Sid Griffiths

(1899-1967)

Sidney George Griffiths, born 1899, the second son of Cardiff postman Thomas Griffiths and his wife Emily, was by 1921 employed by Moss Empires Ltd as a projectionist at the Olympia Picture Theatre, Queen Street, Cardiff.

Fascinated by the cartoons they were running, he and co-worker Bert Bilby studied the Felix films frame-by-frame, and tried their hand at making their own animated film, with Griffiths providing the artwork and Bilby operating the camera. Following the idea of the artist interacting with his creation, as popularised by the Fleischers in the American Out of the Inkwell films, they devised ways to mix animation and live-action footage.

Making cartoon films was not Sid and Bert's only ambition. The 1920s saw an increased interest in electric display signs, and attempts to adapt kinematography to small-scale display units for shop windows. The challenge was to create a self-contained unit that was fool-proof and safe. In 1924 Sid Griffiths submitted a patent application for "Improvements in Kinematograph Projectors for Advertising and other purposes."

One of main problems with the continuous projection of 35mm film was the danger of it slipping out of rack. The film was transported by means of a row of spocket holes down each side of the filmstrip. There were four holes either side each frame of film and the projector gate had a claw mechanism designed to to pull down the film by engaging every fourth sprocket hole and moving it down by the height of a frame. But if the claw failed to engage the hole properly, or the film got torn between the fourth and third holes, the film could be pulled down only three holes distance, leaving the frame (and all subsequent frames) filling only threequarters of the sreen, with the top of the previous frame occupying the bottom quarter. The cinema projector was designed with a gate that could be moved up and down, allowing the projectionist to slide the frame area in relation to the projector lens and reposition the frame back into view. But a sealed display system needed to work without an operator.

Griffiths' solution was simple, and redefined the whole projection concept in terms of display format. If the picture height was reduced to align with only one sprocket hole per frame the image could never slip out of rack. The resulting change in screen ratio, from 4:3 to a wide letterbox shape of 16:3, particularly suited advertising, as it meant that brand names could be displayed at maximum size. Indeed, Griffiths and Bilby imagined the most basic use of the device as just spelling out the relevent words letter by letter, as widely used in normal cinema advertising films to emphasise a product's name. At only one sprocket hole per frame the film ran through the projector at a quarter of the normal speed, resulting in less chance of damage, and four times as many seconds of action would be contained in the film loop.

The completed patent specification was submitted on 15 June 1925 and the patent was granted on 3 December. Plans were made to manufacture the device, and a demonstration was held in Cardiff in late June 1926. The Western Mail reported:

In South Wales
     Cardiff Operators' Invention.—An invention which will add to the gaiety of shopping centres has just been patented by three Cardiff kinema operators—Messrs. Bilby, Griffiths and Alexander. It is a kinescope, or a kinematograph, compact in a portable case, which projects on to a screen a novel form of advertisement without in any way interfering with the window display. The pictures that the kinescope will throw on the screen are streamer shaped, the machine projecting either from the front or the rear, according to convenience.
     The principle of the mechanism is substantially similar to that of the ordinary kinematograph. The films are non-inflammable, and the light used is an ordinary electric lamp connected to the shop installation, the machine is classifiable as a home projector and, therefore, does not affect the insurance policies. The film can be exhibited almost as effectively by day as by night. It has, however, to compress the entire advertisement into a cycle of 90 seconds, so as to remain a fleeting attraction, and not become a kinema show calculated to cause a crowd to collect.
[Western Mail, 29 June 1026]

Although the manufacture of the device was being organised in Cardiff, Griffiths and Bilby were currently living in London.

In 1925 when Pathé, who had been including Felix in their Eve's Review reel, lost the distribution rights (Pat Sullivan was unhappy with their cutting the fortnightly Felix films in half to fill their weekly Eve's Review releases), the man in charge of the magazine reels production, Fred Watts, was shown the Griffiths and Bilby film.

