Kurt at 17:45, 7 February 2023

2023-02-07T17:45:39Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:45, 7 February 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{Infobox person		{{Infobox person
	\| name =		\| name =
	\| image =		\| image = Edward Black (producer).jpg
	\| caption =		\| caption =
	\| birth_name = Edward Black		\| birth_name = Edward Black
	\| birth_date = {{Birth date\|1900\|8\|18\|df=y}}		\| birth_date = {{Birth date\|1900\|08\|18\|df=y}}
	\| birth_place = [[Birmingham]], UK		\| birth_place = [[Birmingham]], UK
	\| death_date = {{death date and age\|1948\|11\|30\|1900\|8\|18\|df=y}}		\| death_date = {{death date and age\|1948\|11\|30\|1900\|08\|18\|df=y}}
	\| death_place = London, UK		\| death_place = London, UK
	\| nationality = English		\| nationality = English

Kurt at 17:38, 7 February 2023

2023-02-07T17:38:00Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:38, 7 February 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	~~{{short description\|British film producer}}~~
	~~{{other people\|\|Edward Black (disambiguation)}}~~
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=April 2022}}~~
	~~{{more citations needed\|date=March 2008}}~~
	{{Infobox person		{{Infobox person
	\| name = ~~Edward Black~~		\| name =
	\| image =		\| image =
	\| caption =		\| caption =
Line 173:		Line 169:
	== External links ==		== External links ==
	* {{IMDb name\|0085261\|Edward Black}}		* {{IMDb name\|0085261\|Edward Black}}

	~~{{Authority control}}~~

	{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Edward}}		{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Edward}}

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2023-02-03T21:00:59Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 16:00, 3 February 2023
(No difference)

en>FrescoBot: Bot: link syntax and minor changes

2022-09-26T01:15:57Z

Bot: link syntax and minor changes

New page

{{short description|British film producer}}
{{other people||Edward Black (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2008}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Edward Black
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Edward Black
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1900|8|18|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Birmingham]], UK
| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|11|30|1900|8|18|df=y}}
| death_place = London, UK
| nationality = English
| other_names =
| occupation = [[Film producer]]
| years active = 1935 – 1948
| known_for =
| notable_works = ''[[The Lady Vanishes]]''
}}
'''Edward Black''' (18 August 1900, Birmingham – 30 November 1948, London) was a British [[film producer]], 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]].<ref>[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/448996/ Gainsborough Pictures] at [[BFI Screenonline]]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f66c8d5|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120711191832/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b9f66c8d5|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-07-11|title=Edward Black|work=BFI}}</ref> 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."<ref name="ted">[https://books.google.com.au/books?id=xtGIAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=%22ted+black%22+producer&source=bl&ots=MTsSWidYzA&sig=yoAkLzf1-59YEFo3ZKLXUlUnxzA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiL4O2HpbvMAhWl2aYKHb7kD4MQ6AEILzAE#v=onepage&q=%22ted%20black%22%20producer&f=false ''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.<ref>BRITISH FILM IDOL CASTS ORAL BRICKS: James Mason Says Rank Is Leading the English Movie Industry Into Trouble Outspoken Critic
By THOMAS M. PRYOR. New York Times 15 Dec 1946: X6.</ref> 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."<ref>Round Table on British Films Cornelius, Henry; Dickinson, Thorold; Havelock-Allan, Anthony; John, Rosamund; Launder, Frank; et al. Sight and Sound; London Vol. 19, Iss. 3, (May 1, 1950): 114-122.</ref>

Black specialized in making comedies, thrillers and low-budget musicals.<ref name="ted"/> He had a lot of success making comedy vehicles for stars such as [[Will Hay]] and [[Arthur Askey]]. He also produced early films from [[Carol Reed]] and [[Alfred Hitchcock]] and was an early supporter of writer directors [[Sidney Gilliat]] and [[Frank Launder]].<ref>The final reel, The Guardian (1959-2003) [London (UK)] 27 Sep 2003: B19</ref>

==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.<ref name="black">[http://www.britmovie.co.uk/directors/Edward-Black Edward Black] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160414051629/http://www.britmovie.co.uk/directors/Edward-Black |date=2016-04-14 }} at Britmovie</ref>

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]]. They made movies for Gainsborough and [[20th Century Fox]].<ref name="black"/>

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."<ref name="Murphy p 6">Murphy p 6</ref>

[[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."<ref name="Murphy p 6"/>

Black helped promote new stars like [[Margaret Lockwood]], [[Michael Redgrave]] and [[Phyllis Calvert]]. He also employed variety performers like [[Will Hay]], [[Will Fyffe]] and [[Crazy Gang (comedy group)|The Crazy Gang]], and the comedian [[Arthur Askey]].

