Foreign Compacts (1956)

East London. C/Us of various souvenir powder compacts with scenes from different countries and towns depicted on the lids. M/S and C/Us of a woman working at a table at the factory of AS Brown and Co Ltd and stretching some fabric embroidered with a flower design over a metal circular shape, then fitting a metal frame around it. Commentator tells us many souvenir compacts are made in London and shipped abroad. M/S of a man working at another bench (he could be GW Dowdswell); C/U as we see he is carving white flower shapes onto a black perspex disc. M/S and C/Us of a woman at another bench who is pressing transfer designs onto gold compact cases with a damp cloth, then polishing them off. C/Us of various perspex compacts with white and coloured flower motifs. Commentator says “In this way woman’s vanity is indirectly helping to boost Britain’s export trade. And as far as the rest of us are concerned, the next time you want to impress your friends with tales of the holiday spent in the South