‘THE SAME OLD FIRM DRESSED UP IN A NEW SUIT’

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Notes

1. The author would like to thank the Media History reviewer and editors for their comments on this paper.

2. For further discussion, see, for example, Sorlin, Short, Rosenstone, Landy and Miskell 245–56.

3. For further reading on the nationalization of the coal mines in Britain, see, for example, Chester, Berkovitch, Ashworth, Harlow 175–218, Greasley 37–64.

4. Jill Craigie was born Noreen Joan Craigie in Mar. 1911; the daughter of a Scottish father and Russian refugee mother. Craigie died in London on 13 Dec. 1999. See Carl Rollyson's detailed biography of Craigie which has uncovered several untruths about Craigie's background, some of which were perpetuated by Craigie herself. See also interviews with Jill Craigie held in 1995 by the BECTU Oral History Project and obituaries by Moncrieff and The Times 19.

5. Craigie did not hide the fact that she was not a devotee of John Grierson or his style of documentary filmmaking. She claimed that she had been ignored and ostracized by the Grierson documentary school not only because of her independent nature, but also because she was a woman (Rollyson 357). This last claim is open to question since Grierson provided opportunities as directors of documentaries for his sisters Marion and Ruby Grierson, and also to Evelyn Spice.

6. Craigie first found work in the film industry as a documentary scriptwriter for the British Council before she co-wrote the feature The Flemish Farm (1943) with her then husband Jeffrey Dell.

7. In many ways, her beauty, in addition to her attractive personality, was a curse as well as a blessing for Craigie. She suffered unwanted attention from several men, mainly those she considered friends, in particular Aneurin Bevan, and the author and humanist Arthur Koestler, whom Craigie accused of rape, see Brooks 2–3; Rollyson 115, 134–37, 214.

8. George Bernard Shaw's volume, Intelligent Women's Guide to Socialism (1928) introduced Craigie to socialism before she was influenced by the feminism of Sylvia Pankhurst, see BECTU.

9. Craigie and Foot met whilst filming The Way We Live in the summer of 1945. Foot appears in the film addressing the people of Plymouth as Labour's electoral candidate for Devonport – a seat which he won a few months later. See Jones Foot 124, 162. The Way We Live received the honour of being the first documentary to be shown at the Cannes film festival in Sept. 1946 (MacQuitty 288, 297).

10. Craigie harboured a keen interest in feminist history and delighted in her collection of feminist writing and memorabilia which is arguably the largest collection in Britain. Prior to her death she had been working for years on a volume documenting the history of the suffragette movement before 1914, Daughters of Dissent, and although she did not complete or publish the work she was considered an expert in the field. Jones Guardian 22; for more on Daughters of Dissent, see Rollyson chapters 24 and 27.

11. See, for example, Ffrancon Cyfaredd, Berry and Rollyson.

12. The term ‘blue scar’ refers to the characteristic scars borne by miners whose wounds had been discoloured by coal dust. These scars would never heal or disappear and were considered the collier's badge of honour.

13. See the television interview Craigie gave for the HTV series, The Dream that Kicks.

14. See also ‘Blue Scar Problems’ 2; Frank 4.

15. See also ‘A Welsh Actress Chosen for Blue Scar Film’.

16. Further costs were avoided as MacQuitty's own home was used for the scenes of Olwen's new marital home in London (MacQuitty 301; Blue Scar Publicity Material).

17. The old mansion house of Tal-y-garn was purchased and turned into a miners’ rehabilitation home in 1923 by the Miners’ Welfare Fund and was considered an essential facility to hundreds of men who suffered accidents underground (Chelmsford 36).

18. Screen tests were held at nearby Blaengwynfi and Port Talbot (‘Local Girls Given Screen Tests’). One girl who coveted a role in the film was Siân Phillips from Gwauncaegurwen, but, as her autobiography records, she was not selected (128).

19. Blue Scar Publicity Material. Manchester-born Emrys Jones starred in several British film and television productions until the mid-1960s.

20. Vaughan's performance suffered not only by her melodramatic gestures but also by poor dubbing. Vaughan hailed from Swansea and had attended the London School of Economics before becoming an actor in films like Things Happen at Night (1948) (Blue Scar Publicity Material).

21. Blue Scar Publicity Material; ‘Y Cymro Bach – Seren o Gymru’; ‘In Blue Scar’.

22. Among the other main characters were Madoline Thomas as the grandmother and Phillip H. Burton as the colliery manager. On receiving the part in Blue Scar, Burton unsuccessfully asked for a part for his adopted son, Richard (MacQuitty 301). See also Ffrancon ‘Interview’; ‘Screen Finds from Radio’.

23. For further discussion on these issues, see, for example, Ffrancon Cyfaredd; Stead ‘Kameradschaft’ 37–44; Stead Film and the Working Class.

24. The Herald of Wales noted that Craigie and her set designer, Harold Watson, had visited several miners’ homes at the end of their shifts and had watched their methods of washing in order to achieve authenticity for this scene (15 May 1948: 6).

25. Over previous years, due to poor labour relations, miners had resisted the implementation of new machinery and methods as one of the few weapons available to them in the fight for better working conditions (Harlow 175–218).

26. Thirty-two pit-head baths had been built in Wales by 1938.

27. It was perhaps no coincidence that the paper featured in the film was the Tribune as it was the paper to which Michael Foot had such close ties.

28. The film thereafter focuses on the weak and rather insignificant love story between Tom and Olwen which was included purely to increase the film's appeal and to satisfy the distributors’ desires. The film was then advertised as ‘A romantic drama hewn from life itself’ (Blue Scar Publicity Material).

29. The NCB provided £22,500 in sponsorship for the film. MacQuitty and other members of his family funded the rest of the production costs, which totalled £45,000. Blue Scar Publicity Material; MacQuitty 300; Berry 177; Rollyson 93, 99.