Variety in Sepia

Variety in Sepia is a television Variety special that was filmed live on 7 October 1947 at the RadiOlympia Theatre, Alexandra Palace, London, and was aired on BBC TV.[1]

Variety in Sepia
GenreVariety Show
Created byBBC
Composer(s)Various
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original language(s)English
No. of episodes3
Production
Producer(s)Eric Fawcett
Production location(s)Radiolympia, London
Running time60 minutes
Production company(s)BBC
Release
Original networkBBC TV
First shown in7 October 1947 (1947-10-07)
Original release7 October (1947-10-07) –
9 October 1947 (1947-10-09)
External links
Production website

Historical significance

Variety in Sepia is significant to television history for several reasons: it was an early example of a television special dedicated to Black talent, it was an early example of a live television broadcast and it is one of the earliest surviving telerecordings. A six-minute fragment of the programme is all that exists and is thought to be the earliest surviving recording of a live BBC TV programme (apart from some silent off-air fragments from the 1930s). The fragment features Brooklyn-born singer Adelaide Hall[2] performing two songs: "Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba (My Bambino Go to Sleep)", written by Mack David, Jerry Livingston and Al Hoffman, and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby", written by Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields. The surviving footage of Adelaide Hall may also be the earliest surviving recording of an African American performing on British television.

Cast

Cast in order of appearance:

Production credits
  • Musical accompaniments by Eric Robinson and his Orchestra
  • Settings by Stephen Bundy
  • Produced by Eric Fawcett
  • Filmed live from Radiolympia

Scheduling

The programme was aired twice in 1947, on 7 October and again on 9 October. The first transmission appeared on a schedule that also included Fashions Round the World, Come and Be Televised, and The Eye of the Artist.[3]

The surviving six-minute fragment of the show featuring footage of Adelaide Hall was shown on BBC2 television on 1 July 1992.[4]

1992 rediscovery of Variety in Sepia

The BBC did not use telerecording regularly until around 1955. It was fortuitous that during the research for a BFI project for the documentary Black and White in Colour (1992)[5] that the British writer and archivist Stephen Bourne discovered the 35mm film of Variety in Sepia. The footage had been captured (on 35mm) and filmed directly from a television screen by the BBC as an "experimental telerecording" and had lain forgotten in the BBC Archive for more than 40 years.[6] The documentary, Black and White in Colour, is a two-part film made by the British Film Institute for the BBC and is a retrospective that looks at the contribution of Black and Asian people in British TV from the birth of television in 1936 to 1992. The film details the representation of Black and Asian people on television and makes reference to the wider context of cultural, political and social events. The film is directed by Isaac Julien and narrated by Professor Stuart Hall.

2011 Alexandra Palace screening

On Wednesday 14 September 2011, the BFI (British Film Institute) held an event called Georgian Television at Alexandra Palace, whereVariety in Sepia was filmed in 1947. The event was organised to celebrate the anniversary (in November 2011) of the start of the BBC Television Service and aimed to "give a glimpse into the early years of British television with a specially compiled selection of most of the surviving (non-news) footage from the small screen, prior to the Coronation in 1953. Highlights during the event included footage of George Bernard Shaw on his 90th birthday (filmed in 1946), Variety in Sepia featuring Adelaide Hall (filmed in 1947), an experimental telerecording of radio's flagship comedy show of the time ITMA (It's That Man Again) and scenes from the 1948 Olympics." The programme lasted 90 minutes.[7]

Further reading
  • From Birth to Teens: TV’s Earliest Years[8]
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References
  1. "Variety in Sepia (1947)", IMDb.
  2. An original BBC photograph of Adelaide Hall on the set of Variety in Sepia, 1947.
  3. Listings, BBC Television, October 1947.
  4. Listings, BBC Two, July 1992. Radio Times, 1923–2009.
  5. Stephen Bourne, "Black and White in Colour (1992)", BFI Screenonline.
  6. Stephen Bourne, Black in the British Frame: The Black Experience in British Film and Television, Continuum, 2001, p. 64, ISBN 978-0826455390.
  7. Simon Vaughan, "Live From Alexandra Palace - BFI Event". Forum for former BBC staff, 25 August 2011.
  8. "From Birth to Teens: TV’s Earliest Years at BFI Southbank". Press release, August 2011, BFI.
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