VISIT OF AMERICAN AIRMEN TO SHAKESPEARE'S COUNTRY [Main Title]

Log in to create clips, download free screeners and save clips/films in Collections. Click here to find out more.

  • Title: VISIT OF AMERICAN AIRMEN TO SHAKESPEARE'S COUNTRY [Main Title]
  • Film Number: IWM 304
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: Highly disjointed account of a semi-official visit by US airmen to Warwickshire, August-September 1918.
  • Description: The visit was organised by the Birmingham and District Professions and General Trades Fund for the Wounded. Outside Queen's College, Birmingham, Major-General Higgins (?) inspects the Americans who parade through the streets led by a band and a large dog as mascot. They then arrive in Stratford in a convoy of cars and two lorries draped with the US flag. The Mayor of Stratford addresses them at a reception at Shakespeare's birthplace, making his speech from the top of a set of library steps. A baseball game at Stratford. A British Avro 504 which "just dropped in" (according to the shotsheet) takes off from a farm, cheered by the Americans. The airmen take a trip on the River Avon in a pleasure steamer. In a humorous episode, a British policeman chases one of the Americans who tries to vault the gate of a field - it collapses under him and the policeman lands on top. The men attend an official reception in a park in Leamington Spa, followed by a formal banquet in the Courthouse at Warwick and a procession led by the Mayor of Warwick towards the castle. Inside Warwick Castle the men are addressed by Canon Tovey (?). A posed group of the eight members of the organising committee. The whole party then poses, including Major-General Higgins, the custodian of the castle Mrs Marsh, and her guests the Duke of Rutland and Earl and Countess of Denbigh. Mr J H Francis, the Fund's chairman, is posed on a bench with his wife. Children wave as the lorries carrying the airmen drive off (the film starts to break up at this point). The film ends with a posed scene of an officer of the Royal Flying Corps taking a 'Dutch' light for his cigarette from one of the US aviators, both of them keeping their cigarettes in their mouths. The effect is not unlike a kiss.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: IWM 304
  • Sound: Silent
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM
  • Featured Period: 1914-1918
  • Production Date: 1918
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: Ministry of Information (Production sponsor) Cooper, F (Production individual)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations: Higgins, Harold J (person) Stratford-upon-Avon, Mayor of (person) Warwick, Mayor of (person) Tovey (Canon) (person) Marsh (Mrs) (person) Rutland (Duke of) (person) Denbigh (Earl of) (person) Denbigh (Countess of) (person) Francis, J H (person) Francis (Mrs) (person) United States Army & American Expeditionary Force (regiment/service) United States Army & Army Air Corps (regiment/service) Royal Air Force (regiment/service) Birmingham and District Professions and General Trades Fund (regiment/service)
  • Keywords: delegations, United States international - goodwill (object name) buildings, British - historic: castle (object name) buildings, British - historic: Shakespeare's birthplace (object name) animals, mammals: dog (mascot) (object name) recreation, United States military - sport: baseball (object name) aircraft, British - combat: Avro 504 (object name) recreation, United States military - tourism (object name) society, United States military - friendship: [+] (object name) society, British military - friendship: [+] (object name) society, British - friendship: [+] (object name) 31/3(41) (event) Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, UK (geography) Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England, UK (geography) Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England, UK (geography) GB, England & Warwick, Warks <castle> (geography) propaganda, British (concept) Children (concept)
  • 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: 500 ft; Running time: 9 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    IWM 304

  • Related IWM Collections Objects:
Register