PUBLICITY FILMS LTD

(1919-1955?)

Established in 1919 by the advertising agency The London Press Exchange to produce Daddy’s Birthday, a cinema advertising film for Swan Pens, Publicity Films quickly became one of the leading producers of advertising shorts, primarily live-action. From 1927 onwards they made a series of handsome films for the Co-operative Wholesale Society.

They also made animated advertisements, such as This Weather (1926) for Colman's Mustard, in which the 'bugs' dyspepsia and flu render a romantic couple indisposed, thwarting Cupid's intent. Cupid learns of the value of mustard as a digestive aid and a health bath from celebrity Mustard Club members Di Gester and Baron de Beef (the Mustard Club was a key element in Colman's advertising campaign), and cables the girl and boy with his recommendations. Cured, the couple rendezvous and Cupid hits his target.

Two other surviving animated films from 1926, The Happy Iron and Stopping the Rot - both advertising Colman's Rice Starch (not Mustard, as Gifford suggests) - may also be Publicity Films productions, but the end credit cards are missing.

It is not clear whether Publicity Films had its own animation department or subcontracted the work to other units, although the latter seems likely.

In 1931 Publicity Films's sister company Sound Services opened a studio at Merton Park, Wimbledon, for the production of Instructional films, and in 1934 Publicity Films leased part of the adjacent Long Lodge. The company Merton Park Studios Ltd was formed in 1937 to manage the studio, and the whole of Long Lodge was acquired in 1939.

From 1937 to 1938 Publicity Films produced a series of cartoon advertising films for Bush radios, and one for Hanson's coffee. These were made by Anson Dyer at his own studio. Dyer was having financial difficulties at the time, so there may have been an advantage in having Publicity Films underwrite the production.

Gifford also credits Publicity Films and Anson Dyer with The Queen Was in the Parlour (1940), first in a series of advertising films for Rinso soap powder, but Ken Clark assures us that it was actually made by George Pal's studio in Eindhoven, which had just expanded into cel animation production. Pal left Holland for the USA at the start of the war, abandoning his studio, and the remaining 5 films in the series were made by Dyer.

Another questionable attribution to Publicity Films is Honeybunch and the Giraffe (1948), which featured the cartoon African girl who, along with Coco, the African boy, featured in press advertising for Rowntree's Cocoa. This is odd as during 1946-7 Gaumont-British Animation had made 4 films featuring Coco, and one might have expected them to have made this one. It is possible that GBA were concentrating all their efforts on their entertainment series at this point and were unable to take on the job (although they were back producing adverts, for Oxydol, in 1949). If that was the case Honeybunch and the Giraffe was presumably made by Anson Dyer (Gifford has no credits). The difference between GBA's work and Dyer's would be obvious, but no print appears to exist.

During 1948-9 Publicity Films produced 4 films for Symington's Soups, under the series title The Adventures of Soupy. Again the films were made by Anson Dyer's studio.

In 1944 the umbrella company Film Producers Guild Ltd was formed to consolidate the interests of Publicity Films, Verity Films, Sound Services and other allied units. By 1955 Publicity Films seems to have completely ceded producer status to Film Producers Guild.

Filmography (Animation)

Links to Other Sites

East Anglian Film Archive: video clip of This Weather (1926): The Happy Iron and Stopping the Rot are also available on this site

Back to top of page