London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
London’s Hollywood The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years Discover the secrets of the most iconic film studio in London during the silent era, from its inception in 1919 to part-destruction in 1930 just as the talkies took hold. Follow the careers of the leading lights in the British film industry - Graham Cutts, Michael Balcon, Herbert Wilcox and a young Alfred Hitchcock - who made some of the most important British silent films of the day, starring a host of glamorous British film stars such as Ivor Novello, Betty Balfour, Isabel Jeans and American stars like Betty Compson and Dorothy Gish.
Graham Cutts and team filming The Rat (1925) Courtesy J.W. Mitchell Collection / Brian Twist
publication 15th July 2014
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
Contents Introduction 1: Famous Players Lasky’s London Experiment 2: The Islington Studio 3: Famous Players Lasky: the British Films 4: Change is in the Air 5: Graham-Wilcox’s Wonderful Story 6: Welsh-Pearson Tip-Toe in With Betty Balfour 7: Balcon-Saville-Freedman 8: A Passionate Adventure and the Formation of Gainsborough Pictures 9: The Hitch – Cutts Divide 10: Gainsborough’s Progress 11: The Restructuring of Gainsborough 12: Coward’s Wit 13: The Gaumont-British Combine 14: An Interlude With Cutts 15: Walter West’s Flutters 16: The Bubble Breaks with the ‘Quota Act’ and British Lion Growls 17: The Reorganisation of Gainsborough and a Last Gasp of Silents 18: Gainsborough’s Hybrid Silent-Talkies 19: Journey’s End and Grappling with the Problem of Sound
Betty Balfour in her wedding dress from Squibs Honeymoon (1923)
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
Author’s Note Commonly called ‘Hollywood by the Canal’ and even ‘Los Islington’, it cannot be forgotten that although the studio was originally owned by Famous Players-Lasky and simply referred to as ‘the Islington studio’, it was bought by Gainsborough Pictures Limited in 1926 and thereafter also called ‘the Gainsborough studio’. Nowadays it is more commonly known as ‘the Gainsborough studio’ hence the sub-title of the book. However, for ease, I have tended to refer to the Islington studio rather than the Gainsborough studio throughout. My aim has been to provide a complete history of the Islington studio and the films that were made there. However, there are a few anomalies in the book that need to be aired. I have taken the liberty of discussing certain films that were not made at Islington but nevertheless are important to the overall narrative, for example, The Wonderful Story and Cocaine (both 1922), directed by Graham Cutts before he began work at Islington, and some Gainsborough films that were filmed in Germany and America. There are also a few films that were made by Gainsborough and should have been filmed at Islington but filming was forced to take place elsewhere, such as The Sea Urchin (1926) and The First Born (1928). Since Gainsborough bought the studio in 1926, the inclusion of all these films is vital as Gainsborough and the Islington studio were interlinked and it is necessary to place everything in clear perspective. For the purpose of continuity I have also mentioned the films that Graham Cutts made after he left Gainsborough in 1927 as he did resurface to direct The Return of the Rat (1929) at Islington for Gainsborough.. I have tried to follow a broadly chronological pattern, dividing up the book largely by film, and have grouped everything together, including the development, filming, trade shows and reviews despite the fact that often this spanned up to a sixmonth period. Formatting the text to fit this chronological perspective was a challenge but I felt this would be neater and easier to follow. However, for clarity I have grouped some films together out of chronological context, for example, the George Pearson’s films with Betty Balfour, Gainsborough’s adaptations of Noël Coward’s plays and Cutts’ later movies. All reasonable effort has been made to ensure accuracy of detail. If there are any errors please advise by email via info@eddittpublishing.com. A timeline or chronology for the main events described in this book will be available as a pdf on the Edditt Publishing website within the page for London’s Hollywood. As this book was nearing its final edit, news emerged of the discovery in Holland of a print of George Pearson’s previously lost film Love, Life and Laughter (1923), starring Betty Balfour. Part of this movie was filmed at the Islington studio. For silent film buffs and Betty Balfour fans this is a remarkable find indeed and viewing will be eagerly awaited.
