THE STORY OF A BOWLER HAT [Main Title]

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  • Title: THE STORY OF A BOWLER HAT [Main Title]
  • Film Number: AMY 74
  • Other titles:
  • Summary: This educational film relates how personnel about to be discharged after serving in the RAF during the Second World War are guided to their choice of employment as a civilian. The bowler hat is taken to represent all types of headwear in many styles and sizes, and this theme is mirrored in the film by the variety of jobs available. Examples are shown of some of the choices made.
  • Description: Reel one: Film opens with a variety of professional people wearing a bowler hat and then cuts to the RAF clothing store at Wembley where a huge array of hats are on display but not a single bowler hat is seen. A man is fitted out with a suit and returns to his former employer having received assistance from the RAF training department to prepare him for the advances made in office hardware and procedures during his absence. His former office colleges welcome him back as it is apparent he has adapted to his new environment. He has chosen a bowler hat to suit the nature of the job. The RAF training officer has guided an RAF electrician towards a commercial electrical company, Crompton Parkinson, who appreciate his RAF training as be brings new technical ideas to the advantage of the Company. He now wears a trilby hat. Reel two: The RAF training officer has assisted many other RAF men and women to a variety of commercial Jobs from forestry to hotel chef. Another tradesman is advised to continue his training in the RAF to become a qualified electrical engineer before discharge. The film shows the progress made in their transition from service life to the commercial world. Their headwear is as varied as the job. Film cuts to training officer explaining that he cannot fit everyone into a job, so the next consideration is what civilian educational facilities are available. Reel three: There is an RAF training course available for those who left school early without any qualifications, to enable them to gain a qualification, an ‘RAF War Educational certificate’. Those more advanced are encouraged to matriculation and further study including Higher National, Ordinary National and City and Guilds certificates. Film clips showing mechanical and practical training for men and women feature; electrical repairs, plumbing, nursing are examples. Only the large RAF stations will have a complete range of facilities, smaller ones will have access to mobile Instructors, supplemented by film, radio and publications. The RAF has done its best to equip men and women for their return to a suitable employment. In addition resettlement and vocational training has taught them to take their part in society as citizens by voting and discussing political and economic matters of the day, in contrast to the harsh conditions that prevailed during the 1930s era. The film concludes the bowler hat analogy with camera clips of the vast selection of hats already seen in the Wembley clothing store, representing different jobs, and the heads soon to be inside these hats represent a varied community working together for the common good. A range of professional and trade men/women at work and their associated hats are shown as the film ends.
  • Alternative Title:
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised:
  • Object_Number: AMY 74
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions:
  • Featured Period: 1939-1945
  • Production Date: 1945
  • Production Country: GB
  • Production Details: ROYAL AIR FORCE (Production sponsor) Merton Park Studios (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 3 Footage: 1923ft
  • HD Media:
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    AMY 74

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