Rex Features Ltd. is a British photographic press agency and photo library, based in London, UK. It supplies a daily service of news, celebrity, features, and stock photos to newspapers, magazines, TV, book publishing, web and all other media in the UK and in more than 35 countries worldwide.

Rex Features Ltd -- Company profile

Rex was founded in 1954 by husband-and-wife team Frank Selby (b. Salusinszky Ferenc, Budapest, Jan 12, 1918) and Elizabeth Selby (b. Elisabeth Guttmann, Berlin, Apr 1, 1925). The couple retired as joint Managing Directors in 2008, but continue to take an interest in the firm.

In addition to a daily news and entertainment feed, relied upon by newspapers and magazines worldwide, the Press Agency produces a constant stream of new features, comprising ready-made packages of pictures and words, on an extremely wide range of topics, as well as lifestyle, travel, wildlife and other creative and stock imagery.

REX represents many major picture sources including the leading UK celeb-society photographers Richard Young and Dave Fisher, the French agency Sipa Press, top US celebrity agency Startraks and Berliner, film stills archives The Everett Collection and Snap Photo Library, The Associated Newspapers archive (Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard), television stills libraries including the ITV Archive and the Fremantle Media TV archive, many ITV “reality” and talent shows such as Britain’s Got Talent, Dancing On Ice, The X Factor, I’m A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here, plus hundreds of freelance photographers and agencies around the world. Rex’s website allows professional users access to more than 5,000,000 images, with more than 3000 new images added every day. While its daily production is fully digital, Rex’s service is backed by a physical archive stretching back to the early days of photography and containing about 15 million images encompassing a vast range of subjects.

Origins and early years

Both Frank and Elizabeth are from Hungarian roots, and journalism ran in both families—Frank's father Imre Salusinszky was editor-in-chief of Az Est, Hungary's leading newspaper group based in Budapest, while Elizabeth's father, Heinrich (Henry) Guttmann, was a prominent journalist and book author writing on industry and other topics for German newspapers and magazines. His particular personal interest was in the history of photography. To illustrate his articles, Guttmann amassed a large collection of photographs, illustrations and engravings which was later acquired by the groundbreaking Picture Post magazine to form the nucleus of its own picture library; some of a subsequent collection is now contained in the Rex Features picture library. Guttmann, a Jew and a communist sympathiser, realising the threat posed by the rise of the Nazis, left Germany in 1925 with his baby daughter, for Paris where he continued working until 1931. After a brief return to Germany to tidy up his affairs, he settled in London.

Frank travelled to Britain in 1938 to study at Cambridge, but WWII interrupted his plans and he served in the British Army for the duration of the war. After demobilization he went into the import-export business. The teenage Elizabeth had meanwhile been working for the Free French resistance organization at its HQ in London. After the war she began helping her father to "package" his feature articles, trading as Rex Features, and after she and Frank married in 1948 they merged their respective skills to establish Rex as a full-fledged photo agency.

In early 1954 the couple were asked by a small Paris news agency to sell its pictures in the UK, and so Rex Features as an international agency was born. Elizabeth ran the business in the front room of the family house in northwest London, while Frank went out to sell to the newspapers and magazines whose offices were then still concentrated in and around Fleet Street in central London. Word of Rex’s efficient and reliable service quickly spread; by the 1960s, Rex represented a growing roster of photographers including the renowned showbiz photographer Dezo Hoffmann, and was providing a regular supply of features, news and celebrity pictures to the press in Britain and overseas.

Middle period – near disaster and a growth spurt

In 1963 the firm opened its first modest rented offices in a garret overlooking London’s central fruit and vegetable market in Covent Garden. Later there was a move to Gough Square, just off Fleet Street, and again to nearby East Harding Street where in February 1979 a small fire started by an electrical fault caused extensive smoke damage to the company’s stock and equipment. Despite rumours in the press industry that Rex was “finished”, the company continued doing business as usual during the nine months it took to hand-clean or replace many thousands of filing envelopes, millions of B/W prints and colour slides, and other equipment and documents. In November 1979 the company moved into offices in Vine Hill.

In 1981 Rex raised its profile dramatically with its coverage of the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Its fast and comprehensive service beat many more widely known agencies into the pages of newspapers and magazines around the world. Picture editors came to rely on Rex for deadline material of all types, particularly of Royalty and celebrities, as well as for its multi-faceted photo library.

