Bohlmann, Julia (2016) Regulating and mediating the social role of cinema in Scotland, 1896-1933. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7198/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] REGULATING AND MEDIATING THE SOCIAL ROLE OF CINEMA IN SCOTLAND, 1896-1933 Julia Bohlmann Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Culture and Creative Arts College of Arts University of Glasgow October 2015 ©Julia Bohlmann October 2015 2 3 In memory of my father Uwe-Frank Bohlmann 4 5 Abstract This thesis examines how early cinema’s social function was mediated by local and national institutions as well as civic agencies in Scotland between c. 1896 and 1933. It proposes a social-historical approach that is based on extensive archival research of documents such as local newspapers, town council minutes, education authority minutes and Scottish Office records. As an empirical and historical study it focuses attention on the social-historical circumstances of cinema exhibition and reception as proposed by New Cinema History. The thesis’ main argument is that institutional responses fell into two categories – constraining and constructive strategies to negotiate cinema’s role in Scottish society. Parts 1 and 2 discuss strategies of control which sought to limit cinema’s social impact as a commercial institution while the third part is concerned with attempts to redefine cinema’s social purpose through the creation of alternative film cultures and exhibition practices. The first part identifies for the first time the specificities of the legal and administrative framework within which cinemas were allowed to operate in Scotland before 1933. It contends that the legal basis of the framework was determined by the Scottish Office’s relationship with Britain’s central government, and that its application by local licensing authorities depended also on the dynamics of municipal power structures. A further argument is that Scottish licensing authorities were more resistant than their southern counterparts to interfere with the content of film shows and exercised control mainly through the regulation of the cinema space and negotiations with local cinema trade bodies. Part 2 analyses British national debates about the legitimacy of cinema as well as film’s potential for education, providing a discursive context for the practices explored in the first part. Centring on the 1917 and the 1925 Cinema Commissions, it focuses especially on the perceived link between cinema-going and juvenile crime and film’s usefulness as a teaching aid. These themes are explored from a Scottish perspective incorporating local debates from Edinburgh and Glasgow. This part maintains that the discourse about the negative effect of children’s cinema-going and the debate on the potential teaching value of films were connected in that they both constructed the child as an impressionable spectator that required institutional guidance and protection. 6 Part 3 considers two constructive endeavours to shape early cinema’s social role in Scotland. It engages with the field of Useful Cinema and argues that this must not be confined to particular films or technologies but must include cinema exhibition practices that were religiously-, educationally- or politically motivated. First, municipal cinema is discussed as an alternative exhibition practice that tried to expand the role of the municipality as public service provider and match the ambitions of its organisers with the taste of local audiences. Second, the diversity of attempts to mediate cinema’s social role is once more illustrated in the case of the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society’s cinema and film work. This is explored diachronically and demonstrates that the Society’s engagement with cinema corresponded to broader contemporary debates discussed throughout the thesis. This part illustrates that the boundaries of cinema’s social function were constantly shifting during the period under consideration and that constructive strategies to define it anticipated characteristic strands of cinema culture emerging in Scotland subsequently. 