Roy Fowler 0:08
Okay, the copyright of this recording is vested in the ACTT History Project. We're at Gleblands on the third of August 1989 and the interview is with Henry T Seward, who is resident here, Henry, let's start at the beginning. When and where were you born?
Henry Seward 0:30
First of December,
Roy Fowler 0:31
1913 right? And whereabouts is
Henry Seward 0:35
Hampton Middlesex, yes.
Roy Fowler 0:39
And you went on to have a career in the motion picture industry. Was either of your parents associated with films or theater? No, nothing at all. Would you like to tell us what your father did? It's always interesting how people came into the business for the
Henry Seward 0:56
for the London general omnibus company, really, yes,
Roy Fowler 1:00
as what he was,
Speaker 1 1:03
a unit adjuster. He was one of the lucky ones that had a job. What
Roy Fowler 1:07
does that mean? A unit I do not know.
Speaker 1 1:12
He was what they call a unit adjuster. Whatever that was,
Roy Fowler 1:15
it's an interesting designation.
Speaker 1 1:17
We work for London, general that there were general, the general, omnibus company was called in those days, I
Roy Fowler 1:23
believe, before it became London Transport. I don't know if you get to London now, but under Thatcher, it's all going back to a very rare Well, there is no London general bus company with the old markings back and what you went to school in Hampton
Speaker 1 1:44
no we moved to Fulham. I went to school in
Roy Fowler 1:49
Fulham, yes. And were you good at any particular subjects? Did you enjoy
Speaker 1 1:54
now? I was just I finished school of 14, right?
Roy Fowler 1:58
As most people did in
Henry Seward 2:00
those days, I went straight out to work the week after you right?
Roy Fowler 2:06
So that was 1927,
Speaker 1 2:11
at the age of 14, yes, wouldn't it all right? And what was your first job? I was a page boy to a doctor
Roy Fowler 2:19
in Fulham and no in
Speaker 1 2:21
Emperors gate, it was one of these society doctors. And I was just a page boy.
Roy Fowler 2:27
Was that a very up market area then, Oh yes, oh
Speaker 1 2:32
yes. Emperors gate is, well, just off Gloucester road. It was, I was just a page boy. I used to open the door to his his society.
Roy Fowler 2:47
Interesting to know how you got the job. How did one get a job in those names?
Speaker 1 2:51
I can't remember. I should imagine. She was a lab, but I couldn't tell you. It's, do you remember
Roy Fowler 3:03
what he paid you? No,
Speaker 1 3:05
I should say about five bob a week right in those days, and
Roy Fowler 3:12
how much of that would you be allowed to keep? And how much did you ever give? Tell you that presumably you gave money towards your keeper? Oh
Speaker 1 3:20
yes, oh yes. I mean, five A shilling those days was, was a lot of money, if, if you give, if you've got a shilling back, but I can't remember anything about that. Do
Roy Fowler 3:38
you remember any prices? How much did you smoke that the smoke to be live? How lucky you are? Yes, I've never wanted to. I wondered how much 10 or 20 woodbines would have cost.
Speaker 1 3:52
Two pence I think something like that, five wood bines, I believe what people say, 5p
Roy Fowler 4:01
How long were you with the doctor? Only a year. Yes. And then what? Then I
Speaker 1 4:07
went to label. I went to a block of flats at Knightsbridge. They used to be called Bradford. They become, in the end, key flats. They've got property all over, all over the West End. They were high class property,
Roy Fowler 4:28
an infamous company,
Speaker 1 4:30
and I was with them for until the war. During the war, because they paid me while I was in the forces. What
Roy Fowler 4:38
were you doing for Key flats
Speaker 1 4:40
was elite. I was a lift. Pay a page. Boy, again, lift, operation, lift. Boy, which building
Roy Fowler 4:50
was that? Henry
Speaker 1 4:51
49 Knightsbridge they had, which is what near the borough? That's what just passed about. Come. Towards Hyde Park corner. Yes, they had the whole, you know, where Scotch houses, yes, well, all their property was above that. They was, this was Knightsbridge at the Brompton road. And they had the whole. They had 149 Knightsbridge 141 Knightsbridge also Knightsbridge green. It was our other entrance. We had about what, 160 flats or
Roy Fowler 5:32
something, with the arcade too.
