The story of Wembley Studios
The site now occupied by the Rediffusion Television studios at Wembley was originally part of the British Empire Exhibition opened by King George V in April, 1924. After the exhibition closed, the Lucullus Garden Club in the exhibition grounds was converted into a film studio by British Talking Pictures, a company formed to develop the new invention of sound films. Here some of the earliest British talkies were produced, and after the destruction of two stages by fire in 1929, larger and more modern studios were built. The first production made in the new studios was “Wedding Rehearsal” directed by the young Alexander Korda. Later came a film called, ironically as it turned out, “Death at Broadcasting House”. Low down on the cast list were the names of Val Gielgud, Bette Davis, Jack Hawkins and Donald Wolfit.
In 1934 Wembley studios were taken over by Fox Films (later 20th Century Fox) and many stars who were destined to become world famous got their first chance in the low budget second features made in this period. James Mason signed his first contract to work on one of these, Googie Withers was paid £5 a week, Rex Harrison was on 3 guineas a day, and George Sanders on £5 a day. Michael Anderson, subsequently famed for his direction of such films as “The Dam Busters” and “Around the World in Eighty Days”, was chief cashier, while Gabriel Pascal completed a full-length feature on a budget of £6,000 with a shooting schedule of 10 days.
In 1943, when the studios were being used by the Army Kinema Corporation, Wembley had its second big fire destroying No. 2 stage (now Studio 4) which at the time was being used for film cutting and dispatch. Like the first fire 14 years earlier the cause of the outbreak remained a mystery.
The last of hundreds of feature films shot at Wembley was the 1954 production of “The Ship That Died of Shame”, a film that was later bought and screened on television in London by Rediffusion Television. A motor torpedo boat was specially built for the film and “launched” in what are now studios 1 and 2. One scene called for the star, Richard Attenborough, to be filmed on deck in a storm. Fire hoses were used to simulate waves and spray dashing over the vessel. Unfortunately one of the men playing the hoses lost his aim and the full force of the jet caught Attenborough, flinging him back into the super-structure. He ended up in hospital with a gashed head and arm.
The life of Wembley as a film studio ended in January, 1955, when it was taken over by the new television company. In nine months the old film studios, with the scenery of “The Ship That Died of Shame” still strewn over the floors, had to be converted ready for the start of Independent Television in London in September, 1955. Buildings were pulled down and others erected in their place. Television control rooms were built across the centre of the biggest stage to form studios 1 and 2. Electronic television cameras and telecine facilities were installed, everything being linked together by more than 20 miles of sound, vision and control cables. Studios 1 and 2 were finished by the beginning of September, and two more studios were in service by the end of the year.
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