Calder, had a tour that not at all easy. However, the capital needed included moving pictures and went to Kirk- was modest when compared to other modes wall, Lerwick, Scalloway and Stromness in of exhibition, and so it could be the starting the Northern Isles (Skinner 58). A typical point for more ambitious ventures. touring show included vocal and instru- Touring allowed exhibitors to make a profit with a small stock of films, thus en- mental music, artistic dancing, declamation, abling them steadily to build up that stock humorists, and sometimes a phonograph through catalogue sales, second-hand dealers demonstration. In addition, lantern slides or local production. This pattern of gradual were used at the start of the show, so mov- re-investment is evident in the published ing pictures were easily added to the concert reviews of Walker’s shows, which show little format when Walker and Calder became change during each season, but a substantial owners of cinematograph equipment (Skin- recasting twice a year, around local films ner 52-53). Indeed, lantern slides of floral ar- made by Walker and his cameraman, Paul rangements, shown between films, continued Robello. Their 1898 autumn tour was entirely to be one of the most celebrated features of centered on Walker’s films of the Highlands Walker’s shows. Such refinements were usu- (“A Season’s Cinematographing”), which ally beyond the reach of those managers of they exhibited extensively but also distrib- concert parties who were not film exhibitors uted through the catalogue of the English themselves; as a result they resorted to hiring film pioneer, Robert W. Paul. a machine and operator at a flat rate through Although this suggests a connection to variety agents or classified ads. London dealers similar to that of the Welsh The National Archives of Scotland hold showman and filmmaker, William Haggar, the records of an illustrative court case. In Walker & Co. used the production of local 1903, one Alexander Mathieson organized films mostly in the service of its regional a three-week concert tour of mining villages exhibition practices, not as a fully-fledged in Linlithgowshire, the heart of the industrial 8 branch of their business. Having a fixed central belt. He contacted a few well-known base in Aberdeen and an ongoing booksell- highland dancers, singers and comedians, but ing/lantern business gave Walker access to the centerpiece was to be Georges Méliès’ capital and credit, while touring allowed him fantasy epic A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans to maximize returns on the films bought or la Lune 1902). For the cinematograph part made. On a regional scale, this case supports of the program, Mathieson hired an outfit Joe Kember’s claim that the cinematograph and operator from J. F. Calverto, a music- “seemed to favour large and centralized hall performer who ran a variety agency in institutions of production and exhibition” Glasgow. All the members of the company (72). Walker’s temporary success allowed the arrived at Broxburn (near Uphall) in the company to keep adding to its stock, which in afternoon before the opening night and the turn made it possible to run shows in urban performance started with music and danc- halls for increasingly long periods of time. ing, but when the cinematograph part was to begin, the operator was not able to make
Volume 30, No. 3 33 Post Script St a n d -Al o n e Ex h i b i t i o n and trade discounts from the agents (Brown “New Century” 76). Scottish exhibitors rarely i n r b a n a l l s U H had more than one show going at any one As Richard Brown points out, “stand- time, but they compensated by appearing in alone public hall film shows, complete with different guises. Modern Marvel’s TJ West, live acts, singers, orchestra, sound effects, a who ran town-hall seasons, also advertised ‘lecturer’ and specially taken ‘local’ films,” on the newspapers as a separate variety act. lasting up to two hours, made frequent ap- Edinburgh-based cinematograph operators pearances in the North of England around Fraser and Elrick, and the Dundonian Peter 1900 (Brown “New Century” 69).9 This Feathers, also alternated between private description corresponds to several Scottish engagements, and both urban and rural examples, such as Walker’s shows at the halls. These multiple identities were again Aberdeen Music Hall, Peter Feathers at the highly dependent on local and regional People’s Palace in Dundee, and TJ West’s reputation. Modern Marvel Company at the Queen’s Hence, the touring practices of public Rooms in Edinburgh, plus frequent visits by hall exhibitors inherited some of the patterns English companies such as Sydney Carter’s and ethos characteristic of magic lantern New Century Animated Pictures and Ralph shows, and just as a large slide collection Pringle’s North American Animated Picture allowed them to provide tailored entertain- Company. While these shows were still non- ments, a growing stock of films was required permanent, their longer seasons and urban to provide variety in longer engagements. locations meant that they faced competi- Having a regional base of operations made tion and needed to change their programs this accumulation possible, and being based frequently, or at least to give the impression in an urban centre gave access to communi- that they did. cations and banking facilities essential for Factual films constituted the bulk of the trading with London agents. Short-term program for Walker’s 1904 Holiday Carnival, touring patterns allowed these shows to held at the Music Hall in Aberdeen, accord- combine different modes of exhibition, from ing to a printed brochure kept at the Scottish flat-rate private hire to longer seasons in Screen Archive. Listing more than twenty large urban halls, thus making the most of subjects, some of which were series of several their investment in films and equipment. films, the program indicates that a selection of these will be shown during each perfor- mance. Films by Gaumont, Warwick, Paul, o n c l u s i o n s h e p a t i a l and Méliès are included, as well as Walker’s C : T S own productions of royal and military events. Pa tt e r n s o f Most of the titles were relatively recent, and Tr a v e l i n g Ex h i b i t i o n the brochure also promises that “any new Moving pictures came along at a mo- pictures of interest which may be published ment of