Travelling Showpeople
and Scotland’s Moving Image Heritage

Ghost Show is dedicated to preserving the oral and visual history of Scotland’s Travelling Showpeople, many of whom live in Glasgow. It combines family history, archive, film, and education to explore the history and unique cultural contribution of one of Scotland’s most distinctive and vibrant communities.

Through film, photographs and ephemera the project documents a frequently overlooked part of Scotland’s cultural heritage to create a unique cultural and historical archive. Travellers are encouraged to talk about their lives, their past and their presents, and the realities behind the façade of ‘The Shows’. The central focus is the moving image itself, as pioneered on British fairgrounds by Showpeople themselves, or as it has shown and depicted the unusual way of life led by generations of show men and women.

The project takes its title from the Ghost Shows of the Victorian fair, the travelling variety theatres where some of the first cinema exhibitions in the UK were staged. Ever keen to exploit a new trend – and above all, give the audience what they wanted - astute showfolk adapted these venues to show films and so, unwittingly, started a revolution in popular entertainment. The days when cinema was shown in fairground booths are long gone, but the Showpeople and the spirit of showmanship, remains.

Check back for further updates on our forthcoming activities;

What the project involves

* The Archive
* The Film
* The Book
* Education and Outreach
* Ghost Show – The Blog

Interested in Getting Involved?

There are a number of ways you could help the project:

We would very much like to hear from museums, trusts and institutions who might be interested in working with them to develop the archive and its resources.

We would also like to talk to anyone with an interesting story or tale to tell, on camera or tape. If you are willing to let us come and film you, to see where yoou live, how you live and what you do we would be very excited to hear from you!

We are also very keen to find any old films you might have – super- 8, very old nitrate, interesting videos that either appeared on travelling cinema booths or are about Travelling Showpeople. Anything connected with Greens, Kemps or Biddall’s cinemas from the 1920s would be of great interest to us.. With your permission they will take these materials, carefully make a copy for the archive and give it back to you (unless the film is on nitrate, in which case we’d advise you to leave the original with us where it can be stored safely, and take a copy).

We want to gather, catalogue and research any old photographs of travelling bioscopes, sideshows, Waltzers, but especially of people, places and social events connected to the fair. Again, we will carefully make a copy and get these back to you.

Contact us for more details.

CREDITS

People

Mitch Miller, Principal Researcher
Alan Knight, Documentary maker
Graeme Campbell, Director, MIMAC-Rushes C.I.C
Gavin Bryan-Tansley, Designer, MiMAC-Rushes C.I.C.

Partners

Janet McBain, Director, Scottish Screen Archive
Ruth Washbrook, Education and Outreach Officer, The Scottish Screen Archive
Emily Munro, Head of Learning, Glasgow Film Theatre

Film Crew

Pina Mastropietro, Director of Photography
Brian Strachan, Sound
Laura Binnie, Editor

Our Volunteers

Clive Miller, Travelling Showman (ret)
Lee Ricardson (Web TV Editor)