Pathé had already got a new series lined up — Pongo the Pup, created by Dudley Buxton and Joe Noble, but he was impressed with Griffiths' cartoon and decided to commission a series, Jerry the Terrible Tyke, to run in Pathé Pictorial, their prime magazine reel. Fred Watts made studio space available in Pathé's building in Wardour Street and hired animatorBrian White to assist them, and Griffiths and Bilby moved into lodgings at 175 Great Portland Street.

Jerry was a distinct success and ran for more than 40 episodes from the end of July 1925 to February 1927. As well as inhabiting his own cartoon world and interacting with Griffiths from the drawing board, Griffiths and Bilby delighted in bringing him into the 'real' world, superimposing him over live-action footage in some episodes.

Griffiths and Bilby now concentrated on the advertising display device. The animation skills aquired over the course of the Jerry series meant they were in a position to offer specially created cartoon advertisements to prospective clients. The name Advertiscope was coined for the device, and the company Advertiscope Ltd was incorporated by a group of Cardiff businessmen on the 25 October 1927 to acquire the rights to the projection device, with Mr H T Cox as Chairman. Advertising film salesman Albert Goodman became interested in the device, and offered his services as Sales Manager to the company.

It was decided to manufacture a second version of the device, with a larger film box, for use in waiting rooms and other locations where a longer, and therefore more profitable, film loop would not be a problem. The larger cartridge would carry a film loop containing seven minutes of advertising films, making a continuous band of about 150 ft of 35mm film, and they discovered that the original plan of threading the loop over a series of rollers added the risk of tension damage, and it was better to let the film run free in the cartridge.

In articles promoting the Advertiscope in the cinema trade papers Bioscope and Kinematograph Weekly Goodman extended the range of uses to include cinema foyers, to divert the people queueing for tickets. The spool would be changed every four weeks, and the cost would be borne by the advertisers. To quote from the article in Kinematograph Weekly of 29 March 1928:

     The Advertiscope is a miniature projector and screen combined, and runs thraugb a seven-minute programme of advertisement cartoons. Of this run the exhibitor is given, also free of charge, one-seventh of the footage to publicise his "coming attractions".
     It is not surprising that many large circuits as well as individual exhibitors have expressed interest in this !obby attraction, the wide possibilities of which have naturally attracted their showmanlike instincts. In addition large contracts for installations of Advertiscopes have been entered into by the Southern and Great Western Railways, while among the firms who have availed themselves of this method of publicity and among the large national advertisers who have placed important contracts are:—
     General Motors, Revelation Suitcase, Columbia Graphaphone Co., Wrigleys, Aspro, to name but a few.
     The advertisements are done in the best cartoon style by S. Griffith, who for two years was responsible for the "Jerry the Tyke" cartoons in the Pathé Pictorial.
     Changes of the exhibitors' own announcements are made monthly.
     The whole mechanism is contained in a flat chest, the light beam being projected through a hole in the centre on to a screen similar to ground glass, the picture being actually viewed in a mirror set at an angle of 45 deg. to this glass.
     Operation is essentially simple. All that has to be done is to plug in at the nearest light or power point.
     The mechanism is fool-proof and quite free from any intricacies, the only attention needed being the occasional application of lubricating oil at various points. The film is contained in a magazine which occupies one side of the chest. This, in the larger sizes, holds an endless band of about 150 ft. of unrolled standard non-flam film. [. . .]
     A modern factory has been equipped at Cardiff to manufacture these machines, and from which a large world demand is confidently anticipated by Albert Goodman, who is in charge of the sales force of this interesting lobby attraction. Mr. Goodman has had a lengthy experience in all classes of film and theatre advertising. Until recently Mr. Goodman was associated with advertisement films, and his knowledge of the Trade, together with the craftsmanship of Mr. Griffiths, assures exhibitors of a service which, while promising a big patronpuller, will not detract from the dignity of the lobby.
Advertising Films
     In addition to the Advertiscope machine, Mr. Goodman informed a Kine. representative that his firm have completed arrangements for the production of standard advertising films, which promised to set a new standard of artistry. Each subject is worked out in proper scenario form, and animated cartoons or photographs are used in the production of an elegant and tasteful film which will prove as interesting an entertainment to the picture theatre patron as it will be a powerful advertisement.

