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Variety Acts and Turns of the Second World War 1939-45

Strike Force Entertainments 3.5 Hours B+W

Another quality product from Strike Force. The menu really is extremely user friendly, so simple which makes for a pleasant change from most DVD’s. The main feature is absolutely packed with typical variety entertainments from the war years.

As a peep back into our social history through these Pathetone Parade movie shorts, (which were played before the main features at cinemas all over Britain), we are able to catch a real glimpse of the diversity and styles of the popular entertainment of the time.

The Big Bands and Orchestras, such as Mantovani, Jack Hylton and Joe Loss amongst many, are truly brilliant and it must be remembered that most of what you are seeing was filmed and recorded in one take which shows the incredible skill of the top musicians of the day, no overdubs here, just talent, dedication and real subtlety. One of the soloists featured is Teddy Brown, billed as “The World’s Largest Musician”, is featured several times playing a concert Xylophone. Yes he would not get the slimmer of the year award, but his skill in playing his instrument is absolutely amazing and is delivered with wry humour. He knows how good he is and he delivers great music with incredible, faultless music, effortlessly. I have watched this several times now, it’s brilliant.

George Formby is featured many times throughout the presentation. He can be seen entertaining the troops at the front, playing the song “Maginot Line” on the Maginot Line and is also featured in small film clips and live stage performances playing both the ukulele and the Banjolele. In one sequence he makes an appeal to the audience in a theatre, to make donations to help victims of the blitz, which really brings home the difficulties people were facing and why the role of the entertainer was so important. He always comes across as such a genuine character with real integrity and love for his work.

The crowning glory of the video for me is the myriad of “Variety” acts on the DVD. All aspects of old time theatre, music-hall and circus acts are covered in the presentation and boy are they good! Mae Wong a Chinese contortionist puts on an incredible show of bendiness! Rupert Hazel plays the Strohviol, a one stringed trench fiddle with a “gramophone horn” attached to the bridge to amplify it, really interesting and I would imagine very rare footage. Stetson the juggler, showing us his remarkable skills with tops hats, was a fantastic spectacle and once again was delivered effortlessly.

With ventriloquists, jugglers, gymnasts, dog trainers, stilt walkers, magicians and everything else that you could possibly think of and more, it made me wish that variety shows would return to our smaller theatres in Britain, perhaps on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. It is worrying to think that some of these incredible skills will be lost to future generations if they are not exposed to them and have regular access to live performances.

Some entertainers have faired better than others over the years, by still retaining their appeal to 21st century audiences and this particular aspect of changing social history style can be seen reflected by certain acts. I found it fascinating trying to work out why some of the material of theses acts did not seem to work these days, thankfully, there were very few!

The operatic male tenors and baritones and the female “squawking and warbling” sopranos are now out-moded and seem almost comical now. Their propensity to strike ridiculous poses to look relaxed in front of the cameras, which was fashionable at the time doesn’t help. I’m afraid Gracie Fields, although massively popular with the British Servicemen, (until she left for Canada with her film producer husband and fortunes), has a harsh and shrill voice which is difficult to bear, but the footage of her performing to hundreds of “Tommies” is till quite moving.

Comedy has changed a lot too over the years too. Comedians Arthur Askey, Jack Warner and Max Wall amongst a host of others are featured, catch phrases and all! Most of the topical issues of the day are reflected in the comedians work and this comes across as relevant and quite funny. It is easily interpreted by modern viewers. Some of the less topical issues which have been picked are difficult to put into context with today’s humour and thus it’s hard to see what the comedians are trying to get at.

So this variety video with most acts good and a few bad makes great viewing for those interested in WWII or the music of the period. Thank you E.N.S.A. (Entertainment National Service Association) for all your stirling work during the war. The entertainers must certainly have helped make a terrible time more bearable.

Rosie Newman’s Britain at War in Colour

Strike Force Entertainments.

