Cinema Memory and the Digital Archive

Early in 1995, Cinema Culture in 1930s Britain contacted Heathlands, a retirement home in Prestwich, Greater Manchester catering mainly for Jewish residents, seeking potential participants in the project. Heathlands resident Nat Frieling took part in two interviews, joining CCINTB’s twenty-two core informants in the Greater Manchester area. Mr Frieling was born in Romania in 1909, the son of a tailor who migrated to England when Mr Frieling was two years old. Orphaned a few years later and taken in by relatives, he left school at thirteen to work as an errand boy at a grocer’s shop. An active trade unionist, in later life he studied for a diploma in economics through the Labour Movement. He took part in a group interview at Heathlands on 27 April 1995 and was subsequently interviewed on his own on 6 June 1995.

The other participants in Mr Frieling’s first interview were fellow core informants Tessa Amelan and Rachel Tarsky, along with Gabrielle Adam (born in Russia in 1907), Samuel Flamholtz (born in Poland in 1922), and another male resident whose name and details are unrecorded. Throughout the interview, speakers check and correct each other's recollections, and in parts of the conversation members of the group speak over each other. Subjects covered include names of stars and films (many of which--including comedies, serials, and animal stars—were made in the 1920s). Saturday matinees are mentioned, along with the cost of tickets for the humbler types of cinema ('bug huts') with their very basic seating (benches). The conversation moves on to the 1930s, as participants pore over photos of stars of the period and exchange comments and opinions. Topics of lengthier debate include Charlie Chaplin and his films, the 1937 version of Lost Horizon, the scandal surrounding Jessie Matthews and Sonnie Hale, and the films of Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. Discussion of films and cinema detours into collective consideration of the lack of availability of post-elementary education for members of their generation, before turning to recollections of the cinemas of central and suburban Manchester, assertions of the importance of the contributions of film producers and directors, and references to animated films of the 1930s (Snow White is mentioned) and foreign films (the Cosmo in Glasgow is referred to).

At the start of his second, solo, interview, Mr Frieling inquires about the interviewer’s knowledge of ‘foreign’ films and political cinema, invoking Battleship Potemkin. Noting that he was orphaned before the age of six, he explains that he had no secondary education because he had to leave school as early as possible and go out to work: this left him with a lifelong thirst for learning. He talks about the newspapers that he reads and why he reads them, alluding to a current series of ‘Sunday Times’ supplements on the history of cinema and donating the latest instalment to the project. The interviewer shows him the 1935 Daily Express film book with a view to guiding discussion towards popular films and stars, and a commentary on George Formby’s qualities ensues. He notes a particular liking for Shirley Temple and for “unforgettable” biblical epics and recalls his childhood pleasure in film serials with their agonising cliffhangers. He favours Social Realism in cinema and films about the working class and its struggles, citing Gracie Fields and Paul Robeson as exemplars.

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