From Willie Green to Archie Leach: Mapping Bristol’s early cinema history

Crofts, Charlotte

Abstract

This is a UWE Bristol Regional History Centre talk in partnership with M Shed seminar series.
From Friese-Greene’s early cinema inventions (patented in 1891) to Cary Grant’s iconic screen performances and a thriving film and TV production ecology today (Outlaws, Show Trail, 2021), Bristol richly deserves its designation as a UNESCO City of Film.
William Edward Green and Archibald Alexander Leach were both working class boys who grew up in Bristol. Whilst Willie reinvented himself as early cinema pioneer William Friese-Greene; Archie became Hollywood icon Cary Grant, one of cinema’s brightest and most enduring stars. Grant writes about his formative cinema-going experiences in his autobiography. How did Archie’s early experiences of Bristol theatres and cinemas fuel the wanderlust that propelled him to stardom? Which cinemas did he go to and what did he see? Can we discern any traces of his formative viewing in his later performances?
In this talk Charlotte Crofts maps how Bristol’s early cinema history informed the trajectory of young Archie who grew up at the same time as the birth of cinema itself. As The Wurzle’s put it: “Cor blimey Cary Grant would still be Archie Leach | If it hadn't have been for Willie Friese-Greene” (‘Willie Friese-Greene’ from Give Me England)!

• Presentation Conference Type: Presentation / Talk
• Conference Name: UWE Bristol Regional History Centre Event
• Start Date: Jan 20, 2022
• End Date: Jan 20, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 5, 2023
• Keywords: Cary Grant: Archie Leach: William Friese-Greene; Early Cinema History; Bristol
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10289820
• Additional Information: Invited