Solid Fuel

1 Jan 1965
Sound
1m

A chorus of coal fires sing for their cut-price supper in this short animated ad for the National Coal Board.

What would you do if someone dropped a ton of coal on your doorstep? Where would you put it? Coal delivery to the home is a rare sight these days, and TV ads for such services almost unthinkable. This short cartoon makes use of a catchy jingle, adds some sophistication with the conductor rather than a grimy coal man, and wraps it up with a summer sale offer of 25 shillings (£1.25) off every ton. Quite what you would do with 20 sacks of coal in summer is unmentioned…

The advert was produced by Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films, Britain's largest animation studio at the time, and best known for their version of George Orwell's Animal Farm (1954). Though uncredited, the actual animation drawings were almost certainly by Harold Whitaker, whose fluid, bouncy style is very recognisable. The conductor would have been a familiar subject as Harold directed and animated a comic short called Hoffnung's Symphony Orchestra around the same time. Based on the work of Gerald Hoffnung, it features a similar conductor figure literally bringing down the Albert Hall in a barnstorming performance.

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From the collection

Halas & Batchelor

Celebrating the vital and varied work of the pioneering British animation studio

Halas & Batchelor Cartoon Films were a defining force in British animation for more than five decades. Founded in 1940 by the Hungarian-born John Halas and Watford-born Joy Batchelor, the company progressed from producing cinema advertisements to creating vital public information films during and after the Second World War, before producing Britain's first animated feature film, Animal Farm, in 1954.

Whether working in advertising, children's television or independent short films, Halas and Batchelor championed animation as both a commercial enterprise and an art form. Though more than the story of John and Joy, their vision, advocacy and innovation helped shape the careers of generations of artists and practitioners, while bringing a broad range animated storytelling to audiences on screens both large and small.