Speaker 1 5:34
Yes, we had, I can remember I used to have to scrub that place out every Saturday afternoon, yes, yes. I believe its called Knightsbrdge arcade I forget
Roy Fowler 5:48
I think it is.
Speaker 1 5:49
I was with them till after the war. So they used to, they didn't pay much but they payed me up during the war. And
Roy Fowler 6:03
you lived on the premises.
Henry Seward 6:06
No I lived, I lived in Fulham, but
Roy Fowler 6:09
still with your family, yes, so you were in the service.
Henry Seward 6:15
I went to the RAF. Did
Speaker 2 6:17
you just have curiosity? Do you remember who lived in the Lansen block? Any famous people that we had
Speaker 1 6:26
the chairman of the times he was in one? Oh, I can't remember the number. And then we had Mr. I The we had theaters in the in Yorkshire this well, he had theaters in Yorkshire. And he used to about every two or three days. He'd go up to Yorkshire for a week. And he always used to every year, he used to give the whole staff two tickets to one of his pantomimes in London. Or light, lighter, light, or something like that. Littler, yes, I believe that was his name Well,
Roy Fowler 7:26
there was Prince littler and Emil littler,
Henry Seward 7:29
no, that was the,
Roy Fowler 7:33
I doubt they were Yorkshire. They were much more, yeah, but
Speaker 1 7:36
he used to, he was a Yorkshire man. I can't think what his name was, but he used to go to and we had lady Countess of Del Mar or something. Oh, we had, they all had money. They were, you know, it was a Oh yes. And we also had a person who owed Harrods in those days. This is 1928, 29 his daughter lived there after what her name was. Oh, yes, we parted with them until I moved down to we moved into Hampton, Middlesex back to Hampton again, and I moved into their property at Queensbury house, Richmond, down by the river, until the war then I was I was called up. I was at all I was in the I was a sort of territorial Auxiliary. I would I in peacetime, peacetime. They called it the auxiliary Air Force. And I, I joined the auxiliary Air Force evening training and weekends.
Roy Fowler 9:05
Why did you do that?
Speaker 1 9:07
Well my friend, did I? We decided one of these days there's going to be a war, it'll be better get into something that we would like that get it. If I hadn't had done that, I'd have been in the army and the PBI, yes.
Roy Fowler 9:26
Well, then you were thinking ahead, Oh, yes. So they called you up when in before war, really? Yes.
Henry Seward 9:38
We were auxiliary Air Force.
Roy Fowler 9:41
Where did you spend the war in any
Speaker 1 9:43
Well, the first about three months, I was in Kensington, High Street, high street kids in the Paris gardens, right next door the the Russian Embassy . Sorry, right next door, we had the Duke of Marlboros townhouse. He, one of our squadron leaders, was a friend of his, sir, somebody, I can't think of his name and is, according to the story, they said, Duke of Marlborough said , yes, yes, you should have my house as long as this, sir lives in it. So be it I was on Squadron headquarters. We moved in
Roy Fowler 10:33
the comfortable billet. And were you training? Or were you?
Speaker 1 10:40
No, we was, well, there was, we used to train every weekend, but we was in the still at the auxiliary Air Force. I was, matter of fact, we used to have A's. We always had A on our collar, yes, and we were, I was very proud of those A's
Roy Fowler 11:04
What else was going on on Kensington Palace Gardens in those days?
Speaker 1 11:09
Well, all it was, was the, was the, nearly all the property was owned by the army, right, except for the RAF was it and at the Bayswater end there was a prisoner of war camp for, well, not a camp, but where they used to when they brought them in, the pilots, German pilots, they used to see that, you know, they do it interrogation, that's right there at the very end of the very last house, right next door to Bayswater Bayswater, road which is
Roy Fowler 11:57
what, where the Czechoslovakian embassy is, the other side, the west side of the east side, the east side, east side. Oh, that house, I think, is still there, the Czecheslovakian Embassy and what, I suppose, you train and exercise, yeah, Kensington Gardens,
Henry Seward 12:15
that's right, yes. Was a matter of fact. We was in when war was declared. You know, when we we thought, no, they're going to be in a war. You know, fortnight before war, we were not going to be a war. We was always all in Hyde Park. We were digging sand banks, making sand banks up when we got the first air raid warning
Roy Fowler 12:42
you know, that was a ramp attack on the Sunday morning. I
Henry Seward 12:47
believe it was Sunday morning.
