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Edward Allan CRICK Commander, R.N.
Edward Allan CRICK Commander, is son of Edward Herbert CRICK Major & Beatrice Pearson WALKER from Hasting. He was born in 29 Monserrat Rd, Putney, on 4 July 1897. He married Gladys May Houghton on 10th January 1925 when she was 21. They have four children: Timothy John (1928-), Robert Allan (1930-), James Bernard (1931-2013); Waveney Jennifer (1936-). Alan Crick died in Beaumont House, London W.1 on 14 November 1958 aged 61, of cancer.

Naval Career
He was educated at Lancing College in 1911; and by 1915 he entered Royal Naval College, Keyham, as Special Entry Cadet. Then from 3rd March 1916 to 15 September 1919 he was in active service with the Grand Fleet and destroyers in the North Sea and Baltic. He went to Caius College, Cambridge in 1920 and did various Royal Navy courses in Portsmouth. From 1921-1922 was back at sea as Lieutenant at various ships (HMS Excellent,HMS CARADOC, HMS Julius). He retired from the navy in 1922; and up to 1927 he was full time art student and freelance artist (producing posters, book jackets, etchings, aquatints, lithographs, woodcuts, portraits in oils and pencil.  Landscape in oils and watercolour). From 1927-1939 he works as Manager and then meade as Director of a London firm for beer and mineral water bottle manufacturers (Plowman & Barrett in 71 Bond Street, Vauxhall, SW8). Then in 1939 re-called at outbreak of Second World War(as Lieutenant Commander). He served at HMS King Alfred and training Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve officers. By 1942 he was staff of Director Naval Training, as 2nd in command Naval Instructional Film Unit. He was promoted as Commander in 1944, in charge Naval Instructional Film Unit. An in 1946 he was staff of Director of Navigation and Direction and re-write Admiralty Seamanship Manuals. He eventually retired completely from Royal Nay from 8th May l946 as Commander. He then worked at Halas & Batchelor as Director and junior partner from 1947-1956; and from 1956-1958 he set up his own company Allan Crick Productions.

Film Career
From 1942 he was Naval Technical Adviser within The Director of Training in the Admiralty. A seven reel Technicolour model-cum-cartoon instructional film "Handling Ships” was produced by John Halas and shot at Technicolour. He designed the models, supplied working drawings for the sets and edited the film. He joined  Halas & Batchelor in 1947 as Director and junior partner, to script and direct a six-reel Technicolour training film for the Home Office, "Water for Firefighting", producer was John Halas and Bob Privett   directing the animation.  He assumed responsibility for the Diagram Department and for camera equipment. In 1948 Alan Crick with Bob Privett, produced, scripted and directed a black and white two reel Naval Instructional film "Submarine Control", and a one reel Technicolour film for Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, "As Old as the Hills".

Between 1949-1955 produced subsequent films for British Petroleum Company; in which all of them had been shown at Venice Film Festival.
 * "We've Come a Long way" - one reel Technicolour
 * "Service" - one reel Technicolour; (with John Halas & Joy Batchelor")
 * "The Moving Spirit"- two reel Technicolour.
 * "The Power to Fly" - two reel Technicolour.
 * "Down a Long Way" - two reel Eastmancolour.
 * "Speed the Plough" - two reel Eastmancolour.
 * "Animal Vegetable Mineral”

Produced for the Admiralty:
"Coastal Navigation and Pilotage" - four reels black and white, and others not for public exhibition.

Produced for Esso:
"Refinery at Work" - three reel Technicolour cartoon and live action. And a non-sponsored puppet film, The Figurehead", made to a  music track scored for an existing cartoon script by Joy Batchelor. Also the "Linear Accelerator" for E.F.T.A. - Mullard

Allan Crick Productions 1956-58
‘Sales Promotion-the Key to Efficiency’ for BP (1957) ‘Field Astronomy’ for the Army (1957)

In May 1998 The National Film and Television Archive are preserving the following films on which Allan Crick worked: -