Later success and present-day prominence

Rex has notched up many celebrity and news exclusives over the years, including such high-profile hits as: Liz Taylor and Richard Burton smooching at his 50th birthday party; the first picture of Prince Charles holding hands with Camilla Parker Bowles; the first pictures of Mick Jagger together with Luciana Morad and their son Lucas; world exclusive pictures of Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess in his coffin; coverage of the world’s first arm transplant operation; pictures transmitted back from Mt. Everest of the discovery of the mummified remains of mountaineer George Mallory; photos of a baby’s corpse dumped in a street gutter in a Chinese city, which caused an international outcry.

In 2008 Rex Features acquired the prestigious Los Angeles-based Berliner Group of photographic companies, with the aim of strengthening Rex’s presence in the USA and guaranteeing a reliable supply of high-quality celebrity portraiture and coverage of “red carpet” events from the US.

Over the past 57 years Rex Features has established itself as one of the leading sources of editorial photography, with contributors and sales agents throughout the world. Its website is frequently cited by leading newspaper and magazine editors as “the best in the business” for clarity and ease of use. The company now owns a substantial building in London's historic Clerkenwell district, where it employs around 80 staff looking after the interests of its hundreds of photographers and many thousands of clients. Rex also has offices in New York and Los Angeles.

On Monday 26 April 2010, Mike Selby of Rex Features announced Getty Images' intention to acquire the Rex group of companies. Following a decision by the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) on Thursday 8 July 2010, to refer the proposed merger to the Competition Commission (formerly Monopolies Commission) for further scrutiny, after some UK media companies expressed fears that since Rex is the market leader in the UK the merged entity could be unfairly influential in the market, the deal was called off, and Rex Features continues as an independent company.

Collections

(Owned)

Dezo Hoffmann Archive

Pic Photos (Harry Myers) library

(Represented)

Richard Young archive

Footnotes

External links

Official website of Rex Features Ltd

Official website of Rex USA

Category:Companies established in 1954 Category:Photo archives Category:Photojournalism Category:Photography companies Category:Stock photography Category:News agencies Category:European journalism organizations

Name	Jim Loach
Birth name	James Loach
Birth date	June 06, 1969
Birth place	London, England
Death date
Residence	London
Nationality	British
Occupation	Film and tv director
Years active	1996–present
Children	Thomas and Phoebe

Jim Loach (b. 6 June 1969) is an English film director. He is the son of the film director Ken Loach.

Biography

Loach was born in London, and studied philosophy at University College, London, intending to pursue a career in journalism. He joined the BBC where he worked as a researcher for Sue Lawley and Anne Robinson. Loach turned to directing in 1996 while working on the Granada TV current affairs programme World in Action. He went on to direct several episodes of Coronation Street in 2000, and subsequently directed episodes of Footballers' Wives, Bad Girls, Waterloo Road, Shameless, HolbyBlue and Hotel Babylon.

His first feature film Oranges and Sunshine was released on 1 April 2011.

Work on a second film collaboration with Rona Munro is reportedly underway.

References

External links

Jim Loach's profile at Curtis Brown Literary and Talent Agency

Category:Living people Category:1969 births Category:Alumni of University College London Category:English television directors Category:English film directors

Birth name	Rex Trailer
Birth place	Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, film producer,
Yearsactive	1947–present }}

Rex Trailer is a Boston, Massachusetts based television personality, broadcast pioneer, and Country and Western recording artist. He is best known as the host of the children's show Boomtown.

Early life

Rex Trailer was born in 1929 and grew up just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. He learned his cowboy skills while spending summers on his grandfather’s ranch. As a rodeo performer, he met western movie star Gabby Hayes who hired him to work at his Catskills summer ranch for kids. Hayes encouraged him to break into television as an on-air personality.

Television pioneer

In 1947, Trailer went to work for the DuMont Television Network in New York City as a production coordinator. He later became the host of the network's Oky Doky Ranch. The show featured Rex Trailer as a cowboy and Oky Doky was a cowboy puppet. This format has some obvious similarity to the Howdy Doody show. Oky Doky had already been established in local television before being moved to the network, so there is some debate as to who came first.

After the Oky Doky series ended, Trailer heard that the Westinghouse TV station in Philadelphia (WPTZ) needed a host for a Western-style children's show. Rex Trailer and his horse "Gold Rush" moved to Philadelphia and hosted television shows from 1950 until 1956. "Ridin’ the Trail with Rex Trailer" featured him as the host for movie westerns. He also had a daily 15-minute program featuring songs, games and dances with Trailer and his guitar. This show went by various names, including "Hi-Noon with Rex Trailer", "Saddlebag O' Songs" and "Rex Trailer's Ranch House".

