Bill Davison

[Adrian Winchester]

As some members will know, Bill Davison used to write the 'Bootlace Cinema' Super 8 reviews in Movie Maker magazine, and he also had some involvement in Blackpool conventions in the pre-Derann era. He made an unexpected appearance at Blackpool in 2019, which some of us enjoyed seeing. I recall there were one or two forum posts before this, indicating that someone had contacted him, so I wondered if anyone can reach him now?

If he proved to be well and willing, the Blackpool team would like to invite him to appear in a Q&A at this year's convention.

[Paul Adsett]

Bootlace Cinema would be a really great Q&A topic Adrian. I remember the anticipation of each edition of Movie Maker, and Bill Davison's Bootlace Cinema was always the first pages I would read (closely followed by Ivan Watson's brilliant articles).
I hope you get the opportunity to secure Bill for the next Blackpool. One thing I have always wanted to know - did he get to keep all those great prints?

[Douglas Meltzer]

Paul,

I asked Ged Jones about Derann's policy on that subject. He said the prints were returned, but if the reviewer wanted to purchase the print they would work out a price for them. Gary Brockelhurst kept a book with all the films going out for review and would delete them on their return.

Adrian,

I hope Bill Davison is able to join you. His reviews were always great fun to read.

[Adrian Winchester]

Many years ago, I bought some 200' and 400' prints that Bill offered somewhere, so maybe they included review prints but I can't be sure. He had covered all the cardboard boxes with an adhesive black covering to give them a uniform look. So, if you ever see a film box that's completely black and shiny, it's probably a film that was in Bill's collection!