British Pathe'

[Deleted]

Found this on YouTube; kinda strings along into a bunch of old footage.

[DavidRitchieWilson]

A "British Pathé" newsreel, a "Look at life" feature film and a "Pearl and Dean" advertising sequence were always part of the 1950s and 1960s cinema experience here in England before the main film came on. The British Pathé footage was always accompanied by rousing military band style music and the (invariably male) commentators always spoke with confidence and a cut-glass English accent, mindful of their role in raising the morale of the audience who were there to be educated as well as transported out of their austere post-war everyday routine.

I'm delighted that these British Pathé short films are now being released because they were very much part of my childhood. As for this film, I've started trying to identify the gear. The fins were easy:

Typhoon Surfmaster, the most popular 1950s UK-made fins, which earned a British Patent.

[nikeajax]

Now just a gol-derned minute thar pard...

"Pearl and Dean"

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl_%26_Dean

So, is "cut glass" a real piece of British-vocabulary, I hope? Would a BBC-presenter be described as such: this is an Oxford accent, correct? I'm asking this in all honesty As a writer I'm always looking for little tid-bits like this to lend to the authenticity of my stories.... So, if I'm understanding you, the reason why this film is silent is because it didn't have a recorded sound track, but a real live human reading from s script, no?

DRW, as always, thank you for your input, it's always insightful!

JB

[DavidRitchieWilson]

Yes, the minute the Pearl and Dean Grecian pillars appeared, you knew you were in for extended versions of ads seen on TV! Yes, a cut-glass accent is indeed the "posh", Oxford and Cambridge way to speak English in England back in the old days. "My Fair Lady" tackles the issue very well. The official term is "Received Pronunciation" or "RP" and the Queen set the standard back then, but she has modified her vowels over the last few decades. I recall the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen's husband, pronouncing "house" as "hice" to rhyme with "nice"; nowadays that's regarded as exaggerated by most people, who speak using more intelligible versions of regional accents to make themselves understood to people from outside the area. And yes, there was always a "posh" voice reading aloud an upbeat message to accompany each "Pathé News". It's a pity this particular video doesn't have its soundtrack any more. There may be technical problems or the poster of the video realised how stilted, wooden, propagandalike and comical the commentary would sound to modern ears!

[nikeajax]

DRW--EXCELLENT! Thank you, I will be using the phrase "cut glass" in my book: it takes place in 1962...

JB

[Deleted]

Tons more old footage;