To commemorate the opening 75 years ago of Manchester's one and only feature film studio, HOYD Publishing has reissued a limited edition of the book, Hooray for Jollywood, by Ashton writers Philip and David Williams.
The volume, first published 21 years ago, tells the story of Ardwick born film director John E. Blakeley and his Mancunian Film Corporation.
Blakeley was unique in the annals of the British film industry in that all his pictures were targeted at northern audiences. From the 1930s to the 1950s, his company produced a string of feel-good northern comedies.
Through necessity, his films were initially shot in London, although they were planned and conceived in his home city. But then, in 1947, at a time when the British film industry was on the verge of collapse, Blakeley shocked the business by announcing that he was to open up a new studio.
Unthinkably, this studio would be in Manchester, making it the first feature film studio outside the capital. Blakeley spent £70,000 on converting an old Wesleyan church in Dickenson Road, Rusholme, into what became fondly known to Mancunians as the Fun Factory or Jollywood.
The first picture to be shot in Blakeley’s Manchester studio was Cup-Tie Honeymoon, starring Sandy Powell. The film had sequences shot at Manchester City’s old Maine Road ground and also gave a film debut to future Coronation Street star Pat Phoenix, then known as Pat Pilkington.
This republished edition of ‘Hooray for Jollywood’ also carries the original foreword by the late Mike Craig, writer and producer of more than 1,200 comedy shows for BBC radio and television, including Ken Dodd, Roy Castle, and Morecambe and Wise.
‘Hooray for Jollywood’ is a 9”x6” paperback with over 280 pages with many photos and illustrations and can be ordered through bookshops (ISBN 9781916022515) priced at £15, or locally from Hari-Market Newsagents, Ashton Market Hall. The publishers can be contacted by email at hoydpublishing@yahoo.co.uk or visit www.hoydpublishing.co.uk
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