Sing As We Go is a perfect example of the appeal that Gracie Fields had for the United Kingdom during the Depression Years. Plucky Gracie the eternal optimist who met life on its own terms with a smile and a song and not a few good belly laughs. She was the perfect symbol of the working class working woman in Great Britain.
In her town in Northern England, the main employer is a mill which has had to shut down. They might re-open if the owners led by John Loder can convince an industrialist of a new process for refining cotton. Until then Gracie and the whole town is on the 'dole' which is what they called welfare back then. In the USA it was called 'relief' during those years.
Gracie decides to go to the resort town of Blackpool to pick up whatever work she can there and have a good time doing it. She's staying with cousin Dorothy Hyson who Loder would like to take up with when he visits Blackpool on holiday.
Blackpool is quite the resort area still in the UK and the film was shot there and offers a marvelous look at life during the Depression in Great Britain. Folks had to amuse themselves with simple pleasures and in Blackpool they did it with gusto.
Fields had a marvelous comic genius, the equivalent of Lucille Ball and she also had a great singing voice, not just for comic songs, but for serious ballads as well, though we don't see that here. Her records still sell well on CDs in the United Kingdom.
In her town in Northern England, the main employer is a mill which has had to shut down. They might re-open if the owners led by John Loder can convince an industrialist of a new process for refining cotton. Until then Gracie and the whole town is on the 'dole' which is what they called welfare back then. In the USA it was called 'relief' during those years.
Gracie decides to go to the resort town of Blackpool to pick up whatever work she can there and have a good time doing it. She's staying with cousin Dorothy Hyson who Loder would like to take up with when he visits Blackpool on holiday.
Blackpool is quite the resort area still in the UK and the film was shot there and offers a marvelous look at life during the Depression in Great Britain. Folks had to amuse themselves with simple pleasures and in Blackpool they did it with gusto.
Fields had a marvelous comic genius, the equivalent of Lucille Ball and she also had a great singing voice, not just for comic songs, but for serious ballads as well, though we don't see that here. Her records still sell well on CDs in the United Kingdom.