Blackpool on Film

Journey's end is also a beginning.

Sun and breeze bring a first reviving whiff and promise of the world of holiday.

Office and kitchen, school, factory and mill escape to the seaside of Lancashire.

7 o'clock, that's all right.

Any idea where they're all going?

Well, I shouldn't be surprised if it's Blackpool.

Blackpool, known to millions of Britons and millions from overseas.

4-5, 45.

Having a great time here in Blackpool.

Been swimming every day.

Red Rum passes through a special photoelectric cell and on go the lights.

It's big and it's brash, it's extravagant.

What is most important, it's proud to stay that way.

Along broad back streets where days all have the calm

of Sunday afternoons, you're at the core of Blackpool's success.

Bed, breakfast and evening meal for around £1.50 a day and all the comforts of home away from home.

She's a nice lady, Mrs Godworthy.

Bed, breakfast and evening maul.

I got there last Sunday.

Walked up the drive, knocked on the door. She opened up.

She said, "What do you want?" I said, "I'm looking for some cheap digs."

So, she stuck her fingers in my ribs and said that would be two bob.

The boarding house is the quintessential Blackpool institution.

When boarding houses started in the 18th century, Blackpool hardly existed.

Even as early as 1760, Mrs Whiteside opened one what's alleged

to have been the first boarding house in Blackpool.

Along the promenade, every single house is either a boarding house

or, as it's sometimes more grandiloquently called a private hotel.

Look, I've given you two keys. Your bedroom key,

your front door key, so it doesn't matter.

You know where everything is and you know where the room is. OK?

We used to get parties and it didn't matter if you'd only beds for 30 and 45 came.

Three in a bed, there was no objection to it.

They liked to do it but not today.

Are you catering for the new generation?

I cater for a mixed generation - mixed.

I've got some teenage boys in, I've got an elderly couple.

I've got a granny and grandad and grandson.

We have a regular clientele that come back year after year

because they know that we provide good accommodation,

which is clean, and good food.

They know when they go out of the house,

they go out with a full tummy, you know, so they don't have to buy

a lot of food when they're out.

They know they get good food in our dining room.

No fancy frills but that's the way the regular customers like it.

Everything's just ordinary, simple, good food.

It suits them. They have that.

They go out and enjoy themselves.

To the Pleasure Beach, the young ones. To the parks, the old ones.

That's Blackpool.

Behold, Blackpool!

Buffeted by boisterous blasts,

bashed and battered by bursting billows.

What wicked, wet, weekend weather!

Spray, seaweed and salt water soaking streets and sightseers,

simply shocking.

Astonishing for August and desperately disappointing,

disbursing disastrous damage and dismal destruction in diverse directions.

Gladness, gaiety and glee?

Disgusting, all gone with the wind.

The gale which has been sweeping Great Britain vents its fury on Blackpool.

The strong sea walls stand up to the onslaught.

The Northwest enjoys the same rainfall as the Amazon rainforest.

# I'm staying out for the summer Playing games in the rain... #

It's not raining.

# Staying out for the summer

# Staying out for the summer... #

High wind which gave Mr Chamberlain such a tough crossing to France strikes Blackpool,

but Blackpool can take it.

It reminds me of my childhood.

Freezing, horrible. I hate Blackpool.

Blackpool, annual Mecca for 8 million people,

brings down the curtain on one of the sunniest summers in living memory.

No less than three piers cater for those who feel the need for a different one each day.

Theatres, sun loungers and orchestras are to be found on all of them.

The largest of the three is the North Pier - 710 yards in length, including the jetty.

Thousands stroll here each day.

Thousands more relax in the sunshine.

There's a fascination about piers.

Everyone gets a kick out of walking out to the sea without getting their feet wet.

Looking at people enjoying themselves is certainly part of the enjoyment that a pier offers.

Oh, dear! What do you think about what they've done to the pier?

Well, they've modernised it but I don't think they've improved it.

When I come to the end of the piers, the frontages of all your piers,

you've got your South Pier, your Central Pier and your North Pier.

