MGM Borehamwood

[jamiestuart]

I'm interested in the old MGM studios which used to be at Borehamwood an particular their backlot area and the standing sets used in Inn Of the Sixth Happiness, Dirty Dozen, The Prisoner etc. Anyone know if there are any plans, maps, photographs etc showing where they were in relation to the stages?

I can't find much on the net.





Cheers Jamie

[orpheum]

Somewhere i have a brochure that i picked up from the Borehamwwod museum which had a map of the area showing where all the studios were located.Alternatively i do have a 1964 London atlas which also has the studios located.I could copy this.The Borehamwood museum has since closed and i am not sure if the website is still being updated.You could also contact Hertsmere Council who might be able to help you.Anyway if interested send me a pm

[harryfielder]

Hiya Jamiestuart,



I did work at MGM Borehamwood a few times in the 60s but 40 years on the memories fade.

I have some tales of working there on my www and the last thing I did was No Blade Of Grass....



Aitch,

[ChristineCB]

Aitch, was NO BLADE considered controversial as it was being filmed? Were there discussions on the set of the politics underlying its story?

[harryfielder]

name='ChristineCB']Aitch, was NO BLADE considered controversial as it was being filmed? Were there discussions on the set of the politics underlying its story?

I didn't know too much about the film and was only there for a day riding around the back lot on the back of a motor bike being shouted at by Mr Cornel Wilde..



Another film we did at MGM was directed by Mr Jerry Lewis....



ONE MORE TIME…Cast Inc…Peter Lawford…Samy Davies Jnr……

I get a phone call from Dudley Sutton asking if I’d stand/in for him on the above named film

I was glad of the work and I meet Dudley in the MGM canteen for breakfast on our first day. Dudley is to play a not so bright crook.

After breakfast we sit at the back of the set and wait for the two main artists to arrive.

A couple of minutes later they walk on, laughing and chatting to the crew.

Sammy Davies Jnr, Peter Lawford and the Director….

( SHOCK, DOUBLE SHOCK ) It’s HIM, It’s the Man, It’s the Main Man.

This is the man I watched in the cinema for all of my teenage years. ( And beyond )

I used to sit in the cinema from 1pm till 10pm and get three showings of his films.

(Me and my very good friend Freddie Simms..) We even took lunch with us.

The Director is one of the greatest comic actors ever………

MR. JERRY LEWIS..

My thoughts again turn to working on this film for free, (But like thoughts I’d had

Before they soon passed.)

All through the filming there was only one man I was watching and it wasn’t

The actors.

We filmed in the studio and on location and one Sunday we filmed in a square in London’s West End. To say that there was a crowd of onlookers there is putting it mildly. All the stand/ins and Central Casting crowd were acting as security.

I’d phoned up Freddie Simms the night before and he came along with his wife to see the main man work.

( Jerry, you made two good old boys very happy )

As well as standing/in for Dudley I got used half a dozen times in the crowd including some stuff at Ledbury Castle in the West Country…

When the film wrapped Mr. Lewis and Co donated a gym to a local school.

Well done, ONE MORE TIME Team…

MR. JERRY LEWIS.

Aitch,

[ChristineCB]

Great one again!

[Moor Larkin]

name='jamiestuart']I'm interested in the old MGM studios which used to be at Borehamwood an particular their backlot area and the standing sets used in Inn Of the Sixth Happiness, Dirty Dozen, The Prisoner etc. Anyone know if there are any plans, maps, photographs etc showing where they were in relation to the stages? redeveloped?

I've spent time at this online local newspaper, which has interesting stuff:

Borehamwood Times: Search

If you type in mgm, you'll get 16 articles (last time I did)



Also, these studios seem to have had confusing name-changes over the years.

In 1962 Lew Grade, who owned the media company ITC won the rights to make The Saint. Since 1960 he had been making Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan in the MGM studios up the road. Danger Man had done well in Britain but less well in the US. He saw The Saint as a different sort of character and the stories as more likely to do well in America. He was right. Despite ITC/ATV being rivals to ABC he was welcomed at ABPC Elstree - or at least the work was - and over the next decade ITC dramas occupied many of Elstree's stages almost continuously. (The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan's follow-up to Danger Man was made in Elstree's MGM studios - with the Village exteriors shot in Wales.)

history of television studios in London

[foha80]

name='harryfielder']I didn't know too much about the film and was only there for a day riding around the back lot on the back of a motor bike being shouted at by Mr Cornel Wilde..



Another film we did at MGM was directed by Mr Jerry Lewis....

Great story Aitch,I just love stuff like this.



Respect



Terry

[Stephen Pickard]

Jamiestuart, this link may help:



http://www.tsf.net/~penrose/mgm.jpg

[kelp]

name='harryfielder']I didn't know too much about the film and was only there for a day riding around the back lot on the back of a motor bike being shouted at by Mr Cornel Wilde..



Another film we did at MGM was directed by Mr Jerry Lewis....



ONE MORE TIME…Cast Inc…Peter Lawford…Samy Davies Jnr……

I get a phone call from Dudley Sutton asking if I’d stand/in for him on the above named film

I was glad of the work and I meet Dudley in the MGM canteen for breakfast on our first day. Dudley is to play a not so bright crook.

After breakfast we sit at the back of the set and wait for the two main artists to arrive.

A couple of minutes later they walk on, laughing and chatting to the crew.

Sammy Davies Jnr, Peter Lawford and the Director….

( SHOCK, DOUBLE SHOCK ) It’s HIM, It’s the Man, It’s the Main Man.

This is the man I watched in the cinema for all of my teenage years. ( And beyond )

I used to sit in the cinema from 1pm till 10pm and get three showings of his films.

