{{short description|German inventor, film producer and studio owner}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Ludwig Blattner | image = Ludwig Blattner face.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Blattner in 1923 | birth_name = | other_names = Louis Blattner | birth_date = {{birth year|1880}} | birth_place = German Empire | death_date = {{death-date and age|29 October 1935|1880}} | death_place = Elstree, Hertfordshire, England | spouse = Margaret Mary Gracey | children = 2 | years_active = 1912–1934 | occupation = Producer, inventor }}
'''Ludwig Blattner''' (5 February 1880 – 29 October 1935) was a German-born inventor, film producer, director and studio owner in the United Kingdom, and developer of one of the earliest magnetic sound recording devices.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hJc8afOZV0QC&dq=%22Ludwig+Blattner%22&pg=PA100 The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History], edited by William D. Rubinstein, Michael Jolles, Hilary L. Rubinstein Palgrave Macmillan, 15 March 2011, {{ISBN|9781403939104}}</ref>
== Career == Ludwig Blattner, also known as '''Louis Blattner''',<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140108164700/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba5e95a13 "Louis Blattner"], BFI, retrieved 8 January 2014</ref> was a pioneer of early magnetic sound recording, licensing a steel wire-based design from German inventor Dr. Kurt Stille,{{citation needed|date=October 2019}} and enhancing it to use steel tape instead of wire, thereby creating an early form of tape recorder. This device was marketed as the Blattnerphone.<ref>[http://www.orbem.co.uk/tapes/blattner.htm "Blattnerphone"], Orbem.co.uk, retrieved 25 December 2013</ref> Whilst on a promotional tour of his sound recording technology in 1928 he would choose ladies from the audience to dance with to music being played from a Blattnerphone.<ref>[https://smartech.gatech.edu/bitstream/handle/1853/24235/morton_david_l_199512_phd_438003.pdf.txt The History of Magnetic Recording in the United States, 1888–1978] David L. Morton, Jr., PhD thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, December 1995</ref>
thumb|Blattnerphone steel tape recorder at BBC studios, London, 1937
thumb|Front cover of sheet music inspired by Pola Negri, composed by Ludwig Blattner
Prior to the First World War, Blattner was involved in the entertainment industry in the Liverpool City Region: he managed the "La Scala" cinema in Wallasey from 1912 to 1914, conducted the cinema's orchestra, and composed a waltz "The Ladies of Wallasey".<ref>[http://www.historyofwallasey.co.uk/wallasey/Wallasey_Cinemas_Part_2/index.html History of Wallasey Cinemas Part 2] retrieved 7 July 2016</ref> In about 1920 he moved to Manchester where he managed a chain of cinemas.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hJc8afOZV0QC&dq=%22Ludwig+Blattner%22&pg=PA100 | title=The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History | isbn=978-1-4039-3910-4 | last1=Rubinstein | first1=William D. | last2=Jolles | first2=Michael | last3=Rubinstein | first3=Hilary L. | date=22 February 2011 | publisher=Palgrave Macmillan }}</ref> There, in 1923 he composed and published a piece of music about the film actress Pola Negri titled "Pola Negri Grand Souvenir March".<ref>[https://epdf.pub/the-silent-cinema-in-song-1896-1929.html The Silent Cinema in Song, 1896–1929 An Illustrated History and Catalog of Songs Inspired by the Movies and Stars, with a List of Recordings] Ken Wlaschin, pub. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina, and London, 2009. p.254 {{ISBN|978-0-7864-3804-4}}</ref> Later in the 1920s, he bought the British film rights to Lion Feuchtwanger's novel ''Jew Süss'' although the film was not made until 1934 after Blattner had sold the rights<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQm8fuT5rnsC&dq=blattner+suss&pg=PT218 | title=Jew Suss: Life, Legend, Fiction, Film | isbn=978-1-4411-1552-2 | last1=Tegel | first1=Susan | date=9 June 2011 | publisher=A&C Black }}</ref> to Gaumont British. In early 1928, press reports appeared saying that Blattner was planning a 400-acre "Hollywood, England" complex with a hospital, 150 room hotel, aeroplane club and the largest collection of studios in the world, for which he was planning to spend between 2 million and 5 million pounds.<ref>[£5,000,000 ? British Film Scheme "HOLLYWOOD, ENGLAND ?"] The Sun, Sydney, New South Wales, 01 Jan 1928</ref> Blattner later formed the Ludwig Blattner Picture Corporation in Borehamwood in the studio complex that is now known as BBC Elstree Centre, buying the Ideal Film Company studio (formerly known as Neptune Studios) in 1928, renaming it as Blattner Studios.