This film came, along with another that covers the same events, from Kirklees Council.  At the time of this film Stanley had its own Urban District Council, becoming part of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council after the Government reorganisation of 1974.  It isn’t known how the films made their way to Kirklees Council, a neighbouring district, also formed in 1974. Nevertheless, in the mid-1970s an employee, Mr Freddie Smith, initially offered the two films to the National Film Archive –...

This film came, along with another that covers the same events, from Kirklees Council.  At the time of this film Stanley had its own Urban District Council, becoming part of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council after the Government reorganisation of 1974.  It isn’t known how the films made their way to Kirklees Council, a neighbouring district, also formed in 1974. Nevertheless, in the mid-1970s an employee, Mr Freddie Smith, initially offered the two films to the National Film Archive – as it was then, becoming the National Film and Television Archive in 1992 and the BFI National Archive in 2006.  Although many similar early films being held by district councils, were often accepted by the NFA, these two films from Stanley, for some reason, weren’t.  However, 16 mm prints were made of the films in 1982, and the original nitrate films were destroyed.  The prints then went to the North West Film Archive before arriving at the YFA. 

No information came with the film other than that which can be gleaned from the intertitles in the film itself, stating that it was, “Exclusively photographed by Yorkshire’s leading cameraman W.S. Atkins  . . . for Stanley Picture House Co. Ltd.”  Well, whatever the truth of this claim, Atkins hasn’t appeared in the credits of any other film held by the YFA, thus far.  Neither does he or Stanley Picture House appear in Geoff Mellor’s book on cinema in Yorkshire (References).   Stanley Picture House opened in 1920, seating over 400 – presumably, not to be confused with the property developers of the same name.  According to Stanley History Online it “soon gained the nick name 'clog & rhubarb' due to two shops on each side of the entrance, one selling sweets and the other clogs.”  As TV was becoming a mass entertainment it suffered the same fate as very many cinemas, and theatres, when it closed in 1960. 

Stanley lies at the heart of the once famous rhubarb triangle, and contributed to its production.  But more were employed in the adjoining village collieries at Newmarket, Parkhill and Lofthouse – the scene of a disaster in 1973 when seven miners were drowned.  Others at that time worked in textiles.   It isn’t clear what the relation of Stanley and District Hospital was to the carnival, perhaps they were raising funds for the hospital.  One float, all in white and with children all dressed in white, and seemingly representing the cleanliness of hospitals, is titled ‘Purity’ – ­ Danny Boyle clearly wasn’t the first to see good health care as being something worth celebrating in Britain!  Information on the hospital itself is hard to find: presumably, again, not to be confused with Stanley Royd Hospital, which in 1818 was the first pauper asylum to be opened in Yorkshire, closing in 1995.   

The film doesn’t appear to have been edited, and so there are several parts which don’t obviously go together: who is the short man parading up and down in the top hat?  Why are all those babies together?  What is the big pole?  The answer to the latter is that it is most probably the Gawthorpe Maypole – see the Context for Gawthorpe Maypole Festival.  But the carnival remains the central part of the film.  The YFA has a quite a number of films of carnivals from around Yorkshire from the 1920s (and dozens from the post-war period) – see the Context for Hebden Bridge Carnival.  As explained there, carnivals have a long and rich history, and are found in all parts of the globe in all cultures.  In Britain some carnivals originated from miners’ galas: most of the Stanley Brass Band who led the procession were miners.  

The carnival was a major annual event in Stanley, with the local farmers competing against each other for the best decorated cart, and the most well groomed shire horses (see Stanley in Bygone Days, References).  The high spirits seen in this carnival are especially impressive when one considers that many of those present would have been mining families who had the previous year suffered a heavy defeat after six months of an extremely bitter strike (affecting more than 50% of the families in Stanley), without any income, and causing deep divisions with those who returned to work before the end.   

What all these carnivals from between the wars show is the great enjoyment working class people had in dressing up and clowning around.  Carnivals have for centuries provided an occasion for letting go of conventions, and revealing those hidden desires to dress up and behave in ways that society frowns upon.  Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the cross-dressing, another custom with an ancient history but especially in traditional mummers plays, the forerunners of carnivals, with various female characters performed by men, such as Besom Betty.   This tradition found its way into music hall and theatre in the later nineteenth century with drag queens, usually with exaggerated characterisations for comic effect, as seen in this film with the carnival “Queen” – in fact it isn’t always easy to tell who are in drag!  

The late nineteenth century was the period when the modern street carnival also took off, combining the parade with a fair, fancy dress competitions and children’s sports.  What especially characterises them at this time is that they show the same kind of comedy as that found in the musical halls of this period.  Much of this reflected the long tradition of the underclass mocking the upper class, as well rebelling against sexual and other social taboos – something that was much more in evidence in the 18th century (as seen in the excellent series Rude Britannia, shown on BBC4 in 2012).  Although there are still plenty of drag queens around (think of Dame Edna) they are much less in fashion now on television.  It was a different picture in the 1960s and 70s when comedians impersonating women, such as Des Lawson, Stanley Baxter and Dick Emery, had hugely popular shows. 

As we watch the procession of bewildering costumes pass by – and there are plenty more on display in other films – it is almost impossible to work out what any of them represent, with so many characters having passed away into history.  Dressing up in the (supposed) traditional costumes of people from colonial countries (something that if reversed might be not be considered such a normal thing to do), was especially common, as witnessed by the two in what appear to be Japanese outfits – there had been a growing fascination with the Orient during the second half of the decades preceding this.  Many appear to have simply dressed up in whatever was to hand, with no other rhyme or reason.

Carnivals are still very much a part of British life: a survey in 2002 identified 220 traditional English carnivals occurring in that year.  Normally these receive no core public funding, are almost entirely organised by volunteers, and are used to raise money for charities.  But the inter-war years may be seen as the heyday of the carnival – re-emerging from their suppression during the British Reformation in the 16th century, and then becoming rather less imaginative in the 1960s and 1970s. Looking back from today, it is also difficult to tell what many of the floats are for: mostly decorated with flowers and featuring children.  What is noticeable, in this short portion of the film, is the absence of commercial advertising or promotion, so all pervasive in later carnivals.  Yet the more recent merging with Caribbean carnivals and other cultural traditions – see Out and About (1974) – has helped to breathe some fresh life into the British carnival and they continue to be a forum for bringing all communities together.

 

References

Geoff Mellor, Movie Makers and Picture Palaces: A century of Cinema in Yorkshire, 1896-1996, Bradford Libraries, 1996.

Stanley History Online

English Carnival

Stanley in Bygone Days

Caspar Melville, A carnival history