Friday, February 17, 2012

National Loaf...continues

Glynis Johns 1949
Here we have the M&S Co-op's Golden Twist loaf being pawed by film star Glynis Johns on a visit to the head office and central stores in Ardwick on Saturday 20th January 1948. Other photos not shewn here have the crowds and dinner with the directors of the co-operative. She is wearing a fur coat in all the pictures.

As in previous posts this loaf was the local version of the National Wheatmeal Bread. Clearly the M&S Co-op are proud about their bread if they make it a feature in story of a visitor from London. Bread wasn't on ration, other types of bread are available yet it is still being baked by the thousand. Somebody must have been buying it, so much for it being unpopular. It looks like a full 2 lbs. (907g) unsliced loaf. I've read reports that in the war years that bread had to be reduced to 1 lb. (453g) size due to wheat shortages.

Glynis Johns was in then in a new film release of "An Ideal Husband", directed by Alexander Korda and starring Paulette Goddard and Michael Wilding.

'The film was advertised on milk bottle tops in return for free advertising for the Society on the cinema screen, where the slogan : "An Ideal Husband's Ideal Wife Saves as She Spends at the Co-op." will be shown three times daily for the whole run of the film.' - Manchester & Salford Co-operative Herald February 1949.

The film was on at the New Oxford and Market Street cinemas in Manchester city centre.

Links : Glynis Johns Wikipedia a long and successful career in Hollywood, Broadway and Tv.

2 comments:

Andrew Simpson said...

Yes I remember adverts on mild bottles. It is just so odd today to think that that happened.

felix said...

what, like adverts on the back of bus tickets? Great ideas. Mild bottles (sic) reminds me of a great exchange in a very very early episode of Brookside - lads go into pub for first beer. Landlord susses out they are kids. What would you like then, Sirs? We'd like some beer. Well, we've got bitter beer, mild beer... Two halves of mild beer please... There we are, two mild beers...(approximately) Classic.
And Bobby always used to come home with CRS shopping Co-op bags. (Ricky Tomlinson)

You can email : coop AT biffadigital.org with any information that will help in the making of this history.