Metadata
WORK ID: NEFA 8800 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| FACE TO FACE: BOB HASLAM WITH THE SMOKER | 1960s | 1960-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Black & White Sound: Sound Duration: 8 mins 21 secs Credits: Organisations: ICI, Billingham Film Unit Genre: Comedy Subject: Working Life Politics Industry |
| Summary A satirical take on the classic BBC television series of interviews by John Freeman called Face to Face, which ran from 1959 to 1962. ICI Billingham's amateur theatrical team, "The Smoker", gently send up senior ICI management and the ICI staff jobs assessment scheme, known as the Haslam Scheme. Two members perform the characters of the interviewe ... |
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Description
A satirical take on the classic BBC television series of interviews by John Freeman called Face to Face, which ran from 1959 to 1962. ICI Billingham's amateur theatrical team, "The Smoker", gently send up senior ICI management and the ICI staff jobs assessment scheme, known as the Haslam Scheme. Two members perform the characters of the interviewer (based on John Freeman) and interviewee, Bob Haslam. Robert Haslam was a leading industrialist who held positions as a director...
A satirical take on the classic BBC television series of interviews by John Freeman called Face to Face, which ran from 1959 to 1962. ICI Billingham's amateur theatrical team, "The Smoker", gently send up senior ICI management and the ICI staff jobs assessment scheme, known as the Haslam Scheme. Two members perform the characters of the interviewer (based on John Freeman) and interviewee, Bob Haslam. Robert Haslam was a leading industrialist who held positions as a director and chairman within several divisions of ICI on Teesside between 1960 and 1983. The production may have been made around the time (July 1966) that the government's national wage and price freeze was in place.
Title: Face to Face
Title: Bob Haslam
Title: With The Smoker
After the titles, the film follows the format of Face to Face interviews. The viewer never sees the face of the interviewer, who appears only once. The camera scrutinises the face of the actor playing "Bob Haslam" using many close-ups of his face.
The interviewer (off-screen) questions "Bob", who is Chairman of the Panel reporting on staff job assessment, a scheme linked to the setting of salaries and wages. "Bob" is lead to implicate ICI management in a degree of cronyism, somewhat exposing the class system, or hierarchy, of industrial relations in the business, and, by extension, society.
Context
An amateur spoof targets ICI top brass
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!
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...
An amateur spoof targets ICI top brass
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! 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. |
