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Back-Room Boy
''Back-Room Boy'' is a 1942 British comedy film directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Edward Black for Gainsborough Pictures and distributed by General Film Distributors. The cast includes Arthur Askey, Googie Withers, Graham Moffatt and Moore Marriott. The original story was written by J.O.C. Orton, Marriott Edgar and Val Guest. A man from the Met Office is sent to a lighthouse on a remote Scottish island to monitor the weather, where he hopes to escape from women, but soon finds the island overrun by them. ''Back-Room Boy'' was released to cinemas in the United Kingdom on 17 April, 1942. Plot Meteorologist Arthur Pilbeam's fiancée Betty breaks their engagement because he does not spend enough time with her due to having to attend at the BBC every hour, on the hour, for his internationally vital job of creating the BBC pips. He is so upset, he uses the pips to play "Shave and a Haircut". When he is reprimanded, he tries to resign, but he is not allowed do that during w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Herbert Mason
Samuel George Herbert Mason (1891 – 20 May 1960) was a British film director, producer, stage actor, army officer, presenter of some revues, stage manager, theatre director, stage director, choreographer, Production manager (theatre), production manager and playwright.McFarlane, 2005, p. 462Daniel Snowman]Obituary: Michael Mason''The Guardian'' 13 July 2014 He was a recipient of the Military Cross the prestigious award for "gallantry during active operations against the enemy." He received the gallantry award for his part in the Battle of Guillemont where British troops defeated the Germans to take the German stronghold of Guillemont. Mason began his theatrical career at the age of 16 and appeared in several productions at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre including Barry Jackson (director), Barry Jackson's ''The Christmas Party''. During the 1920s he stage managed some of the largest shows in London (including many of André Charlot's musical revues) and began his film career ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, the North Sea to the northeast and east, and the Irish Sea to the south. It also contains more than 790 islands, principally in the archipelagos of the Hebrides and the Northern Isles. Most of the population, including the capital Edinburgh, is concentrated in the Central Belt—the plain between the Scottish Highlands and the Southern Uplands—in the Scottish Lowlands. Scotland is divided into 32 administrative subdivisions or local authorities, known as council areas. Glasgow City is the largest council area in terms of population, with Highland being the largest in terms of area. Limited self-governing power, covering matters such as education, social services and roads and transportation, is devolved from the Scott ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oh Mr Porter!
''Oh, Mr Porter!'' is a 1937 British comedy film starring Will Hay with Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt and directed by Marcel Varnel. While not Hay's commercially most successful (although it grossed £500,000 at the box office – equal to about £34,000,000 at 2020 value), it is probably his best-known film to modern audiences. It is widely acclaimed as the best of Hay's work, and a classic of its genre. The film had its first public showing in November 1937 and went on general release on 3 January 1938. The plot of ''Oh, Mr Porter'' was loosely based on the Arnold Ridley play '' The Ghost Train''. The title was taken from ''Oh! Mr Porter'', a music hall song. Plot William Porter (Will Hay) is an inept railway worker who – due to family connections – is given the job of stationmaster at a remote and ramshackle rural Northern Irish railway station in the (fictitious) town of Buggleskelly, situated on the border with the then Irish Free State. After taking the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shepherd's Bush
Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, its focus is the shopping area of Shepherd's Bush Green, with the Westfield London shopping centre a short distance to the north. The main thoroughfares are Uxbridge Road, Goldhawk Road and Askew Road, all with small and mostly independent shops, pubs and restaurants. The Loftus Road football stadium in Shepherd's Bush is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 2011, the population of the area was 39,724. The district is bounded by Hammersmith to the south, Holland Park and Notting Hill to the east, Harlesden and Kensal Green to the north and by Acton and Chiswick to the west. White City forms the northern part of Shepherd's Bush. Shepherd's Bush comprises the Shepherd's Bush Green, Askew, College Park & Old Oak, and Wormholt and White City wards ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lime Grove Studios
Lime Grove Studios was a film, and later television, studio complex in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The complex was built by the Gaumont Film Company in 1915. It was situated in Lime Grove, a residential street in Shepherd's Bush, and when it first opened was described by Gaumont as "the finest studio in Great Britain and the first building ever put up in this country solely for the production of films". Many Gainsborough Pictures films were made here from the early 1930s. Its sister studio was Islington Studios, also used by Gainsborough; films were often shot partly at Islington and partly at Lime Grove. In 1949, the complex was purchased by the BBC, who used it for television broadcasts until 1991. It was demolished in 1993. Gaumont-British Picture Corporation In 1922, Isidore Ostrer along with brothers Mark and Maurice, acquired control of Gaumont-British from its French parent. In 1932 a major redevelopment of Lime Grove Studios was completed, creating one of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ealing Studios
Ealing Studios is a television and film production company and facilities provider at Ealing Green in West London. Will Barker bought the White Lodge on Ealing Green in 1902 as a base for film making, and films have been made on the site ever since. It is the oldest continuously working studio facility for film production in the world, and the current stages were opened for the use of sound in 1931. It is best known for a series of classic films produced in the post-WWII years, including ''Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949), ''Passport to Pimlico'' (1949), ''The Lavender Hill Mob'' (1951), and '' The Ladykillers'' (1955). The BBC owned and filmed at the Studios for forty years from 1955 until 1995. Since 2000, Ealing Studios has resumed releasing films under its own name, including the revived ''St Trinian's'' franchise. In more recent times, films shot here include ''The Importance of Being Earnest'' (2002) and ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004), as well as '' The Theory of Everyth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Will Hay
