Elstree

Coordinates: 51°38′N 0°18′W / 51.64°N 0.30°W / 51.64; -0.30

Elstree /ˈɛlztri/ is a village in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire, England, on the former A5 road, which followed the course of Watling Street, approximately thirteen miles northwest of central London. In 2011, its population was 5,110. It forms part of the civil parish of Elstree and Borehamwood, originally known simply as Elstree.

The village often lends its shorter name to businesses and amenities in the adjacent town of Borehamwood, and the names of Elstree and Borehamwood are used interchangeably. Elstree is perhaps best known for the Elstree Film Studios, where a number of famous British films were made, and the BBC Elstree Centre, where the TV soap opera EastEnders is made; these are both located in Borehamwood.

The local newspaper is the Borehamwood and Elstree Times. Together with Borehamwood, the village is twinned with Offenburg in Germany and Fontenay-aux-Roses in France.

Transport

Elstree & Borehamwood railway station

Teddy Brown

Teddy Brown (1900–1946) was an American entertainer who spent the latter part of his life performing in Britain. He was born Abraham Himmelbrand in 1900, and first played in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, but moved to the field of popular music in the 1920s.

He was noted for his rotund appearance, approaching 400 pounds in weight, and was often compared to (or considered the British answer to) another rotund band leader of the same era, Paul Whiteman.

Brown played several instruments, the saxophone, the drums, percussion, the xylophone, and he also whistled melodies while he played any of the percussion instruments.

He arrived in London in 1926. The next year he formed his own orchestra, playing at the Café de Paris. He went on to play in other nightclubs both in London and Paris including the Kit Kat Club. The custom-made Besson xylophone he played had a six-octave range, two more than the usual xylophone. In 1927, the UK division of Lee de Forest's Phonofilm made a short film of Brown playing the xylophone.

Elstree Calling

Elstree Calling (1930) is a film directed by Andre Charlot, Jack Hulbert, Paul Murray, and Alfred Hitchcock at Elstree Studios.

Synopsis

The film, referred to as "A Cine-Radio Revue" in its original publicity, is a lavish musical film revue and was Britain's answer to the Hollywood revues which had been produced by the major studios in the United States, such as Paramount on Parade (1930) and Hollywood Review of 1929. The revue has a slim storyline about it being a television broadcast. The film consists of 19 comedy and music vignettes linked by running jokes of an aspiring Shakespearean actor and technical problems with a viewer's TV set.

Hitchcock's contribution was the comic linking segments about a man trying to "tune in" the revue on his television set, but always failing to get the picture for long because of his needless tinkering. (In the UK, John Logie Baird's work in mechanical television in the 1920s made television a topical subject at the time.)

Production background

Jameson Thomas

Jameson Thomas (24 March 1888 – 10 January 1939) was an English film actor. He appeared in 82 films between 1923 and 1939.

He was born Thomas Roland Jameson in St George Hanover Square, London. On the stage from his early teens, Jameson first appeared as a half-breed boy in The Squaw Man. He made his screen debut in 1923 in the film Chu Chin Chow. In 1929, he starred in Piccadilly as Valentine Wilmot opposite Anna May Wong. At the time, Piccadilly was not well received, but has since been recognised as an accomplished melodrama and one of the best films of the late British silent era.

Thomas moved to Hollywood, appearing on the stage with Bebe Daniels in The Last of Mrs. Cheyney. He continued to appear in minor roles in various films until his death. Thomas played "King" Westley, the fortune-hunting husband/fiancé of Claudette Colbert in Frank Capras comedy It Happened One Night. He died from tuberculosis in Sierra Madre, California.

Selected filmography

Copyright Act of 1976

The Copyright Act of 1976 is a United States copyright law and remains the primary basis of copyright law in the United States, as amended by several later enacted copyright provisions. The Act spells out the basic rights of copyright holders, codified the doctrine of "fair use," and for most new copyrights adopted a unitary term based on the date of the author's death rather than the prior scheme of fixed initial and renewal terms. It became Public Law number 94-553 on October 19, 1976 and went into effect on January 1, 1978.

History and purpose

Before the 1976 Act, the last major revision to statutory copyright law in the United States occurred in 1909. In deliberating the Act, Congress noted that extensive technological advances had occurred since the adoption of the 1909 Act. Television, motion pictures, sound recordings, and radio were cited as examples. The Act was designed in part to address intellectual property questions raised by these new forms of communication. (see House report number 94-1476)