LESLIE HENSON'S SHOW TO THE TROOPS IN FRANCE - "RUNNING RIOT" [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: LESLIE HENSON'S SHOW TO THE TROOPS IN FRANCE - "RUNNING RIOT" [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: BBY 11
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Unedited and uncensored mute newsreel rushes showing a show for British troops in northern France performed by variety artistes in Leslie Henson's "Running Riot" ensemble.
  • Description: Adequately lit interior shots inside the theatre where the show is taking place showing high-ranking officers (including Lieutenant-General Sir John Dill, commander of I Corps (?)) taking their seats in the dress circle before the show starts. The lighting in the upper circle is too low to reveal the audience seated there. Accompanied by four female dancers, Binnie Hale and Violet Loraine perform a number on the stage. The audience of soldiers in the stalls and in the dress circle bursts out laughing and applauds enthusiastically at the end of a number. Filmed from near the stage, Binnie Hale and the chorus girls are seen singing as Leslie Henson, dressed as one of the dwarfs in 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', comes on to the stage. Views from different points of the theatre of Violet Loraine, Binnie Hale and Leslie Henson on stage and the audience in the front row of the stalls applauding. From the dress circle, Binnie Hale is seen on the stage singing on her own and getting the audience to join in. The light shines on the foreheads of the soldiers in their seats as they join in the applause. From different points of the theatre, Violet Loraine is seen performing on stage.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: No
  • Object_Number: BBY 11
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1939-12-05
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: British Pathe (Production company) Martin, C R (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Henson, Leslie Lincoln (person) Hale, Binnie (person) Loraine, Violet (person) British Expeditionary Force (1939-1940) (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: France (geography) Phoney War 1939-1940, Second World War (event) British Army 1939-1945 (theme) France and the Low Countries 1939-1940 (theme) ENSA 1939-1945 (theme)
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Silent Soundtrack language: None Title language: None Subtitle language: None
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 1 Footage: 225 ft; Running time: 2 mins 30 secs
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    BBY 11

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:

    BCY 11 ((I) LEWIS GUN POST AND VARIOUS DUGOUTS; (II) COLDSTREAM GUARDS FELLING TREES AND GATHERING TWIGS FOR REVETTING; (III) LESLIE HENSON CONCERT PARTY [Allocated Title]) BDY 11 (LESLIE HENSON'S SHOW FOR THE TROOPS IN FRANCE "RUNNING RIOT" [Allocated Title])
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