Other films NFTA know about but which they don’t have are: The following article was printed in "Imagery", a magasine produced for The Film Producers Guild in 1957. Allan Crick Productions Ltd. was one of the companies that formed the Guild. "Born with the questing spirit of the artist: driven by experience to deal with routine: cast by fate to lead and influence people: trained to improvise and plan quickly to turn problem into solution: this background is life's gift to Allan Crick.  The use he has made of it can best be gauged by the work he does.  In his cartoon films one sees the wit and humanity he has garnered from living, and those with knowledge of his medium can assess the planning and practical contrivance, which illuminates the finished work. From Lancing College to the Royal Naval College as a special entry cadet, he served as an officer in the Royal Navy on active service at sea from 1916-1919.  Thence still in the R.N. he was sent to Cambridge to soak in the atmosphere of this ancient seat of learning.  Back to the sea again as senior watchkeeper in a cruiser, he was well on his way up the ladder of the Senior Service, but this man was not born to be trammeled. In 1922 Allan Crick retired from the Navy and worked for five years as an artist. These were happy and successful years and most people would have been content with such a career. But this for Allan was not a whole life. True he drew and painted people but this did not involve that personal contact and comradeship to which his past had accustomed him. A new world must be found and he found it in industry. For twelve years he worked happily among people and machines in a large bottling plant. Rising from Works Manager to Director, reorganising and redesigning the machinery on his way up, he ran a happy ship, and piloted the company into profitable waters. Then another war started. Back to the Royal Navy from 1939 -47. Strange as it may seem it was in this life that he finally forged the career which, post-war, has made his name known to people all over the world as a brilliant maker of cartoon films. Lieutenant Commander Allan Crick, R.N. started his second spell training young R.N.V.R. Officers in 1939. This work he continued until 1942. He proved a profound truth in successful teaching - in order to clarify his lectures he drew them. Overwork brought its usual reward and a rest was enforced. During this period Allan wrote and illustrated 'The Seaman's Pocket Book" (H.M.S.O) very well known in the Navy as "The Seaman's Bible".  Then fate really stepped in and took Allan by the nose.  He was sent to the Admiralty on the staff of the Director of Naval Training with duties` as Second in Command of the Naval Instructional Film Section.       In 1944 Commander Crick assumed command of the Film Section under the Director of Training.  This was not to be his last job in the Navy.  In 1946 he was appointed to the Staff of the Director of Navigation and Direction to re-write Admiralty Seamanship Manuals.  In 1947 Commander Allan Crick, R.N. was demobilised and joined the Halas and Batchelor cartoon film organisation.  There he worked very successfully on some famous films and found great delight in the world of gadgets and exact calculation that forms such an essential part of this type of film production. Whether one likes better the joyous wit of "The Moving Spirit" or the clarity of explanation in "Down a Long Way" is a matter of taste; but Allan Crick's contribution to those and many other equally well-known films is known to be in the category "major". He stayed with Halas and Batchelor until 1956. Allan Crick now commands his own ship within the Guild - running "Allan Crick Productions Ltd." His new command completed its first assignment at the end of 1957. This is the successful cartoon "Sales Promotion - The Key to Efficiency" produced for the British Petroleum Company Limited. At this moment he is engaged on a film that perhaps only he could have successfully undertaken," Field Astronomy" for the Army Kinema Corporation. This involves the design of special models and of course the knowledge that a navigator takes in his stride. If you visit Allan Crick in his office just now it will not be long before he shows you his "latest toy". His "toys" are disarmingly simple in principle, but mesmerise the average lay mind with the complexity of their detail. He will, however, explain everything with an engaging enthusiasm and tell you that the only way of showing on the screen how meridians change position as the earth turns is to use his device, "otherwise", he says, "we should have an artist drawing ellipses of different shapes and sizes until he's certified insane". Allan is married with three grown up sons, two in business, the other in the Navy, and a daughter recently married. For the past twenty-five years his "country cottage" has been a spritsail barge. Widely traveled and experienced, he is a man stimulating to meet and great fun to be with. Sailor, artist, businessman, writer, cartoon-film maker - we won't count any more stones on our plate as we like having him around." The following is an excerpt from a letter written after his death in 1958, by someone who knew him well at BP. "Might I add that your Father had a reputation as an artist and film maker that was recognised far beyond the juries on the many international festivals which acclaimed his work. The tragedy is that, to my mind, his work was about to enter a new and even more exciting phase when he became ill."
 * Handling Ships (1945)
 * Water for Firefighting (1949)
 * As Old as the Hills (1950)
 * We’ve come a long way (1951)
 * Service (also called ‘Garage Handling’) (1951)
 * The Moving Spirit (1953)
 * Coastal Navigation and Pilotage (1953) Note: According to NFTA, he was not credited with this film, but some secondary sources give his name.
 * Linear Accelerator (1954)
 * The Power to Fly (1954)
 * Down a long way (1955)
 * Speed the Plow (1956)
 * Animal, Vegetable and Mineral (1957)
 * Submarine Control (1951)
 * The Figurehead (1953)
 * Sales Promotion (1959)
 * Guilty or not Guilty (1960)

Links

 * http://film.britishcouncil.org/the-figurehead
 * http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/1406367/credits.html
 * http://ukanimation.blogspot.co.uk/2010/02/halas-batchelors-figurehead.html
 * http://halasbatchelor75.co.uk/art-and-animation-a-history-of-halas-3/