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Betty Balfour was an English screen actress, popular during the silent era, and known as the "British Mary Pickford" and "Britain's Queen of Happiness". She was best known to audiences for her Squibs series of films.
Hugh E. Wright was a French-born, British actor and screenwriter. He was the father of actor Tony Wright.
Squibs is a 1935 British musical romantic comedy film directed by Henry Edwards and starring Betty Balfour, Gordon Harker and Stanley Holloway.
The Presumption of Stanley Hay, MP is a 1925 British silent drama film directed by Sinclair Hill and starring David Hawthorne, Betty Faire, Fred Raynham and Kinsey Peile. It is adapted from a novel by Nowell Kaye.
Squibs is a 1921 British silent comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Hugh E. Wright and Fred Groves. It was followed by three sequels starting with Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep and a 1935 remake.
Somebody's Darling is a 1925 British silent comedy film directed by George A. Cooper and starring Betty Balfour, Rex O'Malley and Fred Raynham.
Garryowen is a 1920 British silent sports film directed by George Pearson and starring Fred Groves, Hugh E. Wright and Moyna Macgill. It was based on a novel by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. It concerns an impoverished Irish gentleman who tries to rescue his family from ruin by running his horse Garryowen at The Derby.
Squibs Wins the Calcutta Sweep is a 1922 British silent comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Fred Groves and Hugh E. Wright. It was the sequel to the 1921 film Squibs.
Houp La! is a 1928 British silent comedy film directed by Frank Miller and starring George Bellamy, Frank Stanmore and Peggy Carlisle. It was loosely based on the 1916 stage musical Houp La! by Hugh E. Wright and Fred Thompson. The film was made at Isleworth Studios in London.
Mademoiselle Parley Voo is a 1928 British silent drama film directed by Maurice Elvey and starring Estelle Brody, John Stuart and Alf Goddard. It was made as a sequel to Elvey's earlier hit Mademoiselle from Armentieres (1926), and was equally successful. Both films refer to the popular First World War song Mademoiselle from Armentières. It was made at Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush.
A Little Bit of Fluff is a British farce written by Walter W. Ellis which was first staged in 1915 and went on to have a long original run. Starring Ernest Thesiger, it ran at the Criterion Theatre, London, between 1915–1918, for a total of 1241 performances.
A Sister of Six is a 1926 silent romantic comedy film directed by Ragnar Hyltén-Cavallius and starring Willy Fritsch, Betty Balfour and Lydia Potechina. It was a co-production between Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It was shot at the Tempelhof Studios in Berlin. The film's sets were designed by the Swedish art director Vilhelm Bryde.
The Welsh-Pearson Company was a British film production and distribution company active during the silent and early sound eras. It was founded in 1918 by two pioneering film figures, George Pearson and Thomas Welsh, with the single-stage Craven Park Studios as their base. Because of the cramped conditions there, Welsh-Pearson had to use other studios such as Islington for larger scenes.
Mary-Find-the-Gold is a 1921 British silent drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Tom Coventry and Hugh E. Wright.
Satan's Sister is a 1925 British silent adventure film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Guy Phillips and Philip Stevens. It is an adaptation of the 1921 novel Satan: A Romance of the Bahamas by Henry De Vere Stacpoole. The novel was later adapted again as the 1965 film The Truth About Spring.
Blinkeyes is a 1926 British silent drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Tom Douglas, and Frank Stanmore.
Hornet's Nest is a 1923 British silent drama film directed by Walter West and starring Florence Turner, Fred Wright, and Nora Swinburne.
Mord Em'ly is a 1922 British silent drama film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Rex Davis and Elsie Craven. It was based on the 1898 novel of the same title by William Pett Ridge.
Wee MacGregor's Sweetheart is a 1922 British silent romance film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Donald Macardle and Nora Swinburne. The plot is based on two of the "Wee Macgreegor" books by John Joy Bell; Oh Christina and Courting Christina.
Squibs' Honeymoon is a 1923 British silent comedy film directed by George Pearson and starring Betty Balfour, Hugh E. Wright and Fred Groves. It was the last of the silent film series featuring the character, although Balfour returned to play her in the 1935 sound film Squibs. Both Pearson and Balfour were particular favourites of the British film critic, and later leading screenwriter, Roger Burford. In his first article for the magazine Close Up Burford would write "Not long ago a film of the Squibbs series was reported to be on at a small cinema in a slum district. It was a rare chance, and we went at once. We were not disappointed: the film was English, with proper tang; the tang of Fielding or Sterne.' Burford's comments help place the Squibbs films perfectly in British culture between the wars. They were very much working-class comedy, drawing on a vernacular, performative tradition, but at the same time their "Englishness" is characteristic of the kinds of satirical comedies found in the novels of Henry Fielding and Laurence Sterne. That earthy satire, based on everyday life, made these comedies unpalatable to middle class audiences but the Squibbs films were amongst the most interesting, and well shot, films in Britain in the 1920s.
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- ↑ Low p.122
