Leonard here. The following column is written by my colleague Mark Searby highlighting British cinema past and present. Please enjoy A Bit of Crumpet.
Daniel Farson isn’t a name familiar to many. Even I wasn’t aware of him. Granted he was before my time. However, his work has rippled through the lifestyle documentary maker world for decades. Seen as a precursor to the likes of Louis Theroux (who in turn had worked with Michael Moore early on in their respective careers), Nick Broomfield and Jon Ronson. A young, modern-day equivalent to Frason is probably Andrew Callaghan. But Farson was operating in the 1950s. When Britain had a stiff upper lip and didn’t talk about anything remotely personal like sex, drugs or… alien invasions. Farson did though. Pulling the curtain back on many different (for the time) themes and subjects. Farson, described as brash, bohemian and a boozy bon vivant, shocked audiences of the 1950s with his pioneering style.
This is Daniel Farson’s Guide To Britain: Volume 1.
The release opens with two segments called Out Of Step. One about Witchcraft and the other about aliens. By today’s standards they are slightly light-hearted. That is until some of the men in the alien segment, called Other Worlds Are Watching Us, go full-on abduction stories and conspiracy theories. It’s a wild few minutes watching Farson interview some of them, and how he questions why they believe they’ve been abducted and/or seen real aliens. If you thought Brits had their heads screwed on years past then this will make you think again.
Keeping In Step are two segments that were filmed in 1958. One looks at Wedding etiquette. Farson has bought a book that tells people how they should behave at weddings. He tries to follow the examples in the book, but ends up getting side-tracked into interviewing the bride & groom (who don’t look too enthused about getting hitched) and also the parents (who end up bickering about who likes a wedding more – the men or the women). Farson’s jovial nature at the wedding soon gives way to some poking and prodding questions about why people want/should get married and how is the day really for? Some of the interviewees are taken aback by his questioning and clam up. It’s funny to see some recall in horror at type of questions being asked.
Also, in the same year as the Keeping In Stepsegments were released came This Week, a segment about strip clubs in Soho. Now, we are getting into the Louis Theroux type territory as Farson, quite eagerly, steps into a lunchtime strip club to interview the owner, while also casting a side eye to the stage for some nudity. It’s a fun segment and also does talk a bit about the rise of these nude-y clubs in Soho, which would go on to be very prevalent in the area throughout the 60s and onto at least the 2000s before they began being shut down by those in power. This segment is one of the best on the release. Not just for the nudity (joking), but mainly for the interview with the strip club owner who tries to justify them being open and how it actually enhances marriages as husbands brings their wives all the time to watch the shows (Frason has a particularly quizzical look when that is said). As a slice of life of what is to come with the swinging sixties, this segment shows that London was slowly gearing up for it for at least a couple of years beforehand.
Another This Week segment included in the release is a full interview with Robert Graves, the English poet. Some may find this “production material” fascinating. I found it all rather dull. Graves blunderbusses his way through subjects. Half finishing stories and sentences before piling into another story. While having an outspoken poet on the show fits into Farson’s M.O., Graves feels like a harking back to times when people were on TV because they were saying, or at least sounding like they were saying, intellectual things. When, in fact, a lot of it was hot air. Graves blows a lot of hot air at Farson. Who seems to lap it up.
Possibly the most important, and still relevant today, segment in the whole release is People In Trouble: Mixed Marriages. Farson interviews mixed marriage couples and asks what hardships they have faced since being married, and also what racism they have been subjected to. Some of the stories are difficult to hear, and still ring true nowadays. However, credit to the Black gentleman who basically says that he doesn’t let it affect his life and that he is just getting on with his life and loving his wife. Bravo sir! This whole segment takes place in one studio as Farson walks from couple to couple to chat to them. It ends with Frason interviewing an older, white man who, while puffing on a smoking pipe, puts forth his points as to why whites and blacks should not mix. His speech is full of racism and homophobia. Frason challenges him on some of his views. The conversation doesn’t get heated. But it does expose a few flaws of the man’s logic, especially when he is in the same studio as the mixed marriage couples and they are seen happily playing with their children or chatting to each other. It is a serious segment, and one that Farson does very well in terms of trying to offer balanced views from either side. Even if he does get a bit irate at the views of one of the guests.
There is some fun to be had in the Success Story’s segments. Shelagh Delaney, a woman from oop’ North of England, has written a play that Farson isn’t too sure about. He quizzes her in her own home about her background and why she felt the need to write a play that might not have an audience. Then comes a chat with Maurice Woodruff, a clairvoyant who was friends with actor Peter Sellers (who appears briefly to extol the brilliance of Woodruff). Woodruff’s chat is all a bit pie-in-the-sky stuff that looking back nowadays seems like an absolute chancer. However, he does talk a good game. The bestSuccess Story is saved for last, and I’m still not sure if it’s a parody or not. It’s a look at the novels written by secret author Hank Janson. These cheap-y thrillers were all the rage back in 1950s and Brits couldn’t get enough of them. But because of the sex and violence involved, Janson’s books became the subject of Police investigation. Farson interviews Janson’s publishers, who all went to prison for publishing the books. And then, in the piece de resistance, Frason interviews Janson himself. But he is in disguise…. Sort of, as Janson is wearing a homemade mask with the eyes and mouth sections cut-out. It truly is the most bizarre interview where Janson, the supposed actual writer of the books, can’t answer Farson’s questions because he doesn’t remember. It’s an unintentionally hilarious bit that feels very staged. The interview with Janson has to be seen to be believed.
Other short segments include a chat with up-and-coming British pop singer Cliff Richard (ask your Grandparents. They’ll know him). Followed by a lovely little video where Farson focusses on Cats, and how beloved they are in the UK. Even the homeless ones.
The release finishes on an in-depth, and longer, segment called Beat City where Farson wanders around the streets of Liverpool shortly after The Beatles came to worldwide prominence. He ventures to the Cavern Club to see many of the bands vying to be the next Beatles. As the band members drip with sweat, the women (and it is all women in the club) go wild for them. It’s a fascinating look at the music industry before it became Cowell-i-fied. Also, the walk around the streets of Liverpool shows a very different city to the one today. If you ever have a vision of what a British industrial town looked like in the early 1960s then this is it, and worse. It shows the struggles for those living in poverty.
Farson’s easy-going questions are entertaining, and it’s fun to see him trip up a few of his interviewees along the way. It always feels like he is a second away from giving a wink and a nudge to the camera, such is his, at times, brash interview techniques. Not quite Gonzo journalism, however it is something close especially when you considering how wide ranging the topics are. All the interviews showcase a different side to 1950s and 60s Britain. A side that isn’t all stiff upper lip or swinging sixties (Soho Striptease segment aside). It’s a look at an alternate side to the UK that was rarely shown on mainstream TV at that time.
Daniel Farson’s Guide To Britain: Volume 1 is now available from the BFI.