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
Some of the wonderful photographs
Above: Betty Compson in Woman to Woman (1923) Below: Alfred Hitchcock and Nita Naldi in The Mountain Eagle (1926)
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
Above: scenes from The Rat with Ivor Novello and Mae Marsh (1926) Below: John Stuart and Virginia Valli in The Pleasure Garden (1925)
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
Above: Dorothy Gish in Nell Gwyn (1926) Below: a scene from The Constant Nymph with Ivor Novello (1927)
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
Introduction to London’s Hollywood I first became aware of the Islington studio twenty years ago when I was researching the Graham Cutts' film Woman to Woman (1923) for a biography about the British designer Dolly Tree who had created the costumes for the film. I became a little side-tracked and pieced together a brief outline of the formation and development of the studio and then moved on. At the same time, finding it difficult to find much information about specific stars of British silent films, I made a note to evolve a concept for a book. Later, I watched as the old Islington studio was bought and converted into luxury apartments, and finally I began doing rather leisurely research for a book to be called Stars of the British Silent Screen. The one studio that kept popping up with increasing regularity was Islington and it became obvious that the story of the studio was significant because, from its creation in 1919 to suspension of activity due to a fire just as sound became established, it presented a microcosm of the evolution of the British film industry during the silent era. Of all the studios in the UK, Islington became the most iconic in its day. As a result I felt it neccessary to document its fascinating, formative history. Many of the most important films of the silent era were filmed at the Islington studio, and many of the leading luminaries of the film industry swept through their doors including Graham Cutts, Michael Balcon, George Pearson, Victor Saville, Adrian Brunel, Walter West, Herbert Wilcox and Alfred Hitchcock. Of the stars that graced the floors there were many, both American and British, including Betty Balfour, Mae Marsh, Betty Compson, Dorothy Gish, Ivor Novello, Isabel Jeans, Marjorie Daw, Alice Joyce, Miles Mander, Carlyle Blackwell, Mabel Poulton, Benita Hume and Clive Brook to name but a few. Of course it cannot be overlooked that the early history of the Islington studio encompasses the emergence of Alfred Hitchcock as he made his fist steps to become an internationally renowned director. But the book also charts the early career of Graham Cutts, a somewhat shadowy figure, and somewhat maligned later by Hitchcock and others, but in my opinion deserving of more recognition for his talent and achievements. There are four important themes running through this book. The first is the battle against American influence, the second the advent of the film act, the third the creation of large scale film combines and fourth and finally the arrival of talking films. The most poignant theme is the struggle the British faced immediately after World War I to revive the film industry against overwhelming American competition. This dilemma continued throughout the 1920s despite some clever and effective strategies to circumvent the strangle-hold of Hollywood’s movie moguls. The war had severely curtailed British production and the five-year hiatus meant that America gained advantage in all aspects of production and distribution, not least in terms of dominating the domestic market with its product. It was the policy of block booking that prevented effective distribution of British films and became a huge issue. Making a film was easy in comparison to getting it screened and this had serious implications for British film producers. In 1919 the number of British films released was 103, by 1923 this had dropped to 75. A serious slump took place with production plummeting to 56 films in 1924 and only 45 in 1925. In late 1924 the situation was so dire that all studios were idle and in
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
desperation, good performers were lured to America or Continental studios to gain work. The British National Film League organised British Film weeks through 1923-24 to stir up enthusiasm amongst exhibitors and enable British films to be seen but even this could not stop the depression. A national debate ensued between organisations, leading producers, the Board of Trade and the government and it became a public issue. Even the Prince of Wales championed the cause. A variety of options were aired and discussed to remedy the situation and effectively encourage indigenous film production. It was not a smooth or easy ride to formulate a resolution but finally the Board of Trade’s Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 became law on 1st January 1928. Popularly known as the ‘Quota Act’ it introduced a requirement for renters to show a minimum of 7.5% British films. Before and after its introduction the act had a significant impact. However, this was not the only issue affecting the British film industry. Despite early optimism immediately after the war, British production was also hampered by a lack of finance, facilities, equipment, good stories and most importantly vision and commercial savvy. The adverse trading conditions and eventual slump weeded out many of the old style producers and methods of working and a new breed of men rose to prominence in the early 1920s. None were more significant than Michael Balcon and Herbert Wilcox. Both men looked beyond the confines of the UK. They struck deals with American and German companies for distribution and finance. Right from the outset they used key American stars to attract attention and interest globally. They did not opt for a sausage factory approach churning out multiple films in quick succession, but instead carefully chose subjects and spent time, care and effort in making them well-made super productions all geared to generating maximum income. They also employed the top technicians and performers and appeared to have their fingers on the pulse of the nation. And yet, like many others they were slow to adapt to changing conditions and the challenge of the talkies. As always it became a battle between creativity and artistic expression versus big business and profit making. Balcon was shrewd in basing himself at the Islington studio, the most technically advanced studio in the UK, built and fitted out with all the latest advanced equipment by the American company Famous Players Lasky. After forming Gainsborough Pictures he eventually purchased the studio and became one of the most imaginative and energetic of British producers. Without a doubt it was Balcon and Wilcox who rose to the challenge and confronted the problem of how to make British Pictures successfully with vigour, verve and creativity and demonstrated that it could be done, thus inspiring a whole new generation.