7 Acknowledgements This PhD thesis could not have been written without the financial support provided by the AHRC in form of a stipend to cover tuition fees and living expenses. The funding has been secured by Prof John Caughie and Dr Trevor Griffiths as part of an AHRC research grant for the project ‘Early Cinema in Scotland, 1896-1927’. I am immensely proud to have been part of this interdisciplinary and collaborative project between the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh as it reflects my own belief in the importance of cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional co-operation in the pursuit of knowledge. A thesis is never the product of the author alone but is just as much the product of the army of people who help shaping it. First of all I would like to thank my supervisors Prof John Caughie and Dr María Vélez-Serna for their interest and encouragement as well as their criticism and patience as editors. As we worked together on a number of smaller tasks in relation to the project, I would also like to thank them for being great colleagues who made work fun. This gratefulness extends to the other researchers working on the project: Dr Trevor Griffiths who has helped me to understand the intricacies of the Scottish legal tradition and the background of the Independent Labour Party in Scotland, and Caroline Merz who has always been a stimulating and helpful colleague. I am also grateful to Dr Ian Goode, Dr Ian Craven and Prof Karen Lury for giving me the opportunity to teach and for encouraging me to further my research and explore future paths in academia. Many of the primary sources this thesis foregrounds could only be identified with the help of librarians and archivists. I want to thank especially the staff of Glasgow Mitchell Library and City Archives, Edinburgh City Archives, East Dunbartonshire Archives in Kirkintilloch, Perth and Kinross Archives and the National Archives of Scotland. Without their expertise, the readiness to share it and their genuine enthusiasm for local history, this work would have been deprived of its foundations. Parts of Chapter Four were published in Networking Knowledge (6:4) and I am grateful for the comments of the editors and peer reviewers. Some of the research that found its way into the thesis has been presented first at conferences and I thank delegates for their interest in my work and for sharing their thoughts on it. Many thanks to my friend and fellow-doctoral student Sara who has helped proofread the final draft. 8 Last, but not least, I would like to thank my parents for letting me search for and find my vocation and my grandparents for inspiring in me a desire to achieve and the work ethic to go along with it. Most of all, I am grateful for the support I received from my immediate family: Peter, Karina and Vincent, who respect my enthusiasm for research and writing, and who ground, delight and surprise me every day. 9 Table of Contents ABSTRACT 5 Acknowledgements 7 Table of Contents 9 List of Figures 13 INTRODUCTION 15 1. INTRODUCTION: RESEARCHING THE SOCIAL ROLE OF CINEMA 17 1.1. New Cinema History 18 1.2. Cinema’s Social Impact 20 1.3. Cinema in Small Nations 22 1.4 Regulating Cinema’s Social Role 24 1.4.1. Controlling Film Exhibition 24 1.4.2. Useful Cinema 28 1.5. Conclusion 31 PART I: REGULATING CINEMA 33 2. THE LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORKS FOR FILM EXHIBITION IN SCOTLAND 35 2.1. The British Framework 38 2.1.1. British legal discourse around cinema regulation 38 2.1.2. The negotiation of censorship 41 2.2. The Scottish Framework 48 2.2.1. Scotland’s legal tradition 49 2.2.2. The Scottish Office 52 2.2.3. The Scottish Office and the 1909 Cinematograph Act 54 10 2.2.4. The Negotiation of Film Censorship in Scotland 57 2.3. Conclusion: 61 3. REGULATING CINEMA IN EDINBURGH AND GLASGOW 63 3.1. Edinburgh 67 3.1.1. Children and the cinema space 68 3.1.2. Cinema, juvenile delinquency and the issue of censorship 71 3.1.3. Self-regulation & censorship in practice 73 3.2. Glasgow 75 3.2.1. Children and the cinema space 76 3.2.2. Glasgow Education Authority and the issue of censorship 78 3.2.3. Self-regulation & censorship in practice 84 3.3. Conclusion 85 PART II: ASSESSING THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF CINEMA 89 4. THE 1917 CINEMA COMMISSION: THE STATE AND POSSIBILITIES OF CINEMA 91 4.1. The Historical Background of the Commission 93 4.2. The Report 98 4.2.1. Cinema as Social Space 98 4.2.2. The Films 100 4.2.3. Juvenile Delinquency 101 4.2.4. Censorship 106 4.2.5. Educational Cinema 109 4.3. Conclusion 112 5. FROM THE CINEMA IN EDUCATION TO THE FILM IN THE CLASSROOM 115 5.1. Funding Cinema in Education: The role of the Carnegie UK Trust 118 5.2. The National Council of Public Morals’ Cinema Commission of Inquiry – The Cinema in Education (1925) 122 11 5.2.1. The Psychological Sub-Committee 123 5.2.2.