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The History of Cinema Exhibition in Exeter 1895 - 1918

Alex Rankin

(The text of this dissertation is copyright Alex Rankin, 2001. No part of it may be reproduced without the permission of the author.)

Chapter Two:

The Boer War, Synchronised Sound and Pantomime (1900–1902)

The War, which officially began in October 1899, had a profound effect on the cinema in Great Britain. The leisurely development which was taking place in the industry was suddenly accelerated by the demand for new subjects depicting every aspect of the conflict.(42)

With the Boer war underway, national demand for pictures relating to the conflict was intense:

For every film with any connection with the war the demand was enormous. President Kruger getting out of his carriage, scenes in Johannesburg, scenes of embarking and disembarking troops, of manoeuvres of cavalry and infantry, could not be developed fast enough.(43)

This fascination with the war helped not only those in the film industry, but the military as well since film presentations stirred up patriotic feelings and ensured strong national support:

The army, which had quickly seized upon the propagandist opportunities afforded by military music, open-air band performances, public displays, and the post-card collecting craze, seems to have been alive to the propaganda value of celluloid from an early date. The Adjutant General, Sir Evelyn Wood, made facilities available to the film-maker R. W. Paul to produce a series of twenty films on army life in 1900.(44)

In Exeter, the increase in demand for images of the war seemingly resulted in an increase in the number of showmen who visited the city. The first of these new showmen arrived shortly after Poole’s had left and brought their “Splendid show of ANIMATED PHOTOGRAPHS descriptive of the life work in the Navy in the Briton v. Boer War” to the Victoria Hall.(45) Accompanying the pictures there were lectures by a Lieutenant Leslie Smith whilst the show was completed by a selection of patriotic songs. It is these songs that indicate the extent to which the feeling around the war had developed; when measures had been taken to clean up the music halls in the latter years of the nineteenth century, the authorities frowned upon political songs. However, with the war came the return of songs, a situation now approved of, provided that the material was patriotic.(46) In February the following year, George Bell’s “Warograph” gave a performance, again at the Victoria Hall, of films that were said to come from “the heat of war” and be “illustrative of England’s greatness”.(47) That these pictures were genuine war films is highly unlikely. Instead, they were presumably a selection of the many “fakes” that were produced throughout the war that gave the impression that what was seen was actual fighting. These fakes were often frowned upon by sections of the industry, not only for misleading the public, but also because of the lack of attention to detail that went into some of the productions:

A correspondent asks us how he is to know real from sham war films, seeing that several subjects are made up at home from life models?... in one film we have heard about, there is a hand-to-hand encounter between Boers and British, all realistic in its way, but the effect is somewhat spoilt by reason of the fringe of an audience appearing on the picture occasionally.(48)

Whilst some chose to criticise these fakes, the film companies responsible for them defended their actions, explaining the necessity of them if the audience was to be entertained:

We intend issuing from time to time a number of these so-called ‘Faked War Films’, as we find in our experience that they are infinitely more exciting and interesting to an audience than the so-called ‘Genuine War Films’, as the latter will never be anything more than scenes of soldiers or sailors parading &c., before the camera in time of peace.... It is absolutely impossible to take a film of a genuine battle scene or any film of fighting, as, apart from the danger, modem warfare is carried on with the armies or navies miles apart, and therefore does not lend itself to cinematography.(49)

Whatever the individual merits of the fake war films, it is interesting to note that in the first half of 1900, the cinematograph show that achieved the most success in Exeter, both in terms of audience figures and press review, was a selection of what Wrench and Sons had called “Genuine Peace Films”. It was West’s Patriotic Entertainment “Our Navy” and arrived at the Victoria Hall in May. West had used his links with the Royal Navy when he began filming in 1897 and quickly gained official blessing. The shows became recognised as a highly effective recruiting agent and the British Army soon sanctioned him to film its subjects for this very reason.(50) The review in the Evening Post certainly testified to the fact that West was a very good film maker and that his shows had the potential to influence the audience:

Our Navy – It is a big subject, but it is handled effectively enough at Messrs. West and Sons entertainment at the Victoria Hall.... The animated pictures which illustrate [the] address bring home the realities of sea life as it has never been brought home before, and make quite possible the story of a gentleman having to leave the hall because the realistic nature of one of the scenes presented made him feel sea-sick. There are a number of views directly connected with the war...(51)