I look at them and I remember what they were like. Beautiful Victorian wrought iron architecture.

It seems you've just swept it aside and replaced it with something which just isn't considered.

It's just ramshackle to me.

How do you justify it?

I don't agree. I think it was ramshackle before we altered it.

You take the frontage here. We had an old turnstile.

Everything was set back more.

There was an old turnstile there and another old turnstile there.

As you say, with Victorian buildings, it was dropping down with chocolate paint.

You could have restored them.

This just looks like Newport Pagnell bloody Service Station.

Oh... We have replaced it with something the public want.

The public want leisure centres, a beautiful show bar -

the Merrie England bar - which is going back in time.

We have a beautiful tree in the middle of it there - a simulated tree.

You can sit round the tree.

You have old bars, you have old saddles, warming pans.

We're trying to create an age there in Merrie England. Going back.

We want happiness in Blackpool.

That's why we built this.

-You can have...

-Not drab, old Victorian ideas.

-We don't want them.

-I know. But this has just been thrown up.

You can't justify this here. Just look at it!

# I want to tell you about a lovely place

# Down by the sea

# It's not in France or Italy

# 'Twas made for you 'Twas made for me

# The place I mean is Blackpool

# There's a lovely beach and a lovely prom

# The brass bands play tiddly-um-pum-pum

# You hear the folks say, "Ee, by gum"

# A right old place is Blackpool

# If you can't sleep after five And feel glad to be alive

# You're at Blackpool by the sea

# Come on!

# You're at Blackpool by the sea

# Whee! Yippee! How's that Big Dipper? #

Hiya, the gang's all here except you.

Having a great time. There's some fab new rides.

The old roller-coaster is still my favourite.

Shouldn't have had a hot dog first, though, I feel sick.

During my sojourn through this vale of tears,

many sites have thrilled me.

Dawn flushing the sepia sky over Kowloon.

Processions of faith along the banks of the Ganges.

A sunset streaking across the Caribbean.

They all pale into insignificance

when compared to the excitement I felt

when I first saw Blackpool Tower.

The highest rise in Britain is the Blackpool Tower.

The lifts work on the same principle as colliery lifts.

Capable of travelling at 800ft a minute,

they carry visitors up 480ft.

The tower itself is 520ft high.

Blackpool has a reputation for fresh air and fun.

Even if you're not keen on fun, there's still lots of fresh air to be enjoyed up here.

I remember coming here as a kid to the Tower.

Coming up here, quite frightened. I wanted to hold on to the side.

I wasn't keen on the height at all.

At this time of year, I've got to replace or check some 10,000 lamps on the Tower

because they get battered over the winter in the winds and everything.

One of the other jobs that I'm doing

is actually clearing the Walk Of Faith - there's a glass panel in the floor.

It gets dirty underneath. The thing about it is it's 300ft up in the air.

It's slightly different than a normal window to clean.

It concentrates your mind when you're at 300ft.

You don't get a second chance. If you make a mistake, that's it.

At the base of the Tower, magnificently housed between

its four massive supports, is the most unique, the most beautiful circus building in existence.

Opened in 1894 when Victoria was queen and described at the time as,

"A majestic showplace of gilded arches and cascading fountains -

"the like of which will never again be built."

Do ringmasters really say, "Roll up, roll up, the greatest show on Earth?"

Not really. Not so much nowadays.

They do use a lot of superlatives.

It's always "The greatest, the most magnificent.

-"The world's most fantastic."

-I'll stop him doing this in a minute.

Come on, son, there's a good boy. Come and sit down.

Another kind of slow traffic moves across the promenade -

the circus elephants taking their daily exercise.

Mr Blackpool, Reginald Dixon, gives recitals in the ballroom.

The idol of millions, he's played to audiences here for 30 years.

Magnificent ceiling murals occupy an area of over 2,000 square feet.

2,500 people can take the floor at the same time.

4,000 others can watch them.

And here's a money-maker that only Blackpool has. Hurry, Hurry, Hurry!

The side shows of Blackpool await the eyes of the curious.

