Thereafter, nothing more appeared until 1949, with the issue of a short series of roneo'd Newsletters. The Monthly re-appeared in November 1949, ending with the April/May issue for1955. The Monthly then became the Gazette, normally issued bi-monthly, including, a bit oddly, a December/January issue, going thru several changes of size and style before its final demise with the issue for April/May 1959.

 

There is huge scope for extracting material from the Monthly and Gazette for these pages, but my main reason for starting was to show what I feel was a particularly striking run of covers, starting in October 1930 with a picture of Anna May Wong and finishing with June/July 1932, before switching to pix of people covering the whole cover. All this was achieved with what believe is called "spot" colour - just a single colour in addition to black and white. And what an amazing run of releases!

                                            

                                   

Regretably, you are unlikely to find copies looking this good - there has been much photo-shopping but, tho' I enjoy doing it, 'tis hugely time-consuming and the slightly battered and very faded originals have a certain charm.

Here are some more scans I have done for various unknown reasons. First is the complete first issue from September 1929, with the cover from the November and December issues, plus several odd pages from the October issue.

                                                       

First and last pages from February 1933.

             

April/May 35

 

Now for one of the seminal issues - the announcement of 9.5 Sound in the April-May edition, 1938. What a splendid picture it presents, with silent and sound projectors, two gauges, films and film libraries. 

                                             

                                             

August/September 1939

      

 

Wartime Issues

No issues were published between November 1940 and March 1941.

October 1939

                                     

November 1939

                                   

December 1939

                                   

January 1940

                                    

February 1940

                         

March 1940

                                   

June/July 1940

                                   

August/September 1940

        

October1940

     

November 1940

      

March 1941

               

I have given all the wartime issues in full because I was very much struck by what was, and what might have been. 9.5 Sound, introduced to the UK only in the April/May 1938 issue, was getting into its stride and, despite a rather repetitive approach to content and to releases, quite a few worthwhile films were issued in the period coinciding with the "phoney" war. The list of those I like would include:-

She Shall Have Music (and the extracted Across Europe short)
Edge of the World
When Knights Were Bold
Land Without Music
Soft Lights and Sweet Music
Scrooge
Radio Lover
Sporting Love
Southern Roses
Secret Lives
These last 4 featured in a single issue, June/July 1940 (tho' not necessarily for the first or last time!) At the same time, a string of Fleischer Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons appeared, plus the Pathe Vox Reviews and a personal favourite, Hungarian Rhapsody. How can one help but wonder what might have been if war had not supervened? If there had been no flood of 16mm machines onto the market as surplus? If Pathescope had managed to secure more rights - as French Pathé did with features like King Kong? All might-have-beens; instead, Pathescope enjoyed the benefits of the significant step forward they had made in introducing sound for only a very short period. I think one can be excused a brief sigh of nostalgic regret. 

After the war, recovery was slow, and it was not until May 1949 that anything much more became known, with a short-lived Roneo'd Newsheet. 

                                   

 

The first proper Pathescope Monthly after the war was in November 1949.

                                   

 

 April/May 1953.