great transformation in Scotland, during the Carnival” would be added. This as elsewhere. The first restless years of the suggests a ready availability of films, but still history of cinema are bound up with the without a regular release schedule. peak of industrialization and its attendant Since programs were a mix of tried- social changes. Momentous as these changes and-tested old films with a few attractive were, an attention to geographical patterns new ones, the longer an exhibitor had been provides insights into the continuities from in business, the easier it became to assemble previous eras, showing gradual and piece- a good show using existing stock. The ad- meal adaptations rather than abrupt shifts. vantage rested with those showmen who The above investigation of early exhibition controlled several outfits appearing simul- practices in Scotland suggests that the cir- taneously in different places, as they could cuits and networks of film distribution be- move the films between them and obtain bulk
Volume 30, No. 3 34 Post Script fore the establishment of fixed-site cinemas Ac k n o w l e d g e m e n ts re-purposed existing structures, utilizing Multiple drafts of this paper were pa- informal links and a great number of accu- tiently read and usefully commented on by mulated personal skills to adapt to economic Prof. John Caughie and Dr. Ian Goode. My and technological innovation. research is funded by an Overseas Research The direct sale of films to exhibitors Award and College of Arts Scholarship. I am enabled the new medium to be integrated also grateful for the interest and generosity into diverse showmanship practices, and of Dr. Trevor Griffiths (University of Edin- thus to be circulated in different ways. burgh) and Janet McBain (Scottish Screen Since some of the functions of distribution, Archive). including transport and programming, were assumed by the exhibitor rather than the manufacturer or a middleman, the distribu- No t e s tion patterns cannot be separated from the 1This essay will not deal with music hall movement of the traveling exhibitors, which showmen, partly because their influence was is in turn closely related to earlier models of restricted to the main urban areas, and partly entertainment. In the case of fairground trav- because the complexity of music hall practices elers, strong connections with the North of needs to be studied in its own terms (see Scul- England were maintained, constituting the lion 82; Bakker 14; Allen 1980; Rossell). basis for the reciprocal relationships between 2For an insider’s introduction to the film rental agencies that were established in the years before World War I. Public hall complex social world of Scottish traveling exhibitors were able to use their reputable showpeople as it is today, the best sources tradition to legitimize cinema and expand are Mitch Miller’s “dialectograms” of a yard its market. However, their own success in in the East of Glasgow, and his mapping of kinship ties between showground families. adapting to steadier patterns of leisure facili- 3 tated the emergence of permanent cinemas The Christmas carnival at Edinburgh and dedicated film renters. The higher levels Waverley Market, controlled by E. H. Moss, of capital required, and the greater control had been organised since around 1878. By exerted by producers over the exploitation 1902, the Showman’s Year Book listed Christ- of films, contributed to the decline of inde- mas carnivals at Aberdeen, Dunfermline, pendent showmen-exhibitors. Dundee, Edinburgh, Forfar, Frazerburgh, Scotland’s enthusiastic embrace of the Galashiels, Glasgow, Govan, Greenock, Kel- cinema is a testimony to the work of many so, Kilmarnock, Kirkcaldy, Leith, Motherwell, Paisley, Renfrew, and Stirling. highly-skilled showpeople from a variety of 4 backgrounds and presentational styles. Their Owing to boundary changes around knowledge of local conditions and audiences 1895, demographic information contained in this figure is for illustrative purposes only. was crucial for the expansion of the new 5 medium. In time, however, their work was in- This was the case of George Green, from dustrialized away too, and their role became Preston; George “President” Kemp, from increasingly managerial, staying put while Leicester; and the Biddalls, who wintered the train delivered self-contained film shows at Gateshead. See Brown, Richard (“New Century” 86). twice a week. To look at itinerant exhibition in 6 the periphery is, then, to explore a particular Observing the British pre-decimal form of interaction between the history of monetary system in which 12d (pennies) = 1 shilling, and 20 shillings = £1. the film trade, and the micro-histories of 7 squabbles over movable partitions in public George Green’s Carnival occupied the halls, in that brief moment when the future Vinegarhill Fields, where Glasgow Fair had of cinema was still wide open. been held since 1870, following a move from a more central location. During the summer of 1897, one old penny (1d) would grant
Volume 30, No. 3 35 Post Script admission to the grounds, including an Brown, Richard and Anthony Barry. A Vic- outdoor circus, several bands, and variety torian Film Enterprise: The History of the entertainment on the main stage, besides British Mutoscope and Biograph Company. rides and sideshows owned by other show- Trowbridge: Flick Books, 1997. men who leased their space from Green at Christie, Ian. “Comparing Catalogues.” Net- so much per square foot (The Glasgow Weekly works of Entertainment: Early Film Distri- Programme). bution 1985-1915. Eds. Kessler, Frank and 8This case has been discussed before by Nanna Verhoeff. Eastleigh: John Libbey, Paul Maloney (107-8). 2007: 209-17. 9Brown argues that these types of shows “Concert and Cinematograph Exhibition in were “an advanced form of early cinema Dundee.” The Dundee Courier and Argus which was incapable of further development” 11 Sept. 1897: 5. Online at 19th Century (Brown, Richard “New Century” 69). The fact British Library Newspapers.
Volume 30, No. 3 36 Post Script McBain, Janet. “Mitchell and Kenyon’s Leg- 4 Nov. 2010. acy in Scotland—The Inspiration for a “The Showman World.” The Era 25 Mar. 1899. Forgotten Film-Making Genre.” The Lost Online at 19th Century British Library World of Mitchell & Kenyon. Eds. Vanessa Newspapers.
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