Rosie Newman was a keen amateur photographer and film maker. During the years of 1940-41 she wanted to her own personal record of life in Britain and was granted a licence to do so by His Majesties Government. Although she also filmed in black and white, which was the norm for the day, she also filmed in colour film which was expensive and hard to obtain at the time. She travelled extensively throughout Great Britain and managed to film a unique window into the past, catching many civilians and service people in their everyday surroundings, going about their day to day business, without having to submit to many of the propaganda clichés seen in many other wartime professional film makers. The result of her labours is stored in the Imperial War Museum archives and has recently been published by Strike Force entertainments on a 2 hour DVD, accompanied by Rosie Newman’s 1948 original 48 page booklet.

Rosie Newman

The footage, most of which I had never seen before, is probably the best colour footage available, as a real insight into what life was like on the British home front. If you teach young children at key stage 3 this is an ideal piece of primary source material for your young charges. It shows the true extent of the damage caused by the London Blitz and goes on to show evacuees having a wonderful time in their new surrounding away from the nightmare of the nightly raids. It also shows children getting used to their gas masks and involved in school and holiday activities. 

There is a great section filmed around the time of the formation of the Local Defence Volunteers (in black and white) and this expands into the era of the Home Guard and shows the men training with hand grenades, rifles and practising bayonet drill. There is a small section on dispatch riders of the Home Guard and also training with home-made mortars firing smoke rounds, which actually looks more perilous to the user than the enemy.

The films also deal with salvage, women’s roles in WWII showing the fashions for the civilians as they stand in ration queues and the uniforms of the service men and women in colour which must make this DVD a must for any living history group wanting to portray the Home Front.

In the sequences taken during the London blitz there is plenty of footage showing the ARP services, AFS, Police and Rescue Services searching for people amongst the debris of demolished streets.

This has quickly become one of my favourite wartime DVD’s and have watched it several times now never getting tired of the content, especially that of the Spitfire sequences, absolutely wonderful!

The amount of training and simple counter measures in dealing with the new types of German “Anti-Personnel” incendiary bombs is shown very clearly here and has been an area sadly lacking in books published about the British Home Front over the years. At last, here it is in moving images!

My only criticism of the complete package is that on two occasions American information films appear in the middle of footage dedicated to the British Home Front and I would have preferred to have seen these as “Additional Features” at the end of the D.V.D. These films are once again very informative but are out of context with the rest of the footage, this coupled with poor quality sound and the change in accent does tend to spoil the flow of the British films, but this is only a small irritation and does not detract form the excellence of the whole product.

As a document for the study of British social history this presentation is excellent, a must for any school, person studying WW II or for the enthusiast who loves his viewing in black and white, with a received pronunciation commentary.

This D.V.D. set is available at all good D.V.D. outlets.

Weapons and Explosives of Churchill’s Secret Army

Produced by Goldeneye Creative for:

Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team.

During WW II a secret underground resistance organisation was formed to disrupt enemy and harass the enemy in the event of invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Nazis.

There were many cells formed in complete secrecy and based all over Great Britain, information has only just come to light in the last few years about these units and their operational duties during the war years.

The D.V.D. is split into three main sections, dealing firstly with the weapons and explosives and their intended uses. Secondly the Operational Bases described and thirdly the unearthing of the O.B. at Coleshill House. Bob Millard an ex Auxilier and Richard Ashley an ex-Military and Police armourer with 55 years of experience, talk you through the role of the Auxiliary Units and their weapons, Early examples of shotguns, cudgels and many other more sinister weapons including specialist explosives, switches, detonators and fuses are dealt with in this fascinating look at an illegal episode British history,

Sanctioned for development by Winston Churchill and under the direct control of MI5, the video is quick to point out the clandestine nature of the Auxiliary units, who although some were recruited from the Home Guard and who also wore Home Guard uniform in order to throw inquisitive locals of the scent, were in fact a highly trained organisation who would have stopped at nothing to disrupt and destroy enemy equipment and resources in the event of the Occupation of Great Britain.

