“Guests in other people’s houses”: exhibition practices in five coastal resorts in the South West of England, 1896 - 1909

Rosalind Leveridge, University of Exeter

From the first demonstration in London in Spring 1896, the new invention, the cinematograph, caused ripples which spread with astonishing strength and rapidity out towards the provinces. Within mere months, a great many people regionally had shared in the experience, as early exponents of the new technology deftly integrated film into a diverse variety of shows, and began to tour with it. This paper will seek to map the diversity of exhibition contexts which preceded the establishment of permanent cinema here, and consider ways in which practices in these resorts differed from other regional and national paradigms. In South-West England, not all the resorts were equally receptive to the new phenomenon of film. Torquay was the only one which attracted the quantity of visitors and the quality of resident sufficient to become a playground for the leisured and wealthy. Its confident, cultural environment attracted touring theatre companies, dioramas and lecturers of a London standard, whilst its annual Regatta fair provided entertainment for every taste and pocket. From the first, Weston-Super-Mare, whilst only a modestly-sized resort, provided a lively climate in which film could flourish from variety shows on the pier to skating rinks. The small seaside resort of Sidmouth, with its diminutive population, and a tradition of visual culture yet to be firmly embedded, was not immediately ready to adopt the new medium in an organised way. Collectively, these coastal resorts evidence one regional response to early film in a provincial area of England.