American brothers Edward and Harry Danziger
had started into the industry by operating a sound stage in New York dubbing
foreign films for US release.
They wanted to move more into production
and were able to produce a few minor hits in the US. They came to England
in 1952 to start production on a television series, Calling Scotland
Yard. This was followed by several other TV productions.
The Danziger Brothers had been leasing space
from several studios, decided to purchase a studio to cut the costs. After
several failed attempts, they decided instead to start their own. They located
a former engine testing factory in Elstree
(yes actually across the tracks IN Elstree) consisting of 7 1/2 acres and
converted it into Danziger Studios.
The studios had 5 sound stages and almost
200 employees. The Danziger Brothers specialized in VERY low budget features
and featurettes and produced miriads of episodes of a wide variety of genres
geared primarily to television.
By 1961, their attentions were turning more
to owning hotels, They acquired control of the Gordon Hotels group, which
operated London's May Fair and Grosvenor and the Metropoles at Folkestone,
Brighton and Monte Carlo.
In 1965, they sold Danziger Studio to RTZ
Metals, which converted the studio to warehouse storage.
The Danzigers were considered one of the
most profitable studio operations in the 1950s and 1960s, producing over
400 half hour episodes and dozens of features.
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