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Manchester Culture

•   By the end of the 19th century, Manchester already had a reputation
    for merrymaking:

•   Public house stirs, music halls, penny gaffs, organ grinders on the
    street, the monkey parade

•   Between the wars, Manchester’s export market for textiles collapsed to
    just one third of it’s 1913 level

•   One third of cotton workers out of work, many on reduced hours

•   Cinema provided not only a form of entertainment, but a form of
    escapism

•   Importantly, it was also a cheep form of entertainment
Early Cinema In Manchester
•   Well before Hollywood dominated the film world, films were shown to the
    Manchester mass

•   In make shift venues (like ‘Penny Gaffs’) and limited by technology (short
    clips)

•   Accompanied by a compares, musicians and singers

•   1896: First films shown in Manchester, St James’ Theatre, Oxford Road
•   1896: Films shown at the old YMCA building on St Peter’s Street
•   1986: Lumiere Brothers promote a show at the Lesser Free Trade Hall
•   1889: 15,000 people watched five showings of the Corbett vs.
    Fitzsimmons boxing world championship bout

•   Newsreels (via Gaumont and Pathe) of ‘real life events (death of King
    Edward, San Francisco earthquake) were shown in the city

•   By 1909 there were regular shows at most of the main theatres

•   Production companies, film rental and repair companies clustered around
    Deansgate and Great Ducie Street
The First Cinemas
•   Longsight Picture Palace, Stockport Road
•   Alhambra, Openshaw
•   King’s Hall, Hulme

•   Cinematographers Act, 1909 – required cinemas to abide by safety
    standards and hold an entertainments license

•   Trivoli on Peter Street was one of the first granted a license

•   The Picture House (McDonlads at the top of Oxford Road) was one of
    the first purpose built cinemas in 1911

•   The Picture House seat 1000 people – ‘… the largest and finest
    cinematograph theatre in the UK

•   The Kinemacolour (1910) – on the site of the main Cornerhouse
    screen
Growing Popularity
•   in 1913, there were 111 licensed cinemas in Manchester

•   Serving a population on 714,000

•   More cinemas per head than any other city

•   1914 – weekly cinema audiences for the UK were in excess of 20
    million people
The 1927 Cinematographers Act
 • By the mid-1920s, British film production has ground to a
   halt (only 33 British films were made in 1925)

 • In 1926, over 600 American films were shown in Britain

 • In 1927 Parliament brought in an important piece of
   legislation the Cinematographers Trade Bill, designed to
   ensure there was a guaranteed home market for British
   made films

 • This meant that 5% of the total number of movies shown in
   theatres had to be from Britain (this figure rose to 20% by
   1936)

 • American companies simply came over to the UK and
   started making films

 • These were terrible and known as ‘Quota Quickies’
History
                 J. Arthur Rank
                     •   In 1933, J. Arthur Rank, who had started
                         by making religious films in order to
                         spread the word of the gospel, founded
                         British National

                     •   In 1935, he went into partnership with
                         C.M.Woolf to take over Pinewood Studios,
                         20 miles west of London and found the
                         Rank Organisation

                     •   When some early films that he was
                         involved with didn't get a very good
                         circulation he realised that control of the
                         movie theatres was the key to success

                     •   He went into partnership with a gent
                         called Oscar Deutsch who was building a
J. Arthur Rank           chain of cinemas

                     •   The two established the ODEON (Oscar
                         Deutsch Entertains Our Nation) cinema
                         chain
Film In Manchester

•   The story of the Mancunian Film Company began in 1908

•   Market trader James Blakeley entered the world of entertainment
    when he decided to buy a cinema of his own accord

•   It would have been what was known then as a ‘Penny Gaff’, a building,
    often a converted shop or chapel with rows of benches on a sloping
    floor, a projector and a sheet for a screen

•   In America, a similar process took place in shops front

•   These were called ‘Nickelodeons’ in America

•   Cinema was in its early days and parts of it were still considered by
    many to be too rough and ready for a sophisticated audience, yet
    James managed to pack in the crowds
Film In Manchester

•   James sold the cinema and set up a
    film rental company with his two sons
    – James Jnr and John E. Blakeley

•   Blakeley’s Central Film Agency scored
    a major coup in 1915 when John E
    persuaded his father that a movie
    called Tillie’s Punctured Romance
    would be a big hit.

