The North East Film Archive is one of a network of regional film archives established to collect, preserve and show film made in, or about the North East of England. Our collections are non-fiction, and date from the early 1900s to the present day, providing a rich record of life in the region over the 20th century. Many of our films are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Face to Face: Bob Haslam with The Smoker
A rare film of “The Smoker” satirists of ICI Billingham poking fun at director Bob Haslam in a spoof of the celebrated Face to Face TV interviews – razor sharp silliness!
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Overview
There’s sharp satire with a topical bite from ICI Billingham “The Smoker” as they lampoon their own personnel director, Bob Haslam, and his job evaluation scheme panel, described as a cross ‘between Jack Benny and Scrooge’. Packed full of company in-jokes, this is an entertaining spoof of the classic BBC television Face to Face interviews by John Freeman (1959-1962) – a little known contribution to the great British satire boom of the 60s from the North East.
A rich amateur theatrical tradition sprang up at ICI Billingham, which included the Synthonia Players group. But this irreverent 1960s production was likely by performers at the elite Norton Hall club, a hotbed of comedy and satire. Their annual “Smoker”, a version of the famous Cambridge Footlights revue, was attended by top notch ICI directors. The Synthonia Club was open to all employees, Norton Hall was not and its membership was restricted to higher grades of staff. Robert Haslam was a leading British industrialist who became personnel director of the Nobel division at ICI Billingham in 1960 and progressed onto the main board in 1974. No doubt he was in the audience for this film’s works’ screening.
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