Edward Black (18 August 1900, Birmingham – 30 November 1948, London) was a British

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

, best known for being head of production at Gainsborough Studios in the late 1930s and early 1940s, during which time he oversaw production of the Gainsborough melodramas. He also produced such classic films as '' The Lady Vanishes'' (1938). Black has been called "one of the unsung heroes of the British film industry."''Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48'' By Robert Murphy p34
/ref> In 1946 Mason called Black "the one good production executive" that J. Arthur Rank had. Frank Launder called Black "a great showman and yet he had a great feeling for scripts and spent more time on them than anyone I have ever known. His experimental films used to come off as successful as his others." Black specialized in making comedies, thrillers and low-budget musicals. He had a lot of success making comedy vehicles for stars such as

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 '' O ...

and

Arthur Askey Arthur Bowden Askey, (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation ...

. He also produced early films from

Carol Reed Sir Carol Reed (30 December 1906 – 25 April 1976) was an English film director and producer, best known for '' Odd Man Out'' (1947), '' The Fallen Idol'' (1948), ''The Third Man'' (1949), and ''Oliver!'' (1968), for which he was awarded the ...

and

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...

and was an early supporter of writer directors

Sidney Gilliat Sidney Gilliat (15 February 1908 – 31 May 1994) was an English film director, producer and writer. He was the son of George Gilliat, editor of the ''Evening Standard'' from 1928 to 1933. Sidney was born in the district of Edgeley in Sto ...

and

Frank Launder Frank Launder (28 January 1906 – 23 February 1997) was a British writer, film director and producer, who made more than 40 films, many of them in collaboration with Sidney Gilliat. Early life and career He was born in Hitchin, Hertfordshire ...

Early life

Black was the third son of George Black, a property master at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham, who became a cinema owner. George Black became a manager of a touring waxworks show then travelling cinema; in 1905 he set up the Monkwearmouth Picture Hall in Sounderland - this was one of the first permanent cinemas in Britain. He bought two more before he died in 1910. His and his sons Ted, George and Alfred built up the cinema to a circuit of thirteen cinemas in the Tyneside area. In 1919 they sold them and set about establishing another circuit. In 1928 they told this to the General Theatre Corporation. When that was taken over by Gaumont-British, Ted became a cinema circuit manager. In 1930 he went into production.

Gaumont British

In 1930 Black became an assistant production manager at Shepherd’s Bush and then studio manager at Islington.Edward Black
at Britmovie In 1935 he and Sidney Gilliat were associate producers on ''Tudor Rose''. Black then took over the running of Islington studios.

Gainsborough

In December 1936, Michael Balcon left Gaumont-British for MGM. In March 1937 Shepherd’s Bush studios and Gaumont-British Distributors were closed. However Gainsborough continued as a production center thanks to a deal with C.M. Woolf and J. Arthur Rank’s General Film Distributors. Black was in charge along with

Maurice Ostrer Maurice Ostrer (1896–1975) was a British film executive. He was best known for overseeing the Gainsborough melodramas. He was head of production at Gainsborough Studios from 1943–46. He resigned from the studio in 1946 after a disagreement wi ...

. They made movies for Gainsborough and

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

. According to Robert Murphy, "Black concentrated on making films for British audiences. Like his brother George at the London Palladium, Ted had an almost superstitious faith in his ability to divine popular taste and was wary about involving himself with anything that might dilute it."Murphy p 6 Alfred Roome, a film editor at Gainsborough, said: "We often wondered why Ted Black didn’t mix with the elite of his profession. I don’t think he ever went to a premiere, star parties and the like. One day he explained his apparent aloofness. He said he didn’t want to get contaminated by people outside his band of entertainment. 'If I mix with the intellectual lot, it’ll impair my judgement', he said." Black helped promote new stars like

Margaret Lockwood Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes'' (1938), ''Night Train to Munich' ...

Michael Redgrave Sir Michael Scudamore Redgrave CBE (20 March 1908 – 21 March 1985) was an English stage and film actor, director, manager and author. He received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in ''Mourning Becomes Elec ...

and

Phyllis Calvert Phyllis Hannah Murray-Hill (née Bickle; 18 February 1915 – 8 October 2002), known professionally as Phyllis Calvert, was an English film, stage and television actress. She was one of the leading stars of the Gainsborough melodramas of the 1 ...

. He also employed variety performers like

, Will Fyffe and The Crazy Gang, and the comedian

. Black was very strong in promoting writers. Frank Launder said: "Ted believed in writers. To him the screenplay was the be-all and end- all. He enjoyed script conferences and went in for them wholesale, which made it pretty arduous going for the script editor as well as the writers and directors." In January 1939, Gaumont signed a deal with

World War Two

With the advent of World War Two, Black arranged for Gainsborough to move from Islington to Shepherd's Bush. He had Gaumont make more comedies such as ''

Band Waggon ''Band Waggon'' was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third series added ...

''. In the words of one writer, Black "held the studio together during its most difficult period, backed Laundner and Gilliat in establishing a strong script department, retained the services of some of the best cameramen in the business, and put under contract a number of promising actors." He worked with actor

George Arliss George Arliss (born Augustus George Andrews; 10 April 1868 – 5 February 1946) was an English actor, author, playwright, and filmmaker who found success in the United States. He was the first British actor to win an Academy Award – which he ...

on ''

Doctor Syn The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike. The first book, ''Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh'' was published in 1915. The story idea came from smuggling in the 18th-century Romney ...

''. In 1940, Arliss wrote about Black:

He is so entirely unlike a movie boss: he doesn’t seem to interfere with anyone. It is only by degrees you find out that he has everything under his hand and that he really directs the movements of every department. He is very like a mere businessman, one who believes that it is of no use to lay in a stock of goods that can never produce any return; and that the making of canned pictures should be controlled with the Kune care as the preparation of any other earned goods intended for public consumption. Unless I am much mistaken, Edward Black is going to show us how pictures made in England can be made to pay.

Launder and Gilliat

Black was an advocate of Launder and Gilliat as writers, working with them on '' The Lady Vanishes'' (1938) and '' Night Train to Munich'' (1940). He gave them their first opportunity as directors.

Gainsborough melodramas

Black produced the first

Gainsborough melodrama The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures between 1943 and 1947 which conformed to a melodramatic style.Brooke, Michael. (2014)Gainsborough Melodrama Screenonline British Film Ins ...

, ''

The Man in Grey ''The Man in Grey'' is a 1943 British film melodrama made by Gainsborough Pictures; it is considered to be the first of a series of period costume dramas now known as the "Gainsborough melodramas". It was directed by Leslie Arliss and produc ...

'' (1943) directed by

Leslie Arliss Leslie Arliss (6 October 1901, London – 30 December 1987, Jersey, Channel Islands) was an English screenwriter and director. He is best known for his work on the Gainsborough melodramas directing films such as '' The Man in Grey'' and ''The Wi ...

. The movie was a huge success, making stars out of its four leads,

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...

Stewart Granger Stewart Granger (born James Lablache Stewart; 6 May 1913 – 16 August 1993) was a British film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s, rising to fame thr ...

and

. Black followed it with ''Fanny By Gaslight'', with Calvert, Mason, Granger and

Jean Kent Jean Kent (born Joan Mildred Field; 29 June 1921 − 30 November 2013) was an English film and television actress. Biography Born Joan Mildred Field (sometimes incorrectly cited as Summerfield) in Brixton, London in 1921, the only child of va ...

, directed by

Anthony Asquith Anthony William Landon Asquith (; 9 November 1902 – 20 February 1968) was an English film director. He collaborated successfully with playwright Terence Rattigan on ''The Winslow Boy'' (1948) and '' The Browning Version'' (1951), among oth ...

. Black's relationship with Maurice Ostrer was not always easy and he also clashed with the

Rank Organisation The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribut ...

when they took over Gainsborough. In 1944, Black left Gainsborough to join

Alexander Korda Sir Alexander Korda (; born Sándor László Kellner; hu, Korda Sándor; 16 September 1893 – 23 January 1956)A Man About the House ''A Man About the House'' is a British drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and released in 1947. The film is a melodrama, adapted for the screen by J. B. Williams from the 1942 novel of the same name by Francis Brett Young. A theatrical adapt ...

'' (1947) and ''

Bonnie Prince Charlie Bonnie, is a Scottish given name and is sometimes used as a descriptive reference, as in the Scottish folk song, My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean. It comes from the Scots language word "bonnie" (pretty, attractive), or the French bonne (good). That ...

'' (1948), which was a commercial failure. Black died of lung cancer on 30 November 1948 at the age of 48, shortly after the premiere of the second film. He was planning to make a film about the police force, ''To Watch and to Ward''.

Partial filmography

Leslie Arliss (director)

* ''

'' (1943) * ''

A Man About the House ''A Man About the House'' is a British drama film directed by Leslie Arliss and released in 1947. The film is a melodrama, adapted for the screen by J. B. Williams from the 1942 novel of the same name by Francis Brett Young. A theatrical adapt ...

'' (1947)

Arthur Askey (star)

*''

'' (1940) *''

Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt ''Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt'' is a 1940 British comedy film directed by Walter Forde, starring Arthur Askey and Richard Murdoch as Oxford 'scholars'. The film is one of many to be based on the 1892 Victorian farce ''Charley's Aunt'' by Brand ...

'' (1940) *'' The Ghost Train'' (1941) *'' I Thank You'' (1941) *''

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 Moo ...

'' (1942) *''

King Arthur Was a Gentleman ''King Arthur Was a Gentleman'' is a 1942 British, black-and-white, comedy, musical film, directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Arthur Askey. It was produced by Edward Black and Maurice Ostrer for Gainsborough Pictures. Synopsis Set during ...

'' (1942) * ''

Miss London Ltd. ''Miss London Ltd.'' is a 1943 British, black-and-white, comedy, musical, war film, directed by Val Guest and starring Arthur Askey and Evelyn Dall. It was produced by Edward Black, Maurice Ostrer, Fred Gunn and Gainsborough Pictures. Plot ...

'' (1943) *''

Bees in Paradise ''Bees in Paradise'' is a 1944 British musical comedy film directed by Val Guest and starring Arthur Askey, Anne Shelton and Peter Graves. It was produced by Edward Black at Gainsborough Pictures. Co-written by director Val Guest and comic M ...

'' (1944)

Anthony Asquith (director)

* '' Uncensored'' (1942) * ''

We Dive at Dawn ''We Dive at Dawn'' is a 1943 war film directed by Anthony Asquith and starring John Mills and Eric Portman as Royal Navy submariners in the Second World War. It was written by Val Valentine and J. B. Williams with uncredited assistance from Fra ...

'' (1943) * '' Fanny by Gaslight'' (1944)

The Crazy Gang (stars)

* ''

O-Kay for Sound ''O-Kay for Sound'' is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring the Crazy Gang troupe of comedians. After falling on hard times the members of the Crazy Gang are busking on the streets of London. However, they are hired ...

'' (1937) *'' Alf's Button Afloat'' (1938) with Flanagan and Allan *'' The Frozen Limits'' (1939) * '' Gasbags'' (1941)

Will Fyffe (star)

*''

Said O'Reilly to McNab ''Said O'Reilly to McNab'' is a 1937 British comedy film directed by William Beaudine and starring Will Mahoney, Will Fyffe and Ellis Drake. It was made at Islington Studios by Gainsborough Pictures.Wood p.96 The film's sets were designed by t ...

'' (1937) with Will Mahoney *'' Owed Bob'' (1938) aka ''To the Victor'' with Margaret Lockwood *'' They Came by Night'' (1940) *'' For Freedom'' (1940) *''

Neutral Port ''Neutral Port'' is a 1940 British war film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Will Fyffe, Leslie Banks, Yvonne Arnaud, and Phyllis Calvert, with a supporting role for Wally Patch. It was produced and distributed by Gainsborough Picture ...

'' (1940)

Tommy Handley (star)

*''

It's That Man Again ''It's That Man Again'' (commonly contracted to ''ITMA'') was a BBC radio comedy programme which ran for twelve series from 1939 to 1949. The shows featured Tommy Handley in the central role, a fast-talking figure, around whom the other c ...

'' (1943) *''

Time Flies Time Flies may refer to: * '' Tempus fugit'', a Latin phrase usually translated as "time flies"; an admonition against procrastination Film * ''Time Flies'' (1944 film), a British comedy directed by Walter Forde * ''Time Flies'' (2013 film), a ...

'' (1944)

Gordon Harker/Alastair Sim (stars)

*''

Inspector Hornleigh Inspector Hornleigh is a fictional British detective from Scotland Yard, the protagonist of a popular BBC radio series of the 1930s, three British films, a German television series, and three books (two of them language text books). The radio ser ...

'' (1938) *''

Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday ''Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday'' is a 1939 British detective film directed by Walter Forde and starring Gordon Harker, Alastair Sim and Linden Travers. It is the sequel to the 1938 film '' Inspector Hornleigh'', and both films are based ...

'' (1939) *''

Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It ''Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It'' is a 1941 British detective film directed by Walter Forde and starring Gordon Harker, Alastair Sim, Phyllis Calvert and Edward Chapman. It was the third and final film adaptation of the Inspector Hornle ...

'' (US: ''Mail Train'', 1941) *'' Cottage to Let'' (without Harker, 1941) *''

Once a Crook ''Once a Crook'' is a 1941 British crime film directed by Herbert Mason, produced by Edward Black for 20th Century Fox and featuring Gordon Harker, Sydney Howard, Bernard Lee, Kathleen Harrison, and Raymond Huntley. It is an adaptation to the ...