Recording artist

Trailer recorded Country and Western Music for ABC-Paramount Records, among other labels. At one time, c. 1950, Trailer recorded with Bill Haley and his Saddlemates, who gained fame later as Bill Haley and His Comets. In 1955, Cowboys Don't Cry and a song later used regularly on the Boomtown show, Hoofbeats, were released together in the 78 rpm and 45 rpm vinyl record formats. Trailer released at least two 33 rpm 12" vinyl albums, as "Rex Trailer and the Playboys", one titled Country and Western in 1960 and one titled Good Old Country Music, released by Crown records (CLP 5484 monaural), date unknown. Another album with some overlap in playlists also exists, by "Rex Trailer and his Cow Hands", titled Western Favorites, which was released in 1961 on Spin-O-Rama records.

The Boomtown/Boston years

In 1956, Rex Trailer moved to Boston and hosted a weekend-morning children's show Boomtown on WBZ-TV. This series proved to be his greatest success, airing through 1974 and establishing Trailer as a major local celebrity within the signal of Boston's TV Channel 4. Rex performed songs while playing guitar, and showed off his authentic cowboy skills with horse-riding tricks, rope tricks and skilled use of the bull-whip. He led the studio audience of children in sing-alongs and simple contests of skill, and introduced cartoons and other children's programming segments. He was aided by various sidekicks over the years, including "Pablo" from 1956 to 1967 (played by actor Richard Kilbride), then "Cactus Pete" from 1967 to 1969 (played by Terrance Currier), and finally "Sgt. Billy" played by actor Bill O'Brien.

Rex Trailer's fame, good name, and crowd-pleasing talents made him a popular draw at many personal appearances in the area. He was also able to successfully team with a local travel agency in chaperoning children on an annual series of large-scale school-vacation trips to California tourist attractions. In the early 1960s, Trailer (and Gold Rush) led an actual wagon train across the state of Massachusetts ending at the State House in Boston, to call public attention to the needs of the mentally retarded, and the organization The A.R.C. ( then called the Association for Retarded Citizens.) In addition, Trailer also encouraged his young fans to hold neighborhood charity fund-raisers called "Backyard Carnivals Against Dystrophy", offering how-to kits on air.

Recognition

The retrospective book Rex Trailer: The Boomtown Years by Shirley Kawa-Jump was published in 1997.

Trailer was inducted into the Massachusetts Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. He was included in the first group of honorees inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame in Brockton MA on May 5, 2007.

A documentary film titled, Rex Trailer's Boomtown was produced by Milford, Massachusetts native Michael Bavaro. The film was broadcast on WBZ-TV on June 18, 2005 as a special and was nominated for a New England Emmy award for best historical documentary. Jay Leno, Jimmy Tingle, Mayor Tom Menino, Steven Wright and more than 100 grown-up kids share their Boomtown memories, and attest to the enduring stature of its host. The broadcast version of the film and archive material were presented to and are now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York City. The film enjoyed an encore presentation on WGBH Boston on August 26, 2010.

Still on the trail

Rex Trailer continues to work in the television industry, and teaches on-air performance at Emerson College in Boston. Trailer had a minor role in the 1990 Cher/Winona Ryder movie Mermaids. He still makes regular personal appearances, and performs live on occasion, even performing at Boston rock clubs in the last few years as a special guest. Rex Trailer is also a perennial participant in Natick Massachusetts' annual 4 July parade, in which he rides Goldrush.

On December 10, 2006, Rex performed several songs (including the Boomtown theme and some of his own Christmas songs) and signed free autographs for hundreds of fans old and young at That's Entertainment in Worcester, MA. The event was part of Trailer's official 50th Anniversary of Boomtown celebration tour. Then Worcester Mayor Tim Murray officially proclaimed it "Rex Trailer's Boomtown Day" throughout the city to mark the occasion.

Rex Trailer is still involved in helping people with disabilities and supporting The Arc. He was honored for his lifetime of contributions to people with mental and intellectual disabilities at the 50th anniversary Gala for The Arc of Massachusetts, September 10, 2005. This year in his honor The Arc of Massachusetts will be recreating his historic wagon train, only this time with buses.

Rex will be attending the event All Aboard The Arc!, April 10, 2011.

Rex Trailer shares his TV production studio office with an acting and modeling agency colleague in Waltham, Massachusetts called Cameo Agency, as part of Cameo Kids.

References

External links

Rex Trailer - Official Site

- Massachusetts Broadcasters Hall of Fame

Boomtown Video Clip from Digital Freeway

Wagon Train Rex Trailer footage of 1959 Wagon ride for The Arc.

Category:1929 births Category:Living people Category:American television personalities Category:Emerson College faculty