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
PRESS RELEASE London’s Hollywood The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years by Gary Chapman Publication: 15th July 2014
Paperback £14.99 ISBN 9781909230101 Hardback £27 ISBN 9781909230132 Apple ebook (Epub) £8.99 ISBN 9781909230118 Amazon Kindle ebook (Mobi) £8.99 9781909230125
The first ever evaluation of the history, output and achievement of the most iconic film studio in London during the silent era This complete overview of the Islington or Gainsborough ilm studio starts with its creation in 1919 when the American company of Famous Players Lasky (later to become Paramount) bought and transformed an old railway power station in Poole Street and announced that they would bring proper film production methods to London. Within two years they had failed and production ceased. But, as the studio had some of the best facilities and employed a diverse range of staff, it was rented out to independent production units. This included the enterprising duo of Graham Cutts and Herbert Wilcox and then, Balcon-Saville-Freedman who made the ground breaking picture Woman to Woman. After Gainsborough Pictures was formed, Balcon bought the studio in 1926 and through the rest of the 1920s made some of the best British pictures of the period such as The Rat, The Lodger and The Constant Nymph. Many famous British and American movie stars were directed at Islington including Mae Marsh, Ivor Novello, Betty Balfour, Mabel Poulton, Dorothy Gish, Betty Compson and Clive Brook. It is also significant that Islington was where a young Alfred Hitchcock started his journey to become one of the most famous of British directors. • • • • • • • • • • •
There is a resurgence of interest in British silent film The Artist ignited a new awareness in silent film. The recent Hitchcock season, orchestrated by the BFI, has focused on his early silent work and many of these films were made at the Islington studio.. Accessible, entertaining and informative. The full, untold story of the Islington Studio in the 1920s. Full descriptions of all the silent films made at the Islington Studio or by Gainsborough Pictures on location in Europe. Charts the rise of Graham Cutts and his protégée Alfred Hitchcock. Highlights the unique achievement of Michael Balcon who spearheaded Gainsborough Pictures. Places the studio in context of other developments within the British film industry. Includes reference to many other pioneers of British film such as Herbert Wilcox, Adrian Brunel, George Pearson, Maurice Elvey and Victor Saville. Over 180 photographs- the hardback has an extra 17 pages of photographs
London’s Hollywood: The Gainsborough Studio in the Silent Years
About the Author Gary Chapman has always been fascinated by the 1920s and the Jazz Age, and his degree in archaeology left him with a passion for uncovering the truth about his subjects. He lived and worked for many years in London where he was engaged in marketing and PR for major London publishing companies including. Pan Books, Merehurst, Charles Letts and Constable and Robinson. He has also been involved for over thirty years in the cake decorating industry and is world renowned for inventing the concept of Fabric Effects in Sugar and launched the first ever mass market cake decorating magazine. He still teaches and will be releasing a number of cake decorating books in the near future. Over eight years ago he moved to the quieter countryside and now lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire. He has his own publishing company called Edditt Publishing and a website devoted to the Jazz Age. He previously wrote a biography about the famous Dolly Sisters, called The Dolly Sisters: Icons of the Jazz Age. He is fortunate in being able to pursue his various passions – publishing, marketing books, writing, the Jazz Age and cake decorating. He is currently working on a variety of books including Stars of the British Silent Screen, a biography about the costume designer Dolly Tree and books about the origins of cabaret and the dancing craze. www.eddittpublishing.com www.jazzageclub.com http://garychapman.wordpress.com http://www.garychapmancakes.com http://fynesharteharrington.wordpress.com http://dollysisters.wordpress.com http://dollytree.wordpress.com