There were another four film presentations in Exeter during the remainder of the year, all of them featuring at least a number of war pictures. All bar Poole’s performance were relatively low key but seem to have been quite well received. That military subjects would be well received at the Victoria Hall is no real surprise. Whilst it was not strictly a music hall, it frequently fulfilled a music hall role(52) and as such would have been used to entertainment with a militaristic slant, from the frequent military band recitals and drill performances to the war themes of the popular panoramas. Coupled with this, Exonians were always pleased to see their local hero, General Buller, on the screen. Buller was commander in chief at a time when the British suffered three major defeats and was quickly replaced, only for his new command to be defeated at Spion Kop a month later. His standing in the army was obviously brought into question by many yet he continued to find support in the music halls.(53) If this support was strong on a national scale, then it can be certain that it was particularly strong in Exeter, his pictures in Exeter receiving loud “Huzzas” whilst those of Roberts, his replacement, came in for boos and hisses.(54) If the audience were receptive to the films connected with the war, then the newspapers were unlikely to overly criticise them; the press throughout the war gave massive quantities of space over to detailing events in South Africa with the Exeter Evening Post claiming to have the “Best Arranged War News”. These reports were frequently heavily slanted towards British bravery and Boer atrocities and with many of the films backing this concept up, the two media complemented each other, especially with the newspapers of the time lacking photographs to illustrate their writings. In a similar fashion, Charles Musser identifies the same idea in America during the Spanish-American war:

The cinema’s capacity as a visual newspaper was extended as exhibitors unspooled scene after scene related to the struggle. Even more impressively, however, motion picture showmen evoked powerful patriotic sentiments in their audiences, revealing the new medium’s ideological and propagandistic force in the post-novelty era.(55)

As if to confirm just how popular, indeed important, the moving pictures had become around this time, they found themselves a new venue in Exeter in February 1901. Certainly the Victoria Hall was more than adequately suited to the task of hosting the showmen who came to Exeter, yet when a film performance was booked at the Theatre Royal it seemed to give the shows a new respectability. The Theatre was, at the time, not struggling to find shows to put on, the entertainment listings of the local papers indicating that performances of plays, musicals and operas were a regular feature in the city. The first film performance at the Theatre was made up entirely of films, which, from what appeared on the advertisement, seem to have included those filmed by R. W. Paul for Sir Evelyn Wood in 1900:

Certainly, the Animatograph was the alternate name for Paul’s Theatrograph and the review that followed the opening performance suggests that Paul’s work was involved. This review also indicates that, whilst the move to the Theatre was somewhat unusual, the performance was enjoyable:

In a complete change from the ordinary run of the Theatre entertainments, the stage at the Royal this week is engaged for a series of animatograph pictures dealing with many phases of life and work in the Army ... Following these are ... some striking photos of Queen Victoria’s funeral and the opening of Parliament by the King….(56)

The showman who put on the performance clearly kept his stock of films up to date since Queen Victoria’s funeral (obviously of massive public interest) had taken place just three weeks prior to this performance. Despite the apparent success of the week long run at the Theatre, the films were not set to return there again in the near future. Indeed, the Victoria Hall, a little over a week after the Theatre films had left the city, had its own performance of the “Biograph Royal Funeral”.(57) Whether other films were shown during this performance is uncertain since there was no formal review in either the Evening Post or the Exeter Flying Post. In all likelihood, however, some war films would have been shown since Biograph had a cameraman, W.K.-L. Dickson, in South Africa who had managed to travel with the army and thereby secured some excellent footage.(58) The lack of review in itself is quite interesting, suggesting, perhaps, that the Theatre performances had been good enough, and catered to enough people, to satisfy Exonians’ desire to see films for the time being. This could indicate that the audience who attended the Theatre and those who attended the Victoria Hall were the same. This goes against the traditional assumption that the Theatre generally catered for a higher class audience (the pantomime season being the obvious exception) and indicates that the cinema in Exeter was already catering for a socially mixed audience, the full capacity showing that even the highest priced seats were taken.

When the Royal Animated Picture Company arrived at the Victoria Hall with Gibbons’ Phono Bio-tableaux in May 1901 they permanently changed the expectations of the audiences who saw them. Walter Gibbons’ had already become the foremost exhibitor in England by this time, proving himself not only with showing films, but with making them too.(59) He introduced the Phono Bio-tableaux in November 1900 and it is this invention that, in the advert the Victoria Hall placed in the Evening Post, promised to “faithfully reproduce voice and living pictures”.(60) Whether Gibbons himself was in charge at the Victoria Hall, or if it was an agent of his, the pictures themselves received excellent reviews, especially the local actualities (probably the first of their kind in Exeter), although the synchronised sound seems to have failed to impress:

Last night there was an unusually large and enthusiastic audience to witness what undoubtedly proved to be the best entertainment of the kind ever given in the city. Animated pictures we have had before, but never such a varied or fine collection….Continuously for two hours up to date scenes were reproduced with the utmost clearness…. War scenes were interspersed with comic pictures…. Probably a large proportion of those present were highly entertained with the representations of local life in the cattle market, at Messrs Willey’s Works, and at Messrs Lloyd’s tobacco factories, the films of which are exceptionally clear. The bio-phone tableaux were not so agreeable to the public taste, the excellence of the “bio” being somewhat marred by the “phono”. The latter invention has not yet been given the power necessary to render the combination a complete success…(61)

