Managing British design reform II: The film Deadly Lampshade - An ill-fated episode in the politics of 'good taste'

Journal of Design History

Volumn 9, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 101-115

  Woodham, Jonathan M ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON   (United Kingdom)

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[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 34249195581     PISSN: 09524649     EISSN: 17417279     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/jdh/9.2.101     Document Type: Review

References (53)

1. Council of Industrial Design, 4th Annual Report 1948/49, HMSO, 1949, p. 21.
2. G. Russell, A Designer's Trade, Allen & Unwin, 1962.
3. P. Reilly, An Eye on Design: An Autobiography, Max Reinhardt, 1987.
4. A handwritten response to Miss Stewart's request for his views was sent by Russell on 20 July. It included a few innocuous remarks about chairs and 'Good Design', but gave no indication of particular opposition to the idea.
5. Miss Stewart in a letter of 8 April 1948 reported that Mr Reilly 'thoroughly enjoyed it and considers that it will be a useful film'. File ID/750 at the Design History Research Centre (DHRC) at the University of Brighton. Many of the letters, reports, and other forms of evidence for this article are located in the very extensive documentary and photographic Design Council Archive at the DHRC and begin with the prefix ID. Items with the prefix PRO are in the Public Record Office.
6. J. Woodham, 'Managing British design reform I: fresh perspectives on the early years of the Council Design', Journal of Design History, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 55-65.
7. The Council of Industrial Design (CoID) was founded in 1944 under the Directorship of S. C. Leslie and the Chairmanship of Sir Thomas Barlow and was financed through the Board of Trade.
8. S. C. Leslie, 'The Council's forward programme: note by the Director', 1946, p. 2, PRO BT 60/93/4.
9. The new medium of television was also embraced by the Council in its commitment to a half-hour design quiz in the first week's programme of 'live' evening broadcasts, based on material provided by the Council but acted by the BBC.
10. Presumably Alan Jarvis who was in charge of PR at the CoID, formerly Private Secretary to, and close friend of, Stafford Cripps.
11. This was also discussed, in slightly more detail, in Woodham, op. cit. , p. 60.
12. Letter to John Grierson of 17 December 1946, ID/ 750.
13. Potter was quite well connected with influential figures involved with the CoID and the Civil Service, including Francis Meynell, a Council member and Alix Kilroy, a senior civil servant closely associated during the war years with Thomas Barlow, later Chair of the Council, the Utility Programme at the Board of Trade, and plans for setting up the Council of Industrial Design.
14. This is discussed briefly in Woodham, op. cit.
15. Memorandum from Leslie to Jarvis, 17 December 1946, ID/750.
16. Woodham, op. cit.
17. D. Thompson, A Biographical Dictionary of the Cinema, Secker & Warburg, 1975, p. 620.
18. For more information see, for example, M. Dickenson & S. Street, Cinema and State: The Film Industry and the Government 1927-84, British Film Institute, 1985.
19. Letter from Basil Wright to S. C. Leslie, 8 January 1946, ID/750.
20. Letter from Wright to Leslie of 25 February 1947, with commentaries on the two script outlines submitted, ID/750.
21. R. Low, Films of Comment and Persuasion of the 1930s, George Allen & Unwin, 1979, p. 95. None the less, a number of Marion Grierson's films are potentially valuable for design and cultural historians, particularly those produced for the Travel and Industrial Development Association (TIDA) which explored British craftsmanship and heritage.
22. In Wright's letter to Leslie of 25 February 1947, op. cit. , the estimated costs for Treatment (B) were put at £5000-6000.
23. Note dated 27 February 1947, ID/750.
24. Minute from Alan Jarvis to N. E. Kearley, 2 September 1947, ID/750/1.
25. This and succeeding versions are contained in files ID/750 and ID 750/1.
26. Anthony Steven, Treatment (A), ID 750/1.
27. See, for example, J. De La Valette, The Conquest of Ugliness, Methuen, 1935, which was written to link with the blockbuster 'British Art in Industry' exhibition held in Burlington House in 1935.
28. The industrial design profession, much like the constituency of the CoID, was a male preserve, with one or two notable exceptions such as Gaby Schreiber.
29. Steven, op. cit.
30. Minute from S. C. Leslie to Alan Jarvis, 1 April 1947, ID/750/1.
31. ID/750/1.
32. Internal minute of 4 June 1947, ID/750/1.
33. Minute dated 9 June 1947, ID/750/1.
34. Handwritten response dated 6 June 1947, ID/750/1.
35. Minute dated 1 July 1947, ID/750/1.
36. Letter from Leslie Gamage to Jean Stewart of 14 July 1947, ID/750/1.
37. Letter from Philip Whalley to Jean Stewart of 21 July 1947, ID/750/1.
38. Minute from Stella Carlisle to Alan Jarvis, dated 21 August 1947, ID/750/1.
39. Minute from A. B. R. Fairclough to Alan Jarvis, dated 21 August 1947, ID/750/1.
40. By Basil Wright on behalf of International Realist Ltd. and John Weyman, Establishment Finance Officer, for the CoID.
41. Dated 12 February 1948, ID/750/1.
42. Minute of 6 March 1948, ID/750/1.
43. Letter from Alan Jarvis to Gordon Russell dated 3 March 1948, ID/750/1.
44. CoID, Report on the Council Film 'Deadly Nightshade', ID/750/1.
45. H. M. McCrae, Report on 'Deadly Lampshade': The Views of the Council Staff, 16 June 1948, ID 750/1.
46. The CoID organized a number of 'Design Weeks' in various major cities in 1947 and 1948. These were attempts to bring about a wider interest in design among retailers, buyers, manufacturers, and the general public. They centred on a travelling exhibition designed by James Gardner and included a series of lectures, seminars, and 'taste tests'.
47. There are various documents and correspondence relating to this survey in ID/750/1.
48. Design Fair: General, ID/1076.
49. Extract from Council Meeting Minutes of 9 July 1948, Item 10, ID/750.
50. ID/750.
51. ID/750/1, R. Hawker to K. D. Hatch, letter of 3 May 1949.
52. As suggested by Lewis Gilbert of International Realist in a letter to Peter Hatch of 16 May 1949, ID 750/1.
53. On 17 August International Realist confirmed that this had taken place.