Face to Face: Bob Haslam with The Smoker

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.