Ruby's Memoirs

Part 5 - The General Strike

As we moved into the later twenties life became more frenetic, cars doing a speed of 25 miles an hour, motor bikes which roared round country lanes, wireless, which was the name for the radio, although only of the whisker type at first, a method by which you had to get ‘the whisker’, a very tiny piece of metal wire, on to the right spot of a small blob of metal, before there was any sound. It was a great achievement if you did manage something which was usually one of the big bands, or one of the well known classical singers such as Dame Nellie Melba, or the famous tenors such as Caruso or Chaliopine, but suddenly it disappeared and you had ‘to tickle the cat’s whisker’ again to find another active spot. Fortunately there soon came another type, activated by a valve, which was much easier and programmes became much more varied. For all this one had to wear earphones.

Along with all these inventions came the other extreme, the workless, the hunger marchers and general discontent of wages even for those in work, and the feeling for most people that something was wrong but as there was little you could do about it, you just enjoyed the life you had. ‘Dance, Dance, Dance little Lady’ was the Tune, Syncopation was the Beat, and The Charleston was the Dance. This was beat of a very different kind, quite difficult to learn and then to dance it with a partner as was the only way you danced in a Ball Room in those days. A kitchen chair was the best help as it gave you support as you disentangled your feet. When this was achieved you were able to dance with a partner, flying round the room at breakneck speed. As well as Dancing there were some excellent shows such as Chu Chin Chow and many other spectaculars. Many cinemas of enormous size were built with the Wurlitzer playing organ music in the interval during the films which consisted of a Drama, a Comedy, the News, and adverts for coming attractions. The seats cost anything from a shilling to half-a-crown and were very comfortable after the gallery in the Old Theatres. Films from America were favourite but English films soon caught up on this at the Ealing and Denham Studios. Charlie Chaplin, the great English comic was soon captured by America but it was sometime before we caught up with D W Griffiths great dramas and Pathé’s News. All this was great escapism for the hundreds who filled these theatres for years.

Meanwhile painful things went on and I once witnessed a march of the unemployed while waiting for a bus at Hammersmith Broadway when it was stopped by mounted police, with truncheons drawn and horses rampant, driving the marchers back from the Broadway. It was a truly horrific sight, and as all transport had been stopped we walked quickly towards the Bridge and the safety of the other side of the river at Barnes. This was only a small piece of the pattern of things that were happening and took the country into the general strike of 1926, when all the Transport Unions went on strike in sympathy with the Coal Miners who were already on strike.

The next morning everybody who went to work had to walk, cycle, cadge a lift from anything on wheels and the few people who had a car filled them with passengers as they went along. There was no danger in giving a lift in those days. The strike ended in ten days and achieved nothing. The Government ran lorries and coaches instead of buses and as usual the people accepted it and life went on as usual. Soon transport was back but the miners stayed out and started their own demise, sad to relate. Here the progress of the country towards equality took a further step backward, more unemployment and hardship for many.

For the majority again it was ‘on with the dance’ and music, but the music had its more serious side now, the froth had blown away, America was facing the biggest slump of its life, big business failed, banks closed and some very wealthy Americans who had lost everything jumped from their skyscraper office windows to their death on the pavement below. The world was stunned. The great Dollar had failed. This of course affected trade all over the world and that included England.

The bands were still playing their music, but among their songs were I want some money — Gimme some, Gimmie some, Gimmie Some Do! and Buddy can you spare a dime? were among the favourites. A Labour Government had been formed in 1928 but in the early Thirties a National Government came into power to help in this world crisis, but it was to be a long time before the wounds would heal and scores be settled, indeed if they ever were, today we still have the ‘haves and the have nots’.

Ruby Bullock

•To be continued.