It is a far cry from Tinsel Town but Shoreham was once the hub of the film industry. For almost a decade the seaside resort was the Hollywood of West Sussex, producing some famous films. Ruth Lumley reports.

"Bungalow Town" was the place to live if you were an up and coming actor or actress in the early days of film From 1914 to 1923 Shoreham was a hive of activity after the film studio was built at the Old Fort.

Films such as The Mayor of Casterbridge and Little Dorrit were filmed at the studio and in the surrounding countryside.

During the Adur Festival people will be able to find out about Shoreham's film history at a talk at Shoreham Library.

Alan Readman, the assistant county archivist from the West Sussex Record Office, will talk about when the town was the centre of film-making and will show photographs from the time which have never been seen in public.

His talk will focus on the studio which was first built near the Old Fort and later near the Church of the Good Shepherd in West Beach Road. Today only a plaque remains on the town hall commemorating the famous studio.

Mr Readman will be using material from the county archive, the regional film archive which is based at the archive office in Chichester and his own research.

The story was first told in 1985 by Neb Walters in his book Bungalow Town, Theatre and Film Colony and later by John Payne in his video Silver Screen, Silent Voices.

Francis Lyndhurst, the grandfather of actor Nicholas Lyndhurst, started the first film studio at the Old Fort in 1914.

A few years later he built the large glass house where he could put up scenery. It continued to run until 1923 under the Progress Film Company, making a number of successful films.

Mr Readman said: "I have chosen Shoreham studio because in the last few months we have been able to copy this marvellous collection of Mavis Clare, who was one of the leading ladies during the 1920s.

"Gillian Gregg, her daughter, discovered the scrapbook she had accumulated and she brought the material down and allowed us to copy it. It has given us a fresh insight into when Shoreham was like Hollywood."

During the 1920s, Brighton, Hove and Shoreham were centres of the early film-making industry.

The area was used because of the climate and clear light as most of the filming was done outdoors.

There was also a ready supply of actors and actresses, as stars from musicals and theatre had already taken up residence in Bungalow Town, which was on Shoreham Beach.

Mr Readman said: "Marie Loftus, one of the great female stars of the British music hall, built a bungalow there and asked all of her musical friends to come and they also built bungalows, often out of disused railway carriages."

Most of the films which were made were from great works of literature and the big star of the time was Joan Morgan, who starred in Little Dorrit.

She was offered a contract in Hollywood but her father turned it down for her. She eventually became a writer and novelist.

The film archive was started at the record office in 1992.

It was thought none of the productions which had been filmed at the studio had survived a fire but three have now been found.

The studio never recovered from the devastating effects of the fire in 1923 and Hollywood's burgeoning reputation was starting to take off, which meant real competition for Shoreham.

Mr Readman said: "The film was on cellulose nitrate and it could combust and there were many fires in film studios caused by the instability of the materials they were using.

"The studio was not completely destroyed but it was a setback."

County councillor Deborah Urquhart, cabinet member for environment and economy, said: "At the time all the films were deemed missing presumed lost but since then we have found versions of three films, Little Dorrit, The Mayor of Casterbridge and Lowland Cinderella, made in 1920 to 1921.

"We were also able to meet and interview Joan Morgan, the teenage star of the studio, and more recently Gillian Gregg, daughter of Mavis Clare, another leading lady in the movies at Shoreham."

Footage from the films and the interviews will be included in the evening.

The lecture will take place on June 9 at 7.30pm. Tickets cost £4 from Shoreham, Lancing and Southwick libraries.

For more information, call 01273 454438.

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