The Cine Technician (1953-1956)

August 1955 CINE TECHNICIAN 119 44 Soho, You've Had It " BY BUNNY GARNER SOHO's HAD IT — London's " square mile of vice " is now legitimate and respectable, and when you consider that the area includes Wardour Street that is quite an achievement. How was this transformation carried out? Quite simply — Soho had a Fair. The Fair lasted for a week and for a change the weather man decided to behave himself — on Bastille Day one of the French community swore he saw him dancing in Richmond Mews and answering to the name of Pernod. The Fair was officially inaugurated by a Church service at St. Annes, Soho, and the sermon was preached in seven languages — that was just to make sure nearly everybody understood what was going on. The first event on the programme was a Waiters' Race, in which over 70 competitors took part. it resulted in the only English entrant winning by a short head. The dispute which followed (also in several languages) has resulted in a request being made for photo-finish equipment to be installed for any future races in Soho! This highly colourful event was followed by impromptu displays of Morris Dancing by teams who just happened to be in town en route to the Continent where they were due to take part in an International Folk Dancing Competition. George's Camera Allowing time for a breather, and a beer — a Soho tradition which fortunately coincided with the opening of the local hostelries — the festivities continued with a Carnival. If George Elvin's camera had had any film in it this article would have been well illustrated. As it was, it transpired that he only had two unexposed negatives though he photographed over thirty set-ups! The Carnival was a huge success— the Metropolitan Police estimated that over 60,000 people arrived in cars alone, to view a most colourful and cosmopolitan procession representing all the umpteen nationalities resident in the district, and the majority of the main business houses. The credit for the organisation of the procession, which was arranged in an incredibly short space of time, must go to R. Vernon Beste, the Associate Editor of the Daily Film Renter, who performed miracles in the face of what appeared to be insurmountable difficulties. Waste of Time? The remainder of the week, in view of Police and City Council regulations, had, of necessity, to be confined to certain areas, but even so, two Art Exhibitions, three lunch-time concerts, two plays, a Chefs' Exhibition, daily Punch and Judy shows, street dancing, national folk dancing, Wilfred Pickles and Hare a Go, and a host of other entertainments were crowded into the week. The B.B.C. and the national and provincial press were very enthusiastic about the whole affair and as most of you will know, reported very favourably. I wonder why THE Cinema said it was a complete waste of time. Maybe because the moguls in Wardour Street failed to see a great opportunity. Everybody I have met in the district, including a large number of people in the industry, has expressed delight at the enterprise and the hope that it will be made an annual even. I hope so, too. The voluntary, unpaid Organising Committee had less than six months to arrange this affair and I think they did a wonderful job — I wish more power to their elbows and whole-hearted support, both financial and moral, from the film industry in future ventures of this nature. After all, Piccadilly Circus is supposed to be the centre of the Universe, and that is in Soho too ! Shorts and Documentary Ian Brundle Reports: One of the non-military uses of atomic energy is demonstrated in a Shell Film Unit production shown to the International Conference of Scientists on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy at Geneva. The film, Project 07If, has been made in the five official languages of the conference, English, French, German, Spanish and Russian. This is the first time the Unit has tackled a Russian version, but that presented no unusual problem to Alan Gourlay, the foreign versions editor, who supervises the production of anything up to 20 different foreign language versions of most of the Unit's productions, including Thai, Hindi, Arabic and Afrikaans! The film, which was made in 1953 at a Shell research centre near Chester and at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell, demonstrates how atomic energy, in the form of a radio-active piston ring, can be used to calculate engine-wear. The use of a radio-active piston ring for lubricant anti-wear tests saves a great deal of time and effort : tests which previously took weeks may now be completed in hours, and the wear rate instantly recorded even while the engine is running. Put very simply the procedure is this. During the test any minute particles of metal worn from the radio-active piston ring flow with the oil, via the engine's sump, to a device which measures, both visually and aurally, the amount of radio-activity present in the oil and therefore the amount of metal worn from the ring. Project 07Jf was directed by Peter de Normanville and photographed by Alan Fabian. The diagrams were by Francis Rodker and the music composed by Thomas Henderson. If any A.C.T. member is interested in seeing this or any other of the 100 odd films made by the Shell Film Unit, they can be borrowed free of charge from the Petroleum Films Bureau, 29 New Bond Street, W.l.