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w6kaAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Ludwig+Blattner%22 | title=British Film Studios: An Illustrated History | isbn=978-0-7134-7559-3 | last1=Warren | first1=Patricia | date=1995 | publisher=Batsford }}</ref> In 1928 his company produced a series of short films of musical performances such as "Albert Sandler and His Violin [Serenade – Schubert]" and "Teddy Brown and His Xylophone". The best known films produced by his film company were ''A Knight in London'' (1929) and ''My Lucky Star'' (1933), which was co-directed by Blattner. Films produced by other companies at the Blattner Studios included Dorothy Gish and Charles Laughton's first drama talkie ''Wolves'' (1930),<ref name="imdb_0021558">{{IMDb title| id =0021558 | title = Wolves (1930) }}</ref> the 1934 adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Tell-Tale Heart",<ref name="imdb_0149973">{{IMDb title| id = 0149973 | title = The Tell-Tale Heart (1934) }}</ref> ''Rookery Nook'' (1930) and ''A Lucky Sweep'' (1932).<ref>[https://www2.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-british-films-1927-1939.pdf British Films 1927 - 1939] Linda Wood, BFI National Library, London, 1986</ref>
Ludwig Blattner was also involved in an early colour motion picture process: in about 1929 he bought the rights for the use outside the USA of a lenticular colour process called Keller-Dorian cinematography.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_FhfTvzjygC&pg=PA154 | title=Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture | isbn=978-1-134-42865-6 | last1=Abramson | first1=Glenda | date=March 2004 | publisher=Routledge }}</ref> This process was then known as the Blattner Keller-Dorian process,<ref>"Pathe International Corp. to Handle Color Films", Motion Picture News, Volume 39, Jan–Mar 1929, held at Internet Archive retrieved 27 January 2014</ref> which lost out to rival colour systems.
Ludwig Blattner originally intended the Blattnerphone to be used as a system of recording and playback for talking pictures,<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1224952 | jstor=1224952 | doi=10.2307/1224952 | title=The Blattnerphone: An Early Attempt to Introduce Magnetic Recording into the Film Industry | last1=Lafferty | first1=William | journal=Cinema Journal | date=1983 | volume=22 | issue=4 | pages=18–37 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> but the BBC saw its potential to record and "timeshift" BBC radio programmes for use with the BBC Empire Service, and rented several Blattnerphones from 1930 onwards, one of which was used to record King George V's speech at the opening of the India Round Table Conference on 12 November 1930.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdIjgeedgRwC&pg=PA54 | title=Video Recording Technology: Its Impact on Media and Home Entertainment | isbn=978-1-136-46604-5 | last1=Nmungwun | first1=Aaron Foisi | date=12 November 2012 | publisher=Routledge }}</ref> The 1932 BBC Year Book (covering November 1930 to October 1931) said:<ref>[http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BBC-Annual/BBC-Year-Book-1932.pdf The BBC Year-Book 1932]{{dead link|date=May 2026|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} p.101, British Broadcasting Corporation, London W.1, retrieved 30 September 2015</ref> {{Quote|In some ways the most important event of the year has been the adoption by the B.B.C. of the Blattnerphone recording apparatus described in the Technical Section. For years the B.B.C 's programme officials have longed for a machine which would be useful on the one hand for recording outside events such as commentaries, speeches, etc., of which normally no record existed, and on the other for rehearsals, and in particular for enabling certain broadcasters to hear themselves as others hear them.}} In 1939, the BBC used a Blattnerphone (not the later Marconi-Stille recorder) to record Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's announcement to Britain of the outbreak of World War II.<ref>[https://archive.today/20140206012949/http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2012/bbc-donation-national-media-museum.html "BBC donates historical collection to National Media Museum to mark 90th anniversary"], BBC Media Centre, retrieved 5 February 2014</ref>
In 1930, Blattner promoted a version of his Blattnerphone technology as one of the first telephone answering machines,<ref>[http://archives.iit.edu/technews/volume5/tnvol5no10.pdf#page=2 Telephonic Device Records Messages] Armour Tech News vol.5 no.10 p.2, 29 April 1930</ref> and in 1931 Blatter promoted a version of the Blattnerphone as the Blattner Book Reader, an early Audiobook playback system for the blind.<ref>[http://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/newsite/index/countries/UK/Distributors/BlattnerFilm/blattner.asp Ludwig Blattner Film Corp.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223024443/http://www.learnaboutmovieposters.com/newsite/index/countries/UK/Distributors/BlattnerFilm/blattner.asp |date=23 February 2014 }} LearnAboutMoviePosters.com (LAMP), retrieved 23 February 2014</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/newbeacon151931unse/newbeacon151931unse_djvu.txt The Museum Of Blindiana Official Opening] New Beacon, Vol. XV. No. 175. 15 July 1931, p.162, Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 from "American Foundation for the Blind inc." source, retrieved 23 February 2014</ref>
