Marriage of Miss Rose Carmel and Mr. Solly Gershcowit

Spitalfields
1925-06-16
Silent
3m

Follow the happy couple from the family shop on Brick Lane to a garden party serenaded by the San Diego Dance Band

This engaging, professionally-filmed snapshot of a Jewish wedding in 1920s London captures the newlyweds celebrating in style with fashionable clothes, music and a joyous crowd of guests. You can feel the party spirit on this sunny summer’s day as flappers, bridesmaids, short-trousers boys and dapper-suited men leave the family shop on Brick Lane for the wedding dance. Guests pose, smile and wave for the camera and the groom manages to steal a kiss from his bride - whose headdress is simply fabulous.

The family store seen in the film was an ironmongers at 50 Brick Lane, owned by the groom’s father Simon Gerschcowit, who arrived from Lithuania with his wife Sophie around 1886. The couple had 13 children and lived above the store. Although Sophie died some months before the wedding, Simon appears in the film - look out for the elderly man with a white beard and large skull cap walking in front of the camera. Some members of the family later relocated to Chingford. (Thanks to Carol and Roy Star for additional family history.)

Jewish Britain

Jewish life on screen: a century of insights and hidden histories

This collection uncovers insights, injustices and hidden histories across a century of Jewish life on British screens. It brings together documentary and first-person accounts of Jewish life in the UK, alongside historical dramas and artists’ work exploring the 20th century Jewish experience. The earliest surviving depictions of Jewish characters in British cinema offer a troubling insight into antisemitic representation, yet prejudice was later tackled head-on, with newsreels documenting the anti-fascist movement of the 1930s.

Drop in on joyous family weddings and community gatherings, and see the ways in which UK Jewry supported Jews young and old, and those fleeing persecution, in a selection of fascinating films from the 1900s to the 1980s.

This collection is generously supported by the Neil Kreitman Foundation, Shoresh Charitable Trust, John S Cohen Foundation, and Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation.