Rowntree’s remarkable film archive on show at City Screen (From York Press)

Rowntree’s remarkable film archive on show at City Screen

8:08am Saturday 19th November 2011 in History articles By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter

A SELL-OUT audience at York’s City Screen cinema will see some remarkable films showing scenes from the city’s Rowntree heritage next week.

In the first public screening since being digitally remastered by Yorkshire Film Archive, Alex Hutchinson, Nestlé UK’s heritage assistant, will present films including the world’s first moving-picture advertisement with synchronised sound, featuring Mr York of York, a famous 1920s advertising mascot for Rowntree’s chocolate.

Another film will feature Olympic medallists competing at the Rowntree Sports Day in 1948, when thousands of employees gathered together for company sports, with footage of an Olympic medallist competing in a factory race.

The audience on Tuesday will also see some very rare footage of the Duke of York, later to become King George VI, being greeted at the Cocoa Works by philanthropist Seebohm Rowntree.

There is also Rowntree family footage, previously unseen film of the factory production line from the 1930s onwards, classic Rowntree TV ads, the only known footage of Quaker confectionery magnate Joseph Rowntree and recently uncovered film footage from 1932 of ladies working in the card box mill at the Rowntree factory singing while they work.

Mr York of York will be appearing in person at the cinema, in the form of a five-foot advertising robot from 1928 as well as on the silver screen in his 1929 ad Meet Mr York.

“This is the first time that Mr York’s seven-minute-long ad has been seen since it was digitally restored by the Yorkshire Film Archive,” said Alex.

“The incredibly rare cinema advertisment was the first moving picture ad with synchronised sound to ever be made. Only one original copy of the ad is known to still exist, and it has to be kept underground in scientifically controlled conditions in order to preserve it.”

Cinema spokesman Dave Taylor said that, following the sell-out of Tuesday’s showing, it was hoped the event could be repeated next year, during York’s Chocolate Festival in April.