The Rank Gongman bangs the paper disc
THE new Gongman of J Arthur Rank’s films is Chris Rowley from Stoke. The Rank Organisation is marking its 75th birthday at London’s Grosvenor G Casino.
The Gongman was the brainchild of Charles M.Woolf’s secretary. In 1935, Woolf and J. Arthur Rank formed General Film Distributors. The Gongman would outlive them all.
Rowley follows in the tight pants of:
William Thomas Wells, better known as, Bombardier Billy Wells (August 31, 1889 – June 12, 1967, an English heavyweight boxer. He was the second ‘Man with the Gong’.
Ken Richmond took over form Wells: He told us “If you hit that gong, you would have gone straight through.” The Olympic wrestler (Olympic bronze in the 1952 Helsinki games) was paid £100 to pull on those shorts and glisten.
The three medalists for heavyweight wrestling in the Olympics Games in Helsinki. Left to right: Bertil Antonsson of Sweden (silver medal), Arsen Mekokishvili of the Soviet Union (gold medal) and Kenneth Richmond of Great Britain (bronze medal). 25/07/1952
Carl Dane, a circus strongman who hit the gong from 1932 to 1948.
Posted: 22nd, November 2012 | In: Film Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
