Richard Massingham (31 January 1898 in
Sleaford
Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Centred on the former parish of New Sleaford, the modern boundaries and urban area include Quarrington, Lincolnshire, ...
,
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...
– 1 April 1953 in
Biddenden
Biddenden is a large, mostly agricultural and wooded village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The village lies on the Weald of Kent, some north of Tenterden. It was a centre for the Wealden iron industry and also of ...
,
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
) was a British medical doctor who is principally known for starring in
public information film
Public information films (PIFs) are a series of government-commissioned short films, shown during television advertising breaks in the United Kingdom. The name is sometimes also applied, ''faute de mieux'', to similar films from other countries, ...
s made in the 1940s and early 1950s.
Life
After working in medicine and making amateur films, Massingham set up Public Relationship Films Ltd in 1938 when he noticed that there was no specialist agency making short educational films for the public. In the films he typically played a bumbling character who was slightly more stupid than average, and often explained the message of the film through demonstrating the risks if it was ignored. Films' topics included postal deliveries, how to cross the road, how to prevent the spread of diseases, how to swim and how to drive without causing the road to be unsafe for other users.
Family
Massingham's father was
H.W. Massingham (1860–1924) the journalist, and his siblings included writer
Harold John Massingham
Harold John Massingham (25 March 1888 – 22 August 1952) was a prolific British writer on ruralism, matters to do with the countryside and agriculture. He was also a published poet.
Life
Massingham was the son of the journalist H. W. Massingham ...
(1888–1952), writer Hugh Massingham (1905–1971)
[Watkins, Ala]
Obituary, ''The Guardian'', 9 May 2010 and playwright and actress
Dorothy Massingham
Dorothy Massingham ( – ) was a British actress and playwright.
Dorothy Massingham was born on in Highgate, daughter of the journalist H. W. Massingham and Emma Snowdon. She was educated at the Graham High Street School and the Academy for ...
(1889–1933). He was the son of Emma Jane née Snowdon, the daughter of Henry Snowdon of
St. Leonard's Priory,
Norwich
Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
.
Selected Films
* ''Dr Massingham says... Tell Me If It Hurts'' (1934)
* ''And So To Work'' (1936)
* ''The Daily Round'' (1937)
* ''Surviving the War: The Five Inch Bather'' (1942)
* ''In Which We Live: Being the Life Story of a Suit Told by Itself'' (1943)
* ''Post Early for Christmas'' (1943)
* ''Elopement in France'' (1944)
* ''An Englishman's home... Down at the Local'' (1945)
* ''Coughs and Sneezes'' (1945)
* ''Post-war Blues: The Daily Grind: Pool of Contentment'' (1946)
* ''Pedal Cyclists'' (1947)
* ''Watch Your Meters'' (1947)
* ''Jet-propelled Germs'' (1948)
* ''Pedestrian Crossing'' (1948)
* ''Post-war Blues: What a Life!'' (1948)
* ''30 Miles an Hour'' (1949)
* ''Another Case of Poisoning'' (1949)
* ''Handkerchief Drill'' (1949)
* ''Warning to Travellers'' (1949)
* ''The Cure'' (1950)
* ''Help Yourself'' (1950)
* ''Moving House'' (1950)
* ''Introducing the New Worker'' (1951)
In Popular Culture
The animator
Cyriak Harris
Cyriak Harris, known mononymously as Cyriak () and his B3ta username Mutated Monty, is an English freelance animator, artist, composer, and author from Brighton. He is known for his surreal and bizarre short web animations with the frequent use ...
created his animation
Breakfast' using samples of footage from Massingham's ''Pedestrian Crossing'' film: mainly, a shot of a seated Massingham eating breakfast in the middle of a pedestrian crossing, just as a passing car slams into his card table, spilling the contents everywhere.
References
External links
*
*
1898 births
1953 deaths
English male film actors
20th-century English medical doctors
People from Sleaford, Lincolnshire
20th-century English male actors
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