A.S.Howell

Meet two of Orton's skilled painters, Cec' Howell and Harry Shilton.

Photographed in the Crescent Erecting Sheds, sitting astride one of the 'Bukeroo' Dodgem Cars are from left to right - Cec' Howell, Harry Shilton and Ron Gibson. Cec' Howell - (Albert's youngest son) joined the Orton's firm in 1930 at the age of fourteen where he continued to work until the start of WW II. During that time he became a leading member of the painting team, learning all the necessary skills of lining, gilding and sign writing, to name a few. After serving in the Army, he returned in 1946 to join his father and brother (Sid) on one of the first major jobs, which was the rebuild of Robert Edwards Noah's Ark. When completed, it had a new scenic front, which Sid had designed and painted with a 'Ben Hur' Chariot Racing scene and renamed ' Super Chariot Racer' - credit is due to the Edwards family for keeping this ride in such good condition.

See the 'Ben Hur' Ark in colour.

Now stored, it is hoped one day this magnificent ride will again be seen by the general public!

Harry Shilton started work at George Orton's Lion Works in Princess Street when he left school at the age of fourteen in 1924. Anyway, let Harry tell you about it, in his own words -

" My experiences at Orton's are varied, many times when I was an apprentice I became dis-heartened thinking I was being sat on, or blamed for things I had not done. One did not get any privileges - to me the bosses expected you to live only to work. The weekly pay was very generous. I left school at 14 and started after the Christmas holiday at the Princess Street Works. The factory at the Crescent had been burned down the week before - they must have known I was to start! For the first year I received 10s-0d. (50p) then for the 2nd. year up to 11s-0d. (55p) and at the age of 16, 16s-4d. and I signed on for 5 years at increasing rates."

Like Cec', Harry was employed by Orton's until the start of the war in 1939, during that time he worked on most of the amusement devices produced by Orton & Spooner. Harry continues with his written memoirs and recalls painting the last of the Electric Scenic Railways some 75 years ago -

" The Scenics were the current ride of the day when I began my employment at Orton's and my memories of them are somewhat vague! The Peacocks were the hardest to prepare as the carvings of the feathers ran so deep. They all had the usual quota of white lead, two or three coats with all the holes suitably stopped. Then the fronts, back and side facing the public were sized with a mixture of gold size and linseed boiled oil, similar to that used for gilding. Then, when the size was suitably tacky, the car involved would be 'silvered' using six-inch square leaves of silver leaf. The leaf was handled and applied to the work with a cotton wool swab. Once considered ready, at least four of us would attack the job and get the car covered with leaf before the size 'went off.' Then the car would be wiped over with a wet wash-leather and given a coat of varnish to seal it.

From Germany, Orton's were supplied with rich coloured flamboyant stains, mainly red, blue, green, yellow and amber. These were used extensively on the Scenics being blended into the silver leaf work on the Dragons, Whales, Dolphins and Peacocks by the use of a glaze first; and then the application of the stain with a fitch or sable writer, whichever was considered suitable! Working on top of the silver gave the work a translucent or a metallic effect, one similar to our motor cars of to-day. Where appropriate the Dragon mouths were always bright red with pearly white teeth. Sometimes the Peacocks had the tops of their feathers edged with gold leaf. The most detail was on the Peacocks and they really looked super."

" I'm afraid we shall never see the likes of such beautiful masterpieces again ! "

After five years Harry became a fully-fledged 'journeyman' - he continues by describing working on the new breed of machine in the 1930's - the Noah's Arks!

In this brief extract he describes how the patterns were cut and the various colours mixed.

" Sid would make one full pattern out of good quality drawing paper to fit the said rounding board. Afterwards, with a large piece of plate glass underneath, he would cut small pieces out with a sharp penknife, so when complete it would look like a large fretwork pattern. Then he would, with the aid of a pencil, scribe in each of the cut out bits, thus enabling the pattern to be transferred on to the rounding board. There were very few ready mixed colours available then and no gloss paint at all. One had to start with white lead paint mixed with linseed oil and turps with patent dryers added - so as it would dry properly. There were a few small tins of ready mixed colours, like Crimson Red, Bright Yellow, Orange and Royal Green. There were tubs of Vegetable Black, (just like Soot) which had to be mixed with varnish to ' bind' it. There were 7Ib. Tins of Drop Black - a quick drying black, which had to be mixed with Gold Size to bind it which also made it fast to dry. Then there were all the tube colours like - Prussian Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Venetian Red, Golden Ochre, Vandyke Brown, Burnt Umber to name a few. Also there were special 7Ib. Tins of Burton Lake, a quick drying maroon colour, often used in lining and specially made for Orton's for use on their living waggons.

We would make all the colours, the general rule was, first on the job makes all the colours for that particular part of the job, it wasn't generally liked, because you did have to make the colours. After all the colours were duly made, they had to be kept separate from any other job and all booked onto that particular job - hence all the 'handpots' that we bought from Woolworth's. Of course when the colours were finally decided on and the sample painted the rest of the boards would be laid out between barrels and we would put a colour on one board and then move onto the next. Of course that wasn't as simple as it sounds, there were many discussions between ourselves over colours. Sid was very good at explaining to us that certain colours, when next to each other, complemented each other, and other colours when side by side, fight each other. I learned a lot from Sid, just by observing and taking in all he said. Would you think that with adding a touch of pale green to a blue colour it would make a better blue shade? - that was one of Sid's touches, I well remember. In a simple way, painting is all about putting the shadows in first and then finishing off with the high lights!

The early Arks had animals on, painted by Albert or Sid, we used to give all of them a coat of light brown and leave them to it. One Ark only had patterned animals on it, designed by an unknown artist from Birmingham. However, motor bikes came in and became very popular, the wheels were painted in two colours to give the illusion of spinning round and the tyres were blended with White and Vandyke Brown - the tyre treads were stenciled in afterwards. The bike engines and mudguards were mainly stencils, and one made your own number plates up, such as - RU 16, EB 96, and IO U1. Chrome exhausts, simulated, and chrome engines on the 'face side' were screwed on, also headlamps added. The seats were foam filled in dark red, fitted by our old -friend Frank Brittain the upholsterer and French Polisher."

Left - Harry is seen lining Ark handrails. On the right, is another colleague of his George Shaw.

Above right - Slaters' Super Speedway Ark is typical of a mid 1930's conversion, motorcycles were quickly replacing the animals on these rides. All Sid's design, but once the patterns had been cut, the colours mixed and agreed, as Harry describes above, the scenic artist's work was virtually finished; it was then left to the skills of the craftsmen painters to finish the work to the usual high standard that Orton's demanded.

This is only a brief extract from Harry's many memories where he describes what it is was really like to work for Orton's - the work was often hard and demanding, continuous employment could not always be guaranteed. However, he formed many lasting friendships over the years, and is still in regular contact with his old colleague Cec' Howell. His writings reflect the many good times he spent at Orton's, probably best summed up by his comment 'Happy Days' !

The text quoted on this page is the exclusive copyright of Harry Shilton.

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