Leonard Bentley
Piccadilly Circus: 1955
This is a Walton Colour Slide which was commercially available in the 1950s, the company was founded by James Beney in 1948, mainly producing 16mm and 9.5mm short films as well as slides. He took the name from Walton-on-Thames which was where he lived at the time. The company produced silent films of Royal Occasions, travelogues and latterly nudist films, the company did not survive the video boom of the early 1980s and folded in 1983, James Beney died in 1990. The slide shows two pearly queens collecting for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen Families Association in Piccadilly Circus. The view is from outside the Criterion Theatre looking north towards Shaftesbury Avenue with the billboard of the London Pavilion showing an advertisement for “Lucretia Borgia” which was a French language film made in 1953 and starring Martine Carol and Pedro Armendariz, I think it must have come with subtitles, Mr. Armendariz’s dialogue had already been dubbed into French. It was the first French film to be shot in technicolour, a special technicolour film camera had to be imported from the U.S. for the purpose. The film ran at the London Pavilion from 29th March until 21st April 1955. The subject of street collections for charity was a matter for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, it was his job to licence street collections and with that licence several conditions would have to be met, I am afraid the pearly queens have already transgressed two of them, each collector was to stand at least 75 feet apart and should remain stationary and not obstruct the footway. The regulations also state that the collecting tins should not be shaken, especially under the noses of passers-by. The pearly kings and queens collect regularly for charity and I am sure a blind eye would have been turned on them especially for such a great cause.
Piccadilly Circus: 1955
This is a Walton Colour Slide which was commercially available in the 1950s, the company was founded by James Beney in 1948, mainly producing 16mm and 9.5mm short films as well as slides. He took the name from Walton-on-Thames which was where he lived at the time. The company produced silent films of Royal Occasions, travelogues and latterly nudist films, the company did not survive the video boom of the early 1980s and folded in 1983, James Beney died in 1990. The slide shows two pearly queens collecting for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen Families Association in Piccadilly Circus. The view is from outside the Criterion Theatre looking north towards Shaftesbury Avenue with the billboard of the London Pavilion showing an advertisement for “Lucretia Borgia” which was a French language film made in 1953 and starring Martine Carol and Pedro Armendariz, I think it must have come with subtitles, Mr. Armendariz’s dialogue had already been dubbed into French. It was the first French film to be shot in technicolour, a special technicolour film camera had to be imported from the U.S. for the purpose. The film ran at the London Pavilion from 29th March until 21st April 1955. The subject of street collections for charity was a matter for the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, it was his job to licence street collections and with that licence several conditions would have to be met, I am afraid the pearly queens have already transgressed two of them, each collector was to stand at least 75 feet apart and should remain stationary and not obstruct the footway. The regulations also state that the collecting tins should not be shaken, especially under the noses of passers-by. The pearly kings and queens collect regularly for charity and I am sure a blind eye would have been turned on them especially for such a great cause.