As a child of the 70s, I watched many of the TV sitcoms of the period, including "Are you being served?, Bless this house, Rising Damp, Dad's Army etc. It is something I can continue to do even today, since the more popular ones are still repeated on freeview channels from time to time.
One series which I have always liked is "On The Buses". I'm sure everyone here will have heard of this programme which at its peak was the most popular sitcom in its day. With Reg Varney as the lazy bus driver Stan Butler and Bob Grant as his lecherous conductor Jack Harper, both aimed to do as little work as possible, putting more efforts into chatting up the local clippies, whilst trying to avoid Blakey, the company inspector. However, I digress...
"On the buses" was interesting in that whilst the majority of filming took place in the Elstree studios, exterior scenes were filmed locally around Borehamwood itself. This continued when the series left the small screen to be turned into two full length feature films. A third one followed soon after.
As we know, any footage of buses tend to include streetlighting and "On The Buses" is no exception. As well as a good social comment about the attitudes and fashions of the period, it is also a good resource for vintage lanterns and columns.
Much information on the series can be found online. I must therefore recommend "onthebusesfanclub.com" for those interested, as well as "reelstreets.com".
Anyway, I have attempted to provide some screenshots from "Mutiny On The Buses" from 1972.
Like the first film of 1971, it was filmed around Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. It is pretty easy to see why so many Eleco products feature heavily in the street scenes. The company was enjoying major success at the time, plus its HQ was just up the road in St Albans. Fresh looking 8m concrete columns possibly only recently installed, abound with GR100s on top. Side streets seem to have HW846s installed whilst on other roads the earlier installations show HW745s again on Eleco columns.
As well as recent installations, the outdoor locations also include a vintage cast iron column with a tungsten lantern. On another scene, the camera pans down a road with what look like AEI Ambers as well as early "open" sodium lanterns on crescent swan necks. During the catchy opening titles, a similar location shows early postwar columns in the background including some which were already undergoing replacement with tubular steel types (probably by S&L).
It is certainly useful to look more closely at these vintage films, with many varieties of long obsolete equipment making frequent (if unscripted) forays into the camera lens.
Nb. Apologies as I've just noticed that a similar thread about "On The Buses" was discussed on Ukastle a few years ago.
Still, nothing like a repeat!
File comment: Opening shot of the film includes an early concrete column looming over Stan's bus. The location was Shenley road, Borehamwood.
bus6.JPG [ 75.32 KiB | Viewed 24755 times ]
File comment: Stan's brother-in-law, Arthur doesn't seem to have noticed the new columns going in on Gateshead Road, Borehamwood.
bus5.JPG [ 83.09 KiB | Viewed 24754 times ]
File comment: Squeezed onto Arthur's elderly motorcycle combination, Olive and Stan's Mum enjoy the changing scenery - but does this include the streetlighting?
bus4.JPG [ 76.78 KiB | Viewed 24754 times ]
File comment: Jack the conductor, decides on the final destination of his company's waybill - the local bookies. In the background, an Eleco HW846 keeps an eye on the proceedings.
bus3.JPG [ 52.03 KiB | Viewed 24754 times ]
File comment: Veteran cast iron column with a GLS lantern on Rectory Lane, Shenley, keeps a respectful distance from Arthur's disastrous bus driving lesson.
bus2.JPG [ 112.56 KiB | Viewed 24754 times ]
File comment: Crescent topped concrete columns with top entry sodium lanterns, share the lens with Stan's Bristol double decker on Bullhead Road, Borehamwood. This road also had some original "open" sodium lanterns still in service (which back in the 70s was nothing unusual).
bus1.JPG [ 69.14 KiB | Viewed 24755 times ]
_________________ "I can't think what you want to go to London for, you won't find any better lampposts there..." L.S. Lowry. 1887-1976.
Last edited by GreatNorburyStDepot on Thu Feb 16, 2017 8:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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