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Rose Coloured Weeks beforehand the staff would
go into training at the local Palais de
Lenses Danse. After the best dancers were
selected there was one more hurdle –
The story on Kalee projectors
the men had to have a dinner suit,
(CinemaRecord 38) mentioned
women a ball gown. Needless to say I
the lens manufacturer.
always failed the criteria.
Peter Williams recalls the only glamour
The Palais had two dance floors.
aspect of working for this company.
The orchestra was on the raised section
Taylor-Taylor, Hobson near where upper-class patrons sat at tables.
Leicester in the Midlands, On the lower floor was the general
manufactured precision optical public. At the Christmas party, the
equipment. In my time it employed lucky few selected to dance with a star,
about 600 people. When I started there walked up the stairs to the actor listed
as an apprentice, production was on their program and introduced
geared to the war effort. The pride of themselves. The stars then did what
the factory was to turn out the 250 mm was expected of them, usually with
lenses for bomber gun sights. The great charm.
brass barrel of the lens was nearly two If you are thinking – why would
feet long, a beautiful thing to hold. the workers put themselves through the
An apprenticeship at that time was torture of this stilted sequence? -
a seven-year commitment with no opt- remember the straitened times that we
out clause. Bad attitude could earn a were living in; the glamour exuded by
suspension without pay, but everyone these people (the next thing to royalty)
knew that a suspension only prolonged and in closer proximity than any royal
the servitude. At the end of the would ever be. Finally, consider the
apprenticeship you knew everything status that rubbed off on the chosen
there was to know about lenses – glass ones; trading stories, real and
moulding, shaping, polishing with exagerated for weeks back on the
jewellers rouge - the lot. factory floor. ★
A lens was polished to near final
In Australia Peter Williams joined the
stage then fitted to a camera to Engineering Department at Monash
photograph letters on a chart almost University. He was part of the team
identical to the familiar wall chart of the that tested the flow dynamics of the
optician’s consulting room. The winged keel for the Australia II
difference was that on the factory chart successful challenge for the America’s
each letter also had a number. The Cup and wind turbulence on models of
camera would be focused on whichever the new Great Southern Stand.
Peter and his wife Edna, on holiday in
size letter was appropriate for the
England in 2003, went to re-visit his
designated focal length for the lens and
old work place to find – a housing
a picture taken. The clarity of the image
estate!
showed exactly where additional
polishing of the lens was needed.
When TTH and other firms were
rolled into the Rank Organization after
the war, there were no freebies like
hand-outs of cinema tickets or even
discount tickets. With one exception,
there was no glamour at all about
working for Lord Rank. My paper
rounds morning and night earned me
almost five times more than the wage
for 48 hours a week at the factory!
The one treat for the workers was
the Christmas Party at which
Rank/Gainsborough stars such as
James Mason, Stewart Granger,
Margaret Lockwood, Patricia Roc,
Phyllis Calvert or Sally Gray (the Save the last dance for me
roster varied from year to year) would From the top: Stewart Granger
come down and spend some time with Centre: Phyllis Calvert
the workers. Well, not too much time Above: James Mason and Margaret Lockwood, some of the stars who attended the
and not too close to the workers. Christmas dances for Taylor-Hobson staff.

12 2003 CINEMARECORD