British Pathe

c 1955

This is a duplicate copy of documentary also found on tape PM1863 and PM1864 - this version has been transferred from neg so is better copy. Footage is in slightly different order in this version.

Pathe retrospective. This reel shows dance crazes and music hall actors. Library...

c 1955

This is a duplicate copy of documentary also found on tape PM1863 and PM1864 - this version has been transferred from neg so is better copy. Footage is in slightly different order in this version.

Pathe retrospective. This reel shows dance crazes and music hall actors. Library material used should be found in more complete versions elsewhere.

Reel 2.

Narrator talks of the "Jazz age" and we see couples doing the Charleston in the Pathe Studio. C/Us of girls' legs dancing. One of the dancers kicks another by accident and the two couples stop dancing; the wounded girl grabs her injured leg. The Pictorial intertitles give dancers advice on how to dance properly with a demonstration. Extract from a pantomime at the Palladium follows - characters including "the dish and the spoon", a pantomime cow and Felix the Cat do a Charleston. Clarice Mayne is amongst the cast.
Santos Casani and Jose Lennard (sp?) demonstrate the Charleston on top of a taxi which drives down Kingsway in London. Various shots of them dancing. A genteel waltz is demonstrated. Two dancers perform a high kick jazz dance on a dance floor with a crowd gathered around. Victor Silvester and partner demonstrate a tango; C/U of their feet. The Black Bottom is demonstrated - C/U of the legs of the dancers to show the steps.

Dance marathon footage - an American competition is shown with couples holding each other up and looking exhausted. A Jazz wedding is shown - friends dance in the background as a couple are married. The groom kisses the bride - the man who marries them says "That'll do!" The band plays a Jazz version of "Here Comes the Bride."

Victor Silvester and Santos Casani are shown talking and laughing at the Pathe cinema after having been shown the above sequence. Narrator speaks of those stars of the Pictorial who are "no longer with us."

Will Fyffe is shown making up for his character who was "94 today!" Will Hay is shown in a school room sketch, getting black boot polish on his face as a result of a school boy prank. Billy Bennett is next, filmed coming out of his club drunk and going to the money lender / pawnbroker.