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."<ref>Murphy p 7</ref>

In January 1939, Gaumont signed a deal with [[20th Century Fox]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205959986 |title=A Million For British Films |newspaper=[[The Age]] |issue=26135 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 January 1939 |access-date=6 July 2020 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

===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 (film)|Band Waggon]]''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article184389126 |title=Film Gossip From London |newspaper=[[The Telegraph (Brisbane)|The Telegraph]] |location=Queensland, Australia |date=28 November 1939 |access-date=6 July 2020 |page=16 (SECOND EDITION) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

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."<ref name="ted"/>

He worked with actor [[George Arliss]] on ''[[Doctor Syn (film)|Doctor Syn]]''. In 1940, Arliss wrote about Black:
<blockquote> 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.<ref>{{cite book|first=George|last=Arliss|title=My Ten Years in the Studio|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.89477/page/n355/mode/2up?q=%22edward+black%22+|page=311|date=1940}}</ref></blockquote>

===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 Man in Grey]]'' (1943) directed by [[Leslie Arliss]]. The movie was a huge success, making stars out of its four leads, [[Margaret Lockwood]], [[James Mason]], [[Stewart Granger]] and [[Phyllis Calvert]]. Black followed it with ''Fanny By Gaslight'', with Calvert, Mason, Granger and [[Jean Kent]], directed by [[Anthony Asquith]].

Black's relationship with Maurice Ostrer was not always easy and he also clashed with the [[Rank Organisation]] when they took over Gainsborough. In 1944, Black left Gainsborough to join [[Alexander Korda]].<ref>Murphy p 11</ref>

==Last films and death==
Black made two films for Korda, ''[[A Man About the House]]'' (1947) and ''[[Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948 film)|Bonnie Prince Charlie]]'' (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.<ref>NIVEN WILL APPEAR IN FILM FOR KORDA: New York Times 17 July 1946: 27</ref><ref>EDWARD BLACK, The New York Times 1 December 1948: 29.</ref> He was planning to make a film about the police force, ''To Watch and to Ward''.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18013916 |title=Record Year Predicted For British Films |newspaper=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |issue=34,010 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 December 1946 |access-date=6 July 2020 |page=10 (The Sydney Morning Herald Magazine.) |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>

==Partial filmography==
{{div col}}

===Leslie Arliss (director)===
* ''[[The Man in Grey]]'' (1943)
* ''[[A Man About the House (1947 film)|A Man About the House]]'' (1947)

===Arthur Askey (star)===
*''[[Band Waggon (film)|Band Waggon]]'' (1940)
*''[[Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt]]'' (1940)
*''[[The Ghost Train (1941 film)|The Ghost Train]]'' (1941)
*''[[I Thank You (film)|I Thank You]]'' (1941)
*''[[Back-Room Boy]]'' (1942)
*''[[King Arthur Was a Gentleman]]'' (1942)
* ''[[Miss London Ltd.]]'' (1943)
*''[[Bees in Paradise]]'' (1944)

===Anthony Asquith (director)===
* ''[[Uncensored (film)|Uncensored]]'' (1942)
* ''[[We Dive at Dawn]]'' (1943)
* ''[[Fanny by Gaslight (film)|Fanny by Gaslight]]'' (1944)

===The Crazy Gang (stars)===
* ''[[O-Kay for Sound]]'' (1937)
*''[[Alf's Button Afloat]]'' (1938) with Flanagan and Allan
*''[[The Frozen Limits]]'' (1939)
* ''[[Gasbags]]'' (1941)

===Will Fyffe (star)===
*''[[Said O'Reilly to McNab]]'' (1937) with Will Mahoney
*''[[Owd Bob (1938 film)|Owed Bob]]'' (1938) aka ''To the Victor'' with Margaret Lockwood
*''[[They Came by Night]]'' (1940)
*''[[For Freedom (1940 film)|For Freedom]]'' (1940)
*''[[Neutral Port]]'' (1940)

