C. Francis Coley - Revision history

Fogterop at 08:51, 18 December 2018

2018-12-18T08:51:25Z

Fogterop at 08:47, 18 December 2018

2018-12-18T08:47:54Z

Fogterop at 08:27, 16 August 2017

2017-08-16T08:27:37Z

Fogterop at 16:20, 1 December 2014

2014-12-01T16:20:43Z

Fogterop at 16:18, 1 December 2014

2014-12-01T16:18:41Z

Fogterop at 12:41, 19 October 2014

2014-10-19T12:41:40Z

Fogterop at 12:40, 19 October 2014

2014-10-19T12:40:45Z

Fogterop: Created page with " (b. //1896 – d. //****). Producer, director. The first record for Cyril Francis Coley goes back to 1913, when he was registered as a temporary boy clerk in the po..."

2014-10-19T12:36:51Z

Created page with " (b. **: 1896 – d. **: ****). Producer, director. The first record for Cyril Francis Coley goes back to 1913, when he was registered as a temporary boy clerk in the po..."

New page

(b. **/**/1896 – d. **/**/****). Producer, director. The first record for Cyril Francis Coley goes back to 1913, when he was registered as a temporary boy clerk in the post office. Not for long, because by 1915 he was a Lieutenant in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and early in 1925 he was promoted to the rank of Captain, this time in the Royal Corps of Signals in the Territorial Army. In 1926 he was on a ship that sailed for Nigeria, where he may have been in the Colonial Service.

Captain C. Francis Coley came out to South Africa in 1935. According to [[Thelma Gutsche]], he was an English film technician who originally was the South African agent for Fox Movietone News/British Movietone News. He was employed by [[African Film Productions]] to direct a film for the Johannesburg Safety-First Association, but in 1938 he launched [[Union Film Productions]] ([[Union Films]]) in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg with the idea of processing the Movietone programmes locally instead of relying on the importation of positive prints ready for screening on the Twentieth Century-Fox circuit. By December 1940 this concept had been developed further with the first screening of a [[Unifilm News]] programme in Durban as a rival to AFP's [[African Mirror]]. During this time he also contributed news items to British Movietone.

The company soon began to compete with AFP in other ways, notably in the production of documentaries such as ''Mr. Tea and Mr. Skokiaan'' for the Tea Market Expansion Bureau. The outbreak of World War II resulted in a number of recruiting and propaganda films made for various government agencies. These included titles like ''Delivery on Due Date'' / ''Stiptelike Aflewering'' (194-), ''Fall In'' (1942), ''Heritage'' / ''Ons Erfenis'' (1942) and ''Planning For Peace'' / ''Die Pad Verder'' (1945), many of them directed by [[Arthur L. Bennett]], who became Coley's in-house director. During the war years the company also struck sound prints from negatives supplied by the British War Office and the Ministry of Information for screening in local cinemas.

Together with [[Louis Knobel]], Bennett was the director of [[Die Wildsboudjie]] (1946) and, on his own, of [[Die Skerpioen]] (1946), two early Afrikaans-language features, while Coley himself was responsible for [[Sarie Marais]] (1949) - not to be confused with the earlier film of that title directed by [[Joseph Albrecht]] (1931). By that time [[Union Film Productions]] had become [[Unifilms]] as the result of an agreement of cooperation between Coley and [[William Boxer]]'s [[Alexander Films]]. Unifilms only made three feature films, though it continued to produce many documentaries, including ''Cape Vineyards'' ([[Nicholaas Grobler]]/1954) for K.W.V. At one stage there were plans to establish a film studio in Stellenbosch (land had already been identified by the municipality), but these seem to have fallen by the wayside. According to filmmaker [[Esdon Frost]], who started working with Coley in 1959, by that time the Unifilms studio had moved to the Cape Province and operated from Coley's house in Constantia.

Together with individuals such as [[Thelma Gutsche]], [[C.P. Beyers de Leeuw]] and [[Harold C. Weaver]], Coley was a member of an Inter-departmental Committee appointed to consider the Reports of the Committee on State Publicity, the Film Committee and other Related Matters, which came out in 1945. In 1966 a Coley collection was deposited at the [[National Film Board of South Africa]].