Fattest and thinnest, tallest and shortest, Blackpool has them all.

The best and biggest freak show on Earth.

The crowds roll up and stop and stare, feel a little pity perhaps,

and move off to where there's more fun for sale.

All the theatrical razzmatazz of bingo is larger and livelier,

and twice as much fun, in Blackpool.

The first number, 41.

Align all your four corners, please.

41 your first number, yellow.

Yellow 4-5. 45, yellow, green, 49. 4-9...

The holiday industry in Blackpool has an £80 million turnover.

And much of it is based on the fact that there's always somewhere to go

along the promenade and Golden Mile if it starts to rain.

The machines are always rattling with activity, even when

the sun's shining outside, there's a cluster of hopefuls waiting for the fruit machines' harvest.

And now for the really big jackpot.

Blackpool. If you're looking for youth, this was the ultimate.

Tots triumphant in the final of the Baby of the Year contest.

And this being the age of the beauty queen, a girl can't appear in public too early.

Chosen from 5,000 babies from all parts of the country, 14 of them were presented

for the judges' verdict, with all the assurance of Miss World candidates.

The winner, her head quite unturned by success,

was 16-month-old Julianne Waterway.

The Master of Ceremonies, Bruce Forsyth.

Also officiating was the Mayor of Blackpool.

For being Baby of the Year, Julianne won £500 and a crown.

She didn't seem to want either.

Six BBBs - Blackpool Bathing Belles -

are backing backless beachwear this year.

Some are one-piece, others two-piece,

but there'll be no peace until the wife gets one!

After choosing the Beauty Queen of Great Britain, Blackpool sets about

finding this year's Cotton Queen from among the 19 lovely finalists.

It seems strange that the stands are mostly filled

with women, but probably all the men are waiting at the stage entrance.

And here comes the winner - Doris Bower of Bolton - with her attendants

and the 18 other finalists, each representing one of the cotton towns.

11 men come back to Blackpool to one of the greatest welcomes ever accorded a football team.

Yes, they're the Blackpool boys who won the Match of the Century at Wembley, against Bolton Wanderers.

Heading towards the Tower, the procession continues its triumphal journey.

100,000 loyal fans give a cup winners' reception to Harry Johnston and his team.

It was always a great moment when you paid your ninepence.

You were in.

The moments of drama lay ahead.

Football, like most things, was not yet a branch of the entertainment industry.

The coach arrives at Blackpool's town hall,

and 15,000 people surge forward for a closer glimpse of their heroes.

CHEERING

The crowd roars for Matthews, at long last a holder of a cup winner's medal.

Modestly, he replies.

I do want to say what a wonderful reception you've given us.

And I also want to say that I'm told by one or two people that I was the match winner.

As a matter of fact, I don't believe that, for the simple reason we have here 11 match winners.

CHEERING

Already the team have vowed to do their darnedest next year to keep the cup in Blackpool.

We took our pleasures dourly.

Most of the boys I knew played football as well as watched it. For working class boys, it was THE game.

I played myself in a team full of pretty rough lads, pretty poor as well.

Enjoying such salubrious jobs as sugar boilers and brickies' labourers.

# And I'm feelin' glad all over

# Yes I'm glad all over... #

Now, after decades in the doldrums, the sun is finally shining once more on Blackpool FC.

The club's spectacular win over Cardiff City yesterday

has catapulted them back to the top flight of English football.

Here, there is jubilation that Blackpool is now a Premiership football team.

Some have even lost their voice celebrating.

-CROAKING:

-I'm speechless! About Brett Ormerod yesterday,

I can't believe what they achieved yesterday, it's fantastic.

From Lancashire and Yorkshire, they pour into Blackpool,

determined to have a grand holiday and everything's off the ration.

This, for instance. It's not North Country roly-poly, it's Blackpool rock.

But we still don't know how they get the name right through the middle.

