British Pathe

Chelsea, London.

M/S of a spacious white room with red curtains and red chairs around the edge. In the centre of the room a group of toddlers dressed as bumble bees are kneeling on the floor around an older girl dressed as a fairy. The children get up and pretend to fly around the room. Various...

Chelsea, London.

M/S of a spacious white room with red curtains and red chairs around the edge. In the centre of the room a group of toddlers dressed as bumble bees are kneeling on the floor around an older girl dressed as a fairy. The children get up and pretend to fly around the room. Various shots of the children jumping and prancing around the room. C/U of one of children, Cookie Brusa, aged two, racing maniacally around the room. M/S of the children dancing - the older fairy is noticeably more poised and graceful than the toddlers. C/U of the dancing instructor and principle of this very select dancing school, Violet Ballantine, conducting. Various shots of the children dancing. C/U of the children's bare feet. C/U of one of the smaller children, Elisabeth Blaker, looking confused. Various shots of the bumble bees gathering to kneel around the fairy.

Exterior. M/S of a palm tree on a tropical beach.

Interior. M/S of a group of slightly older girls dancing in a line around the dancing studio. They are dressed in 'hula' costumes - grass skirts and garlands of paper flowers. The girls wiggle awkwardly and clap their hands as they move around the room. C/U of Caroline, aged three, "daughter of film star Jack Hawkins". The narrator points out several of the children have famous parents. Tilt down to Caroline's feet. C/U of another pair of feet. Tilt up to reveal a dark haired girl - "no actors in this one's family but Roxana's certainly pretty enough". M/S of the row of dancers kicking and wiggling.

C/U of a blonde girl, "Chantal, lovely daughter of a lovely mother, Moira Lister". M/S of the girls dancing. C/U of Violet conducting. M/S of the dancers. C/U of Chantal. M/S of the dancers as the Hawaiian hula music stops. C/U of Violet beckoning. A group of boys and girls pretending to be boys march in dressed as sailors. According to the narrator, "the third on the left is young Marcus, three year old son of actor Donald Sinden". The sailors all take a hula girl as a partner and begin to waltz clumsily around the room. Various shots of the children dancing. C/U of Violet smiling. The music changes from a waltz to a samba and the children all spin and dance around the room. C/U of Violet clapping and laughing. The children stop dancing and the sailors all salute while the hula girls all curtsey. The narrator explains that the Violet's classes have raised thousands of pounds for charity. C/U of Chantal. At the end the narrator comments "lovely aren't they? (we wonder what they're like at home though?)"