(C. Francis Coley married Eileen Mildred Bennett in 1925. She was born in Fulham in 1903, while Arthur Lewis Bennett was born there in 1905. Bennett came to South Africa in 1937 and it is not impossible that he was, in fact, Coley's brother-in-law.) (FO)

== Sources ==

Sight & Sound, Spring 1946 ("The first feature in Afrikaans" by Capt. Coley)

Gutsche, Thelma - The history and social significance of motion pictures in South Africa 1895-1940

Le Roux, André I. & Fourie, Lilla – Filmverlede: geskiedenis van die Suid-Afrikaanse speelfilm

== Return to ==

Return to [[ESAT Personalities V]]

Return to [[South_African_Theatre/Personalities|South African Theatre Personalities]]

Return to [[The ESAT Entries]]

Return to [[Main Page]]

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 Together with [[Louis Knobel]], Bennett was the director of [[Die Wildsboudjie]] (1946) and, on his own, of [[Die Skerpioen]] (1946), two early Afrikaans-language features, while Coley himself was responsible for [[Sarie Marais]] (1949) - not to be confused with the earlier film of that title directed by [[Joseph Albrecht]] (1931).  By that time [[Union Film Productions]] had become [[Unifilms]] as the result of an agreement of cooperation between Coley and [[William Boxer]]'s [[Alexander Films]].  Unifilms only made three feature films, though it continued to produce many documentaries, including ''Cape Vineyards'' ([[Nicholaas Grobler]]/1954) for K.W.V.  At one stage there were plans to establish a film studio in Stellenbosch (land had already been identified by the municipality), but these seem to have fallen by the wayside.  According to filmmaker [[Esdon Frost]], who started working with Coley in 1959, by that time the Unifilms studio had moved to the Cape Province and operated from Coley's house in Constantia.
-Together with individuals such as [[Thelma Gutsche]], [[C.P. de Leeuw Beyers]] and [[Harold C. Weaver]], Coley was a member of an Inter-departmental Committee appointed to consider the Reports of the Committee on State Publicity, the Film Committee and other Related Matters, which came out in 1945.   In 1966 a Coley collection was deposited at the [[National Film Board of South Africa]].  Coley had married Eileen Mary Bennett in 1925 and her brother, Arthur Leslie Bennett, became Coley’s partner in [[Unifilms]].  (FO)
+Together with individuals such as [[Thelma Gutsche]], [[C.P. de Leeuw Beyers]] and [[Harold C. Weaver]], Coley was a member of an Inter-departmental Committee appointed to consider the Reports of the Committee on State Publicity, the Film Committee and other Related Matters, which came out in 1945.   In 1966 a Coley collection was deposited at the [[National Film Board of South Africa]].  Coley had married Eileen M. Bennett in 1925 and her brother, [[Arthur L. Bennett]], became Coley’s partner in [[Unifilms]].  (FO)
 == Sources ==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-(b. Gibraltar, 26/07/1897 - d. 17/12/1968).  Producer, director.  The first record for Cyril Francis Coley goes back to 1913, when he was registered as a temporary clerk in the post office.  Not for long, because by 1915 he was a Lieutenant in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and early in 1925 he was promoted to the rank of Captain, this time in the Royal Corps of Signals in the Territorial Army.  In 1926 he was on a ship that sailed for Nigeria, where he may have been in the Colonial Service.
+C. Francis Coley (b. Gibraltar, 26/07/1897 - d. 17/12/1968) was a producer and director.
 Captain C. Francis Coley came out to South Africa in 1935.  According to [[Thelma Gutsche]], he was an English film technician who originally was the South African agent for Fox Movietone News/British Movietone News.  He was employed by [[African Film Productions]] to direct a film for the Johannesburg Safety-First Association, but early in 1938 he launched [[Union Film Productions]] ([[Union Films]]) in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg with the idea of processing the Movietone programmes locally instead of relying on the importation of positive prints ready for screening on the Twentieth Century-Fox circuit.  By December 1940 this concept  had been developed further with the first screening of a [[Unifilm News]] programme in Durban as a rival to AFP's [[African Mirror]].  During this time he also contributed news items to British Movietone.
@@ Line 8: / Line 12: @@
 Together with [[Louis Knobel]], Bennett was the director of [[Die Wildsboudjie]] (1946) and, on his own, of [[Die Skerpioen]] (1946), two early Afrikaans-language features, while Coley himself was responsible for [[Sarie Marais]] (1949) - not to be confused with the earlier film of that title directed by [[Joseph Albrecht]] (1931).  By that time [[Union Film Productions]] had become [[Unifilms]] as the result of an agreement of cooperation between Coley and [[William Boxer]]'s [[Alexander Films]].  Unifilms only made three feature films, though it continued to produce many documentaries, including ''Cape Vineyards'' ([[Nicholaas Grobler]]/1954) for K.W.V.  At one stage there were plans to establish a film studio in Stellenbosch (land had already been identified by the municipality), but these seem to have fallen by the wayside.  According to filmmaker [[Esdon Frost]], who started working with Coley in 1959, by that time the Unifilms studio had moved to the Cape Province and operated from Coley's house in Constantia.
-Together with individuals such as [[Thelma Gutsche]], [[C.P. de Leeuw Beyers]] and [[Harold C. Weaver]], Coley was a member of an Inter-departmental Committee appointed to consider the Reports of the Committee on State Publicity, the Film Committee and other Related Matters, which came out in 1945.   In 1966 a Coley collection was deposited at the [[National Film Board of South Africa]].
+Together with individuals such as [[Thelma Gutsche]], [[C.P. de Leeuw Beyers]] and [[Harold C. Weaver]], Coley was a member of an Inter-departmental Committee appointed to consider the Reports of the Committee on State Publicity, the Film Committee and other Related Matters, which came out in 1945.   In 1966 a Coley collection was deposited at the [[National Film Board of South Africa]].  Coley had married Eileen Mary Bennett in 1925 and her brother, Arthur Leslie Bennett, became Coley’s partner in [[Unifilms]].  (FO)
 == Sources ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:27, 16 August 2017
Line 1:		Line 1:

−	(b. //~~1896 –~~ d. //~~****~~). Producer, director. The first record for Cyril Francis Coley goes back to 1913, when he was registered as a temporary clerk in the post office. Not for long, because by 1915 he was a Lieutenant in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and early in 1925 he was promoted to the rank of Captain, this time in the Royal Corps of Signals in the Territorial Army. In 1926 he was on a ship that sailed for Nigeria, where he may have been in the Colonial Service.	+	(b. Gibraltar, 26/07/1897 - d. 17/12/1968). Producer, director. The first record for Cyril Francis Coley goes back to 1913, when he was registered as a temporary clerk in the post office. Not for long, because by 1915 he was a Lieutenant in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and early in 1925 he was promoted to the rank of Captain, this time in the Royal Corps of Signals in the Territorial Army. In 1926 he was on a ship that sailed for Nigeria, where he may have been in the Colonial Service.

	Captain C. Francis Coley came out to South Africa in 1935. According to [[Thelma Gutsche]], he was an English film technician who originally was the South African agent for Fox Movietone News/British Movietone News. He was employed by [[African Film Productions]] to direct a film for the Johannesburg Safety-First Association, but early in 1938 he launched [[Union Film Productions]] ([[Union Films]]) in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg with the idea of processing the Movietone programmes locally instead of relying on the importation of positive prints ready for screening on the Twentieth Century-Fox circuit. By December 1940 this concept had been developed further with the first screening of a [[Unifilm News]] programme in Durban as a rival to AFP's [[African Mirror]]. During this time he also contributed news items to British Movietone.		Captain C. Francis Coley came out to South Africa in 1935. According to [[Thelma Gutsche]], he was an English film technician who originally was the South African agent for Fox Movietone News/British Movietone News. He was employed by [[African Film Productions]] to direct a film for the Johannesburg Safety-First Association, but early in 1938 he launched [[Union Film Productions]] ([[Union Films]]) in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg with the idea of processing the Movietone programmes locally instead of relying on the importation of positive prints ready for screening on the Twentieth Century-Fox circuit. By December 1940 this concept had been developed further with the first screening of a [[Unifilm News]] programme in Durban as a rival to AFP's [[African Mirror]]. During this time he also contributed news items to British Movietone.

