William Haggar

the long version

My book, "William Haggar, fairground film-maker" is a biography of my great-grandfather, a pioneer silent film-maker who made films to show to his own audiences on the fairgrounds of South Wales between 1901 and 1914. The book contains, in 216 pages,: - as a prelude, "This film was a sensation 28 years ago", a review of Haggar's 1914 50-minute film, "The Maid of Cefn Ydfa" published in the "South Wales Echo" in 1938; - ten chapters of narration, including background on portable theatres in the late nineteenth century, the early cinema and the fairground, and Haggar's films; - eight appendices including a filmography, synopses of lost films, a scene-by-scene analysis of "The Maid of Cefn Ydfa", and newspaper articles from the time quoted in full; - notes, indices, a family tree, a list of extant films, and 48 illustrations, including 24 frame enlargements from Haggar's films. (Peter Yorke)