Marvellous. Cancel your appointments and spend the rest of the week browsing this lot…
The British Pathe News Romania/Bucharest Archive
For those of you who might be a little busy, we have picked out a few gems…
Bucharest, 1961 (in colour)
Love the clipped accent of the commentator: pure Pathe News. It has been edited so the narration does not always match the film. Look out for the statue of Stalin and the hilarious bit of commentary at the end about how Bucharest is on the way to being a top tourist destination…
British Pop Stars in Bucharest
You will love this. This one features the visit to Bucharest in 1968 of two British ‘pop stars’: Helen Shapiro (who we have heard of) and Tony Bolton (who we haven’t, but who on this form appears to be an early Tom Jones tribute-act).
On this evidence it looks like the Bucharest habit of attracting only second-rate has-beens to perform here is nothing new.
Mangalia, 1969
No sound, so do your own commentary. Look out for the multi-ethnic crowd getting its groove on in the newly opened disco at the end.
We will leave the rest of the archive for you to discover yourselves.
One question though…
How did all this stuff end up at Pathe News?
We can only suggest that the Romanians used to send reels and reels of propaganda film to Pathe (and loads of other agencies probably) in the hope that some of it would be picked up (and we assume the stuff with English commentary was).
It might not have been much of a strategy for promoting Romania abroad – it’s all a bit haphazard – but it certainly beats The Land of Choice.
And, as an added bonus for Bucharest archive fans, news reaches us of the launch of Vechiul Bucuresti in Imagini: a splendid archive of Bucharest images (graphic drawings, paintings and photos) from 1700-1949. Prints of all the images can be ordered as postcards, photos or posters.
Important person enters city
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Just a fan Tony. Would love the hear about your experiences in Romania and elsewhere behibd the curtain.
@Tony Bolton: We were indeed referring to Helen… Sounds like you have a seriously good story to tell. How on earth did you get asked to come and sing in Communist Romania?
I hope that the reference to ‘has-beens’ refers to Helen, because in the UK I am a never-was-been!!!
In case anyone is interested, I was the singer with the very first group to perform behind the “Iron Curtain” – we were The Federals. Nostalgic? Moi?
You are right – but who are you Geronimo?
Romalien is a new site for expats/tourists in Bucharest
I think he went on to play for Scunthorpe and Doncaster Rovers.
Stunning. Tony Bolton’s career was never the same again
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