Roy Fowler 12:51
Would say the day war broke out? Yeah, I think everyone remembers that. How long did you spend along that street. How long did you spend in on Kensington in the Duke of |Marlboroughs flat
Speaker 1 13:07
six months, right? Just approximately we was where the beginning of the battle of Britain? Yes, I was there during the Battle of Britain, during the Blitz in was that just after perhaps September, when it was November? Was it something?
Roy Fowler 13:27
Well, the Battle of Britain, I guess, started in the summer, didn't it? It was in 1940 but I think it began in the summer, July, August, and then, of course, the Blitz came in August, September. Were you there for the Blitz, when all the guns I was I was
Henry Seward 13:47
I was I was posted overseas. Then,
Roy Fowler 13:51
where did you mostly spend the war? Then overseas, in Aiden,
Henry Seward 13:55
I spent a very nice three and a half years in Aden
Roy Fowler 14:00
getting a sun turn. Okay, well, can I ask the questions Manny I was about to ask you that? What? How? What were you doing during the war? I
Henry Seward 14:13
was a telephone operator when I was in Kensington palace gardens. I was a Batman when I went overseas, we went out as a complete unit. They were thinking about making an OTU officers, training core there, and they took us out as a complete unit, everything you know, MT the lot, and we would then we was told, Well, you know, rumors, we were going to either Rhodesia or Canada, because that's the only two places they were training anybody. We ended up in Aden. But. I become a telephone operator. Then, about three and a half years I was in Aden time of me life What
Speaker 1 14:24
What was Air Force doing in Aden and protecting the Suez Canal,
Speaker 1 15:13
the Gulf of Aden the route to
Roy Fowler 15:16
India, I suppose, and tell me the wartime service was it very elegant and GI and cast full of class distinction officers and other ranks.
Henry Seward 15:30
Oh yes but I can't complain. I had a marvelous time. I was maybe one of the lucky ones. But I had a timeof me life. Did you do all your service in Aden? Yeah, yeah, except for the last, when I was what they called time x, when your time overseas expired, you they then posted back to England and I finished up the last six months at RAF Waterby
Roy Fowler 16:07
So all in all, the war was not too uncomfortable.
Henry Seward 16:10
It was very I enjoyed my war service. I know he was overseas, but I never saw, I never saw a rifle, never fired one in anger.
Roy Fowler 16:25
No. Best that way. I think, yes, so you're back now in England in 1945 was it or later? No, before then? Oh, when they returned you? When? When did you get demobbed? I
Speaker 1 16:41
got demobbed in 1945 I was group 26 because I used to do evening training, say, auxiliary Air Force,
Roy Fowler 16:51
yes. So you had a very low number, yes. I was
Henry Seward 16:55
26 group 26 and I tell you, my upstairs my paybook, what day you've kept all those things? Oh yes, I've kept the paybook
Roy Fowler 17:08
And like me, you probably never forget your number.
Speaker 1 17:12
It's very funny. It's very funny. I've got a a link card, gyro, and my last four is the up? is my link card number. You never forget you. You never forget that number. Clearly, everybody you talk to, they all know their last well. They let they know their whole number. Yes, I and
Roy Fowler 17:43
so having been de mobbed from the service, then what now?
Speaker 1 17:48
I went back to key flats, in queensberryy house, and then the London Transport, I believe, it was called London Transport in those days. I forget now, I was only taking, or I applied for more money with with key flats, and they couldn't was I think I was getting about 50p two pounds 50 in those days. I think it's about what it was, and they said they couldn't pay any more money. So the London Transport was advertised in for ex service only. And I joined the London Transport. I don't know what date that was, ex service only,
Roy Fowler 18:39
just
Henry Seward 18:41
after the war. It was ex service only.
