London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
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Middlesex - Merry Mermaids
Rules be damned as women swimmers make a splash at Chiswick, running, diving, bombing, splashing and ducking a man dressed like Charlie Chaplin.
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Overview
Chiswick’s small open air pool is the site of this gleeful short, featuring a couple of dozen women swimmers breaking every rule of the pool. First, they have a leapfrog race by the side of the pool, before they are accosted by a clown dressed as Charlie Chaplin, who gets thrown in fully clothed. Next comes splashing and diving, before they all give a big wave from the stairs leading up to the second floor of Chiswick’s innovative two-deck changing rooms.
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