Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
This film is part of Free
Cornwall
1930s Newquay is the setting for Lewis Rosenberg's film - with horse riding, tennis, girlfriends, much tickling and glorious Cornish beaches
Overview
From the collection of:
Lewis Rosenberg's holiday film starts with his friends helping in a garden before they begin to lark about. We see them walking through a stream and later making their way to Perranporth Beach for a picnic with their girlfriends. The film moves to Newquay where we see Harry Rochlin and Lewis at an outdoor cafe before a game of tennis. Newquay's Towan Beach, and its cliff suspension footbridge, is seen before we finish with Lewis and Harry riding horses along a rural lane.
Lewis Rosenberg was born in London in 1906, to working class Polish Jewish immigrants. When he was in his twenties he bought his first cine camera and, despite a lack of formal training, took it with him when he went on holiday with his friends. Every week Lewis and his pals each saved 2 shillings and were thus able to afford annual camping holidays, using home made tents, mostly in Cornwall and Guernsey. Many of Lewis' films show him and his friends surfing on the beaches around Newquay in the 1930s. Today, Newquay is regarded as the capital of British surfing.