# ..going on there

# Baz is making letters, I do declare

# There goes a B and an L and an A Violet sits them down on the tray

# You see that thing like a big white cone

# That's the middle of the rock all on its own

# Now the letters are wrapped around

# In a coat of red to keep them sound

# All together and one, two, heave

# Ready to roll, you'd better believe

# Watch out now, cos here it comes

# The whole stick of rock just runs and runs

# Momma will you look at the long red snake

# Pulling out Just look at it break

# Marion and Lillian They're the queens

# Making it smooth like you've never seen... #

For over 53 years now, Basil Hargreaves has been at this game.

In B-L-A-C-K-P-O-O-L

There's beautiful girls

Beautiful hair

And beautiful scenery everywhere

It's gay and bright, day and night

And the people all treat you swell

In B-L-A-C-K-P-O-O-L

Blackpool!

There's oysters and all

In August, tha knows

What Lancashire masticates in August

London sups up in September.

Traditional English fare.

Blackpool's answer to French cuisine - the chipped potato.

The chip.

Greasy, doesn't half do you the world of good.

A hazy, greasy, euphoric dish.

Highly recommended.

All through the year, work goes on for the great day

in September when the fabulous Illuminations will be switched on.

From one end to the other, the promenades will be ablaze with light.

75 miles of cable will be laid, 350,000 coloured lamps will dance

and the glow in the annual display of dazzling splendour.

A quick sketch, a few scattered thoughts to back it up, and three years

from now, it will be transformed into another of those super spectacular kaleidoscopically dazzling tableaux,

and all the complicated backstage work goes on the year round at the Illuminations depot.

Artists, moulders, electricians, joiners, mechanics, painters, the best part of 100 of them, all told.

Dedicated to the daunting task of injecting new life and hard cash

into the sagging end-of-season holiday scene.

Every year, we inject into the display a number of new features,

probably a quarter or something like that.

And the rest of the equipment, which has been out on a previous occasion,

is re-displayed in a different place,

in a different way, so that the viewing public see something completely new each year.

The First Lady of the skies, 002 Concorde, flies over Blackpool.

Famous not only for its tower, but its equally famous Illuminations.

The Illuminations are Blackpool's way of having that final end-of-the-season fling.

Female-impersonator Danny La Rue

is there to switch on the lights, which first went on 60 years ago.

I welcome to Blackpool Miss Jayne Mansfield,

in your name, in the name of people of Blackpool.

It's pretty obvious that she is better known than most folk who've been here to do this,

er, job tonight, er, to do this job as it's been done...

It's very obvious indeed that you don't want to listen to anything I might have to say. And therefore...

CROWD CHEERS

..I have now very great pleasure in asking Miss Jayne Mansfield

to switch...

to switch on the Autumn Illuminations of 1959.

This is the most fantastic thing I have ever seen in my life!

I'm completely speechless.

Oh, thank you so very much, all of you. It's completely breathtaking.

I'm without words.

In the past, Blackpool's famous Illuminations have been turned on

by a an assortment of film stars, politicians, and disc jockeys.

An old warhorse can do better -

Red Rum passes through a special photoelectric cell, and on go the lights.

# Absolutely fabulous

# Absolutely fabulous

# Absolutely fabulous

# Absolutely fabulous... #

# She's a lassie from Lancashire

# She's a lassie from Lancashire

# She's a lassie from Lancashire... #

I don't know why we bother with a hotel, cos we dance all night.

There's more clubs here than in Manchester and it's better fun. Everyone's out for a good time.

We met these gorgeous blokes from Wigan.

It's a transvestite show bar and I could offer you a job there if you shave your legs!

So what do the girls make of their town?

It does need regeneration, yes.

-We just need...

-Some nice hotels.

-Some nice shops.

-Some lovely shops.

-Nice restaurants.

-A

-nice restaurant would be nice!

# There's got to be something better than this

# There's got to be something better to do... #

I've just heard this some big millionaire bloke from America coming over,

so I've put my American outfit on,

you know, one Yank and it's off!

# Find a brand new girlfriend or bring your wife... #

I think driving to a British seaside resort, Blackpool,

in a funny little British sports car, with a naked lady statue

and giant urn on the seat next to me, is above all else, fun.

And for all our serious side, the British have always been rather good at fun.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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