The last paragraph refers to Albert Goodman's plan to form a studio to both support Griffiths in producing films for the Advertiscope and to produce regular advertising cartoons for the cinema. He hired many of the best advertising film animators and set them up in offices in Charing Cross House, 29a Charing Cross Road, under the name Super-Ads.

The Advertiscope did not prove a success, and the company ceased trading towards the end of 1929.

Sid Griffiths had formed a partnership with Brian White with the intention of making a sound cartoon series, and Goodman formed another company, Comedy Cartoon Sound Film Company Ltd (CCSFC) to accommodate them, producing Tropical Breezes, a cartoon featuring two human characters, one tall, one short, based on caricatures of the two animators. When the News of the World came to do a story promoting the production, they discovered that Griffiths and White had not settled on names for the duo, and helpfully organised a readers' competition, published 29 June 1930:

     The two quaint individuals sketched above will, in the very near future, make their bow to British screen audiences in a new and amusing cartoon comedy sound film series, which bids fair to outshine all foreign rivals. They have been created by the pens of two clever British black-and-white artists, Messrs. Griffiths and White, and their adventures are now being recorded at the Welwyn Film Studios.
"quoteImproved">     At the moment the characters are nameless, and our readers are invited to christen them. A prize of £20 will be paid for the snappiest titles. All suggestions should be sent on postcards to the C.C.S.F. Company, 19, Charing Cross road, W.C., by first post next Thursday. The result will be announced in this column in due course.

The winning names were "Hite and Mite". Unfortunately, the failure of the Advertiscope led to an inability to continue financing Goodman's other companies, and Super-Ads and CCSFC went into liquidation.

In 1932 Raycol British Productions Ltd, manufacturers of the Raycol colour film process backed by film director Maurice Elvey, approached cartoonist H M Bateman, who had contributed to a couple of silent animated commercials made by Adlets Ltd in 1924, with the idea of producing a series of animated cartoons to promote the colour system. Bateman supplied the story for the first film, On the Farm, in the form of a series of key drawings and Griffiths and White took on the animation, joined later by Joe Noble. Submitted by Associated British Film Distributors Ltd, the film was reviewed by the Kinematograph Weekly as follows:

A.B.F.D.
     ON THE FARM. British (U). 650 feet. Release date not fixed.—This, the first of the new series of cartoons in colour by H. M. Bateman, is a little lacking in continuity, but original ideas are evident, and the development is accompanied by many laughs. Adequate fill-up.
[Kinematograph Weekly, 21 September 1933]

On the Farm was followed by a second Bateman cartoon, Colonel Capers, but there seems to be no record of this being released.

While Brian White remained with Raycol to animate Treasure Island, the first of a proposed series of Barnacle Bill cartoons, Sid Griffiths went to work for British Utility Films Ltd, a company set up by John Alderson, the studio manager at Super-Ads, to make animated advertising films. Danish animator Jørgen Myller, who had learnt to animate from Griffiths at Super-Ads, was also employed by Alderson, and brought with him fellow Danes Henning Dahl Mikkelsen and Anker Roepstorff who had been working for him in Copenhagen.

When Anson Dyer was set up by Archibald Nettlefold in Anglia Films to make entertainment shorts in the two-colour system Dunning Colour, he hired Griffiths and the Danes to provide the cel-animation.

The first film put into production was a burlesque of Carmen which had been scripted by Anker Roepstorff in Denmark. Bizet's music was arranged and recorded by José Norman and Griffiths acted as director, arranging the recording, breaking down the sound track, and overseeing the production.

