What's On - The Three Js (2007): Dundee Archives Film Showing

A screening of an archive film all about Dundee's Three Js: Jute, Jam, and Journalism.

Made almost twenty years ago, this iconic half-hour documentary by acclaimed local filmmaker Mrs Daphne Barbieri captured jute in its death throes, jam in its final years in Dundee, and the continuing success of journalism as it celebrated its past and looked to its future.

In 2007, Mrs Barbieri used the cutting-edge format of a mini DV video camera to record her work and that would present its own problems. By 2025, it was proving difficult to recover and play it and so the conservators of the National Library of Scotland, experts at saving pre 1950s cellulose nitrate 35mm film from dissolving, managed to preserve the data onto modern DVD format so future generations can enjoy it.

Her historical overview of jute used forage from the Halley Wallace Craigie footage of the 1940s that was included in the last archive film showing, and she brought that to life by interviewing Mary Taniuk about winding and Ruby Bannon and Peggy Gallacher about working on the looms. The preserved machinery in Verdant Works then demonstrated these functions with just a fraction of the noise that wrecked so many Dundonian eardrums.

By 2007, Keillers had stopped operating from their Mains Loan factory, and Mrs Barbieri used shots of the original factory, now the site of the former Keiller Centre, to remind us of the impact this business had on the centre of the town and indeed the world. An interview with Helen Campbell revealed details about the conveyor belts and the lid-fitting machine finishing thousands of jars of jam for export. With particular fondness, she remembered the visit of Princess Diana to Mains Loan in 1983.

The whirlwind topic of journalism looked in particular at the past, present, and future of the comic industry of DC Thomson in Albert Square. Morris Heggie, editor of the Dandy, selected gems from its archive shelves, pointing out artists’ drawing techniques; while Euan Kerr, editor of the Beano, revealed plans of its future spin off as the monthly Beanomax. Another look at the future was provided by Garry Aitchison and Roy Armstrong, with an explanation of how artists would use computer screens to create storylines. Derek Mckimmie would then tell how the finished product would whizz through the press at 10 metres per second or 50,000 copies per hour.

This packed documentary ends with a look at Dundee in the future, with views of The Sir James Black Centre and the Wellcome Trust Biocentre.

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Information published by Leisure and Culture Dundee.