A new Kings College student fakes a trip down the stairs to get attention from fellow lodgers who are ignoring him. This post-war amateur comedy short was a Newcastle and District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) production and was filmed at central Newcastle upon Tyne locations, including the Kings College campus and Haymarket. Credit: Newcastle & District ACA Presents Title: Stair Rod to Heaven Credit: From a story by John Nellist Credits: Continuity: Ted Davis Camera:...

A new Kings College student fakes a trip down the stairs to get attention from fellow lodgers who are ignoring him. This post-war amateur comedy short was a Newcastle and District Amateur Cinematographers Association (ACA) production and was filmed at central Newcastle upon Tyne locations, including the Kings College campus and Haymarket. Credit: Newcastle & District ACA Presents Title: Stair Rod to Heaven Credit: From a story by John Nellist Credits: Continuity: Ted Davis Camera: Hugh B. Liddell Titles: Leslie Greaves Credit: Produced & Directed by C. L. McMullen Credits: Cast Landlady: Margaret Garton Spinster: Nora E, Kelly Young Lady: Eugenie T. Grant Old Gentleman: Thos. Atkinson Student: Reginald W. Hall The film opens with a general view of Central Station off Newville Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. A student asks a man for directions outside the station. A young soldier in uniform is waiting on the corner outside the station in the background. The student heads off with his suitcase, crossing Neville Street and rushing to board a bus to Benton Park Road. The student walks around the corner of College Road, a road sweeper on the busy Barras Bridge road in the background. He walks up to the Kings College Arches. As he walks through one of the historic arches, the Church of St. Thomas the Martyr Church is framed behind him. He walks up the steps to the University of Durham, Kings College Registrar’s building. A hand doodles on paper, soon reaching for “The Addresses Book Keeping series”, looking up an address, filling out a card. The student emerges from the Kings College building looking at the address card he’s been given. He pounds the pavements of Newcastle, crossing the busy Barras Bridge, The Response war memorial across the road. The student arrives at a house and rings the bell. He is let in to his new digs. He speaks to the landlady and is pointed up the stairs to his new room. The film fades to black on the staircase. The student looks inquisitively around as he comes down the staircase. He heads for a door but the landlady pushes him away, pointing to the sign that reads “Kitchen Private”. The young man walks away and enters the dining room. He sees the sign that announces dinner is served at 7pm and a clock showing the time is twenty past six. He settles into an armchair and falls asleep. The student is fast asleep in the armchair when the other lodgers – an older gentleman, a middle aged woman and young woman - sit down at a table to eat. They are served their food. The landlady wakes the student up. He takes his seat at the table and lifts his serviette, which has a huge hole. The other lodgers cheerily help themselves to food and chat, ignoring the student. When he looks in a serving dish, the gentleman has eaten it all. The lodgers all leave the room, and the student finds himself alone at the table. The student follows the other lodgers into the communal living room. As the young woman checks out her hair in the mirror, the student eyes up her figure appreciatively. She bends to pick up a ball of wool for the middle aged woman knitting in an armchair and is thanked. The older gentleman reads a newspaper in another armchair. The young man fiddles with a wireless and finds a music station, tapping his feet, irritating his fellow lodger, who slams down his newspaper and complains to the student who turns off the music, regretfully. The young woman is studying at a table where she has placed a portrait photo. As the young man sidles up to her, she quickly hides the photo. He gets a chair and sets it near the woman knitting, picking up several balls of wool and throwing them on her lap, much to her annoyance. The young student is bored. He isn’t having much luck in engaging with his fellow lodgers. He taps his fingers on his knees, gets up and replaces the chair next to the dresser. The older man makes a comment to the two women. The student overhears and leaves the room. On the staircase, he hatches a plot. He removes one of the stair rods. He jumps up and down on the stairs to make a noise, and pretends he has fallen down. He arranges himself at the foot of the stairs. The student’s fellow lodgers rush out to help him. He pretends to limp into the room with their help. They fuss around him, placing him on the sofa, handing him a drink, and mopping his brow. The student puts on the injured act. Finally, the ice is broken and they all gather round to give him their full attention. The landlady examines the stair carpet, baffled, and puts it right. Meanwhile, the student has succeeded in chatting to the attractive young woman, and talks to her about the photo portrait she had previously hidden. Title: The End