Anson Dyer was looking for an iconic British character around which to build a series, and hit upon Sam Small, the hero of a monologue by music hall comedian Stanley Holloway, which had recently become a popular record. The release of Carmen was put on hold and production began on Sam and His Musket, narrated by Holloway and with music arranged by José Norman from the original piano accompaniment by Wolseley Charles.

Before magnetic track recording came into use, in the late 1940s, sound was recorded onto the film soundtrack area by a camera. It became normal procedure to assemble music, dialogue and sound effects on seperate rolls of film (usually without any picture) and audio-mix them to re-record the final soundtrack. For the single reel Sam cartoons it was convenient to record the entire music and narration in one go (sound effects, etc, were added later when the film was completed, to match the animation) and Sid Grffiths arranged for the sound camera to film Stanley Holloway's face during the recordings, along with a signal light, operated by José Norman tapping his foot while conducting, flashing the beat. When a print of the soundtrack was run frame by frame through an editing machine the image of Holloway's mouth would help Griffiths break down the dialogue more accurately, while the light indicated the beat, as he made out the timing sheets for the animators.

Carmen was released after the second in the Sam Small series had been completed. Anglia Films made a total of seven Sam cartoons, as well as another of Holloway's monologues, The Lion and Albert, but although they were well enough received they failed to bring in enough money to keep the studio going, and Dyer had to rely on advertising work. In 1937 he started two new companies to spread the liability of Anglia Films. The following year they went into liquidation, taking the outstanding debts with them. Dyer moved to Riverside Studios in Hammersmith and continued making commercials, starting a new company, Anson Dyer Studios.

The studio continued to concentrate on advertising films, and it would seem they made at least one stop-frame model film. At the beginning of 1939 the Kinematograph Weekly ran this item:

     Anson Dyer, film cartoonist and originator of the "Sam" series, has originated a new form of animation for use with the Technicolor process at his studios in Hammersmith, to which the Kine. received an invitation to inspect the apparatus and view on the screen the results achieved in its first try-out.
     S. Griffiths, Dyer's chief assistant, and an expert in table-top and animation work, devised the novel horizontal set utilised. The camera, adapted from a standard Vinten for Technicolor work, has a turret head and is mounted on a special super-rigid base plate. Working in conjunction with special counting and regulating devices, perfect register is readily obtained. The apparatus has justified the time expended upon its creation, for the screened results show a surprisingly steady and clear-cut picture.
     The try-out consisted of a stage setting with orchestra conductor visible in the foreground. Various stage sequences with rising curtains depicted the dance of cigarettes, in which various zoom shots prove most effective.
     Dyer informs the Kine. that he now proposes to use the Ano-shot camera in an entertainment film, following the wide acclamation when tried out in one of his Technicolor advertising shorts for a famous American tobacco firm, and which was shown on the Continent.
[Kinematograph Weekly 12 January 1939]

For an article promoting a 'novel apparatus' this is remarkably uninformative. My best interpretation is that it was a mechanism for smoothly moving a table-top (model animation) animation camera frame-by-frame to track in and out while maintaining focus and exposure. Dancing cigarettes suggest model animation rather than cel animation, and there is no mention of cels so it is presumably not like the Fleischers' 'set-back' camera, where cels were shot vertically in front of a model background on a turntable. The reporter does not really seem to understand what it is that he is supposed to be extolling. Perhaps Griffiths concentrated on the details and failed to paint the bigger picture.

Dyer's plans to return to entertainment cartoon production were now thwarted by the outbreak of World War II. The studio was commissioned to make a series of aircraft recognition films for the RAF. When German bombers began to blitz London in September 1940, using the River Thames for navigation, Dyer decided that the Hammersmith studio was at risk, and moved production to Stroud, in Gloucestershire.

Sid Griffiths is believed to have died in Newton Abbot, Devon on 11 November 1967.

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