Suburbia, Seaside and Sensation: Showing Films in London and the South-East, 1896 – 1897
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Suburbia, seaside and sensation: showing films in London and the south-east, 1896 – 1897 Amy Louise Bethel PhD University of York Theatre, Film and Television September 2015 Abstract The study of film exhibition has become increasingly important in researching and interpreting the silent film period. In this context, it is crucial to understand how the British film-going experience emerged, laying the foundations for one of the key leisure pursuits of the twentieth century and beyond. This thesis examines a fascinating and distinct moment in the history of silent film. The resilience of films as an occasional form of entertainment during the first two years of commercial exhibition was due, in part, to the sensational aspects of the new medium, and to the activities of a range of travelling showmen and lanternists. The role of such individuals in suburban areas has been largely overlooked, while the role of the music hall and the frequency of film shows in this period have been overstated. I seek to redress this by showing that films arrived outside of large urban areas in a variety of settings, with lanternists occupying a crucial role. By employing an empirical and systematic methodological framework, I offer a new perspective by means of detailed case studies chronicling the exhibition of films in the suburban towns of Croydon, Ealing and Woolwich between 1896 and 1897. Focussing so precisely on the first two years of commercial exhibition enables a comprehensive study of the initial impact of the cinematograph and how film exhibition was working in that period. By means of a fourth case study, I re-appraise and re-position the role of lanternists and show the importance of these entrepreneurs in terms of film exhibition and their impact on the suburban London landscape. I also consider the broader theme of Sensation and how it relates to the film-going experience in this period. 2 Contents Abstract 2 Contents 3 Illustrations 4 Acknowledgements 7 Author’s Declaration 8 Introduction 9 Chapter One Reaching the suburbs: the cinematograph in Croydon 26 Chapter Two The sensation of the age in Ealing 63 Chapter Three From wonder to weariness in Woolwich 77 Chapter Four Suburbia and X-ray culture 98 Chapter Five The suburban experience: drawing conclusions 109 Chapter Six Exhibiting initiative: the role of Horace Banks 117 Chapter Seven Navigating the sensational: a voyage of discovery 173 Conclusion 195 Appendices 201 Abbreviations 217 Bibliography 218 3 Illustrations Introduction Fig. 1. Woolwich Arsenal, dinner time. ‘Royal Arsenal & Military – Chris’, Chrismansfieldphotos.com, 2015 <http://www.chrismansfieldphotos.com/RECORDS-of- WOOLWICH/Royal-Arsenal-/> [accessed 24 September 2015]. Chapter One Fig. 1.1 Advertisement, Horniman Hall, The Croydon Times, 26 September 1896, p. 5. Fig. 1.2 Advertisement, National Palace of Varieties, The Croydon Times, 7 October 1896, p. 4. Fig. 1.3 Croydon Camera Club members on the Town Hall steps, 1896. ‘Croydon Club Archive History: Archived Group Photographs’, Croydoncameraclub.org.uk, 2015 <http://www.croydoncameraclub.org.uk/ClubArchiveHome/ClubArchiveGroupPhotographs/ClubA rchiveGroupPhotographs.htm> [accessed 24 September 2015]. Fig. 1.4 Advertisement, Public Hall, The Croydon Times, 26 December 1896, p. 4. Fig. 1.5 The New Albertine yacht, Hastings, c. 1890s., ‘Hastings – Pearson’, Photohistory- sussex.co.uk, 2015 <http://photohistory-sussex.co.uk/HastingsPhotgrsPE.htm> [accessed 24 September 2015]. Fig. 1.6 Still from Saut de la haie, 1897. ‘Saut De La Haie’, Catalogue Lumière, 2013 <http://catalogue-lumiere.com/saut-de-la-haie/> [accessed 24 September 2015]. Fig. 1.7 Still from Le cigare introuvable, c. 1897. ‘Le Cigare Introuvable’, Catalogue Lumière, 2013 <http://catalogue-lumiere.com/le-cigare-introuvable/> [accessed 24 September 2015]. Chapter Two Fig. 2.1 Advertisement for The Lyric, MCT, 31 October 1896, p. 4. Fig. 2.2 Victoria Hall, Ealing Town Hall, c. 1900s. Courtesy of Ealing Local Studies Library, item T253.14. Fig. 2.3 Advertisement for the Victoria Hall, MCT, 6 March 1897, p. 4. Fig. 2.4 Reverse of Lock & Whitfield cabinet card, 1909. Courtesy of James Morley, ‘Early Ealing Photographers’, Flickr, 2015 <https://www.flickr.com/groups/early-ealing-photographers/pool/> [accessed 26 September 2015]. Fig. 2.5 Walter Cole, October 1877. Courtesy of the British Library Evanion Collection, item 2646. Fig. 2.6 Advertisement for the Victoria Hall, MCT, 9 October 1897, p. 4. 