Roy Fowler 18:46
So you applied. I
Henry Seward 18:48
I applied and got on, and I was working out of Mortlake Garage , because I lived in in Hampton, you see. And I was on the 73 out of Mortllake garage, Richmond to Stoke, Newington,
Roy Fowler 19:04
going past your old flat. Yes, do doing what? Sorry. Did I miss a conductor? Yes, okay, so you, you met all sorts. Yes, in that job. How long did you do that?
Henry Seward 19:21
Oh, dear. That must have been about 1946, about three years. Three, about three years. And then what that I I emigrated to Canada. My sister married a Canadian and she said, love to come over. And I went down. I think 49
Roy Fowler 19:49
She'd married a Canadian soldier, presumably . She married a Canadian soldier. Air Force. Well, Air Force servicemen. And where about? In Canada? Yes,
Speaker 1 20:00
In Calgary I go out there every year now. Yes,
Roy Fowler 20:06
so you have what nieces and nephews and grand and what in Canada you went to Calgary, what in Canada did you do?
Speaker 1 20:20
I went on to the CPR Canadian Pacific Railway as a fireman, yes,
Roy Fowler 20:29
so they were still coal burning. Were they?
Speaker 1 20:32
Yes, they had oil, and the passenger trains were all oil, and the freight was all occasionally you got a oil burner Usually it was coal burner
Roy Fowler 20:47
You said earlier that you're descended from William. So I don't
Henry Seward 20:51
know whether I have
Roy Fowler 20:56
going to ask you if
Speaker 1 20:59
I will say to everybody, if we happens to be in print, oh, look at this. I see. Oh, no, I
Roy Fowler 21:05
wondered.
Speaker 1 21:06
Yeah, I was with them for about two and a half years. I was firing the CPR.
Roy Fowler 21:11
Was that transcontinental?
Henry Seward 21:13
Yes, it was from Calgary, west to field. Go towards BC, east to Beleeford Hatch? drove towards Montreal, south to McLeod and north to Edmonton. You had a radius. You were, I forget what they what division they call it now,Lacome? Lacome? division, I think they called it
Roy Fowler 21:51
so you say you stayed in Canada for three years,
Henry Seward 21:55
no, for about two and a half,
Roy Fowler 21:59
right? What? Then, then
Henry Seward 22:00
I came back. What brought you back? Well, lots of reasons. One of the reasons was they started getting diesels. And Calgary was the first people that got diesels. And in Canada, well, on CPR, they got a very peculiar system, if you according to your number, if a person was just saying that I have a number with, say, 120 you got a number 119 you could come If I've got this offer a holding what they call a holding a job. You come and bump me, take me off that job because you're a lower number. What I am, peculiar system. It is what was happening all our senior like, what we call the regular staff. They was, see I was on the spare board. They wore the regular runs. What was happening from all over Lacobe divisions? I believe it's the Lacobe division. They was bumping our people. Naturally, they bumped us juniors and put us out of work.
Roy Fowler 23:31
But didn't you fancy staying in Canada?
Speaker 1 23:34
Other reasons besides that?
Roy Fowler 23:37
Okay, so you're back in England when
Henry Seward 23:42
50 middle of 51 right. Okay. Then I went back onto the London Transport until I was there, working out of Hounslow and there we used to go to, we used to go to London Airport. The 81's used to go to London Airport used to conducters and drivers. Just said they come back for breakfast or whatever time and say, well, they taking them on at Heathrow. They used to always take people on in the spring at Heathrow, sometimes you you stayed there, and sometimes they sacked you after the season was over. But one day, one of the one of the drivers come back, he said they're taking them on. So my driver and I made a way up to in our rest time, went up to London Airport, and they took us on, and then we we were they had you as a group, and as soon as one of the airlines wanted five men they'd say 12345, I go to BEA you know, that's what you used to do. And then it in the meantime, in the paper, was during this period there was in the paper, there was a bit about Technicolor was asking for people. So I wrote, and I must have got a letter back from and say, very sorry, but we're full up, but we'll keep you in line. And I suppose, about three months. Couldn't tell him. Couple of months, I got a letter from Technicolor to say, Come on suh and such a day to be interviewed for a job at Technicolor. Well, I said to the foreman in charge of this group, you know they used to say, You, you, and you go there. I said to him, Look, what shall I do? He said, If I was you, he said, you'd be right here. You'll stay. But he said, I should go to Technicolor. So I went to Technicolor, and I joined in Easter 60, and I was, I was in the, in the in the solutions department, right?
