The Moon & the Sledgehammer 50 years old 1969-2019
Amid all this energy of change, of Peace and Love, Hippies, LSD and Liberation, a time charged with hope in the Future, the age of Aquarius . . . there among the trees with their birdsong and dappled sunlight Mr Page looks at the world around him and gets on with his busy day. He’s concerned about how the world is changing. Concerned that we don’t have our priorities in order. “It’s food first, work after”, he famously stated. And food should have quality too. He wonders about people who don’t have time for anything. “And the one who haven’t got time he haven’t got nothing because he haven’t got time to have anything . . . .”
Mr Page: “It’s food first. Work after”. Clip from the restored footage.
| MR PAGE “It’s food before anything. You can dust a hatch. you can dig up a garden. you can make a smart path, or you can cut a lawn, but after you’ve cut that lawn you’ve got to have some food. Therefor food is first. It’s food first, work after. . . They’ve got all this press button machinery nowadays and there’s not half the work done. Not half the work. You couldn’t beat the old time when the horses and that, got better work done. If they go on the same way as they are going on, they will come to starvation. It’s so many people. There’s no-one to work the land and to feed the population. That’s all there is to it. They’ll finish up eating green grass. You look at the cabbage now. They tip a bit of chemical round it and the cabbage is going “Squaaaaark! Squark!…..growing. Well when you’re boiling the cabbage up you smell the steam and what can you smell? Well, like a lot of pig swill. Not fit for humans to eat….. In other words they’re too tired to smell. Ha ha ha… Yeah… too tired to break wind in…. ha ha ha “
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What has come of his concerns with the world back then? 50 years on, how far have we come? Has the ‘press-button’ machinery liberated us? What would Mr Page have to say about life today? Do we have more time? More time to have anything?
Mr Page on man going to the moon:
| MR PAGE: “Waste of time. Waste of money. It’s a good job the moon’s well up there too. I’ve got room enough to swing a sledgehammer and that without hitting of him. But he’s well out of my way. Cos if they had their way they’d get the moon down you know. They’d be wheeling him – trying to wheel him up the road on two wheels. And you’d pay so much to see him. If they manage to knock the moon down it will throw boiling lava all over the land and that. It distinctly says that in the Book of Words, doesn’t it? If you open it out it’ll tell you about it. Man shall destroy himself. Well they’re working on that now. Man shall invent things to destroy himself. And it’s true. I’ve made wireless sets and all that but you daren’t get near them otherwise they’ll kill you. Mmmm. When I first found television out I was experimenting with sets and hitching all sorts of old gear up to it and that and seeing the results of it. That’s how I found television out. Hmmm. I’ve made some sets you daren’t go into the room. Not with it turned on, it’ll knock you down.” |
This glimpse into the family and their unusual lifestyle has captured the British imagination for the last 50 years and helped keep this remarkable film in the public eye throughout. Book your tickets now for up-coming screenings of the beautiful, newly restored version, looking as good as when it was shot in 16mm 50 years ago:
NEXT SCREENINGS
Electric Palace, Hastings Saturday 14th September 7.30pm Q&A with Andrew Kotting Tickets here
KINO-TEATR St. Leonards Sunday, September 15, 2019 3:00pm-4:30pm Tickets here
Doc House, Monday 23rd September (Equinox) 6.30 PM Q&A Tickets here
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