4 Chapter Three Fig. 3.1 Advertisement for Barnard’s Theatre Royal, KICA, 7 November 1896, p. 1. Fig. 3.2 Advertisement for the O. S. Cinematographe, The Era, 10 April 1897, p. 29. Fig. 3.3 Advertisement for Wrench’s cinematograph, The Era, 25 December 1897, p. 25. Fig. 3.4 Advertisement for the Palace of Varieties in Chatham, Chatham & Rochester News, 14 November 1896, p. 1. Fig. 3.5 Joshua Dyson postcard, c. Edwardian, Amy Bethel collection. Fig. 3.6 Advertisement for Woolwich Photographic Society, KICA, 20 February 1897, p. 1. Fig. 3.7 Messrs. Gane & Norton Wright, The Palace Journal, 11 November 1892, p. 347. Chapter Four Fig. 4.1 X-ray of Bertha Röntgen’s Hand, December 1895. ‘Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen - Photo Gallery’, Nobelprize.org, 2015 <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1901/rontgen-photo.html> [accessed 29 September 2015]. Fig. 4.2 ‘LOOK PLEASANT PLEASE’, Life, February 27, 1896. Chapter Six Fig. 6.1 Horace Banks, 1898. ‘Image record’, Slides.uni-trier.de, 2015 <http://www.slides.uni- trier.de/image/index.php?id=8005767&itemid=6003064> [accessed 25 September 2015]. Fig. 6.2 Advertisement for Banks and Greaves, The Magic Lantern Journal and Photographic Enlarger Almanac and Annual 1896-1897, (London: Magic Lantern Journal Limited, August 1896) p. 73. Fig. 6.3 Advertisement for Banks and Greaves, The Era, 25 April 1896, p. 24. Fig. 6.4 Official Programme Olympia Limited, 6 June 1896. Courtesy of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, University of Exeter. Fig. 6.5 Official Programme Olympia Limited, 16 June 1896. Courtesy of the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum, University of Exeter. Fig. 6.6. Interior of the Aberystwyth Pier Pavilion, date unknown. ‘Ceredigion County Council-The Interior Of The Pier Pavilion’, Ceredigion.gov.uk, 2015 <https://www.ceredigion.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=5678> [accessed 25 September 2015] Fig. 6.7 Advertisement, Jersey Commercial Association, Jersey Express, 22 August 1896, p. 3. 5 Fig. 6.8 Postcard, St. Julian’s Hall, St. Peter Port. Courtesy of the Priaulx Library, Guernsey. Fig. 6.9 Photograph, The Frederica at St. Peter Port, Guernsey c. 1890s. Courtesy of The Guernsey Museum & Art Gallery. Fig. 6.10 Train wreck at Montparnasse, October 1895. ‘Train Wreck At Montparnasse 1895.Jpg’, Wikipedia, 2015 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Train_wreck_at_Montparnasse_1895.jpg> [accessed 23 September 2015]. Fig. 6.11 Advertisement, Ryde Pier Pavilion, IWO, 5 September 1896, p. 8. Fig. 6.12 Advertisement, Swindon Corn Exchange, The Swindon Advertiser, Wilts, Berks and Glo’ster Chronicle, 19 December 1896, p. 1. Fig. 6.13 Advertisement, Clarence Pier, The Portsmouth Evening News, 29 April 1897, p. 1. Fig. 6.14 Rhyl Pier Pavilion, date unknown. ‘The Grand Pavilion Destroyed by Fire’, Rhyl History Club, 2012 <https://rhylhistoryclub.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/the-grand-pavilion-destroyed-by- fire-1901/> [accessed 23 September 2015]. Fig. 6.15 Advertisement, St. Leonards Pier, Hastings, St Leonards and Bexhill Amusements, 8 November 1897, p. 9. Fig. 6.16 St Leonards Pier, circa 1910. ‘St Leonards Pier’, hastingschronicle.net, 2015 <http://www.hastingschronicle.net/stLeonardsPier.html> [accessed 23 September 2015]. Fig. 6.17 Serpentine Dance, 1897. ‘Home Page’, Edisonart.com, 2015 <http://www.edisonart.com> [accessed 23 September 2015] Fig. 6.18 Imperial Japanese Dance, 1894. ‘Japanese Dance’, Library of Congress, 2015 <http://www.loc.gov/item/00694125/> [accessed 23 September 2015]. Fig. 6.19 Blacksmith Scene, 1893. ‘1893 Blacksmith Scene’, YouTube, 2015 <https://youtu.be/DUepMcfbbt8> [accessed 23September 2015] Fig. 6.20 Advertisement, Clarence Pier, The Portsmouth Evening News, 29 April 1897, p. 1. Chapter Seven Fig. 7.1 Corn Exchange, The Swindon Advertiser, 19 December 1896, p. 1. Fig. 7.2 Living Photographs, The Croydon Times, 26 September 1896, p. 5. Fig. 7.3 The Bazaar de la Charité, Le Petit Journal, Supplément Illustré, 16 May 1897, p. 1. Fig. 7.4 Photochrom print of American Falls, Niagara, c1900 ‘American Falls, Niagara’, Loc.gov, 2015 <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.17830/> [accessed 29 September 2015]. Fig. 7.5 Still from Blackfriars Bridge, R.W. Paul 1896. ‘Blackfriars Bridge (1896) - R.W. Paul | BFI’, YouTube, 2015 <https://youtu.be/fABILtla_lE> [accessed 29 September 2015]. 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has been a labour of love, and it would not have been possible without the support, understanding and encouragement of my family, friends and colleagues. It has been an incredible challenge, but one that I am very glad and proud to have undertaken. I am particularly grateful for all the support and guidance that Professor Andrew Higson has given me over the course of the last ten years. I am indebted to the large number of libraries and archives which have given me access to the newspapers, ephemera, photographs, articles and monographs which have helped to shape this thesis. I particularly wish to thank the staff at the following institutions: Croydon Local Studies Library; Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society; Greenwich Heritage Centre; Ealing Local History Centre; National Archives at Kew, British Library; British Newspaper Library (formerly at Colindale); British Film Institute Library and Special Collections. I am especially grateful to my father, Ron Brooker, who has shared with me his love of local history and research since I was a little girl. I have been inspired by his diligence and passion for researching the past. Lastly, I owe a vote of thanks to the lanternist Horace Banks who has been a constant companion during the research and writing of this thesis.