Roy Fowler 26:25
Let's talk about as much of Technicolour as you can. Remember, what were your earliest impressions of the place when you when, when you went there? Well, from the front of the lab,
Speaker 1 26:38
there's nothing, everything you know, you never, you never dream the amount of work that that was in there from the front of the building when I first joined. There was over 2000 of us there. Yes, because that where the IB was running. Was it still running? Yes, it was running the bike. The IB was still running those days. I can't tell you the date it finished, but they sold it to the Chinese Yes, and we was just never understand what it meant.
Roy Fowler 27:24
Inhibition, yes, building up it means the technical process was, I do want to go through this in detail, explain the job that they gave you and how you were.
Speaker 1 27:40
I was in the solutions department, right, which described that well, we used to make all the dyes in those days. We used to make our own dyes up developers backing removals The So, yes, and we used to see we were on the ground floor, and all the the negs that we had, the IB, was above us. And we used to have tanks downstairs. We used to make up mixes for as the film goes through. As the film goes through. It was just so the neg department. As the film goes upstairs, it goes through a wash. As it comes through the wash, it brings water into the backing removal, which makes the backing removal weaker. So we had all these boosts we used to make up, you see, they they'd we had boost tanks, had mix tanks, we used to make up for them, and then we used to send the boost up to them according to how much they wanted. We made all these mixes up,
Roy Fowler 29:26
right? Where did the raw materials come from? Kodak, right? Kodak, England. Were they from the States? Was there any great relationship between Technicolor in California and Technicolor here and indeed in Rome.
Speaker 1 29:43
Yes, yes, oh yes. There was right now,
Roy Fowler 29:47
what? What film stock, what negative stock was being used in the early 60s? Was it Eastman colour? Eastman color? Right? Yes. So the three strip process is totally dead. now? Yes, you had no experience with three strips, right?
Speaker 1 30:05
It was always, it was always, IB when I was there.
Roy Fowler 30:10
Now you say you mixed the dyes. How were they made? Oh, dear.
Speaker 1 30:16
We were glad we were finished with that. We used to. They say they want a magenta,
Speaker 1 30:25
rather not magenta, because magenta is the color they'd want a mix of some sort. And we used to have
Speaker 1 30:37
cards which the foreman would say, well, go make up a magenta, I suppose I forget now so many years ago. So go get a card out of the office. And it told you exactly how much quality, quantity you wanted, so much of this, so much of that, and you weighed all this up. But the trouble was, with a dye, how careful you was when you used to put it into the water. Used to get covered in dye,
Roy Fowler 31:17
which was, what a dust?
Speaker 1 31:18
Dust? Yes, we were very glad when they finished with we used to boil this stuff. Then you had a card, you see, it said, so much of this, so much, so much water. And used to put that in the tank, and that was heated. We had steam on that, and it was boiled for so long. And then when it was finished, we turned the steam off. The next morning. we used to put that into another tank with a filter, a great piece of canvas, it was. And he used to pump this dye that you've made into another tank with this filter cloth on it. And it was thick, like a sail cloth. You would then, when it is all gone, this piece of canvas, you had to take it out in the wet area and wash, wash it all down, you know, to get it clean again. cor l, what a mess that used to be.
Roy Fowler 32:34
Were you provided with masks? They paid attention to
Henry Seward 32:42
all that sort of thing .
Roy Fowler 32:44
Do you know what happened to the dyes once you'd mix them
Speaker 1 32:48
in which way in terms of the process? Oh, yes. Well, you would put it up into the the the boost tank, and again, it was boosted when they wanted it. They said you a slip down to boost whatever color. So it used to go through a wash. So naturally, it used to thin the dye out. So you'd have to boost that up,
Roy Fowler 33:23
right? This is making the print, making the print, building up the colors
Speaker 1 33:32
in the neg department, where they was, when they was developing everything went through the wash, after it come out of backing into a wash, into the, oh, I forget how exactly that process was it so
Roy Fowler 33:55
well the technical process, I would think, is very well documented. So, oh yes, yeah, that would be in all the books, but they were still making separation negatives at this Yes stage, still. Were they say
that'll come back. Well, as I say, technically, I'm not the person to ask questions on those subjects, but let's talk about Technicolor as a company and as an employer. You did you enjoy working.
Speaker 1 34:40
They were very good company. They wanted their pound of flesh, but they paid you for their pound of flesh. They were very good company. Yes, they paid you well. Yes, they treated us very well. Yes, we had a couple of you know. Sort of thing strikes or thing for something we wanted. But they was no we, there was Technicolour were very good firm because until they were taken over by different firms, see when it was the clamors? husbands, husband and wife, and then EMI got into us. Or Thorne EMI, they came into us. Oh, no, Technicolour are a very good firm. They looked after I was quite okay.
Roy Fowler 35:37
Well, let's continue to talk about the ownership of the company at one stage, you say, a husband and a wife. The Kalmus Oh, Kalmus they invented it. So you were still there during Dr Kalmus' time. Yes, and this is Oh yes, Mrs Kalmus, right. Did you ever see either one?
Speaker 1 35:59
No, you didn't. When I first went there, we had our own Technicolour cameras. They sent Technicolour cameras out to the to the location. Well,
Roy Fowler 36:13
they're what we call three strip
Henry Seward 36:16
Yes, but that was
Roy Fowler 36:19
the original three strip process, which is finished and done with, yes, oh yes. What they're doing, what you are doing is to make release prints, right? Yes, from films that were shot with a single negative. Yes, right? As I won't get into the process, because I don't know it that well, and it would be a matter of record. Anyway, the technical aspects of it, you I don't know. I can't remember when the Kalmuses . I thought Dr Kalmus was dead by this time and but anyway, again, that would be documented. Who followed the Kalmuses , you say? EMI, it was ABPC,
Speaker 1 37:04
I believe Ford electric took us over from this, which was a year buyer, EMI Thorneelectric, yes.
Roy Fowler 37:17
How about Harry Saltzman? Well,
Speaker 1 37:20
yes, he was, but then he only had his, his prints done there.
Roy Fowler 37:26
Well, he owned the company for a while. Oh, did he recollect that? When did you leave?
Speaker 1 37:33
I left in 73 77
Roy Fowler 37:40
I would have thought he owned it during your time, though, yes,
Speaker 1 37:45
I couldn't say we saw him a lot running around. But I don't know whether, whether he did, he say, but he most probably did, because in that by them. We sold the IB, yes, we sold it to the Chinese. When I first went there, everything was temperature controlled. We we had in solutions. We used to have to when it was on what you called temps. You had to have a you had 64.1 and that was it. You couldn't go any higher than you had ice and steam. You know, you every half hour, you to go around and say, Oh yeah, put a little bit of steam or a little bit of ice. It was all temperature controlled, everything, right?
Roy Fowler 38:44
But it was, I think, fairly critical. Oh,
Speaker 1 38:46
yes, it was in those days they needed, but now I think it's, it's fast printed and,
Roy Fowler 38:55
well, I think the there might be a degree more latitude, but nevertheless, they still work within defined parameters, certainly of temperature. But let's go back to to the company you like them, and whom do you remember as being the the man who ran it, not the owners, but the people who ran it. .
Speaker 1 39:17
Mr. Littlejohn, yeah. Mr. Peas.good.Mr. Happy, most probably know him Bernard. Happy,
Roy Fowler 39:33
yes, give us your memories of them, of all of them, from Little John.
Speaker 1 39:38
Littlejohn, they were all, you know, there was very, all of a very pleasant there wasn't any, did
Roy Fowler 39:47
they come down into the various rooms?
Speaker 1 39:51
They'd walk through and stop inquire about something or, Oh, yes, you.
Manny Yospa 39:59
Littlejohn
Speaker 1 40:05
Bernard Happy. So they used to stop and say, Hello, what's happening here? Or that?
