The Company of Youth was a conscious attempt by J. Arthur Rank to manufacture stars similar to the Hollywood studio system.
He was inspired by the success Gainsborough Pictures had in creating British stars like Stewart Granger, James Mason, Patricia Roc, Margaret Lockwood, and Phyllis Calvert.
Students were given an allowance of around £10 a week and trained in breathing, deportment, movement and mime, fencing, accent correction, play reading, script study, rehearsing of excerpts, remedial exercises, and diction.
[2] One writer described it as "a sort of cross between Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio and a London finishing school for young ladies.
"[6] According to Filmink "The Charm School was much mocked at the time, and it’s hard to discuss today without laughing, but students included names like Petula Clark, Claire Bloom, and Christopher Lee, as well as [Diana] Dors, so somebody associated with it knew what they were doing.