Part of the Hayes home movie collection, this 1930s amateur film features staged staff portraits and brief sketches, performed at Christmas by employees of J. L. McAdam Limited department store in Newcastle upon Tyne. Title: J L McAdam Ltd Our Staff as Others See Them Title: Christmas 1936 The first sequence of the film consists of a series of portrait shots of individual employees of McAdams, a department store in Newcastle, staged in front of a curtain. Each person speaks a few words to...

Part of the Hayes home movie collection, this 1930s amateur film features staged staff portraits and brief sketches, performed at Christmas by employees of J. L. McAdam Limited department store in Newcastle upon Tyne. Title: J L McAdam Ltd Our Staff as Others See Them Title: Christmas 1936 The first sequence of the film consists of a series of portrait shots of individual employees of McAdams, a department store in Newcastle, staged in front of a curtain. Each person speaks a few words to camera. The owner (?) of the store introduces the first two male employees. After a number of individuals have posed, a sequence of double or group portrait shots follow. Two men in suits are laughing together and then shake hands. Another two men joke together as a man in a bowler hat, smoking a cigarette, sticks his head through the back curtain. A group of three men and a young boy, all dressed in suits, pose and swap banter. The McAdam employees then run through a series of brief sales sketches with each other. Title: Footwear - ‘Something Smart Madame' - A salesman assists a woman on with a shoe, whilst a cigarette dangles from his mouth. He tries to fit a child’s shoe on her foot as a joke. A blond haired child wanders into shot. Title: Mantles - We Guarantee To Please - A female assistant shows a customer a rack of coats. She helps another female McAdam employee on with a fur jacket. Title: Bargains In Blankets. How Joe Sold The Last Pair. A salesman runs through his sales patter with two women, unfolding blankets in a chaotic manner. All the staff organise themselves for an informal group portrait in the store offices. The camera pans around the group as they laugh and joke together, all in high spirits. The small blond haired girl runs into shot and is grabbed and settled on the knee of one of the staff. A young boy then runs on and stands beside them for the portrait.