Talk and Screening

British screenwriter Lydia Hayward could spin comedy gold out of any story and wrote dozens of screenplays in the 1920s. She was hailed in the film trade press as 'the finest scenario writer we have', but her fine reputation languishes forgotten with the films she worked on.

Happily, HippFest is here to change that!

Join Bryony Dixon - curator of silent film at the BFI National Archive, and long-time champion of Lydia Hayward - for an enjoyable introduction to the screenwriter's creative career and outstanding contribution to some of the era's most widely enjoyed films.

This event includes a screening of the short comedy The Boatswain's Mate written by Lydia Hayward from the humorous story by W.W. Jacobs. Florence Turner (famed as the 'Vitagraph Girl' and one of the film industry's first stars) plays savvy pub landlady Mrs Waters, the ideal woman, according to lazy ex-boatswain George Benn, who fancies himself as a publican by proxy. Benn enlists a 'mate', a burly out-of-work seaman, in an over-complicated plan to appear heroic, in Mrs Waters' eyes. This doesn't quite go to plan.

Dir. H. Manning Haynes | UK | 1924 | N/C U | 24mins
With: Florence Turner, Johnny Butt, Victor McLaglen

Performing live: John Sweeney (piano)

BSL-English supported event

Screening material courtesy of BFI National Archive