Barnes, Bill (William), 1920 - 2019
Biography
William 'Bill' Barnes was a renowned film history and collector, who together with his twin brother John (1920-2008), amassed one of the finest collections of early British cinema in the country.
Bill and John became fascinated with cinema from an early age. When they were twelve years old they had a home cine projector and soon after, still in their teen years, they started to make their own films and documentaries. Examples of the titles they created together are Cornish Nets and With the Gypsies in Kent.
Bill and John started to collect cinema material in the 1930s. The brothers served together in the Royal Navy during WWII. At the end of the war, they became specialist booksellers of cinema and pre-cinema material.
The brothers opened the Barnes Museum of Cinematography in St Ives in 1936. John managed the collection while Bill continued to build up the collection visiting fairs, markets and auctions around the country. At this time Bill was working as a Film Production Consultant in London, where he used to visit markets and antique shops. The museum closed in 1986 and the collection was split between the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin and Hove Museum. Eventually, Bill started to run his own stall in Chelsea antiques market selling optical toys, lantern slides and photo cine items. John, who remained in Cornwall all his life, died in 2008. The brothers had always been very close and Bill felt a great loss.
Bill became a leading authority on many aspects of the optical media that preceded cinema and in particular of the early years of cinema itself.
John and Bill wrote extensively on early cinema history, John was known for The Beginnings of Cinema in Britain series and Bill for his articles on The Magic Lantern journal among others.
Bill and John received an honorary doctorate from the University of Stirling in 2006 and the Jean Mitry Prize.
Found in 7 Collections and/or Records:
Bill Barnes Collection
Programmes, posters and photographs mainly related to the Poole family's travelling Myriorama show.
Louise Tussaud's New Exhibition Programme, c1891-1892
St. Jame's Great Hall, Oxford Street, Manchester. Black type and colour centre containing the names of Tussaud's staff and officials on the front cover, inside programme listing Mr Percival Craig, Sydney Gandy and Miss Inglefield, Professor Bracken, Living Pictures or Tableaux Vivant and The Grand Panorama, on back cover Chamber of Horrors, 2p.p.
Opera Comique Programme, May 1896
Strand. Black type on green background on front cover announcing Shamus O'Brien in three tableaux founded on the celebrated poem by Jos. Sheridan Le Fanu, inside commercial advertising and programme listing C. Villiers Standord's new romantic comic opera Shamus O'brien, also contains programme for Olympia listing Chevalier Blondin and Animated pictures by Mr Paul's Theatrograph, 2p.p.
Programmes , 1881 - 2016
Pre-Film and variety and music hall programmes mainly related to the travelling shows of Joseph Poole and Harry Poole, Harry H. Hamilton, Mapleston Brothers and Adams but it also includes other showmen.
The Harry H. Hamilton's Excursions, Queen and Empire Programme, c1897
The Palace Theatre of Varieties Programme, 6 July 1895
Elsa May, Will Crackles, Miss Rose Dearing, J.C. Harrington, La Belle Rose, The Tiller Troupe, Clara Wieland, R.H. Douglass, Cissie Loftus, O'Brien and Redding, Miss Lottie Collins, John Le Hay, Tableaux Vivants. Three fold programme with red, gold and blue type and colour illustration of a women dancing, lifting the sides of her skirt in the centre, on the sides colour illstrations of a building exterior and interior, inside programme and commercial advertising.
The Palace Theatre of Variety Programme, 28 April 1902
Three fold programme with black illustration of a woman dancing, illustration of interior and exterior views of the building and a female performer on the outside, on the inside programme listing Harry Drew, Mabel Allen, Katie Vesey, Professor Dunca and his troupe of Collie dogs, May Belfort, The Follies, Maude Courtney, G.H. Chirgwin, Tableaux Vivants, The Madcaps, Datas, Quatuor Basque and The American Biograph. Contains commercial advertisements.
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- Subject: Tableaux vivants X
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