Carousella

Date: 1966
Director: John Irvin
Production Company: Mithras Films

Stars: Katy Jordan, Tina Samuels, Julie Lester
Location(s): Cambridgeshire, London

Region(s): ,

Storyline:

A short documentary that studies the lives of three London strippers and their costume designer.

Additional Information:

Page compiled by Phil Wilkinson

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Valentine Dyall narrates "You can walk a long way between clubs doing thirty strips a day." Facing number 11 Greek Street in W1.

No tobacconist's kiosk, no seedy club, no character . . . PW

"It's hardest during the Royal Tournament, the Motor Show and the Cup Final." Detail above the entrance to The Carousel, one of the doorways to 11 Greek Street in Soho.

. . . and little sign of the past. PW

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Tina (Tina Samuels) walks through a shopping arcade. "Tina, 21, Italian father and English mother, now dead, has been in striptease a year and started as a dare."

"Julie (Julie Lester) is 24, married, two children. She's been stripping for a year and a half. A girlfriend suggested that she gave it a try." Looking west on Meard Street W1, other views of which feature in 'Don't Open till Christmas', ‘Saturday Night Out’, 'King of the Underworld', 'Two Left Feet', 'A Woman of Mystery', 'The Moon Over the Alley', 'All You Need Is Cash' and 'The Share Out'.

The doorway remains to confirm the location. PW

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"Katy (Katy Jordan), 26, half Arab. Half a year as a striptease artist. Needed some quick money."

Following an introduction to Bill Dane, a South African choreographer and costume designer, the film follows Tina through a street market. Berwick Street in Soho with numbers 14 to 9 crossing the top centre of the view.

Well we can see where number 10 is. PW

"Tina was married at 17 and the marriage was annulled at 18. Her husband didn't want to know any more." Facing southward on Berwick Street W1 with a property at the corner of Peter Street and Walker's Court top right

Quite a few changes here. PW

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After Tina tells us what she likes and wants, the Narrator explains that Tina likes to take Americans on conducted tours of London. "Once she took them to Cambridge." Clare Bridge, looking west along the causeway running between Clare College and Queen's Road in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire.

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Tina entertains two US Sailors (Hal Gilali and Chuck Julian). Facing east on the causeway running between Queen's Road and Clare College with Clare College in the background.

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Tina continues "I don't know what it is I've got about Americans but I like Americans very much." The Great Court at Trinity College, Cambridge with King Edward's Tower in the left background.

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"Don't know if it's their accent, their way, or what it is, but I like Americans." The Great Court at Trinity College in Cambridge.

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"They're never miserable, they're always happy and out for a good laugh."

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"So am I" laughs Tina. New Court Bridge, or the Bridge of Sighs, connecting New Court with Third Court across the River Cam at St. John's College, Cambridge.

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The three take to the river. The Backs of the River Cam in Cambridge with Bodley's Court on the left.

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"As we were going along the river everything was very, very peaceful." The Cam alongside King's College with Bodley's Court on the left and King's Bridge visible to the right.

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Bells chime as Tina sums up that "It was very romantic in a way although it was early in the afternoon." Looking across the Great Lawn towards King's College from The Backs of the River Cam with Gibbs' Building in the left background.

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"We've got more pride, I found, than a girl working in an office doing an ordinary job . . ."

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" . . . but a lot of people don't think this. They think it's disgusting."

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"I never think of them as all the men sitting in the audience looking at me taking my clothes off . . . it doesn't cross my mind at all."

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"I suppose in a way we're teasing them something awful. But if they want their punishment, that's up to them."

"Any girl could go into a club, get a job and pick up a routine if they have the guts to. I mean, it doesn't get any harder, you're just a striptease artist." The Ritz Cinema at number 4 Leicester Square W1.

Not a particularly pretty sight. Just to the west of The Empire. SJ

Julie walks through Soho. "Sometimes, with the old men, I've been told I look like their wives when they were younger. It matters to me what the punters think of me afterwards." Tisbury Court W1.

Looking west with Rupert Street in the background. PW

"It can be sexy without being crude." The Narrator adds that Julie dreams of a holiday in Hawaii but relies on fate to get her there. Shaftesbury Avenue W1, facing the corner of Frith Street with the Columbia Cinema at the base of Wingate House to the right.

Taken from the pavement to avoid certain death by traffic coming from Cambridge Circus. PW

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"I think it's a fact that boys tend to go for their mother more. They need more affection. I definitely believe it. I didn't believe it until I had a boy and a girl."

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"I never favour one more than the other. I love them both just as much."

The Narrator takes over "In her fantasies, Katy would like to wander through South America in a pair of jeans and a hat and a tied up shirt." Looking towards the junction of Charing Cross Road and Great Newport Street from Newport Court in W1.

Buildings at the corner of Long Acre and Garrick Street still stand in the distance. PW

Carrying her dog, Katy crosses the street. Facing the junction of Old Compton Street and Wardour Street with Tisbury Court in the darkness to the left.

Looking towards the same junction. PW

Looking up from her coffee, Katy sees her boyfriend Romano (Romano Rossi) running through a park. Hanover Square W1 where the background building has since given way to the entrance to the Elizabeth Line's Bond Street station.

Paul Lincoln ventured to the significantly changed Hanover Square to capture what is now a less interesting foreground. (RL)

After stumbling on the lawn, the Italian croupier reaches the other side of the park. Hanover Square in Mayfair.

Paul relied on the fact that the tree in the top left corner is perhaps the only surviving piece of the original screen capture. (RL)

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Romano and Katy enter a travel agency where they browse brochures at the counter. From the premises of 'Alitalia Airways' at Oxford Circus, now the 'Microsoft Shop', Dave W can see a small part of his employment history. (RL)

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After a trip to Italy is booked, Katy turns heads as she walks through the airport. The Arrivals Hall at London Airport's Europa Terminal in Hillingdon, Greater London.