Eastern Electricity: Piping Hot!

From the collection of

East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia

The East Anglian Film Archive, the UK's first regional film archive, offers a unique record of the East of England's social and cultural history. As part of the University of East Anglia, we continue to lead moving image heritage research and inspire audience participation through community projects and events. Our collections represent a broad range of amateur and professional creativity, from 1896 to the present day.

Eastern Electricity: Piping Hot!

East Anglian Film Archive at the University of East Anglia
1954-01-01
Sound
1m

1950s Technicolor Pearl & Dean produced cinema advert for Eastern Electricity, aimed at the modern housewife and husband.

Produced by Pearl & Dean, Britain's primary cinema advertising company, this 1950s commercial for Eastern Electricity called 'Piping Hot!' uses Technicolor film to persuade the modern housewife and husband that the electric immersion water heater is a revolution in domestic hot water provision.

Near Your Local Cinema

Local goods for local people! Screen advertising wasn’t all national brands and chain stores.

Purpose-built cinemas began appearing around Britain shortly before WWI, booming in popularity during the War and developing into the ‘picture palaces’ of the 1920s - when adverts jostled for space alongside newsreels before the main feature. Local businesses were quick to see the potential of a big screen and a captive audience to promote their wares.

While they didn’t have access to the budgets of the national brands, regionally-specific businesses had the benefit of that personal touch. Products and services evolved over time, but that scratchy ad for your local Indian restaurant, so integral to the cinema-going experience into the 1990s, had its roots in the booming entrepreneurship of the industry many decades before.