The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
Come Wind, Come Weather
After a hard day rescuing sheep buried in the snow or drowning in floods, what better way to dry out or de-frost than with a nice hot cup of cocoa.
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Overview
This is one of several cinema ads for Rowntree’s cocoa produced in 1955, all on the theme of returning from the cold or from dangerous occupations to be soothed by a hot cup of cocoa. In this one we have an assortment of hazards: waves crashing against a coastline in a storm, a lifeboat at sea, firemen fighting a fire, and sheep being rescued from heavy snow and flooding. And at the end a homely wife is waiting, ready with that hot cup.
This is one of a large collection of films made by Rowntree’s of York (now Nestlé), most of which are adverts for their confectionary products. Before the emergence of television advertising in 1955, the cinema remained an important, though fading, outlet for adverts. Wallace Productions specialised in making promotional and advertising films from the 1930s through to the 1970s. The chocolate side of Rowntree’s started out with a cocoa based drink in 1864, and the drink cocoa is one of the few products that has retained the name Rowntree's, rather than being changed to Nestlé. The word “cocoa” is, of course, the generic name for the bean, and the Cocoa Works was the name of the Rowntree’s factory in York.
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