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78
THE CINE-TECHNICIAN
July-August, 1952
SET THE FASHION
CHRIS BRUNEL
argues that trade follows the film,
and gives some examples of
the benefits
films have brought
to U.S.A.
American fashions of the year 1917. Notice the portrait of Washington >n the background
I BELIEVE the British way of living can best be shown to the people of other countries by means of films." So said Morgan Phillips, the Labour Party's General Secretary, to the bi-annual conference of the N.A.T.K.E. (May 20th). Regrettably, such sentiments are often forgotten. I believe that we have allowed people outside the industry to forget what a wonderful asset healthy film production can be to a country. Way back in 1917 Woodrow Wilson, President of the U.S.A., realised this when he gave the expanding industries of America a rallying call "TRADE FOLLOWS THE FILM."
The U.S. industrialists and diplomatic services took this up in a big way, and began selling American goods through the medium of their films, which were at that time getting a tight grip on a number of countries. As a result of this, by 1920 Britain had lost its readymade men's wear trade in South America to the United States simply because men wanted to dress like the stars of Hollywood pictures.
Then there was the case in 1934 of " It Hap
pened One Night," in which the star, Clark Gable, took off his shirt to reveal to the world that he wore no vest over his manly chest. Immediately men started discarding their vests to such an extent that there was a minor slump in the American textile industry. The manufacturers made urgent representations to Hollywood so as to make certain that such a thing did not happen in future films — surely a classic example of " vested " interests!
I quoted these two examples at our annual general meeting, because the problems of our textile trade were a topic of great current importance, but similar examples can be given from many other trades. One further case illustrates how the screen can be a successful advertiser without any apparent design to be so. I know of somebody who was having a house built and who asked the electrician to install a certain type of press-button switch in the rooms. The electrician did not know the particular switch in question. " But surely," said the householder, " you've seen them in American pictures." He