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Captain C. Francis Coley came out to South Africa in 1935.  According to [[Thelma Gutsche]], he was an English film technician who originally was the South African agent for Fox Movietone News/British Movietone News.  He was employed by [[African Film Productions]] to direct a film for the Johannesburg Safety-First Association, but early in 1938 he launched [[Union Film Productions]] ([[Union Films]]) in Bezuidenhout Valley, Johannesburg with the idea of processing the Movietone programmes locally instead of relying on the importation of positive prints ready for screening on the Twentieth Century-Fox circuit.  By December 1940 this concept  had been developed further with the first screening of a [[Unifilm News]] programme in Durban as a rival to AFP's [[African Mirror]].  During this time he also contributed news items to British Movietone.
-The company soon began to compete with AFP in other ways, notably in the production of documentaries such as ''Mr. Tea and Mr. Skokiaan'' for the Tea Market Expansion Bureau.  The outbreak of World War II resulted in a number of recruiting and propaganda films made for various government agencies.  These included titles like ''Delivery on Due Date'' / ''Stiptelike Aflewering'' (194-), ''Fall In'' (1942), ''Heritage'' / ''Ons Erfenis'' (1942) and ''Planning For Peace'' / ''Die Pad Verder'' (1945), many of them directed by [[Arthur L. Bennett]], who became Coley's in-house director.  In addition Coley is known to have supplied material for use by British Movietone News.  During the war years the company also struck sound prints from negatives supplied by the British War Office and the Ministry of Information for screening in local cinemas.
+The company soon began to compete with AFP in other ways, notably in the production of documentaries such as ''Mr. Tea and Mr. Skokiaan'' for the Tea Market Expansion Bureau.  The outbreak of World War II resulted in a number of recruiting and propaganda films made for various government agencies.  These included titles like ''Delivery on Due Date'' / ''Stiptelike Aflewering'' (194-), ''Fall In'' (1942), ''Heritage'' / ''Ons Erfenis'' (1942) and ''Planning For Peace'' / ''Die Pad Verder'' (1945), many of them directed by [[Arthur L. Bennett]], who became Coley's in-house director. During the war years the company also struck sound prints from negatives supplied by the British War Office and the Ministry of Information for screening in local cinemas.
 Together with [[Louis Knobel]], Bennett was the director of [[Die Wildsboudjie]] (1946) and, on his own, of [[Die Skerpioen]] (1946), two early Afrikaans-language features, while Coley himself was responsible for [[Sarie Marais]] (1949) - not to be confused with the earlier film of that title directed by [[Joseph Albrecht]] (1931).  By that time [[Union Film Productions]] had become [[Unifilms]] as the result of an agreement of cooperation between Coley and [[William Boxer]]'s [[Alexander Films]].  Unifilms only made three feature films, though it continued to produce many documentaries, including ''Cape Vineyards'' ([[Nicholaas Grobler]]/1954) for K.W.V.  At one stage there were plans to establish a film studio in Stellenbosch (land had already been identified by the municipality), but these seem to have fallen by the wayside.  According to filmmaker [[Esdon Frost]], who started working with Coley in 1959, by that time the Unifilms studio had moved to the Cape Province and operated from Coley's house in Constantia.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 Together with [[Louis Knobel]], Bennett was the director of [[Die Wildsboudjie]] (1946) and, on his own, of [[Die Skerpioen]] (1946), two early Afrikaans-language features, while Coley himself was responsible for [[Sarie Marais]] (1949) - not to be confused with the earlier film of that title directed by [[Joseph Albrecht]] (1931).  By that time [[Union Film Productions]] had become [[Unifilms]] as the result of an agreement of cooperation between Coley and [[William Boxer]]'s [[Alexander Films]].  Unifilms only made three feature films, though it continued to produce many documentaries, including ''Cape Vineyards'' ([[Nicholaas Grobler]]/1954) for K.W.V.  At one stage there were plans to establish a film studio in Stellenbosch (land had already been identified by the municipality), but these seem to have fallen by the wayside.  According to filmmaker [[Esdon Frost]], who started working with Coley in 1959, by that time the Unifilms studio had moved to the Cape Province and operated from Coley's house in Constantia.
-Together with individuals such as [[Thelma Gutsche]], [[C.P. Beyers de Leeuw]] and [[Harold C. Weaver]], Coley was a member of an Inter-departmental Committee appointed to consider the Reports of the Committee on State Publicity, the Film Committee and other Related Matters, which came out in 1945.   In 1966 a Coley collection was deposited at the [[National Film Board of South Africa]].
+Together with individuals such as [[Thelma Gutsche]], [[C.P. de Leeuw Beyers]] and [[Harold C. Weaver]], Coley was a member of an Inter-departmental Committee appointed to consider the Reports of the Committee on State Publicity, the Film Committee and other Related Matters, which came out in 1945.   In 1966 a Coley collection was deposited at the [[National Film Board of South Africa]].
 (C. Francis Coley married Eileen Mildred Bennett in 1925.  She was born in Fulham in 1903, while Arthur Lewis Bennett was born there in 1905.  Bennett came to South Africa in 1937 and it is not impossible that he was, in fact, Coley's brother-in-law.)  (FO)

@@ Line 22: / Line 22: @@
 == Return to ==
-Return to [[ESAT Personalities V]]
+Return to [[ESAT Personalities C]]
 Return to [[South_African_Theatre/Personalities|South African Theatre Personalities]]