Despite being a "promoter of genius with far-seeing ideas about technical developments in sound and colour" according to the film director Michael Powell,<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/6227041/Life_in_the_Fast_Lane_George_King_Jerry_Jackson_and_low-budget_production_in_the_1930s Life in the Fast Lane: George King, Jerry Jackson and low-budget production in the 1930s], Robert Murphy, retrieved 28 June 2016</ref> business problems with the studio, due to the advent of rival talking picture systems, led to heavy financial loss, and in 1934 Joe Rock leased Elstree Studios from Ludwig Blattner, and bought it outright in 1936, a year after Blattner's suicide.<ref>[http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/straitstimes19351109-1.2.43.aspx "Heavy financial loss"], ''The Straits Times'', Singapore, 9 November 1935, p.9. Retrieved 25 December 2013</ref>
== Personal life == Born into a Jewish family in Altona, Hamburg, Blattner first visited Great Britain in 1897. He appears to have returned later and worked for a while in the publicity department of Mellin's Food probably arranged through family contact with Gustav Mellin. <ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090116232822/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/individual/218572 "Louis Blattner"], British Film Institute Film & TV Database, retrieved 10 February 2014</ref><ref>[https://archive.org/stream/kinematographyea16unse/kinematographyea16unse_djvu.txt Kinematograph Year Book 1929], p.268. Retrieved 24 January 2017</ref> He moved to Birkenhead by 1901 and settled in New Brighton, Merseyside where he married Margaret Mary Gracey and they had two British-born children, Gerry Blattner (born 1913 in Liverpool),<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120715141307/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2baae23c26 "Gerry Blattner"], British Film Institute (BFI), retrieved 8 January 2014</ref> and Betty Blattner (born in 1914 in Cheshire).<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120913055803/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2bb3207574 "Elizabeth Blattner"], BFI, retrieved 8 January 2014</ref> They both followed their father into the film business, Gerry as a producer and Betty as a makeup artist.<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0087851/ "Betty Blattner"], IMDB, retrieved 8 January 2014</ref> Ludwig Blattner never became a British citizen, and during the First World War he remained in an internment camp, which interrupted his management of the Gaiety cinema in Wallasey.<ref>[http://www.historyofwallasey.co.uk/wallasey/Wallasey_Cinemas_Part_1/index.html History of Wallasey Cinemas Part 1] retrieved 22 October 2014</ref> The hearsay based suggestion in a letter by Jay Leyda in 1968 that he married Else (also known as Elisabeth), the widow of Edmund Meisel the composer of the score for ''Battleship Potemkin'', some time after Meisel's death in 1930, is without any hard evidence. Indeed, he was resident with his wife Margaret Mary at the Country Club in Elstree when he took his own life in 1935.<ref>[http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/696724 letter from Jay Leyda] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220135201/http://umedia.lib.umn.edu/node/696724 |date=20 December 2016 }}, 17 December 1968, University of Minnesota Libraries, Arthur Kleiner Collection, retrieved 16 December 2016</ref>
Ludwig hanged himself at the Elstree Country Club in October 1935, when his son was 22 and his daughter was 21. Ludwig and Gerry were honoured by the naming of Blattner Close in Elstree in the mid-1990s.<ref>[http://www.borehamwoodtimes.co.uk/news/1451931.dying_to_be_famous/ "Dying to be famous"], Paul Welsh, Borehamwood and Elstree Times, 6 June 2007, retrieved 8 January 2014</ref><ref>[http://www5.hertsmere.gov.uk/democracy/documents/s29357/Report.pdf "Nicoll Farm Stables, Allum Lane, Elstree"] planning application meeting report, application no. TP/13/0021, Nicoll Farm Stables. Hertsmere Borough Council, 18 April 2013</ref><ref>{{coord|51.65122|-0.28873|region:GB_type:landmark}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
== External links == * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/hnj413KZQx2FKn6nCLnUJA Blattnerphone at the BBC's A History of the World] * {{IMDb name|0087855|Louis Blattner}} * [http://www.streetmap.co.uk/street/BLATTNER_CLOSE_in_ELSTREE_in_BOREHAMWOOD_in_HERTFORDSHIRE_in_WD6_629555_207235.htm Blattner Close at streetmap.co.uk]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blattner, Ludwig}} Category:British film producers Category:Audio engineering Category:German emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:19th-century German Jews Category:20th-century German inventors Category:1881 births Category:Suicides by hanging in England Category:1935 suicides Category:1935 deaths