Biography of Sydney Newton FOLKER
[Ref. Q.5]
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Keepsakes | |
Photos |
Biography of Sydney Newton FOLKER
[Ref. Q.5]
| Biography index | |
Keepsakes | |
Photos |
Sydney was very interested in the works of Charles Dickens, so much so that he later named his
daughter, his house and his dog from names in Dickens novels. He used to perform monologue
sketches in vaudeville and it is likely that he was doing this during his spare time whilst
working for Crown derby. On 9 May 1905 he played the part of Barty
Hayseed in a musical romance called 'Jan the Jester'. It was performed by the Cauducean
Club at the Kings Hall, Covent Garden. There is also a photograph of him in the part of the
Dickens character Uriah Heep.
Sydney and his wife Vera used to take part in amateur theatrical productions at the theatre at Brentham. In fact, it is likely that they had first met through their love of acting.
Following service in the army during World War I, Sydney next got into films, probably through contacts he had from his earlier theatrical days. There were a number of his friends living locally who were in the film business already. He worked variously for the London, Alliance and several other film companies. He appeared with the actress Vesta Tilley in a film directed by Alexander Butler and which was called 'The Girl Who Loved A Sailor'. Sydney starred with Owen Nares and also appeared in another film with George Robey.
By 1922 he had made a name for himself and was considered a worthy successor to Sidney Drew. He was then working for Quality Films as an actor but also designed and built sets and did stage management. He was quite adept at drawing and painting and some of his designs for stage backdrops still survive. His first film for this company was called The White Rat being released in November 1922 for which Sydney was noted in Pictures and Picturegoer magazine of January 1923 as the juvenile lead (at age 34 !). This was the first in a series of domestic comedies produced by Quality Films and directed by George A Cooper. Other titles included such as Question of Principle , Geraldine's First Year, The Cunninghams Economise, Keeping Man Interested and Her Dancing partner. Each of these titles were 'one reeler' episodes and were released fortnightly from 6 November 1922 and 9 April 1923. They were silent films and the audience would have a program which described the story.
Sydney was in a film shot at Cockington Forge and directed by a German called Willy Brun. There are some photos taken at that time. Sydney also appeared in a production of 'Beckett' with Matheson Lang and a copy of this exists in the National Film Archive. References to films in which Sydney has appeared has been compiled into a list.
There are some references at the National Film Archive relating to Sydney. Doady and her son Malcolm visited the archive when it was located in the West End of London and viewed the copy of 'Becket' They found that the famous scene of the killing of Thomas A'Beckett at the altar of Canterbury cathedral has not survived. Doady donated some programmes of films in which Vesta Tilley had appeared also a set of photographs which had belonged to Sydney and which showed some of the stars, sets and stage hands of the films in which he had participated. The originals were kept by the Archive but they took copies of the photos and these are with the other keepsakes of Sydney. During the visit, Doady also met by chance the biographer of the film director Samuelson who had been commissioned by Samuelson's son. Sydney had worked under Samuelson at studios at Isleworth and Doady had recollections of watching her father when she was about eight years old. The studios were near St. Margarets railway station and adjacent was a furniture warehouse from which the production team would rent furniture for their sets.
Among Sydney's keepsakes is an album of photos and cuttings from his acting and stage
management days. There is a letter from a fan praising his acting and
noting that an article in the Motion Picture Studio magazine said that he would soon play in
the Harma film 'The Corner Man'. There are two letters from
Quality Film Plays Ltd from 1923 referring to what appears to be difficult times. There is also
a typed script dated 1924 for a silent film play called 'The Pools of the
Past' for Stoll Picture Productions Ltd and with Sydney's name hand-written on the cover.
The Samuelson's film company had a holiday camp at Cliftonville in Kent where employees would take their holidays. There are many photos of this period amongst Sydney's keepsakes.
A picture of Sydney appears in a set of cigarette cards which comprises an alphabetic set of film stars. He used to tell his friends that the only reason that he was on these was that there was no-one else with a name that began with the letter F.
During the period in which Sydney was in films, he had a Violet Bogay car. When the 'talkies' came along, it is believed that Sydney was offered work if he agreed to move to the USA, but as his wife Vera was not happy at the prospect he declined.
Sydney next went into business with F.E.Bracey into a company called Commercial Films. Their business card reads Specialists in Advertising Cinematography & Patentees of the only efficient day-light projection screen. They had the first such screen which was reputedly located on the facade of Selfridges in Oxford Street, London. However, their claim to the patent was made too soon as someone else had their patent registered first.
Sydney was out of work for some time after leaving films when the industry suddenly declined. He considered, at one stage, emigrating to Australia. The family were ready to go but, for some reason, they never did. Sydney's make-up box survives with the keepsakes in the possession of his family together with an original box of wigs.
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