Roy Fowler 40:20
Did you stay in that one job? What happened after the the indibition machinery was sent to China? What? What then were you doing? Well,
Speaker 1 40:33
then the same thing, except that they was all this high speed printing
Roy Fowler 40:40
yes, so you were still making up die,
Henry Seward 40:45
various solutions,
Roy Fowler 40:47
okay, and you stayed in that until you retired,
Henry Seward 40:57
77, and half years there.
Roy Fowler 41:00
Did you stop working then or Yes, yes, I see okay, and since that time, what? What have you done? How have you spent your retirement?
Speaker 1 41:13
Well, I think nothing, when did you
Roy Fowler 41:17
come to Glebelands? Well,
Speaker 1 41:19
I used to I looked after my mother for over 30 years. We went to Canada together, and when she died, I still stayed at home, owned a house, and then my friend, he used to do, he worked for BP, had a very good job for BP. And he used to say, one of these days, Harry you're not going to be able to look after yourself, there's going to be a time see, I'm not married, and you can't expect neighbours to come. And, you know? So he said, Well, you'll have to, you know, one of these days, you've got to find somewhere to go and live. They did the in the in the ACT journal, there was a center page one about how many years ago, five, five and a half years or something. Do you know about Glebelands I don't know whether you would remember that. No, well, there was a center page in the ACT in the Journal. Well, when it was a big paper, you know, here. And so I wrote I phoned Stan, and he said, Oh yes, we go into it for bed. That was that wish. I'd be very pleased since I've been here. I mean, I'm lucky at the moment. There's nothing wrong with me. I've been I could have stayed home. We're safe for this time. But you never know something happened, true
Roy Fowler 43:01
or not? Happens true? Yes, yes. So it's through the journal that I ended up here that's good to know.
Speaker 1 43:14
Technicolor, nobody has ever heard of Glebelands, whether they do now, I believe they do now,
Roy Fowler 43:25
maybe, maybe not, but
Henry Seward 43:27
I've never heard of Glebelands
Roy Fowler 43:31
Let's talk about ACTT you joined it when you went to Technicolour Yes, what's your opinion of the Union? Oh, they've looked after me very
Speaker 1 43:41
Oh, they've looked after me very well, and they looked after us all
Roy Fowler 43:45
very well. Were you ever active in Union business? No, who was that? You remember,
Speaker 1 43:53
there's Paddy Gorman. But here the convener had Alfred ?
Roy Fowler 44:02
BC, well, he's still around the day,
Speaker 1 44:12
the Lab supervisor. He came here one day. Was his name. I can't think of his name. He was convener, of course, he was treasurer, wasn't he for the Union, but ALF Cooper, he was in charge of the Eastman color plants. He's a real trade unionist. So yes, Alf was one of the best. And then we had after after Alf Cooper after Patty Gorman. We had a. It we had Dennis Claridge? and I believe he's still active,
Roy Fowler 45:05
very much still around. Here's Dennis. Do you think that conditions for those working at Technicolor would have been different, or even worse, had there not been a union? Oh, definitely yes. What do you think were the main advantages conditions?
Henry Seward 45:29
Well, you had to belong to the Union, which was, I'm all for yes, and they got you everything,
Roy Fowler 45:39
you know, all the what were the principal benefits? Do you think Henry? I think money wise, money, yeah, and conditions and conditions? Oh, yes, conditions, yeah, would of the two. Which, which? Do you think the Union did more for? Was it pay or was it working? I think
Speaker 1 45:56
I think paid more. Well, I think there was near enough the same.
Roy Fowler 46:04
There was great job security, yes, there was definitely.
Speaker 1 46:06
There was, there was job security. Oh, yes,
Roy Fowler 46:16
okay, just to end up, from my point of view, you're happy at Glebelands ? Oh, definitely happy. Oh yes, it was. How did you spend your time here?
Speaker 1 46:27
Not very I, I always go out in the morning and walk into town and do a little bit shopping. And I always, always stop and have a pint every day, and every afternoon I read or I listen to classical music. And I like classical music, operas I've got, I think all the Operas on reel to reel tape, because I read these many reel to reel tapes around now, well,
Roy Fowler 47:06
not to buy. There are good machines, I think so. What you record them off the air, I
Speaker 1 47:15
record them off the radio, and they, I listen to them. You know, one day I may say, there's nothing on TV, never much on TV, but still, I do a lot of listening.
