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Pedestrians and Traffic 1950


madannie77

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One thing usually leads to another when I am searching for things related to Sheffield, and so it was when I happened upon this fantastic film on the Yorkshire Film Institute website.

It was apparently made to highlight the level of pedestrian movements in the city centre, and there is a lot of tram action as well as plenty to keep aficionados of old motors interested. And how many policemen were needed to control the traffic and pedestrians, and much else to wonder about besides.

https://www.yfanefa.com/record/7246

I am off to watch it again (and again, and again....)

[link updated 11/08/2023]

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Does the video have sound? I couldn't get it to work if it does. I notice a collapsed building where Marples pud stood, was this still the bomb damaged building?

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It is a silent movie.

It's funny that most of the women look like the Queen or Princess Margaret and the older woman like Thoria Hird.

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Sound was recorded separate from the camera in those days, by a second person armed with a tape recorder. The footage looks un-edited (the frame jumps in a characteristic way at cuts), so I'm guessing it was recorded by a single cameraman armed with just a mute 16mm Bolex or similar, on a tripod.

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Has anyone noticed how the shoes of the pedestrians are nearly all highly polished, men's, women's and children's? It does show the shell of Marples but I cannot remember the name of the store on the corner of High Street and Marketplace, was it Burtons? I much prefer the railings round the then parish church of St Peter and St Paul to what we have today.

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I guess that the polished shoes, at least men's, were a habit gained in the armed forces, in which the majority of men at that time would have served - the same goes for their short-back-and-sides haircuts.

I'm not sure it's smog; from the garb of the pedestrians, it's obviously a cold winter day, and the haze could simply be mist or fog.

Some of those cars (and lorries) would fetch a pretty penny in good condition nowadays, such as the M.G. (TC?) sports car.

And finally...I had forgotten about Vono until their van went by. Weren't they a bedding shop?

 

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Was the haze on the film a reality or was it an effect of the type of film used?... Winter always saw Sheffield gripped, at some point ,by smog. and, as a result, many children suffered from " a good old Sheffield cough".

Note that there is little evidence of mothers pushing prams or push chairs  (travelling by public transport in those days implied folding up the push chair, placing it on a rack and holding the small child in ones arms... unlike today when Buggies, laden with everything bar the kitchen sink, seem to have priority)

Shoes ,in general, were polished as a part of their daily maintenance....with many people repairing their own. Many households possessed a "hobbin" foot and apart from the occasional replacement of leather soles and heels,  Segs, Philips stick on soles, and rubber heels would be used to extend their life .Shoes were meant to last...

All I can say is that having lived through that period, post War, austerity fuelled Sheffield was pretty grim...but children and parents seem to have had great hopes for the future and I know my parents reckoned, in many ways, that the 50s were "fabulous".

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1 hour ago, tozzin said:

Has anyone noticed how the shoes of the pedestrians are nearly all highly polished, men's, women's and children's? It does show the shell of Marples but I cannot remember the name of the store on the corner of High Street and Marketplace, was it Burtons? I much prefer the railings round the then parish church of St Peter and St Paul to what we have today.

It was indeed Burtons.

The parish church was a cathedral by the time this film was made, in 1950, but those railings do look quite impressive.

One thing which surprises me is how many men are hatless/capless. I always think of the immediate post-war period as being a time when hats were still almost universally worn outdoors.

 

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9 minutes ago, lysander said:

Note that there is little evidence of mothers pushing prams or push chairs  (travelling by public transport in those days implied folding up the push chair, placing it on a rack and holding the small child in ones arms... unlike today when Buggies, laden with everything bar the kitchen sink, seem to have priority)

 

There is a fine pram at about 11:20 (being pushed by a man), but only a few others in the background throughout the film. There are also not a great many bicycles, perhaps not surprising given the hills of Sheffield and the excellent public transport provision.

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4 hours ago, Athy said:

I guess that the polished shoes, at least men's, were a habit gained in the armed forces, in which the majority of men at that time would have served - the same goes for their short-back-and-sides haircuts.

I'm not sure it's smog; from the garb of the pedestrians, it's obviously a cold winter day, and the haze could simply be mist or fog.

Some of those cars (and lorries) would fetch a pretty penny in good condition nowadays, such as the M.G. (TC?) sports car.

And finally...I had forgotten about Vono until their van went by. Weren't they a bedding shop?

 

Coal was still the principle source of heating used in most households at that time, gas was still produced from coal, most electricity power stations were gas-fired, the principle form of propulsion on the railways was still steam generated from coal, as was indeed, the energy source that powered most of those industries still prevalent at that time, and indeed, some of the fuel used in internal-combustion engines was being generated from coal-shale. The first clean-air act wasn't passed through parliament until 1956, so I suppose that some haze would have been present in most major conurbations most of the time.

However, you certainly do get the distinct impression, that when in public, that there was a tendency for people to pay much greater attention to their appearance than perhaps we do today.

Brilliant footage by the way. Much enjoyed watching it.

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I remember when working in Tinsley in the 60's/70's that Blackburn Meadows Power Station was fuelled by coal. I say that because of the grit and smoke emanating from its chimneys. On checking I see It closed in 1980 and was still coal fired.

In the 1950's we still had clothes rationing and people had far fewer clothes than today as a result clothes were looked after! The fashion, even into the 1970's, was for people, especially men, to dress "smartly" refraining from looking "casual" except for leisure.

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It's a smashing film.  I saved it to the laptop to show my 87 year old mum today (she doesn't have an internet connection for some reason).  She would have been 19 years old when it was made.  She was interested to find out what the sign on the Cathedral gates related to - it appears to include a large red cross (in black and white).  We guessed at some sort of first aid post in the Cathedral grounds.  Does anyone know for sure?

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On 30/12/2017 at 08:09, Athy said:

And finally...I had forgotten about Vono until their van went by. Weren't they a bedding shop?

 

I don't know about shops, but Vono certainly made beds, and a lot more besides at various times:

Vono at Graces Guide

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