GB 1963 | Director: Joan Littlewood | Camera: Walter Lassally | b/w | DCP of 16mm | silent | 3 min | British Film Institute / The Estate of Joan Littlewood

Men and women – mostly men – playing cards and smoking. The players have serious faces; curious onlookers are closely-packed; money is gripped tightly in the hands of workers...The camera catches Joan Littlewood engaging in small talk; she hides behind a glass display cabinet. Finally, men and women – mostly women – dance the twist.

"London at play, 60s style. These varied, fascinating scenes were shot in 1963 as part of a survey of London leisure by theatre director and filmmaker Joan Littlewood, and they offer a window into ordinary lives spent in the city centre. (…) The footage was shot for a film to support Littlewood's idea for a 'Fun Palace' - a huge movable construction that would house education and entertainment attractions. In 1963 Littlewood shot 60 reels of 16mm rushes around London to show what people currently did for leisure and to demonstrate that something else was needed. The film was finished but is now lost, and sadly Joan's Fun Palace never got built. However, the rushes paint a fantastic picture of the period, with many expertly filmed by cameraman Walter Lassally." (British Film Institute)