•   Tillie starred Charlie Chaplin in his first
    full-length comedy and other rental
    firms thought it would be too long to
    hold an audience’s attention
America vs. Britain

•   Until WWI, the American and British
    film industries grew at a similar rate

•   WWI saw huge investment in the war
    effort resulting in a diminished film
    industry in Britain

•   America flourished and began flooding
    the UK with American films

•   Not only were few British films being
    made, few people actually wanted to
    see them

•   The major studio cornered the
    distribution market in the UK
Film Production


•   In 1927 John E talked the family into taking the plunge and making
    their own films.

•   With his canny gift of guessing correctly Blakeley produced a series of
    what we might call ‘silent musicals’ – or ‘singalong silents’

•   Once again these were highly successful and led to John E trying his
    luck at making a feature film

•   The result – Two Little Drummer Boys starred Wee Georgie Wood and
    recouped its costs in no time.

•   Even though these films had to be shot in London studios it remained
    John E’s dream to set up a studio in Manchester
Film Production
•   The 1930s and sound led to even
    more success for the Mancunian Film
    Company, John E, having more or
    less taken charge, introducing to the
    world the talented George Formby in
    his first two movies Boots Boots and
    Off The Dole

•   Made for very little overheads in a
    film studio over a London garage
    they proved to John E once and for
    all that his seemingly simple formula
    for making movies – no fancy
    camera work, simple plots, very little
    editing combined with the best
    talents the Northern Variety Halls
    had available – was all you needed
    to make a highly profitable and
    successful movie
Manchester’s First Film Studio
•   The Second World War saw a series of cheery comedies emerge from
    Mancunian, all of them eagerly lapped up by a wartime audience that
    needed morale boosting movies that would lift the spirits.

•   Three of them starred Lancashire comic Frank Randle who was, at that
    time, the highest paid comedian in England.
•   After the War Randle and Blakeley
    (with several other partners)
    became directors of the Film
    Studios Manchester and in 1947
    John E’s dream came to fruition
    with the opening of the Dickenson
    Road studio in Rusholme

•   At a cost of £70,000, Film Studios
    (Manchester) was equipped and
                                         The ‘Fun Factory’ or ‘Jollywood’
    housed in an old Wesleyan
    Church, on Dickenson Road,
    Rusholme.
The First Manchester-Made Film

           • The first Manchester made feature
             film to be released was called Cup-
             Tie Honeymoon (1948) and starred
             Sandy Powell

           • It was the first of many similar films
             to be made in Rusholme, all of them
             panned by the critics but loved by
             audiences

           • Mancunian films regularly outdrew
             Hollywood productions in cinemas
             around the North West

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Intro to Manchester and The Film Industry (TV Y1)

