film eve at hatfield campus

[paul welsh]

over the past few months elstree screen heritage and the university of herts have been interviewing veteran film crew members who made films at mgm, danzigers, elstree and other studios in borehamwood between the 1940s to 1980s.
a selection of the interview film clips will be screened at the uni theatre/cinema in hatfield next thur eve and it's free. some of the interviewees such as director john hough, award winning editor terry rawlings, production manager johnny goodman and many others will be attending.
tickets can be obtained by phoning the university of hertfordshire.

paul welsh mbe , chair elstree screen heritage

[smudge]

I will be making a mad dash down from work on Thursday to be there Paul. Looking forward to it; see you then!

Smudge

[paul welsh]

hi smudge - yes will be good to see you. i am also looking to the annual visit of the on the buses fans to elstree and borehamwood next june. to coincide with it on the sat eve we are planning at our local theatre a musical tribute to television and movies with the 45 piece bbc elstree band, film/tv clips and possibly some celeb guests. should all be fun

[alan french]

Hi,
Although I live in Hemel Hempstead, I regret that I will be unable to attend. But never-the-less, thankyou for the information and I hope the evening is a success.

Alan French.

[mariocki]

Thanks for the info Paul - I'll be booking some tickets on Monday.

[paul welsh]

the university of herts has a very nice theatre and i believe the 2nd largest 'digital cinema screen' in the south east plus comfy seats ! :) i wish we had started the interviewing project 20 plus years ago. i used to attend the annual gathering at elstree studios of the b.i.p veterans 20 plus years ago. they were all studio workers who had worked at elstree before 1939 - what a wealth of memories could have been recorded. i also organised an annual get together of old actors at elstree from 1984 to 2008 - john mills, ann todd, martin benson, david lodge, richard todd, eartha kitt, marius goring, george sewell, doug fairbanks jr, anna neagle, trevor howard, adam faith, peggy mount, david kossoff, michael denison, honor blackman, peggy cummins, constance cummings, jean anderson, barbara shelley, francis matthews, liz fraser, william gaunt, william franklyn, bryan forbes, nanette newman, dickie attenborough, george baker, phillip madoc, fraser hines, nicky henson and a hundred others but never recorded any memories. such is life

[smudge]

Thanks for the info Paul - I'll be booking some tickets on Monday.

Say 'Hello' if you spot me!

Smudge

[mariocki]

Will do Smudge!

[Cooper S]

Will certainly try to get to this - thanks for posting details Paul.

[mariocki]

Two tickets reserved

[mariocki]

Didn't see you there Smudge but did spot Cooper S on the other side of the auditorium. A very enjoyable evening with some interesting clips of the interviewees which made me want to see the full interviews. I hope that Paul will keep us up to date with how the project progresses and of any further events like this.

[smudge]

Wasn't it fascinating? Like you say, that 15 minute taster just leaves you wanting more! It was a very good evening and worth (on my part) the three hour slog down the M6/M1 in the awful weather...

Sorry I missed you - if I had thought I could have added an 'easily identifiable' description as I ended up sticking with my work suit! LOL

It was nice to catch up with Paul, Bob and the other ESH peeps I have come to know over the years. Was fortunate to end up sitting alongside one of the interviewees, Kelvin Pike; nice chap!

Here's to more of the same - the Brian Clemens interview will be particularly interesting, I bet! Glad you had a good evening too, as did Cooper S I trust.

Smudge

[paul welsh]

thanks for attending - as you say if you heard all 30-35 hours of the interviews you would love the behind the scenes anecdotes of mgm, elstree, danzigers, atv, etc and the stars and directors who worked there between the 1950s and 1980s. we have also recorded memories of elstree's 'rape' by brent walker and near final demise in the 1990s so it's not all happy memories.
personally i loved alf the rigger memories of working at mgm in the 50s and 60s and the clip used about sophia loren's nose ! :) i think it is a worthwhile project. next year we are thinking of staging a couple of 'panel' style evenings with old film stars and an evening with a big name star who was connected with elstree. fingers crossed.

[Cooper S]

...did spot Cooper S on the other side of the auditorium.

Was looking out for familiar faces but didn't see you Mariocki !

A very interesting evening, and thanks to Paul for publicising it here.

I eventually found the venue after driving around the labyrinth of very similar buildings in the rain. Even ended up having to ask at the police station, and they weren't too sure, and then had to head off to refuel the car to continue the search ! Once I found it though, I was very impressed - a superb film theatre.

The evening was more of an introductory presentation for the project rather than anything in depth, with contributions from a variety of speakers including a representative from the BECTU history project, but it was good to see another educational establishment seriously involved in this kind of eyewitness documenting of film and television history, which in the past seems to have been more the preserve of fans and enthusiasts, and the producers of DVD extras. I wonder if they should link up with the University of Chichester to share material from their similar recent events ?

One of the most interesting stories in the material presented was how what remains of Elstree Studios was only saved by quick thinking on the part of studio staff to prevent a visit by 'the decorators'.

Will look forward to hearing more about this project as it develops.

[paul welsh]

as chair of the save elstree campaign from 1988 to 1996 i could relate some horror stories of the trials the studio endured and when i was appointed to the working party to relaunch it in 1996 we inherited a semi derelict facility with no heating, no furniture, no equipment, leaking roofs, a flooded absestos ridden underground car park, etc, etc. we had just 3 sound stages devoid of equipment. now there are 7 stages, state of art dressing rooms, car park back in use and a totally different picture. the interviews discuss memories of this period as well as the halcyon days of the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.
as you say last night was just a taster and the aim is to make this all accessable in due course.
it is a great tragedy we were not able to save the wonderful mgm studio in 1970 or the gate studio a few years ago which we wanted to turn into a film museum.