Roy Fowler 47:36
Are there any questions that, if you were me, you would have asked, any areas that I haven't touched on?
Henry Seward 47:45
No, I don't think so. No,
Roy Fowler 47:47
okay, we're especially interested in Technicolor. So anything at all that you can remember about the company or your time, although we're very good company, I will agree you obviously have no complaints, definitely no complaints. I'm not sure Alf would agree with you on that.
Speaker 1 48:08
He had his but he was a damn good union man. I mean, he was
Roy Fowler 48:17
totally dedicated. Oh yes,
Speaker 1 48:21
they never got away. They may have got away with a couple of things with Paddy, but I don't think they ever got away with anything with Alf
Roy Fowler 48:31
Okay. Well, from my point of view, that's fine. I'll let Manny know, ask any questions that he may have.
Manny Yospa 48:40
It didn't really have very much to do with technicolors, mainly on the black and whites. Yes, they used the old three strip camera once or twice. Although they had their own camera crews just
Speaker 1 48:54
to start off with, I think about a year they had their own crack the camera crews So, matter of fact, about a year ago, we had the convalescents, you know, the club here to have a fortnight's rest. Who should come? But the man that used to service all Technicolour cameras, because I said to him, when he came, he said, I recognize you. I say, Yes, I recognize you. I said, What? He said, I used to do the cameras. He was the man that used to service
Roy Fowler 49:42
Jim. Just, just over that last sentence that you were saying, This man turned up, oh
Speaker 1 49:47
yes, he turned up here with his wife, and he was saying, I know you. I know you. And he said, Yes, I used to service the cameras. And. When they was, whenever they was going on location. He used to set the equipment up for them, and when they take it to wherever they was going, and the way they came back, he, you know, whatever happened to, what had to be done with it is. And he was, he was still there when, after they finished Technicolour cameras,
Roy Fowler 50:26
what was he doing when you were there?
Speaker 1 50:28
He was doing the he was doing the cameras, but they were using three. Oh, yes, oh. They were using when I first there, yeah, I was there 1960 and they were using Technicolour cameras. Then
Manny Yospa 50:43
also they used them quite a lot for traveling matte process work, yes, because they used them quite a lot on traveling matte work.
Speaker 1 50:51
Oh, yes, he was. He used to service the cameras. But I'm fine. I can't tell his name because, matter of fact, not many Technicolour people come here,
Manny Yospa 51:02
actually, the crews that they had permanently at Technicolour for the on the camera crews . A lot of the very well known camera men now, all the top line cameramen active now, or used to be, but all kept all I can
Speaker 1 51:23
remember the camera men, when they finished using Technicolour cameras, they they give the most four of them. They give them job as superintendents at Technicolour they were given a film. MGM said, we want we're making a film. He was given the whole film, and he looked after it all the way through till MGM said, Yes, we're satisfied. There was four supervisors. I can't think of their names,
Speaker 3 52:05
because I remember Technicolour, they had liaison then with all the studios.
Speaker 1 52:13
That's right, yes, they're the people. Yeah, they're the people. I mean, there was four of them, and they saw the through the film until MGM or whoever, said, Okay. We satisfied, you know, got everything, because they used to have to come in every day at seven o'clock the morning to view the rushes.
Speaker 3 52:43
Yes, also one time, of course, all the processing had to be done by Technicolour but when Eastman colour came in, all the other labs were able to process Yes. Eastman Colour
Speaker 2 52:58
yes. I believe, although Humphreys was still around when Technicolour it was there, I think, but Rates, I always remember that was his name. We used to do the 007 stock. He was his name, Cubby Broccoli yes, but he, we always did. We'd always did the 007's Well, he had a row with Technicolour. Used to see him running around the plant all the time. he had a row with Technicolour. And he took, I don't know which one it was. He took it back to he took it to Ranks, but they only made the one. He was back to Technicolourl. I always pull their legs. There people work for ranks say, Oh, you only had one of 007's 007's
Manny Yospa 54:01
can Okay, most of the other things.
Roy Fowler 54:10
Henry, thank you very much
Henry Seward 54:11
much. Thank you very much. Yes. Thank.................................................................................
