Topical Budget: 'Call Me Early, Mother Dear', Hayes Common (1930)
ProRes digital file Black & White Mute 1930 0:45
Summary: The coronation of Miss Betty Wadsworth, London's May Queen, on Hayes Common.
Title number: 19774
LSA ID: LSA/26217
Description: The crowning of the May Queen was a popular choice for the Topical Budget camera, who film dozens of children – all dressed in white, covered in flowers and some carrying banners (May Queen Of Bellingham one reads) – marching in a procession to Hayes Common where the ceremony takes place. Adults look on – and cars follow behind – while the a dais is prepared and then the new May Queen takes her place on the throne, crown perched precariously in place.
Selected by London's Screen Archives on behalf of the BFI National Archive
Cast: Betty Wadsworth
Further information: Topical Budget (1911-1931) was one of three major British newsreels of the silent era, its main rivals being Gaumont Graphic and Pathé Gazette. Produced by William Jeapes' Topical Film Company, its first issue was released in September 1911. Of several newsreels on the market in this early period, by the middle of the First World War only three survived: Topical, Pathé and Gaumont.
Keywords: May Queen; newsreel; Silent era; Hayes; Procession
Locations: Hayes Common, Bromley;
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