Keith Wilton visits the 1987 Convention and reports on it in issue 9 of Film for the Collector magazine.
In the previous issue of the magazine, David Lockwood remarked on the Derann habit of describing everything as ‘the best yet!’. The recent 11th Northern Convention was, at least as far as I’m concerned, the best yet and by all accounts an unqualified success. Not only was the attendance up by nearly a hundred (with just around 600 passing through the doors) on the previous year but there appeared to be even more dealers than ever present – even Perry’s Movies made an appearance! Pre-convention fever was running high this year – I caught fellow travellers Donald Walker and Wesley Pollack (see picture) examining films even before the train left London (seeing collectors checking films after an event is a common sight, but not before!).
The film programmes seemed better compiled than in recent years (Derek Simmonds, perhaps at last learning something about presentation from the London conventions and cutting off all the leaders!) though several collectors did say they missed the ‘special’ stereo shows that Paul Garrick and I have presented in the past: frankly this year I was glad not to have had the task of preparing a stereo show – finding enough material to put together three such programmes a year (two London conventions plus Widex) is demanding enough and with the ever-popular auction taking up so much of the afternoon there is not really time enough available to do justice to this type of programme.
The pre-convention dinner seemed to have a much better atmosphere than last year, no doubt due to the pre-arranged seating arrangements organised by the hard-working Anne Simmonds who also books the rooms for those attending and personally packed every one of the gifts of chocolate that the ladies received. The male guests were not left out: they had their own special little present – a short film (also beautifully wrapped) of a Christmas message suitable for cutting onto ones own programmes. I’m sure all those who attended would like to join me in thanking Anne and the other Derann staff for their hard work in making it such an enjoyable occasion.
Les Sydell (one-time proprietor of Regent Films) originated the Blackpool convention eleven years ago and even though the event is now organised by Derann, he and his family still attend each year. Derek Simmonds, not one to miss a trick had Les and his daughter manning the doors on Sunday, making sure that no ticket dodgers managed to sneak through (we could do with him in London).
The after dinner guest speaker (kindly arranged by writer/ actor/ collector/ reviewer John Kane) was playwright Michael Pertwee (brother of Jon ‘Dr. Who’, ‘Worzel Gummidge’ etc) who regailed collectors with amusing anecdotes about the various movies for which he wrote screenplays (‘Laughter in Paradise’, ‘The Naked Truth’, ‘The Mouse on the Moon’ etc) and patiently sat signing autographs and posing for photographs.
Illusionist, collector and amateur film maker Harry Nicholls, Member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians and Inner Magic Circle entertained and amazed us all with some clever slights of hand – one of which didn’t quite work as ‘volunteer’ assistant Derek Simmonds failed to disappear. Harry was also assisted by keen film-buff Dave Fouracre and one of the Derann staff. Harry later demonstrated his ‘close-up’ skills to Michael Pertwee and myself when he performed a particularly baffling five-card trick that defied detection even from a few feet away.
The evening was brought to a close with a short film show (a preview of hoped-for forthcoming Derann releases that included ‘The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad’, ‘Jason and the Argonauts’, ‘The Jolson Story’ and ‘The Secret of Nymh’) which Derek Simmonds managed to project slightly out of focus – those attendant could be forgiven for thinking this was the result of too much cheap plonk (it is always cheap plonk where Derek is concerned), however it was a badly adjusted machine which I and Paul had to fix in the early hours of Sunday morning before the start of the days many programmes which included clips from ‘The Lady Killers’, ‘Never Say Never Again’, ‘The Riddle Of the Sands’ and an outstanding Disney one-reel import (see review) ‘Thru The Mirror’.
If Derek Simmonds wasn’t stone-sober at the start of the ‘infamous’ auction, he certainly was by the end! The hall was packed as usual though there were less bargains to be had than in previous years: I noticed that certain Laurel and Hardy films proved popular and brought fairly high prices. Many of the 16mm films (mainly short documentaries with titles like ‘Applied Principles of Advanced Atomic Engineering’ and ‘Fly Fishing in Northern Cambodia’) entered failed to create much excitement or interest (I suspect all the good stuff was sold in private deals between some of the suspicious looking characters outside the main hall) – one typical bid was for only 50p; those that did eventually sell raised a little more than this however!
The Collectors Forum panel consisted of Derek Simmonds, lan O’Reilly (Perry’s Movies), Roger Lilley (Movieland) and myself trying to look knowledgeable and avoid the one-or-two tricky questions and the half-dozen or so daft ones that tend to crop up each year.
The hotel is booked already for this years event on 19th/20th November and, if this convention was anything to go by, is bound to be another ‘winner’, perhaps ‘THE BEST EVER YET! ………………..?
Blackpool Film Collectors' Convention 