John E. Blakeley

John E. Blakeley (1 October 1888 – 20 February 1958) was a British film producer, director and screenwriter, the founder of Mancunian Films.Born in Ardwick, Manchester, son of James Blakeley (born c. 1862; Manchester), and Margaret Quirk (born c. 1861; Glasgow, Scotland), he was of Lancashire (Church of England) descent on his father's side of the family and Irish Catholic on his mother's.

Blakeley joined his father's business and soon came to understand the tastes of the emerging cinema audiences in the northern industrial towns.

By the 1930s, the younger Blakeley was making films starring the idols of northern music hall comedy: George Formby, Frank Randle[1] and Sandy Powell.

With £70,000 capital, a former Methodist chapel on Dickenson Road in Rusholme was converted into a film studio.

[2] The studios produced a sequence of profitable films, often on shoestring budgets, until Blakeley's retirement in 1953.