Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children as Film Actors, in Theatrical Work and in Ballet / presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of His Majesty, August 1950.

  • Great Britain. Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children as Film Actors, in Theatrical Work and in Ballet
Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Children as Film Actors, in Theatrical Work and in Ballet / presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for the Home Department by Command of His Majesty, August 1950. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    duties to watch the behaviour of their “licensed” matrons and if warranted to strike them off the list at short notice. The Committee thought this would be a serious step to take on hearsay evidence and one they could not take promptly. 60. There is no requirement in the Rules made by the Ministry of Educa- tion that a matron must always be in charge of licensed children. In view of the emphasis placed on the importance of the duties of a matron in the Report of the 1919 Committee and of the overwhelming evidence that a good matron can do much to smooth out difficulties that may arise it seems curious that a matron should only be required when the child is not resident at home. The practice seems to go further than the Rules, for in every case where we have visited licensed children, either a matron has been employed or the child’s parent has been present in the theatre. 61. At present the employer of the child or the applicant for the licence provides and pays the matron. There is no doubt that sometimes persons are proposed as matrons whom the local authority hesitate to accept. When an application gives only the minimum period of fourteen days’ notice and especially when it is in the pantomime season, an authority, which may be unable to suggest a more suitable person, have little alternative but to accept the matron proposed unless she is so obviously unsuitable that the refusal of the licence could be justified on those grounds. The casual nature of a matron’s employment inevitably makes it unattractive to many women who might otherwise be interested in this specialised welfare work. The more regular demand for matrons which may be expected to result if our recommendations about child film actors are adopted should alter this position, and may consequently improve the supply for the theatrical] world. Further, the publicity incidental to legislation may bring the opportunities in this rather unusual field of employment to the notice of women who would otherwise be unaware of them. Some of the West End stage training schools for children have more or less regular employment for a few women and appear to have been successful in attracting matrons of the right calibre. We do not think the difficulty arises from* unwillingness to pay an adequate salary. The maximum amount received by matrons appears to be around £7 a week ; matrons in charge of pantomime troupes generally earn £5 or £6 a week where the work is full-time. This should at present be adequate to secure an efficient matron. 62. We have found on our visits a wide variation in the quality of matrons appointed. The variation occurs not only between different licensing authorities but also between matrons approved by the same authority. We think the authority would have been wiser in some instances to have taken a more firm attitude and refused the application until a better matron could be found but we believe the main difficulty is the shortage of capable matrons. In some areas it is not the practice to visit in her own home the person proposed as matron. Such a visit may not always be necessary, but should certainly be considered. One local authority require any woman wishing to act as matron to submit the names of two persons as referees as to her suitability. If the references and the report on her home are satisfactory the applicant is interviewed and her duties fully discussed with her. There is a valuable arrangement in the London and Home Counties area whereby a number of authorities issue to those persons resident in their area whom they accept as matrons a form of approval, valid for a fixed period ‘but renewable, which provides evidence of her suitability when she is considered for work in the area of another authority. To this document is appended the Ministry of Education’s advice on the
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