ABSTRACT
Another early fad, the special children's show, had lost much of its popularity with the showmen, who had found it unprofitable without adequate co-operation from school authorities. The latter had not always taken their efforts very seriously, perhaps with reason. There were exceptions, of course, and it is recorded that when Ponting visited Northwood,4
the Middlesex authority sanctioned the closing of the Northwood schools for an afternoon in order that all the children might hear him.5 The Middlesbrough authorities, too, expressed themselves in favour of special children's shows once or twice a week, which were apparently to consist mainly of educational films.6 But such experiments were clearly not widespread. The "schoolboy's educational matinée," like the children's films and yearly pantomime films, became very largely a thing of the past.7
