Videos tagged with 1950s

MyStory - Amateur dramatics and a film extra in Hobson's Choice

MyStory - Amateur dramatics and a film extra in Hobson's Choice

A MyStory film uploaded by DHE Solutions. Born in Fallowfield, Manchester in 1920, Ronnie Carroll, now of Warton Lancashire, had an abundance of fascinating stories to tell covering some thirty years when interviewed in December 2012. Now at the spritely age of 93, Ronnie still acquaints his life stories with the same vivacity as the day they happened. In this story, Ronnie begins by informing us on his involvement within amateur dramatics throughout the 1950s. As a leading member of The Withington Players, a Manchester based amateur dramatic group, Ronnie travelled throughout the UK, starring in many stage productions and competitions for which the group often came out triumphant. Ronnie then goes on to share the highlight of his time in amateur dramatics, starring as an extra in the 1953 film Hobson's Choice alongside big name actors of the time John Mills, Charles Laughton and Brenda de Banzie. Ronnie provides an insight into the nature of Charles Laughton, recalling how he was enthralled within his work and in his role as Victorian bootmaker, Henry Hobson. Further recollections include working directly alongside John Mills in one scene, and even buying the late film star a beer after filming as he had no money with him! It is evident that Ronnie thoroughly enjoyed his time in amateur dramatics and in particular his work on the set of Hobson's Choice, an opportunity that many aspiring actors would be grateful of today. www.mystories.eu www.dhesolutions.co.uk

Secretarial work, typing pools and using the first ever photocopier in the 1950s

Secretarial work, typing pools and using the first ever photocopier in the 1950s

Jacki Rogers talks about life during the 1950s training to be a secretary. She recounts her experience learning to type through 'touch type'and going on to work in a busy typing pool. She learned Pitman Shorthand and from then went on to work in her first secretarial job. In the 1950s office work was very different to how it is nowadays, there was an extremely strict protocol with bosses having their own lavoratories, dining rooms and even lifts. This all started to change in the 1960s. Jacki also talks about her experience being one of the first ever office workers to use the first photocopier, which was the size of a bus and took 10-15 minutes to produce one copy!

Camberwell College of Arts in the 1950s (Part 2)

Camberwell College of Arts in the 1950s (Part 2)

In the second part of her interview Jacki Percy continues telling us about her experience of studying at art college in the 1950s. She witnessed the beginning of major changes in art education. When she first began studying at art college it was a place of vast creative freedom, where no-one had to give explanations and time was spent simply 'making'. Suddenly the government started to bring about changes and the arts had to start justifying itself as a worthy academic subject. Students began to have to start writing lessons and explaining themselves, something not everyone took lightly! Jacki went back to study an MA at Camberwell almost 50 years later and she goes on to explain the changes she witnessed in the college where she had begun her training so many years ago...

Camberwell College of Arts in the 1950s

Camberwell College of Arts in the 1950s

Jacki Percy studied at Camberwell College of Arts in the 1950s, and went back again to do an MA almost half a century later; so she has an amazing insight into how arts education has changed in the past decades. In the first part of her interview Jacki remembers what it was like to study in a time of great creative freedom, learning from inspirational artists at the forefront of the arts movement, when men would walk around bare-foot and clutching pocket watches! She recounts what daily life would be like for an art student back then and the processes and subjects they would study as part of their creative learning...

The London working classes finding work in the 1960s and the traditional role of women

The London working classes finding work in the 1960s and the traditional role of women

In her concluding interview Pauline Mounsey recounts what life was like in the 1960s for young adults from working-class backgrounds going into work. They would typically leave school at 15 and go into working in office environments. Finding work was much easier in the 1960s than it is now. Pauline remembers what the Bankside area where she worked was like in the 1960s and the vast changes that have occurred in the area since. She also speaks of the traditional role of young women of her age meeting their boyfriends at around 19 and getting engaged, marrying at 21 and subsequently leaving home and having children (and thus leaving work also).