City in the Sun
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Richard Youl
Jan 9, 2021, 9:53:32 PM1/9/21
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David Batho
Jan 9, 2021, 10:37:24 PM1/9/21
to 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder
Would it be an OP leading the coupled set of trams past Grace Brothers Broadway at about the 7:00 mark?
David
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Michael Lewis
Jan 9, 2021, 11:02:49 PM1/9/21
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You are doing great detective work, Richard.
"City in the Sun" is special for its trolley buses and LPs (David's OP is an LP). The city trolley buses stopped in April 1948 so the film will be just previous to this - probably 1947.
Please keep up with the discoveries.
Michael
David Batho
Jan 9, 2021, 11:28:15 PM1/9/21
to 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder
Aah. That was my other thought. Mystery solved. Thank you, Michael.
David
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David Batho
Jan 9, 2021, 11:28:42 PM1/9/21
to 'Richard Youl' via TramsDownUnder
I just did ’t think the LPs would be in service by then.
David
On 10 Jan 2021, at 3:02 pm, Michael Lewis <michaeld...@gmail.com> wrote:
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Richard Youl
Jan 9, 2021, 11:43:47 PM1/9/21
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Thanks Michael but I can’t take much credit for this except for sending on these great videos which my friend is good at discovering! No doubt he will see your appreciation himself.
Richard
On 10 Jan 2021, at 14:03, Michael Lewis <michaeld...@gmail.com> wrote:
You are doing great detective work, Richard.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/tramsdownunder/5c98655f-bd00-4bd0-a5ab-2b9f63fa0227n%40googlegroups.com.
TP
Jan 10, 2021, 12:02:10 AM1/10/21
to TramsDownUnder
The Manly ferries and at least one bus are in their wartime colours, so I would place it at 1946-47.
Tony P
Geoff Olsen
Jan 10, 2021, 3:29:01 AM1/10/21
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The Pamir last visited Sydney just after the war so I would agree
Tony.
Geoff O.
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TP
Jan 10, 2021, 5:43:51 AM1/10/21
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Yes Geoff, Pamir was in Sydney January 1947.
Tony P
pn1
Jan 10, 2021, 3:31:09 PM1/10/21
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And some great light music from the era. Runaway Rocking Horse features prominently.
The accent and speaking style of the commentator is typical of the era. And what about the accept of the lady purchasing the fruit from the barrow?
Paul in Melbourne
pn1
Jan 10, 2021, 3:33:50 PM1/10/21
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Some more information on the Wylde Street trolleybus.
What was the reconstruction in Liverpool Street that caused the service to be suspended (permanently)?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_Sydney
Paul in Melbourne
David McLoughlin
Jan 10, 2021, 5:52:06 PM1/10/21
to TramsDownUnder
Richard Youl posted:
Fascinating watching that; an Australia only a decade before my time. Thanks Richard.
Two observations:
1: The frequent shots of trolley buses in a city that hardly had any of them (but trams everywhere at the time the film was made, circa 1947) suggest to me the producers with a UK audience in mind saw trolley buses as "modern" because at the time they were replacing trams in many parts of the UK (and had replaced many London tram routes by then; but no more as they were even doomed in London, with all further London tram replacements being diesel buses). So they incorporated all those trolley bus scenes to make Sydney look "modern" to a UK audience
2: The film is a reminder of how extraordinarily White and Anglo Australia was back then, before even Italians and Greeks were allowed to join Poms as immigrants.
--
david mcloughlin, New Zealand
"I am and always will be the optimist,the hoper of far-flung hopes and dreamer of improbable dreams." -- Doctor Eleven
TP
Jan 10, 2021, 11:36:49 PM1/10/21
to TramsDownUnder
Alasdair Loch was a Australian but he worked all around the world (including Hollywood and UK) and no doubt he was pitching at an international market. I think the trolleybuses were just a coincidence as he was filming around that part of the city.
Tony P
TP
Jan 12, 2021, 3:25:36 AM1/12/21
to TramsDownUnder
Just looking back through the immigration statistics David, what you're seeing there in the sea of faces in that film are in fact also a lot of descendants of immigrants. Apart from the majority who were by descent from the British Isles, from the mid 19th century, there were substantial numbers of immigrants from Germany (and its predecessors) and China in particular, continuing for many decades into the 20th century, as well as other nationalities. German immigration continued strongly until post WW2 period and they were joined by Italians from the interwar years. In the 20th century, totalitarian persecution seemed to be a strong driver, accounting for many of the Germans and Italians and continuing post WW2 as the communist mantle settled on Europe where you can see a significant continuing wave from those countries from the 1950s until they were freed in the 1990s and it slowed down again. Dutch and Greeks also arrived from the 1950s and later Asians from Vietnam, followed by China which has re-emerged as a major source since the 1990s, then people from many other countries.
I felt one thing that was disappointingly absent from Loch's film (maybe he couldn't afford it) was colour. Browsing around, I found this film from the same time, late 1945, about Australian service personnel, including nurses, being brought home on various ships. The film covers from Sydney Heads to Woolloomoloo Bay.
No trams, but some Manly ferries that have been returned to their original colours and a surprise view of the old four-stack RMS Aquitania. The harbour was absolutely jam-packed with naval ships, as the RAN was at that stage the fourth largest navy in the world and the British Pacific Fleet was there too. The remnants of this spectacle, as the Navy worked through ship disposals, were still evident on the harbour until the 1960s and later, as I've mentioned before. Shropshire or Australia is visible at Garden Island with a Tribal alongside.
No trams, but some Manly ferries that have been returned to their original colours and a surprise view of the old four-stack RMS Aquitania. The harbour was absolutely jam-packed with naval ships, as the RAN was at that stage the fourth largest navy in the world and the British Pacific Fleet was there too. The remnants of this spectacle, as the Navy worked through ship disposals, were still evident on the harbour until the 1960s and later, as I've mentioned before. Shropshire or Australia is visible at Garden Island with a Tribal alongside.
If there is a relevance to trams, this sheer mass of people descending on Sydney helped push patronage over 400 million in 1944-1945, holding that mark till 1946, after which it rapidly went back down to its prewar level of about 300 million in 1949. After that, extension of bus services started chewing into the patronage.
Tony P
On Monday, 11 January 2021 at 09:52:06 UTC+11 mcloug...@gmail.com wrote:
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