===Tommy Handley (star)===
*''[[It's That Man Again (film)|It's That Man Again]]'' (1943)
*''[[Time Flies (1944 film)|Time Flies]]'' (1944)

===Gordon Harker/Alastair Sim (stars)===
*''[[Inspector Hornleigh (film)|Inspector Hornleigh]]'' (1938)
*''[[Inspector Hornleigh on Holiday]]'' (1939)
*''[[Inspector Hornleigh Goes To It]]'' (US: ''Mail Train'', 1941)
*''[[Cottage to Let]]'' (without Harker, 1941)
*''[[Once a Crook]]'' (1941)

===Will Hay (star)===
*''[[Boys Will Be Boys (1935 film)|Boys Will Be Boys]]'' (1935)
*''[[Where There's a Will (1936 film)|Where There's a Will]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Good Morning, Boys]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Oh, Mr Porter!]]'' (1937)
* ''[[Convict 99]]'' (1938)
*''[[Old Bones of the River]]'' (1938)
*''[[Hey! Hey! USA]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Ask a Policeman]]'' (1939)
* ''[[Where's That Fire?]]'' (1940)

===Alfred Hitchcock (director)===
*''[[Young and Innocent]]'' (1937)<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Hitchcock's Motifs|last=Walker|first=Michael|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|year=2005|isbn=9789053567739|pages=440}}</ref>
* ''[[The Lady Vanishes (1938 film)|The Lady Vanishes]]'' (1938) with Lockwood<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Film Noir, Detective and Mystery Movies on DVD: A Guide to the Best in Suspense|last=Reid|first=John Howard|year=2009|isbn=9781435730106|pages=100}}</ref>

===Alexander Korda (co-producer)===
*''[[Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948 film)|Bonnie Prince Charlie]]'' (1948)

===Launder and Gilliat (director/producers)===
*''Partners in Crime'' (1942)
*''[[Millions Like Us]]'' (1943)
*''[[2,000 Women]]'' (1944)
*''[[Waterloo Road (film)|Waterloo Road]]'' (1944)

===Carol Reed (director)===
*''[[Bank Holiday (film)|Bank Holiday]]'' (1938) with Margaret Lockwood
*''[[A Girl Must Live]]'' (1939) with Lockwood<ref>{{Cite book|title=Carol Reed|last=Evans|first=Peter William|publisher=Manchester University Press|year=2005|isbn=9780719063664|pages=175}}</ref>
* ''[[Night Train to Munich]]'' (1940) with Margaret Lockwod and Rex Harrison<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Films of Carol Reed|last=Moss|first=R|publisher=Springer|year=2016|isbn=9781349075010|pages=288}}</ref>
*''[[The Girl in the News]]'' (1941) with Margaret Lockwood<ref name=":1" />
*''[[Kipps (1941 film)|Kipps]]'' (1941)
*''[[A Letter from Home (film)|A Letter from Home]]'' (1941)
*''[[The Young Mr. Pitt]]'' (1942)

===Robert Stevenson (director)===
*''[[Tudor Rose (film)|Tudor Rose]]'' (1936)
*''[[The Man Who Changed His Mind]]'' (1936)

===Tom Walls (star)===
* ''[[Strange Boarders]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Crackerjack (1938 film)|Crackerjack]]'' (1938) aka ''Man with 1000 Faces''

===Shorts===
*''[[Rush Hour (1941 film)|Rush Hour]]'' (1941)
* ''[[Mr. Proudfoot Shows a Light]]'' (1941)

===Other===
*''[[Everybody Dance (film)|Everybody Dance]]'' (1936)
* ''[[Doctor Syn (film)|Doctor Syn]]'' (1937) with George Arliss and Margaret Lockwood
* ''[[Hi Gang! (film)|Hi Gang!]]'' (1941)
*''[[Dear Octopus]]'' (1944)
*''[[Give Us the Moon]]'' (1944)
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Notes==
*{{Cite book|chapter=Gainsborough's producers|title=Gainsborough Pictures|editor= Pam Cook|publisher=Cassell|year= 1997|first=Robert|last=Murphy}}

== External links ==
* {{IMDb name|0085261|Edward Black}}

{{Authority control}}

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

Edward Black (producer) - Revision history

Kurt at 17:45, 7 February 2023

Kurt at 17:38, 7 February 2023

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>FrescoBot: Bot: link syntax and minor changes