A PAIR of brothers have re-released book documenting Manchester’s only film studio.
Philip and David Williams have printed a limited edition of Hooray For Jollywood on the 75th anniversary of its start.
21 years after the first publication, the title is back available again telling the rags-to-riches story of Manchester-born film-maker John E Blakeley, who was the head of the Mancunian Film Corporation and, beginning in 1947, Film Studios Manchester Ltd.
Between the 1930s and the 1950s, Blakeley’s company produced a string of films that featured a host of northern comedians.
He was unique in the British film industry in that all his pictures were targeted at northern audiences.
And he was the first to spot the budding film talent of Lancashire favourite George Formby, putting him in his first two pictures, Boots! Boots! and Off the Dole, in which he played the part of John Willie, a character created by his father, Ashton-born comedian George Formby Snr.
The success of both films led to Formby being snapped up by the Ealing Film Studio.
In 1947, when the British film industry was virtually on its knees, Blakeley did the unthinkable by opening a studio in Manchester.
For his films, Blakeley built up a stock company of comic eccentrics from the music hall stage, including Norman Evans, famous for his Over the Garden Wall sketches, Sandy Powell, Harry Korris, Jimmy James, and Nat Jackley, along with a host of others.
Undoubtably, his biggest star and money-spinner was the Emperor of Lancashire, Frank Randle, who made eight record-breaking comedies for Blakeley.
The first film made at the studio, a converted Wesleyan Church in the Manchester suburb of Rusholme, was Cup-tie Honeymoon, which starred Sandy Powell and gave a film debut to one-time Hollingworth resident Pat Phoenix, or Pat Pilkington, as she was then known.
While the giant American studios were spending millions on their productions, Blakeley’s budget per picture was a mere few thousand.
Nevertheless, his films often outgrossed the better-financed American imports, with all his pictures making a profit at the box office.
On the death of John E. Blakeley in 1958, George Formby said of him, “He found a lot of talent. He never produced any epics but he did a lot for British films.
“John made people laugh when they needed it most.”
With Blakeley’s passing, a unique chapter in British film history came to an end. However, Mancunian continued production, with John E. Blakeley’s son, Tom, at the helm.
The company moved into the lucrative B movie market with a succession of crime films. This virtually unknown part of the Mancunian story is also covered in the book.
This republished edition of Hooray for Jollywood also carries the original foreword by the late Mike Craig, writer and producer of more than 1,200 comedy shows for BBC radio and television, including Ken Dodd, Roy Castle, and Morecambe and Wise.
It is available priced £15 and can be ordered through bookshops or locally from Hari-Market Newsagents, Ashton Market Hall.
The publishers can be contacted by email at hoydpublishing@yahoo.co.uk or visit
www.hoydpublishing.co.uk
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