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Title: OUT OF THE BOX

Reference number: 0672

Date: 1942*

Director: d. Terrance Egan Bishop

Sponsor: SCWS

Production company: Merton Park Productions

Sound: sound

Original format: 16mm

Colour: bw

Fiction: non-fiction

Running time: 11 mins

Description: Account of the birth of the Co-operative movement in Scotland from mid-eighteenth century to the present.

For further information see "The British Co-operative Movement Film Catalogue" compiled and edited by Alan Burton 1997.

Credits: The Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society presents Gordon McLeod and Hay Petrie in OUT OF THE BOX.
ph. Cyril Jenkins (Jack Cardiff)
recording Charles Tasto
ed. C. Beaumont
art d. H.Watson.
story by H. V. Purcell

Shotlist: Credits (.16); This is the story of a box and what came out of it. The story begins nearly 200 years ago when life moved to the slow careful rhythm of the minuet, but all this was threatened by the new faster rhythm of the machine; the old ways, the old handicrafts were everywhere being overturned by new inventions. Dramatised scene of the "Spinning Jenny" being invented (1.01); Map of Scotland with silhouette of "Spinning Jenny" super-imposed. Narrator introduces the Fenwick Weavers (1.13); Street corner where Weavers used to meet (1.31); Weavers discuss a box they are to have built in which to store their money (2.18); A Fenwick Weaver in workshop giving details of what is needed to carpenter (2.51); Later, back in carpenter's shop, box is now finished and they haggle over the cost (3.35); Shot of box in use. Helping each other by mutual aid; widow's request for assistance granted (4.06); Shots of all those helped from joint funds stored in box (4.21); Weavers hold emergency meeting due to rising costs and decide to buy goods in bulk at wholesale prices to re-sell cheaply (5.00); Scheme is successful and people congratulate organisers while collecting cheap flour (5.42); Narrator explains that this was the start of the first co-operative movement and outline problems still to be overcome (6.17); Shots of men smashing machinery and wrecking workshops through lack of understanding (6.39); Dramatised scene as Alexander Campbell, chief advocator of co-operation in Scotland, explains ideals behind the movement (7.10); Shots of co-operative agreements all over Scotland super-imposed (7.25); In 1867 Campbell suggested to Glasgow Co-operative Society that the committee should establish a wholesale warehouse in the city to supply co-operative shops in West of Scotland (7.53); Thus 1868 sees launch of the first Scottish Co-operative (Wholesale) Society at 15 Madeira Court, Glasgow. (8.13); Shot of present day centre at Morrison Street, Glasgow (8.20); Graph showing climbing annual retail figures (8.34); General exterior shots of the Shieldhall factories in Glasgow (9.00); Shots of battlefields during the first World War (9.18); Man dictates letter to secretary outlining the benefits of the co-operative movement in Scotland as opposed to privately-owned shops. (9.50); Shot of grain being loaded onto ships (9.57); Bomb-damaged buildings around Morrison Street during World War II. Narrator states that "general co-operation is the only way we'll win this war (10.21); Flashback to start of co-operation with Fenwick Weavers (10.27); Shot of the box (10.30); Incomplete.


Section required to complete shotlist as from (10.27) and taken from 35 mm protective master is as follows [note this section is missing on copy transferred to tape]:
[Shot of the box] Foundation of the SCWS. 1868 Capital £5,744. The SCWS in 1941 Capital £13,373,000. Annual retail trade £50,000,000 (10.45); ecs (10.52)