The Danzigers

The Danzigers were two brothers, Edward J. Danziger (1909–1999) and Harry Lee Danziger (1913–2005), who produced many British films and TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s.^[1][2][3]

According to one profile "throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, their second features and TV series seemed to be on screens everywhere, their pervasive presence forming a part of virtually every British filmgoer's and television viewer's experience during those years."^[4]

Career

Edward and Harry Danziger were native New Yorkers. Edward studied law and had worked on the Nuremberg Trials while brother Harry had a musical background. They operated a sound studio in New York that specialised in the dubbing of foreign films for US release. Their first feature film as producers was Jigsaw (1949).

In 1952 they moved to Britain and began making television films, using resources at various facilities including London's Riverside Studios, Shepperton, Borehamwood and Nettlefold. Among their first productions was the series Adventure Theater (aka, Calling Scotland Yard) which were shown on American television in 1956. Several episodes were compiled as supporting featurettes and released theatrically in the UK during 1954.

The screenwriter Brian Clemens worked for the Danzigers. He recalled that the Danzigers would shoot at a variety of British studios and order their writers to concoct a screenplay to use the standing sets. He stated they shot television episodes in two and a half to three days and shot a feature film in eight to ten days with a budget of £17,0000.^[5]

In 1956, the Danzigers decided to form their own studio base and founded the New Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire.^[6] They converted a former wartime aero-engine testing factory into a studio with six sound stages and exterior shooting facilities.^[7]

They later acquired control of the Gordon Hotels Group and moved into the hotel business. They also owned the Shipman and King Cinema group. New Elstree Studios were sold in October 1965.

Their niece is former judge Leslie Crocker Snyder.^[8]

Select credits

TV series

• Calling Scotland Yard (1952) - two compilation features (each consisting of three episodes) were released to UK cinemas as Gilbert Harding Speaking of Murder (1953) and A Tale of Three Women (1954)
• The Vise (1954)
• Mark Saber (1957)
• The Man from Interpol (1960)
• The Cheaters (1960)
• Richard the Lionheart (1960)

References

Cinema of the United Kingdom
Culture of the United Kingdom World cinema
Films by year (Films A–Z)	Pre 1920 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Production companies and studios	Active Aardman Animations BBC Films Big Talk Productions British Lion Films DNA Films Double Negative (VFX) Ealing Studios Elstree Studios Eon Productions Film4 Productions Framestore Goldcrest Films Hammer Film Productions HandMade Films Heyday Films The Imaginarium Studios London Films Palace Pictures Passion Pictures The Pinewood Studios Group (Pinewood Studios Shepperton Studios) Recorded Picture Company Scott Free Productions Syncopy Inc. S4C Films Thin Man Films Vertigo Films Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden Warp Films Wimbledon Studios Working Title Films Former Amicus Productions Associated British Picture Corporation Astra Films British Instructional Films British National Films Company Butcher's Film Service Clarendon Film Company Bryanston Films The Danzigers Denham Film Studios Eagle-Lion Films Eros Films G.B. Samuelson Productions Gainsborough Pictures General Film Distributors Halas and Batchelor Hemdale Film Corporation Ideal Film Company Mancunian Films MGM-British Studios Merton Park Studios Rank Organisation Southall Studios Stoll Pictures Tempean Films Tigon British Film Productions Warwick Films Woolf & Freedman Film Service
Organisations	BAFTA British Board of Film Classification British Film Institute BFI National Archive BFI Southbank British Society of Cinematographers Children's Film Foundation Cinema Exhibitors' Association National Film and Television School National Media Museum Northern Ireland Screen Scottish Screen UK Film Council
People	Actors and actresses Cinematographers Directors Editors Producers Production designers Score composers Screenwriters
Other	British Academy Film Awards British Independent Film Awards British New Wave Carry On Cinematograph Films Act 1927 Documentary Film Movement Eady Levy Ealing comedies Edgar Wallace Mysteries Free Cinema Gainsborough melodramas Harry Potter History of British film certificates Home Video Charts James Bond London Film Festival Look at Life London in film National Theatre Live Telecinema
Category

External links

• The Danzingers at BFI Screenonline
• The Danzingers at Movie Gems Films
• Edward J. Danziger at IMDB
• Harry Lee Danziger at IMDB
• The Danzigers series guide at CTVA
• Edward J. Danziger at BFI
• Harry Lee Danziger at BFI