  • 1. Manchester Culture • By the end of the 19th century, Manchester already had a reputation for merrymaking: • Public house stirs, music halls, penny gaffs, organ grinders on the street, the monkey parade • Between the wars, Manchester’s export market for textiles collapsed to just one third of it’s 1913 level • One third of cotton workers out of work, many on reduced hours • Cinema provided not only a form of entertainment, but a form of escapism • Importantly, it was also a cheep form of entertainment
  • 2. Early Cinema In Manchester • Well before Hollywood dominated the film world, films were shown to the Manchester mass • In make shift venues (like ‘Penny Gaffs’) and limited by technology (short clips) • Accompanied by a compares, musicians and singers • 1896: First films shown in Manchester, St James’ Theatre, Oxford Road • 1896: Films shown at the old YMCA building on St Peter’s Street • 1986: Lumiere Brothers promote a show at the Lesser Free Trade Hall • 1889: 15,000 people watched five showings of the Corbett vs. Fitzsimmons boxing world championship bout • Newsreels (via Gaumont and Pathe) of ‘real life events (death of King Edward, San Francisco earthquake) were shown in the city • By 1909 there were regular shows at most of the main theatres • Production companies, film rental and repair companies clustered around Deansgate and Great Ducie Street
  • 3. The First Cinemas • Longsight Picture Palace, Stockport Road • Alhambra, Openshaw • King’s Hall, Hulme • Cinematographers Act, 1909 – required cinemas to abide by safety standards and hold an entertainments license • Trivoli on Peter Street was one of the first granted a license • The Picture House (McDonlads at the top of Oxford Road) was one of the first purpose built cinemas in 1911 • The Picture House seat 1000 people – ‘… the largest and finest cinematograph theatre in the UK • The Kinemacolour (1910) – on the site of the main Cornerhouse screen
  • 4. Growing Popularity • in 1913, there were 111 licensed cinemas in Manchester • Serving a population on 714,000 • More cinemas per head than any other city • 1914 – weekly cinema audiences for the UK were in excess of 20 million people
  • 5. The 1927 Cinematographers Act • By the mid-1920s, British film production has ground to a halt (only 33 British films were made in 1925) • In 1926, over 600 American films were shown in Britain • In 1927 Parliament brought in an important piece of legislation the Cinematographers Trade Bill, designed to ensure there was a guaranteed home market for British made films • This meant that 5% of the total number of movies shown in theatres had to be from Britain (this figure rose to 20% by 1936) • American companies simply came over to the UK and started making films • These were terrible and known as ‘Quota Quickies’
  • 6. History J. Arthur Rank • In 1933, J. Arthur Rank, who had started by making religious films in order to spread the word of the gospel, founded British National • In 1935, he went into partnership with C.M.Woolf to take over Pinewood Studios, 20 miles west of London and found the Rank Organisation • When some early films that he was involved with didn't get a very good circulation he realised that control of the movie theatres was the key to success • He went into partnership with a gent called Oscar Deutsch who was building a J. Arthur Rank chain of cinemas • The two established the ODEON (Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation) cinema chain
  • 7. Film In Manchester • The story of the Mancunian Film Company began in 1908 • Market trader James Blakeley entered the world of entertainment when he decided to buy a cinema of his own accord • It would have been what was known then as a ‘Penny Gaff’, a building, often a converted shop or chapel with rows of benches on a sloping floor, a projector and a sheet for a screen • In America, a similar process took place in shops front • These were called ‘Nickelodeons’ in America • Cinema was in its early days and parts of it were still considered by many to be too rough and ready for a sophisticated audience, yet James managed to pack in the crowds
  • 8. Film In Manchester • James sold the cinema and set up a film rental company with his two sons – James Jnr and John E. Blakeley • Blakeley’s Central Film Agency scored a major coup in 1915 when John E persuaded his father that a movie called Tillie’s Punctured Romance would be a big hit. • Tillie starred Charlie Chaplin in his first full-length comedy and other rental firms thought it would be too long to hold an audience’s attention
  • 9. America vs. Britain • Until WWI, the American and British film industries grew at a similar rate • WWI saw huge investment in the war effort resulting in a diminished film industry in Britain • America flourished and began flooding the UK with American films • Not only were few British films being made, few people actually wanted to see them • The major studio cornered the distribution market in the UK
  • 10. Film Production • In 1927 John E talked the family into taking the plunge and making their own films. • With his canny gift of guessing correctly Blakeley produced a series of what we might call ‘silent musicals’ – or ‘singalong silents’ • Once again these were highly successful and led to John E trying his luck at making a feature film • The result – Two Little Drummer Boys starred Wee Georgie Wood and recouped its costs in no time. • Even though these films had to be shot in London studios it remained John E’s dream to set up a studio in Manchester
  • 11. Film Production • The 1930s and sound led to even more success for the Mancunian Film Company, John E, having more or less taken charge, introducing to the world the talented George Formby in his first two movies Boots Boots and Off The Dole • Made for very little overheads in a film studio over a London garage they proved to John E once and for all that his seemingly simple formula for making movies – no fancy camera work, simple plots, very little editing combined with the best talents the Northern Variety Halls had available – was all you needed to make a highly profitable and successful movie
  • 12. Manchester’s First Film Studio • The Second World War saw a series of cheery comedies emerge from Mancunian, all of them eagerly lapped up by a wartime audience that needed morale boosting movies that would lift the spirits. • Three of them starred Lancashire comic Frank Randle who was, at that time, the highest paid comedian in England. • After the War Randle and Blakeley (with several other partners) became directors of the Film Studios Manchester and in 1947 John E’s dream came to fruition with the opening of the Dickenson Road studio in Rusholme • At a cost of £70,000, Film Studios (Manchester) was equipped and The ‘Fun Factory’ or ‘Jollywood’ housed in an old Wesleyan Church, on Dickenson Road, Rusholme.
  • 13. The First Manchester-Made Film • The first Manchester made feature film to be released was called Cup- Tie Honeymoon (1948) and starred Sandy Powell • It was the first of many similar films to be made in Rusholme, all of them panned by the critics but loved by audiences • Mancunian films regularly outdrew Hollywood productions in cinemas around the North West