QUESTION Did Elvis Presley ever make a western?
Elvis was gearing up for his first feature film – the post-Civil War Western Love Me Tender (1956) – and one of his last film appearances as an actor was as an outlaw trying to go straight in Charro!
In this 1969 western, Elvis wore stubble – perhaps as a nod to Clint Eastwood‘Man With No Name’ character, which was well established at the time.
In between these two films, he starred in Don Siegel’s 1960 Western Flaming Star, playing a troubled character whose father was a farmer and mother was a member of the Kiowa tribe.
In Frankie And Johnny (1966) he played a Mississippi riverboat singer who liked to gamble.
Elvis often starred in two, sometimes three, films a year – most were fun, lightweight vehicles made to keep Elvis fans around the world happy.
They lacked the dramatic depth of his westerns, and in Flaming Star, produced – like Love Me Tender – by 20th Century Fox, he gives a memorably powerful performance.
Alan Wightman, Nieuwpoort, Gwent.
Elvis was gearing up for his first feature film – the post-Civil War Western Love Me Tender (1956) – and one of his last film appearances as an actor was as an outlaw trying to go straight in Charro!
QUESTION What is the origin of the term ‘fleapit’ when referring to a local cinema?
Fleapit, bug house, insect house and crab hatch were all terms for second-rate, dingy movie theaters that were on the rise in the 1920s and 1930s. As author Anthony Burgess states in Inside Mr Enderby: ‘Here was the authentic fleapit… the epitome of every insect house Enderby had lined up outside as a child.’
In the mid-1930s, 18 million people went to the cinema every week in Britain. Sheffield alone had 52 locations. There was a stark contrast between the ‘picture palaces’ in the city center and the ‘fleapits’ in the local district. The locations varied widely in terms of price, programming, seating capacity, decoration, amenities, clientele and status.
The bugs were quite real. In Mark Aston’s book The Cinemas Of Camden, local historian Des Whyman recalled visits to The Court where: ‘The ushers came down the two aisles of the venue spraying pesticides to kill fleas, flies and insects.’ Film historian Professor Melvyn Stokes of University College London, director of the research project Remembering British Cinema-going Of The 1960s, tells a similar story. At an event in the Wirral discussing cinemas of the era, members of the public recalled children’s matinees, where a cinema worker sprayed the auditorium with the insecticide DDT, to combat fleas or head lice.
Michael Frost, Sheffield.
QUESTION What is the origin of the insurance industry?
Insurance can be traced all the way back to the ancient Babylonians. During the period 4000 BC to 3000 BC it was known as bottomry. Bottomry contracts were also known to the Hindus around 600 BC and were also recognized under Roman law.
These bottomry contracts were somewhat different from what we know as insurance. Loans were made to merchants who traded by sea, but if their ship was lost at sea, the loans did not have to be repaid. The interest on the loan covered the insurance risk.
In ancient Rome, a form of life insurance existed with the formation of burial societies. When a member died, funeral costs would be borne by the association, not unlike modern insurance policies that are sold on the premise of covering funeral costs.
In ancient Rome, a form of life insurance existed with the formation of burial societies. In the photo: the Colosseum
Marine insurance, which grew out of the bottom industry, began to develop significantly in the 15th century, when merchants and ship owners began trading further and further afield.
Fire insurance began in Britain after the Great Fire of London (1666). Companies not only provided financial protection, but also created their own ‘fire brigades’ to fight fires and thus limit the company’s losses.
It is said that if adjacent buildings were on fire, two different fire brigades might appear and neither would fight the fire in the premises belonging to the rival company.
Metal ‘brand marks’ placed on buildings indicated which companies had insured them against fire. Because they were metal, they were less likely to be destroyed in a fire and served as evidence of a building’s coverage in the event of a claim.
The Hand In Hand is Britain’s oldest surviving insurance company. It was founded in 1696. In 1905 it was acquired by Commercial Union.
In London, Lloyd’s Coffee House (originally located in Tower Street, before moving to Lombard Street in the 1690s) was a meeting place for investors in maritime insurance. It is the origin of Lloyd’s of London, still one of the largest insurance brokers in the world.
Bob Cubitt, Northampton.