William Thomson Hay (6 December 1888 – 18 April 1949) was an English comedian who wrote and acted in a schoolmaster sketch that later transferred to the screen, where he also played other authority figures with comic failings. His film '' Oh, Mr. Porter!'' (1937), made by Gainsborough Pictures, is often cited as the supreme British-produced film-comedy, and in 1938 he was the third highest-grossing star in the UK. Many comedians have acknowledged him as a major influence. Hay was also a keen amateur astronomer. Early life Hay was born at 23 Durham Street in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham. He was one of two sons and three daughters of William Robert Hay (1851–1920) and his wife, Elizabeth (1859–1910) (née Ebden). When Will Hay Jr. was less than a year old the family moved to Lowestoft in Suffolk. By his late teens, Hay had become fluent in Italian, French and German and secured employment as an interpreter. Career Early career Hay decided to become an actor when he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aubrey Mallalieu
Aubrey Mallalieu (8 June 1873 – 28 May 1948) was an English actor with a prolific career in supporting roles in films in the 1930s and 1940s. Mallalieu began life as George William Mallalieu, the son of William Mallalieu (c. 1845–1927), a well-known stage comedian, and his wife Margaret Ellen Smith. He had a sister called Polly who corresponded with Lewis Carroll in the 1890s. He adopted the stage name of Aubrey early in his acting career. Information is scant on Mallalieu's pre-film career, but he is believed to have had a lengthy stage career before making the move into films. Archive sources available in New Zealand indicate that he spent a considerable number of years touring with stage companies in that country and Australia in the 1900s and 1910s. In December 1912 Mallalieu was touring Australia with Leal Douglas in a piece called “Feed the Brute”.Public Notices in ''Townsville Daily Bulletin'', 11 December 1912, p. 1; “Direct from Harry Rickards's Theatres. AU ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Merritt (actor)
Frederick George Merritt (10 December 1890 – 27 September 1977) was an English theatre, film and television actor, often in authoritarian roles. He studied German theatre in Magdeburg, Germany, and taught at the Berlitz School at the outbreak of the First World War, when he was held as a British Civil Prisoner of War, and interned at Ruhleben, 1914–1918. He was involved in over 50 plays at Ruhleben. He lived for many years in Lissenden Gardens, Parliament Hill, north west London. Selected filmography * ''The W Plan'' (1930) – Ulrich Muller * ''Bracelets'' (1931) – Director * '' Dreyfus'' (1931) – Émile Zola * '' A Gentleman of Paris'' (1931) – M. Duval * ''White Face'' (1932) – (uncredited) * '' The Lodger'' (1932) – Commissioner * '' Blind Spot'' (1932) – Inspector Cadbury * ''Money for Speed'' (1933) * ''Going Straight'' (1933) * ''F.P.1'' (1933) – Lubin * ''I Was a Spy'' (1933) – Captain Reichman * ''Crime on the Hill'' (1933) – Police Inspector Wol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Salew
John Rylett Salew (1902 (some sources state 1 January 1897)14 September 1961) was an English stage film and TV actor. Salew made the transition from stage to films in 1939, and according to Allmovie, "the manpower shortage during WWII enabled the stout, balding Salew to play larger and more important roles than would have been his lot in other circumstances. He usually played suspicious-looking characters, often Germanic in origin." His screen roles included William Shakespeare in the comic fantasy ''Time Flies'' (1944), Grimstone in the Gothic melodrama ''Uncle Silas'' (1947), and the librarian in the supernatural thriller'' Night of the Demon'' (1957). He played Colonel Wentzel in the Adventures of William Tell "The Shrew" episode (1958). John Salew was active into the TV era, playing the sort of character parts that John McGiver played in the US Selected filmography * '' It's in the Air'' (1938) – RAF Radio Operator (uncredited) * ''Dead Men are Dangerous'' (1939) – Tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joyce Howard
Joyce Howard (28 February 1922 in London – 23 November 2010 in Santa Monica, California) was an English actress, writer, and film executive. After studying at RADA, she was spotted by film director Anthony Asquith in a play at London's Embassy Theatre. He cast the 19-year-old in ''Freedom Radio'' (1941), and starring roles in films followed, including opposite James Mason in '' The Night Has Eyes'' and ''They Met in the Dark'', the former winning her rave reviews. She was also active in theatre, including '' Romeo and Juliet'' at the Old Vic and in ''A Streetcar Named Desire''. She performed in London throughout World War II, even as Nazis were bombing the city. In 1950, after 13 films, she more or less retired from acting to raise her three children by actor Basil Sydney. Howard also began a second career as a writer. She wrote three well-received novels, ''Two Persons Singular'' (1960), ''A Private View'' (1961) and ''Going On'' (2000). She also wrote plays, including ' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vera Frances
Vera Frances Ward ( Still, born 29 September 1930) is a British actress who worked with Arthur Askey, Tommy Handley, George Formby, Dinah Sheridan Dinah Sheridan (born Dinah Nadyejda Ginsburg; 17 September 1920 – 25 November 2012) was an English actress with a career spanning seven decades. She was best known for the films ''Genevieve'' (1953) and ''The Railway Children'' (1970); the lon ..., John Mills and Alastair Sim, amongst others. Frances's father was a props and special effects man for Gainsborough Pictures at Grove Studio's in Shepherd's Bush. She made her first film appearance in ''Back-Room Boy'' as the Cockney girl Jane. she then went on to make another five films. In her late teens Frances left film to follow her ambition to be a dance teacher. This proved to be very successful and resulted in a dance school. After marrying Dennis William Ward in 1953, Frances moved the school to March, Cambridgeshire. Dennis died in Cambridge in 2000, at the age of 73. In a F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