This video leaves you wanting more, the courage of these men is without a doubt, second to none each knowing that they would have lost their lives in the event of being discovered by enemy forces, the Geneva Convention did not apply to these secret units and they would have effectively been put to death as terrorists in their own country if they had been discovered.

I particular liked the references to Stuart Mc. Crae and Millis Jeffries in the presentation. These two men ran Winston Churchill’s “Toyshop” at the Firs in Whitchurch, where all manner of secret weapons and devices were devised and perfected during WW II.

This part of wartime Britain’s history has been seriously overlooked over the years and thank goodness C.A.R.T. have made this information available to the public, in a simple no-nonsense approach and not as you would expect being delivered by men from this era, it is not without it’s humorous moments.

This D.V.D. makes the perfect accompaniment to John Warwicker’s informative book and both are a must for those you out there who have a feel for clandestine warfare.

For more information and to purchase the DVD please see here (Hyperlink http://www.coleshillhouse.com/weapons-and-explosives-dvd.php )

To learn more about the Auxiliary Units you can visit www.coleshillhouse.com

Churchill's Underground Army

By John Warwicker

Published by Frontline Books London

ISBN 978-1-84832-515-9

This excellent book has at last, brought it home to me what was expected of the Men and Women of the G.H.Q. Auxiliary Units and Special Duties Sections during WW II.

The clandestine operations of these units, working on British soil during WW II, have been held under for far too long.

It has been a joy to read John Warwicker’s account of the preparations that were made to develop an underground resistance movement, which could attack and harass the enemy in the event of a full invasion of Britain, which was expected as imminent around the dark days of September 1940.

From the in-depth look at the characters that were charged with initially setting up the Scout Units, to the designs and ingenuity, of the secrecy and camouflage utilised to conceal underground Operational Bases and their entrances. The problems with supply and with dealing with the regular Army have been well researched and presented in a way which is easily accessible to the reader and is not without humour.

For any individual interested in the development of early radio equipment, or Radio “Ham”, this book is a must, as it shows what was achieved with minimal resources, time, budget and equipment by radio amateurs who designed radio equipment which was way ahead of it’s time and later help shape the way that military radio-systems and communications would be manufactured and employed in later conflicts.

This book is testament to the Secret Underground Army of both Men and Women of Britain, who would have and did, willingly give their lives for their country, under the most severe of circumstances, to then, not be recognised until now.

Laughter - Silvered Wings

By John Pascoe Watson

ISBN 978-1-907235-01-0

Taking its title from the 1941 poem “High Flight” written by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Jnr., of the Royal Canadian Air Force John’s book explores the switch from childhood dream to fully fledged, fighter pilot, in this fascinating account of his life in the R.A.F.

Exmouth at war is the starting point for John’s Journey. He had previously been bitten by the flying bug in 1930, at the age of 5 on an air experience flight with his father, in a De- Havilland Rapide.

At the age of 12, John was presented with a school prize for being top of the form.  The prize was a book about making a career in the R.A.F. as a pilot.  John made up his mind there and then.  It was going to be a pilot’s life from now on!

From joining the R.A.F. on the 4^th June, 1944, John takes you through an incredible journey explaining how he made a career from flying and sometimes crashing, (occasionally through no fault of his own), 26.5 (all explained in the book) different types of Aircraft.

These aircraft ranged from the Tiger Moth and Harvard trainers. Also post-war combat missions in Spitfires and Tempests, through the early years of Jet fighter design (Gloster Meteors and Vampires) to the Blackburn Buccaneer. John eventually emerged from his flying career as a highly skilled pilot, with an Air Force Cross for his troubles.

My own understanding of the dangers that fighter pilots faced on a day to day basis, plagued with constant mechanical problems and unexpected changes in weather, has completely changed my mind about any of my own boyhood dreams.  The author has managed to, in his own quiet way, given the reader a real white knuckle ride in some of the accounts. The unexpected happens on a regular basis invariably for the worst.

John and his fellow pilot’s ability to deal with these problems, with nerves of steel and a cool head, comes across well. Along with the sadness of his personal accounts on the loss of fellow officers.