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Joe Grossman : Studio Manager and More from 1927 to 1949

Joe Grossman : Studio Manager and More from 1927 to 1949

100 Years of Elstree Studios - Part Three

In Part One I mentioned the Studio Manager in the early days of Elstree Studios, Joe Grossman. His story is a fascinating one. Born in 1888, he was on stage at the age of 4 with his twin brother as magicians and illusionists, and after the First World War began as a studio manager for the Stoll Studios in Surbiton and Cricklewood. In 1927 he was poached by John Maxwell to run Elstree Studios just after it opened, and he remained until his death in 1949.

In that time his charisma and energy created one of the most conducive atmospheres for collaborative film making, and he became a well-loved figure in the area. One of the first problems he encountered was discussed in our blog last week by Alfred Hitchcock - here is Joe's take on the problem:

"Gradually the sun began to shine for British films, and things seemed to be going well, when we all received one of the biggest shocks that the film industry had yet experienced.  It was the arrival in this country of the first and one of the most famous talkies, The Singing Fool, with Al Jolson. 

"Everyone knows how London stormed the Regal Cinema, Marble Arch, to see the picture, and many will remember the derision thrown upon the arrival of sound by many people who prophesised it was only a nine days' wonder and that it would never oust the silent film.

"John Maxwell was of a different opinion. He immediately issued an instruction to convert our studios for sound.  He sent John Thorpe post-haste to America with orders to come back with sound equipment, sound cameras and sound experts, and in the closing months of 1928 he gave the American sound invasion its answer by the production at Elstree of the first British talkie, Blackmail, followed by Atlantic.

"He had won through from silent to sound films, risking his personal fortune in the process, but emerging with flying colours and a reputation that built up the then frail edifice of Associated British Picture productions into one of the most substantial and firmly established production, renting and exhibiting corporations that Great Britain has, or ever will see."

More from Joe next week, including that disastrous fire in 1936.