A promotional film produced by Sound Image Presentation Ltd for Smithkline Beecham celebrating the centenary of Andrews Liver Salts which was developed and first sold by Scott and Turner in Newcastle in the late 19th century. Through the use predominantly of archival still as well as a selection of cinema and television advertisements, presenter Eric Robson looks back on 100 years of this local medicine. A vox pop of people who take Andrew’s Liver Salts explaining why they enjoy taking it....

A promotional film produced by Sound Image Presentation Ltd for Smithkline Beecham celebrating the centenary of Andrews Liver Salts which was developed and first sold by Scott and Turner in Newcastle in the late 19th century. Through the use predominantly of archival still as well as a selection of cinema and television advertisements, presenter Eric Robson looks back on 100 years of this local medicine. A vox pop of people who take Andrew’s Liver Salts explaining why they enjoy taking it. The film changes to a kitchen studio set with presenter Eric Robson stirs a spoonful of Andrew’s Liver Salts in a glass of water and taking a sip. He explains that it has been 100 years since Andrew’s Liver Salts was first manufactured in bulk in Newcastle Upon Tyne. In a contemporary chemists shop shelves stacked with Andrew’s Liver Salts and other health products; a woman’s hand takes a can. A can of Andrew’s Liver Salts sits on a small, draped plinth, beside it a small plaque for Sterling Health. The ingredients for Andrew’s Liver Salts in four glass beakers change to images of various Andrew’s Liver Salts cans and containers going back to it formation. Title: The Andrews Story 1893-1993 A series of archival photographs showing Newcastle in the late 19th and early 20th century. On the wall of historic public house, a Tyne & Wear County Council blue plaque for ‘Balmbra’s’ in the Cloth Market. Standing in a studio with a backdrop of the Cloth Market and Balmbra’s pub Eric Robson provides details on the early history of the ‘Andrews Story’. Still image of White Hart Lane off the Cloth Market where the offices of William Henry Scott and William Murkdoch Turner where in 1894 when they first sold Andrew’s Liver Salts. The theory of how Scott and Turner first came to develop Andrew’s Liver Salts is recreated at Beamish the Living Museum of the North with actors playing both local chemist Mr Clough and William Henry Scott accompanied by narration by Eric Robson. Other theories on the origins of the Andrew’s name are also provided using both archival stills and contemporary views of both the site of Andrews Tower in Newcastle, part of the historic city wall as well as St Andrews Church and graveyard on Newgate Street. More archive still of Newcastle and the Quayside at the turn of the century are used to showcase the success of Andrew’s Liver Salts. A theatre programme from 1899 containing the first printed advertisement for Andrew’s Liver Salts is followed by a second advertisement a few years later printed in a national newspaper. Again, Beamish is used to recreate a scene of a woman buying a can of Andrew’s Liver Salts from the Annfield Plain Co-Operative Store in the 1900 Town. Archive stills from the Great War and a series of advertising and marketing material produced by Scott and Turner during and after the war used to promote Andrew’s Liver Salts with details being provided by Eric Robson. Sitting at a table in one of the miner’s cottage at Beamish two children dressed in period costumes play a game of Happy Families using Andrew’s Liver Salts cards. Watched nearby a woman and older man sitting in a chair beside the kitchen range. Archive stills of the Scott and Turner factory at Coxlodge on the outskirts of Newcastle where women work machines producing the distinct Andrew’s tin cans. More stills of an Andrew’s Liver Salts displays at the North East Coast Exhibition in 1929 and lorries shipping product from their factory. Cars and pedestrians pass Andrew’s House on Gallowgate in Newcastle changes to more archival stills of the expanding workforce working inside this new office for Scott and Turner producing both the cans and salt as well as exporting product by ship around the world. More archival still around Newcastle all featuring Andrew’s advertisements. A still of man sitting at his wireless or radio is followed by archival footage of a family relaxing in a living room, over the footage a woman sings the Andrew’s Liver Salts theme song followed by sheet music for the theme song. Archive footage and still from World War Two featuring Andrew’s Liver Salts as well as image relating to Rosehip Syrup which was also being packaged by Scott and Turner during the war. Archive footage of women working the Andrews production line changes to show a still of soldiers fighting at the front receiving packages containing Andrew’s Liver Salts. More archive stills plus examples of packaging and advertising for Andrew’s Liver Salts in the post-war years. A cinema advertisement for Andrew’s featuring a family enjoying a Christmas meal with one of them making a glass of Andrew’s Liver Salts afterwards. More archive still relating to the merger of Scott and Turner with Philips, the manufacturer of Milk of Magnesia. Archive of men laying bricks on a building site, part of the companies continuing expansion to a new factory site at Fawdon. Clips follow from a series of Andrew’s television advertisements from the 1970s and 1980s including one featuring the Pink Panther cartoon character. Wearing protective overalls Eric Robson stands on a set, in the background footage of the modern production line at Fawdon. Around the factory employees watch over machines producing more Andrew’s Liver Salts with cans moving around the building. A woman moves a crate of packaged tins ready for distribution. In a laboratory technicians at work changes to Eric Robson appearing and standing beside a table on which sit three beakers containing the ingredients for Andrew’s Liver Salts; magnesium sulphate, sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. Stills featuring those individuals seen at the start of the film giving their opinion on Andrew’s Liver Salts as well as the actors playing Mr Clough in his chemists shop follow. A woman and her son enter a chemist shop, she purchases Andrew’s Liver Salts from the assistant behind the counter. A display of various Andrew’s Liver Salt cans from the past alongside one from today. This can is seen coming forward and an animation features the can lid blowing off and the salts inside bubbling. Title: Happy birthday Andrews and a healthy future The film ends on an advertisement for a new product, the Andrews Antacid tablet. End title: Additional photographic material supplied by Newcastle upon Tyne City Libraries and Arts. Period setting by arrangement with BEAMISH, The North of England Open Air Museum