Old English Fete Topical Budget 881-2

From the collection of

London’s Screen Archives
London’s Screen Archives is a network of over 50 organisations with a collective vision – to preserve and share London’s history on film. The network is managed by Film London and we work with our partners to digitise, preserve, and offer access to their moving image collections.

Old English Fete Topical Budget 881-2


Gracie Fields plays with a giant propeller and falls off a metal horse in faintly surreal film shot at a fete in Kew Gardens.

Gracie Fields was among the UK's biggest names in entertainment in 1928, so it must have been a coup to get her to attend this fete in Kew Gardens. Fields is game for anything, first spinning a giant propeller – for reasons not entirely obvious – and then clambering aboard a metal horse, with body designed to unseat riders in particularly undignified fashion. There's also shots of extravagant can-can dancing in national costume, watched by stunned looking children.


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