Gaumont British Picture Corporation
of New Gallery House, Regent Street, W.1.
1927 Public company was formed to acquire the Gaumont Co Ltd; new company called Gaumont-British Picture Corporation which also acquired Ideal Films Ltd and W. and F. Film Service Ltd[1]
1928 Acquired General Theatre Corporation[2].
1928 Gaumont absorbed Gainsborough Pictures headed by Michael Balcon and formed a conglomerate which also included nearly 300 cinemas.
1929 A. C. Bromhead retired. The 5 Ostrer brothers took on control of the studios.
With the advent of talking films, the Ostrer brothers set out to renovate the Lime Grove studio with sound systems. While the renovations were being made, Gainsborough Studios at Islington was used as the production arm.
1937 The Corporation had over 100 subsidiaries and associated companies and many cross-holdings with outside interests; moves were being made to rationalise these holdings[3].
1937 With the British market shrinking, Isidore Ostrer announced that Lime Grove would have to close. C. M. Woolf, one of the original directors of Gaumont-British, and J. Arthur Rank presented a package to take over the production of Lime Grove, move it to Pinewood and let Gainsborough continue its productions.
1941 Isidore Ostrer resigned as chairman on the sale of the Ostrer holdings to General Film Distributors Ltd. C. M. Woolf, J. Arthur Rank and L. W. Farrow (directors of General Film) would join the board with Mr Rank as chairman[4].
1942 Presentation of consolidated accounts at AGM. Subsidiary companies included Cinema-Television Ltd (formerly Baird Television Ltd); associated companies included Bush Radio Ltd, General Theatre Corporation Ltd, British Acoustic Films Ltd[5].
1947 British Optical and Precision Engineers Ltd was formed as a public company. It acquired the businesses of British Acoustic Films Ltd and G. B.-Kalee Ltd and at the same tune acquired the rest of the share capital of Taylor, Taylor and Hobson Ltd (i.e. that portion not already held by British Acoustic Films Ltd). At the same time it acquired control of the business of A. Kershaw and Sons Ltd (manufacturers of cinema projectors) and also became responsible for manufacturing and marketing internationally (excluding the American continent) a part of Bell and Howell's range of cameras and projectors.[6]
1955 Odeon Theatres Limited was renamed Rank Organisation Ltd[7]. One of the main elements of the group was Gaumont-British Picture Corporation Ltd, with its wholly-owned subsidiaries Cinema-Television Ltd, which owned Bush Radio, and British Optical and Precision Engineers Ltd.
See also Gaumont-British Cinemas