'' (1941)

Will Hay (star)

*'' Boys Will Be Boys'' (1935) *'' Where There's a Will'' (1936) * ''

Good Morning, Boys ''Good Morning, Boys!'' is a 1937 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and featuring Will Hay, Graham Moffatt, Martita Hunt, Lilli Palmer and Peter Gawthorne. It was made at the Gainsborough Studios in Islington. The film marked the f ...

'' (1937) * ''

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 ...

'' (1937) * ''

Convict 99 ''Convict 99'' is a 1938 British comedy film directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Will Hay, Moore Marriott, Graham Moffatt and Googie Withers. Plot Incompetent Dr Benjamin Twist (Will Hay) is dismissed from his job as headmaster at St. Mich ...

'' (1938) *''

Old Bones of the River ''Old Bones of the River'' is a comedy film released in 1938 starring British actor Will Hay with Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt and directed by Marcel Varnel, based on the characters created by Edgar Wallace. The film is a spoof of the 1935 ...

'' (1938) *'' Hey! Hey! USA'' (1938) * '' Ask a Policeman'' (1939) * ''

Where's That Fire? ''Where's That Fire?'' is a 1940 British comedy film, produced by Twentieth Century Fox, directed by Marcel Varnel and starring Will Hay, Moore Marriott and Graham Moffatt. It was the last film Will Hay made with his most famous comic foils, M ...

'' (1940)

Alfred Hitchcock (director)

*'' Young and Innocent'' (1937) * '' The Lady Vanishes'' (1938) with Lockwood

Alexander Korda (co-producer)

*''

'' (1948)

Launder and Gilliat (director/producers)

*''Partners in Crime'' (1942) *''

Millions Like Us ''Millions Like Us'' is a 1943 British propaganda film, showing life in a wartime aircraft factory in documentary detail. It starred Patricia Roc, Gordon Jackson, Anne Crawford, Eric Portman and Megs Jenkins. It was co-written and co-directed ...

'' (1943) *'' 2,000 Women'' (1944) *'' Waterloo Road'' (1944)

Carol Reed (director)

*''

Bank Holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or h ...

'' (1938) with Margaret Lockwood *''

A Girl Must Live ''A Girl Must Live'' is a 1939 British romantic comedy film directed by Carol Reed that stars Margaret Lockwood, Renee Houston, Lilli Palmer, Hugh Sinclair, and Naunton Wayne. Based on a 1936 novel by Emery Bonett with the same title, the p ...

'' (1939) with Lockwood * '' Night Train to Munich'' (1940) with Margaret Lockwod and Rex Harrison *''

The Girl in the News ''The Girl in the News'' is a 1940 British thriller film directed by Carol Reed and starring Margaret Lockwood, Barry K. Barnes and Emlyn Williams. It was based on the eponymous novel by Roy Vickers, released the same year. Plot After her ...

'' (1941) with Margaret Lockwood *'' Kipps'' (1941) *''

A Letter from Home "The Old Castle's Other Secret", alternately titled "A Letter from Home", is Don Rosa's 2004 sequel to "The Crown of the Crusader Kings". The title is a reference to "The Old Castle's Secret", which was the second story to feature Scrooge McDuck a ...

'' (1941) *'' The Young Mr. Pitt'' (1942)

Robert Stevenson (director)

*''

Tudor Rose The Tudor rose (sometimes called the Union rose) is the traditional floral heraldic emblem of England and takes its name and origins from the House of Tudor, which united the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The Tudor rose consists o ...

'' (1936) *'' The Man Who Changed His Mind'' (1936)

Tom Walls (star)

* '' Strange Boarders'' (1938) * '' Crackerjack'' (1938) aka ''Man with 1000 Faces''

Shorts

*''

Rush Hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: o ...

'' (1941) * ''

Mr. Proudfoot Shows a Light ''Mr. Proudfoot Shows a Light'' is a 1941 British World War II public information/propaganda short film, directed by Herbert Mason and produced by Edward Black for 20th Century Fox. The film had a number of well-known actors of the period, feat ...

'' (1941)

Other

*'' Everybody Dance'' (1936) * ''

'' (1937) with George Arliss and Margaret Lockwood * '' Hi Gang!'' (1941) *''

Dear Octopus ''Dear Octopus'' is a comedy by the playwright and novelist Dodie Smith. It opened at the Queen's Theatre, London on 14 September 1938. On the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 the run was halted after 373 performances; after a ...

'' (1944) *''

Give Us the Moon ''Give Us the Moon'' is a 1944 British comedy film directed and written by Val Guest and starring Vic Oliver, Margaret Lockwood and Peter Graves. Plot Made in 1943-44, the film is set in a future peacetime Britain, after the end of World War ...

'' (1944)

References

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Edward 1900 births 1948 deaths English film producers People from Birmingham, West Midlands 20th-century English businesspeople