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Abstract
During the 1960s, young people were subject to intense scrutiny. Their lives differed from previous generations and as a consequence, they were portrayed as being at the forefront of social change and representative of Britain’s national health. By comparing oral history interviews of those who were young and visited the cinema with media reports, this article evaluates the conversation around ‘teenagers.’ Newspapers’ reports of youth arguably reflected their selection principles and journalistic practices. Oral history narratives, however, complicate press discourse by bringing to the fore a diversity of experiences and understandings: some felt the ‘cultural revolution,’ while others felt bored. This demonstrates how studies of reception materials are incomplete and could benefit from being combined with ethnohistorical approaches.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Melvyn Stokes, Emma Pett, Matt Jones, Adrian Bingham, Coleman Dennehy, Danica Summerlin, Sue Brown, T.P. and Roy Wood, and my family.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 NUT, Popular Culture and Personal Responsibility (London, 1960). IAH, The Grammar School (London, 1960).
2 IAH, The Grammar School, 1.
3 Jackson, “Youth and Modernity,” 639–40; Child Sexual Abuse, 1–2. Steedman, Strange Dislocation, 51–63.
4 Dinah Brook, “Witchcraft Makes Teenagers,” The Guardian, 1 January 1961, 7. “Exploiting the Day-dreams of ‘Teenagers’,” The Guardian, 2 January 1961, 8.
5 Jackson, Policing Youth, 88–9.
6 Bingham, “First Draft of History.”
7 Marwick, The Sixties; Sandbrook, White Heat.
8 Mort, Capital Affairs; Hornsey, The Spiv and the Architect; and Walkowitz, Nights Out.
9 Bingham, Family Newspapers?
10 Ibid. Bingham, Gender and Modernity; Hall, “Encoding/Decoding.”
11 Barker, “I Have Seen,” 127–9. Gray, Video Playtime, 6–9.
12 Williams, Marxism and Literature, 130.
13 The interviews were carried out between 2012 and 2015 by Melvyn Stokes, Emma Pett, Matthew Jones and I. Some were face-to-face interviews and others were delivered through questionnaires.
14 Kuhn, An Everyday Magic, 5–7.
15 Osgerby, Youth Media, 7. Fowler, The First Teenagers.
16 NCPM, The Cinema.
17 Ibid., vi.
18 Ibid., vii.
19 Ibid., xxxvi.
20 Browning and Sorrell, “Cinemas and Cinema-going,” 133–68.
21 This is particularly marked in the first handful of issues in 1932.
22 Kuhn, An Everyday Magic, 82–85.
23 Burgin, The Remembered Film, 50–1.
24 Foucault, “Of Other Spaces.”
25 Halberstram, Queer Time and Place; Taylor, Playing It Queer.
26 John Pilger, Daily Mirror, 2 April 1965.
27 Dan O'Neill, “Volunteers for Kirby,” The Guardian, 14 May 1965, 13.
28 Interview with Frank, Cultural Memory and British Cinema-going of the 1960s (CMBCG), UCL, transcript number 0450.
29 Interview with Mervyn, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0014.
30 Thomas, “Challenging the Myths.” Thomas borrowed the concept from Murphy’s Sixties British Cinema, 1; York, StyleWars, 182; and Booker, The Neophiliacs, 7–11. Bingham, Family Newspapers? 121.
31 Questionnaire by Rebecca, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0474.
32 Questionnaire by Gerry, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0488. Interview with Jacob, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0944.
33 Interview with Jacob, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0944.
34 Marjorie Proops, “It’s Dead Funny,” Daily Mirror, 21 June 1961, 11.
35 Ibid.
36 John Crosby, “Midnight Cowboys,” The Guardian, 14 September 1969, 10.
37 Ibid.
38 Osgerby, “Sleazy Riders,” 106.
39 Questionnaire by Arnold, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0437.
40 Questionnaire by Yvonne, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0001.
41 Interview with Joseph, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0703.
42 Interview with Colin, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0764.
43 Todd and Young, “Babyboomers to Beanstalkers.”
44 Cohen and Young, The Manufacture of News, 17–18.
45 “The Astoria Declares War on Teenagers,” Daily Mirror, 4 April 1961, 12–13.
46 Daily Mirror, 8 April 1961, 4.
47 The Guardian, 17 June 1961, 14.
48 Daily Express, 2 May 1961, 6.
49 The Guardian, 14 May 1962, 3.
50 The Guardian, 11 January 1961, 10. Daily Mirror, 11 January 1961, 6.
51 The Guardian, 6 April 1964, 3.
52 Interview with Patsy, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0966.
53 Questionnaire by Edina, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0317.
54 Don Short, “‘Snogging’ at Cinema by Approved School girls,” Daily Mirror, 3 December 1960, 16.
55 “Bring Girls or Stay Out Says a Cinema Boss,” Daily Mirror, 11 October 1969, 22.
56 Questionnaire by Celeste, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0320.
57 Interview with Gisela, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0945.
58 Questionnaire by Melody, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0271.
59 Interview with May, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0713.
60 Interview with Pedita, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0212.
61 Interview with Ena, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0050.
62 Interview with Brian, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0333.
63 Interview with Tony, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0954.
64 Interview with Ciara, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0198.
65 Victor Davis, “The ‘Bonnie’ Bandwagon,” Daily Express, 12 February 1968, 4.
66 “Youths Given Total of 22 Years' Prison,” The Guardian, 23 April 1969, 4.
67 David Wright, “I Want to Wed Clyde in Jail, Says Bonnie,” The Guardian, 23 April 1969.
68 Questionnaire by Jessie, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0042. Questionnaire by Isadora, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0284.
69 Questionnaire by Olympia, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0411.
70 Questionnaire by Leah, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0631.
71 Interview with Jeannie, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0948.
72 Interview with Wilko, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0961.
73 Interview with Oscar, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0964.
74 Ibid.
75 Interview with Arthur, CMBCG, UCL, transcript number 0765.