(Me and my very good friend Freddie Simms..) We even took lunch with us.

The Director is one of the greatest comic actors ever………

MR. JERRY LEWIS..

My thoughts again turn to working on this film for free, (But like thoughts I’d had

Before they soon passed.)

All through the filming there was only one man I was watching and it wasn’t

The actors.

We filmed in the studio and on location and one Sunday we filmed in a square in London’s West End. To say that there was a crowd of onlookers there is putting it mildly. All the stand/ins and Central Casting crowd were acting as security.

I’d phoned up Freddie Simms the night before and he came along with his wife to see the main man work.

( Jerry, you made two good old boys very happy )

As well as standing/in for Dudley I got used half a dozen times in the crowd including some stuff at Ledbury Castle in the West Country…

When the film wrapped Mr. Lewis and Co donated a gym to a local school.

Well done, ONE MORE TIME Team…

MR. JERRY LEWIS.

Aitch,

In 1969 I was a guest of Jerry's and spent a few days at the old Borehamwood Studios. It was just after that, that I began the voice impression of him. I had known Jerry for a number of years prior to the Studio visit, but as Aitch will testify it really was a crazy shoot. I was with Percy Herbert and Bill Maynard when they both decided to hide in the back of a car, so that they could get another day out of the shoot! happy days eh Aitch.

[jamiestuart]

name='Stephen Pickard']Jamiestuart, this link may help:



http://www.tsf.net/~penrose/mgm.jpg

Many thanks Stephen,



This is exactly what I was looking for!



Sadly, this whole area has now been redeveloped, housing estates and industrial estates etc.



Thanks again!

[jamiestuart]

Many thanks to all who answered my query about MGM Borehamwood Studios!



Jamie Stuart

[smudge]

name='jamiestuart']Many thanks Stephen,



This is exactly what I was looking for!



Sadly, this whole area has now been redeveloped, housing estates and industrial estates etc.



Thanks again!

Nothing lasts, I'm afraid...



Even the old cold store which replaced MGM has itself now been replaced by modern offices. That end of Borehamwood now (to me) resembles a mini Milton Keynes.



SMUDGE

[orpheum]

my accountants address is at Kinetic House on the site of MGM.Sad but true

[Klark Crass]

My parents have some old snaps taken of me among the sets. Must be circa 72??

I haven't seen them for years - the snaps, not my parents!! but I know they exist within their foto albums. I will get hold of them and scan them, so bear with me... and they're a bit yellowy if I remember correctly! Someone will have to show me what to do to uipload them!



The High St mock-up sat over the back - there's a road that runs along the far end of the plot , called Shenley Lane I think, and that's the area these outside sets were.



Beyond that were the fields I was told they filmed Inn of the 6th Happiness, and these were the supposed paddyfields, according to the site man who showed us around. I don't know about this film, really.



However, the shops popped up a few months after I was there in a Quatermass film, a tube station too... to the left was a huge tank they used to film sea scenes, and a wooden galleon ship scaled-down to the size of a row boat sat nearby. Rocks sat in a rusty cage behind that and were made of polystyrene.



Back to the old entrance, sat the White Building. There was a furuore locally when devlopers wanted to tear it down. My Dad's office was inside - a Scottish-based refrigerated hauliers, Christian Salvesen owned it then - and still do. Last November I was passing, so I located exactly where this beautiful art deco building existed. Iwas surprised to find it had been razed to make way for Tarmac!



Next to all that were the studios. They were damp and cold, but the vandals hadn't taken everything yet. Phones with mute settings with red lights were still on walls. Paperwork was still in desks. I took an old script of Quo Vadis - which must have been from the 50's? I also copped a MGM book of matches - well nice! One of the rooms I was looking through was No. 101 so I took off the wooden hand painted doorplate - and it's on my study door now!



I'll get thoose pix to see if they're any use to you, and if I remember more, I'll let you know any lay out recollections. I can draw you a plan from my memory if you wish? Hope that helps... I'd be interested in any info you get from elsewhere.

name='jamiestuart']I'm interested in the old MGM studios which used to be at Borehamwood an particular their backlot area and the standing sets used in Inn Of the Sixth Happiness, Dirty Dozen, The Prisoner etc. Anyone know if there are any plans, maps, photographs etc showing where they were in relation to the stages?

I can't find much on the net.





Cheers Jamie

[Klark Crass]

Oh, according to my memory - the sets were not next to the stages. The stages were proximal to the White Building which ran parallel to Elstree Way, and the sets (and paddy fields) were distal - in the direction of Shenley Lane, over the back...

[Hackett]

If you watch the "DANGER MAN" series they use a lot of the MGM offices and out building before they ended up filming at Shepperton. The white tower was used a lot as airport entrance, Hotel or goverment building. James Garner and Julie Andrews film "THE AMERICANIZATION OF EMILY" 1964 makes great use of the studio as an army camp before D-Day.

[jamiestuart]

Hi Klark,



It would be great to see your snapshots of the sets at MGM British as very few photos seem to exist or be in the public domain. Also read the post by Stephen Pickard and visit the website he suggests to see a great aerial photo of the studio complex.



Cheers. jamiestuart

[Klark Crass]

Leave it with me...got to scour parents albums, to upload them onhere...



OK - here's the quickest way: gimme your email addy and I'll send photo attachments in the meantime.

name='jamiestuart']Hi Klark,



It would be great to see your snapshots of the sets at MGM British as very few photos seem to exist or be in the public domain. Also read the post by Stephen Pickard and visit the website he suggests to see a great aerial photo of the studio complex.



Cheers. jamiestuart

[Klark Crass]

Done - soz it took so long but you know why. Thanks for holding on.