Whilst the Gibbons’ pictures could apparently succeed on their own, other showmen still favoured the cinematographe in a supporting role. Gilbert’s Circus took this view and, despite their proud boast that “to produce these pictures Mr. Gilbert will bring his own Electric Plant of Twenty-Six Thousand Candle Power”.(62) The Bioscope was still the last of the acts to be listed when they played the Victoria Hall in October. The review of the whole circus was extensive although the only mention of the films was the remark that “the concluding item was a capital biograph entertainment”.(63) Poole’s also continued to use films – this season shown on a “Pooleograph” – as a support to their panoramas, although they were increasingly given more precedence in the advertisements. For the 1901 season they also followed Gibbons’ lead and introduced a synchronised sound machine, the “Cine-Phono-Matagraph”, with which they would show “all the principal London stars”.(64) Despite providing the public with this new technology, as well as the latest war pictures, the star of the show remained the panoramas:

The series of new Boer War pictures are admirable, but the best spectacular effect is the representation of the Battle of Trafalgar [a panorama]... the cine-phono-matagraph produces some good living pictures, but the simultaneous working of the phonograph is not altogether a success, the latter invention not having been given the power necessary for so large a hall.(65)

The Poole’s synchronised sound films seem to have encountered the same problems as the Gibbons’ ones; only a small section of the audience could hear the phonograph. This does not seem to have been a problem when sound films first arrived in London, their presentations in the capital being well received, even though they were not entirely successful.(66) In London, however, film companies had a permanent base (Gibbons’ used the Hippodrome) and as such could provide the best equipment for the job. When the equipment went on tour, however, it seems that, from the response to the shows at the Victoria Hall, the showmen had chosen to use lower standard apparatus. Perhaps this was a result of the showmen choosing to save money by buying a smaller phonograph or, with space presumably at a premium on tour, that the showmen had opted for smaller, and therefore less powerful, equipment. There is also the possibility that the Victoria Hall was just larger than the average venue for the showmen. If they regularly played small town or lecture halls then the problem with a lack of power would not have been encountered. Whatever the reason, it is obvious that the people in Exeter were less than impressed with the new invention and that they could be won over with good pictures without the need for immediate technical advances.

The next showman to arrive in Exeter would certainly have caused a stir in the city. His programme, like the Gibbons’ one, consisted solely of films and his adverts set himself in direct competition to the theatre. The showman himself seems to have been A. D. Thomas who exhibited under the name Thomas Edison (or just plain “Edison” as he did in Exeter) for obvious reasons. Thomas had been involved with the film industry for a number of years and had been highly successful due, in part, to his excellent performances, but also for his genuine safety regards.(67) However, his business suffered towards the end of 1901 and late in that year he was forced to sell his business to Walter Gibbons. Seemingly, he finished off his 1901 tour in Exeter working for the new owner. When he arrived in Exeter just before Christmas, the advertisements he put in the local papers must have aroused considerable interest, claiming that he came equipped with “10,000 new colossal pictures” and a “Christmas Pantomime in Coloured Animated Photography”.(68) With the Theatre Royal about to start their own pantomime season this seems to be the first case in the city of an obvious challenge between the two media. Obviously, the Theatre had continued its full list of performances throughout the years that the films had been coming to Exeter, but with the two media operating such different programmes, the competition would have been minimal. To keep the potential audience interested, Thomas changed his advertisements on a reasonably frequent basis, each change giving some new information about the programme. Thus the pantomime was later revealed as “Blue Beard”, a George Méliès production of 1901. Although the show was not given a formal review, details of the programme were given in the ‘Local News’ section of the Evening Post, and testify to the fact that Thomas was indeed a master showman:

The animated picture show now being given daily at the Victoria Hall is well worth a visit, and the new powerful electric light just fitted by Messrs Rippon is a great improvement. Some fine films are included in the collection, “A Chinese girl enjoying a cigarette”, “The River Dee on Regatta day”, “Domestic Troubles” and “Too late for the train”. The local scene representing work people leaving the premises of Messrs. Lloyd is a good series and causes much amusement.... It is safe to say that the pictures are the best that have been seen in Exeter.(69)

Somewhat surprisingly, this small review failed to mention “Blue Beard”. Thomas had certainly seen fit to advertise it as his principal attraction and it would be fair to expect the reviewer to deal with it. Perhaps the paper remained loyal to the more traditional pantomime at the Theatre and decided not to advertise the competition any more than had already been done. A note in the paper some days later does, however, mention the pantomime but without revealing its merits. The local scene that is mentioned in the above review is already familiar from the Gibbons’ show of just seven months previous, confirming that Thomas was now part of the Gibbons’ enterprise. This is not to say that Thomas did not make his own local interest films and in the middle of his run at the Victoria Hall he introduced a film of the rugby-football match between Devon and the Rest of England. This match had taken place just days before being shown and, given the time scale between filming and viewing, had possibly been filmed by Thomas principally for use in Exeter. Before his show finished on the 16th January 1902 he also added “A Grand reproduction of Scrooge or Marley’s Ghost” and Méliès’ “Joan of Arc” to his programme. Despite all these programme changes, and the obvious high quality of what was on offer (which had already made Thomas the most successful showman solely concerned with films ever in Exeter) the pantomime season at the Theatre lasted considerably longer than his show. Although the true competition may have started, the theatre was clearly not yet overly troubled by the new medium.

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