This is one of a large collection of films made by Rowntree’s of York (now Nestlé).  Most of the films came via the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, based at the University of York.  Other films have come from different sources, such as Ken Clough, a former engineering designer for Rowntree who filmed many of their manufacturing processes.  The vast bulk of the films are adverts for their confectionary products: including Rolo, Black Magic, Toffee Crisp, Smarties, Milky Bar,...

This is one of a large collection of films made by Rowntree’s of York (now Nestlé).  Most of the films came via the Borthwick Institute of Historical Research, based at the University of York.  Other films have come from different sources, such as Ken Clough, a former engineering designer for Rowntree who filmed many of their manufacturing processes.  The vast bulk of the films are adverts for their confectionary products: including Rolo, Black Magic, Toffee Crisp, Smarties, Milky Bar, KitKat, Dairy Box and many other brands made between 1929 and 1990.  The earliest one of the adverts is Mr York of York, Yorks, the first animated advertisement to be made, in 1929, with synchronised sound - also online.  For an overview of Rowntree’s, chocolate and advertising see the Contexts for Mr York of York, Yorks and Tokens (1962-63).  For an overview of the Rowntree’s business see After Eight Adverts (1962).

Rowntree’s were renown for trying to make their workforce happy – a paternalism matched by the slightly patronising commentary.  The singing seen at the beginning of this film may be a part of this plan – see the Contexts for Seebohm Rowntree Wife and Friends (1935) and Rowntree Sports Day (c.1946).  Seebohm Rowntree was noted for his interest in the work of the industrial psychologists Nigel Balchin and Elton Mayo, who both emphasised the role that team work can play in increasing productivity.   Industrial psychologists have long studied the effect of music in the workplace, especially as it relates to improving productivity.  They have noted how it can lead to increased productivity, fewer accidents, improved alertness and team interaction (Marshall, References).  Most of these studies focus on music being played though, rather than actively being produced, as in singing.  Of course, nothing should detract from working.

Yet singing has been associated with work probably as long as there has been work.  Most famously are sea shanties, fishing and agricultural songs.  Much folk song, as well as the birth of popular music in the blues, and much else, derives from work songs.  It is less associated with factory work, although a study by Elwyn Carter in 1954,‘Singing Workers’, noted the preponderance of ‘Company choruses’ in the 1930s.  Although based in the US, clearly a similar phenomenon existed here as well.  He does note that in 1942 the song Deep in the Heart of Texas was banned due to the handclapping section that encouraged workers to momentarily stop and participate!

The song being sung at the beginning of the film is apt for a Yorkshire film: My Girl's a Yorkshire Girl.   It was written by the music hall composer Charles Murphy, who also composed Has Anybody Here Seen Kelly? in the same year, 1908.  The song was made into a short sound film the following year, and turns up twice in James Joyce’s path breaking novel Ulysses.  It is basically about two men after the same girl, who turns out anyway to be married.

Some women have left their memories of working at Rowntree on Haxby Road on the CocoaReworks website – which is well worth a visit (References).   One of the women, probably on this film, was Madge Munro, who, in a 1932 radio broadcast, “remembered 500 women singing in unison in her room. Singing was seen as a sign of a happy workforce and provided a rhythm to work by. For many singing was “part of liking it”, something which helped them enjoy their work.  Allowing workers to sing was also part of Rowntrees’ self-image as a good firm.”  (References, the website includes a photo of Mary)

The film shows the work that went into the packaging and presentation of assortments through the chocolate boxes – with many special ones for occasions like Christmas and coronations.  It also shows the making of the famous walnut whips in its original form, with the walnut inside rather than on top.  In fact these were not originally a Rowntree product.  They were first made in 1910 by Duncan's of Edinburgh, who, when W & M Duncan joined the board in 1927, made an agreement with Rowntree to produce their products in England, and as can be seen, they clearly did, in York – although they are now made in Halifax, home of the former Mackintosh factory.

But perhaps the most notable aspect of the film is the women working on the conveyor belts.  At that time about 65% of the workforce at Haxby Road were women, and this may be due to their greater dexterity as evidenced in this film – not to mention their lower wage rates.  For all the concern that Rowntree had for the welfare of their workers, the workforce were not spared the monotony of conveyor belt production.  Championed by Henry Ford in the US, the conveyor belt became an unquestioned method of production, where productivity was, and is, everything.   Frederick Taylor took the idea of standardised mass production to its logical conclusion with his scientific management.  Yet the basic idea of the division of labour into small fragmented chunks in industrial labour goes back to Adam Smith at the start of the industrial revolution.  Not many note though that, like many others at that time – including most famously Karl Marx – he also warned that this would degrade human beings.  A view that is rather marginalised these days.

One contributor to CocoaReworks, Alice, states that: "You used to put one sweet in all day, all day, all day — in a certain compartment in the vacuum formed trays — and that was all they did, you know, just put the one sweet in, one sweet in all the time and it, er — which is still — I don't think anybody was really unhappy there — at least I wasn't, no, no…"

The introduction of more robotised methods of production has, thankfully, displaced much mind-numbing work; albeit at the expense of thousands of jobs.   Yet although job satisfaction is something that doesn’t figure too highly in most jobs, the women in the film – many of whom will have grandchildren watching this film – clearly make the most of their lot, and show the amazing capacity to enjoy their work as best they can – something that would become even more important at the end of the decade when they turned to war work.

References

Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century, New Monthly Review Press, York, 1974.
Robert Fitzgerald, Rowntree and the Marketing Revolution 1862-1969, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Joe Murphy, The History of Rowntree’s in Old Photographs, York Publishing Services, 2007.
Elwyn Carter, ‘Singing Workers’,  Journal of Research in Music Education, Spring 1954 2: 39-48,
Nikola Marshall, Music in the Workplace
CocoaReworks
This has also produced a booklet with the same information, Memories of Rowntrees
Emma Robertson, Working at Rowntrees in York, BBC Legacies