Category Archives: 1940s

Flicks and This Fleeting Life

Source: Tony Harrison, ‘Flicks and This Fleeting Life’, in Edith Hall (ed.), Tony Harrison: The Inky Digit of Defiance – Selected Prose 1966-2016 (London: Faber & Faber, 2017), pp. 430-431, orig. pub. as introduction to Tony Harrison, Collected Film Poetry … Continue reading →

by Luke McKernan Posted on April 13, 2019
Posted in 1940s, Essays, United Kingdom | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

An Enquiry into Television Viewing

Source: Robert Silvey, An Enquiry in Television Viewing (BBC, 1948) Text: In the autumn of 1948, when the post-war Television Service had passed into its third year and TV licences were approaching the 100,000 mark, the B.B.C. set on foot … Continue reading →

by Luke McKernan Posted on March 31, 2019
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The Great Apple Raid

Source: Arthur Hopcraft, The Great Apple Raid & other encounters of a tin chapel tiro (London: Heinemann, 1970), pp. 39-41 Text: The Central Cinema has an off-white front, big posters in many-coloured paint and two show-cases of lusciously seductive photographs. … Continue reading →

by Luke McKernan Posted on February 10, 2019
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Sociology of Film

Source: J.P. Mayer, Sociology of Film: Studies and Documents (London: Faber and Faber, 1946), pp. 236-237 Text: 53. Miss … You asked do films ever influence your life. Well I think that they do especially technicoloured films. I have always … Continue reading →

by Luke McKernan Posted on January 9, 2019
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Nights at the Alexandra

Source: William Trevor, Nights at the Alexandra (London: Hutchinson, 1987) Text: People loved the Alexandra. They loved the things I loved myself – the scarlet seats, the lights that made the curtains change colour, the usherettes in uniform. People stood … Continue reading →

by Luke McKernan Posted on August 18, 2018
Posted in 1940s, Fiction, Ireland | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Red, Black, Blond and Olive

Source: Edmund Wilson, Red, Black, Blond and Olive: Studies in Four Civilizations – Zuñi, Haiti, Soviet Russia, Israel (London: W.H. Allen, 1956), pp. 72-73 Text: What draws people down to this vacuum? How do they amuse themselves here? These vacationists … Continue reading →

by Luke McKernan Posted on April 14, 2018
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Sociology of Film

Source: J.P. Mayer, Sociology of Film: Studies and Documents (London: Faber and Faber, 1946), pp. 181-183 Text: Being a regular reader of Picturegoer I have decided to enter your contest not in the hope of winning a prize but in … Continue reading →

by Luke McKernan Posted on August 24, 2017
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