The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Watch all about it Long before fly-on-the-wall documentaries, a film showed how The Courier was put together and showed snapshots of the world it sold in. Now it is being shown again, as Caroline Lindsay found out
Acheeky young news vendor grins as he smokes a cigarette – unaware he’s reading the newspaper upside down. This is just one of the many gems in Courierscope: A Tour Through the Offices of The Dundee Courier, a 29-minute silent film commissioned in 1911 to celebrate 50 years of the “production of a great daily newspaper”.
Friends of the Caird Hall Organ (FOCHO) will be showing the film – along with one of the most famous comedies of the period, Harold Lloyd’s classic 1923 movie Safety Last – at its biennial silent film night on Friday in the Caird Hall.
Both films will be accompanied by improvised organ music by Donald MacKenzie, organist at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.
Jim McKellican of the friends says: “This year we decided that as well as a comedy we’d do something to commemorate 200 years of The Courier and we feel very fortunate that DC Thomson permitted us to use the 1911 film.
“In this digital era, the film will be an eye opener to people of all ages as well as bringing back nostalgic connotations of Dundee as the centre for jute, jam and journalism. Very soon, no one will remember the heavy industry the city was once famous for – and printing was very much part of that.
“Hopefully, the film will help tie up the threads of history and bring them together, as well as providing an entertaining and enjoyable family night out.” Early record Historian Norman Watson says the film is thought to be one of the earliest records of newspaper production.
“The film illustrates the various activities – from reporting, editing, setting the linotype to the final printing at 48,000 copies per hour,” says Norman.
“But at 10.30pm everything stops for supper and caseroom operatives are seen wading into mounds of sandwiches.
“The camera also roves over Dundee’s busy city centre, with the Clydesdale Bank under construction.
“In addition, there is footage of a Dundee v Raith Rovers football match.”
It then takes viewers to The Courier offices in Meadowside, completed just five years earlier, where four-mile-long rolls of paper arrive in an endless procession of horse-drawn carts.
Norman says The Courier at the time described the film as “most up-to-date and instructive” and, perhaps blowing its own trumpet, claimed it was “The talk of the district”.
“It was, it said, an opportunity to visit ‘Newspaperland’,” adds Norman.
The film was premiered at the New Electric Theatre, Nethergate on March 6 1911, followed by a second showing at the Cinema Theatre, Morgan Street.
Thereafter, it was seen at the Hawkhill Picture Palace before travelling across Courier Country.
It even ventured as far as Inverness where people were instructed: “Don’t fail to see this.” Great success Reports in The Courier continued to wax lyrical. One read: “The Courier Film, which appeared for the first time last night, was voted by all who saw it a great success and was greeted with hearty applause.
“First you see the massive building in Albert Square, then motor along the Nethergate, High Street and Murraygate. The paper lorries arrive and the reels are conveyed to the pressroom.
“Next, you are with the reporters at the Dens Park Football Ground and see Raith Rovers all but score.” Another boasted “The best film ever made – don’t fail to see it,” while a third reflects the incredible interest the film evoked.
“The capacity of the Hawkhill Picture Palace was quite inadequate for all the westenders who want to see how The Courier is produced and hundreds were unable to gain admittance,” it said.
“The audiences who did see the film were struck dumb with astonishment and there were many who recognised the street sellers .”
And yet, after its five minutes of fame, the Gaumont film lay undiscovered in DC Thomson’s Meadowside HQ basement until 1987, after which it was lovingly restored by Scottish Screen Archive, now part of the National Library of Scotland.
Organist Donald MacKenzie is looking forward to doing it justice on the Caird Hall organ: “It’s superb and really lends itself to accompanying the films. It has everything from a whisper to a roar and is a joy to play.
“The DC Thomson film will certainly have music with a Scottish flair and more than one or two hints of ‘Bonnie Dundee’ as the main theme,” he adds.
Tickets are available from the booking office, City Square, at £10, Friends of the Caird Hall Organ £8 and accompanied children free.