The Gongman

[W!nston]

We were watching an old Richard Widmark movie today, Night and the City, and one of the supporting actors was Ken Richmond who was an Olympic Wrestling medalist in the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games.

Ken had a superb wrestler's physique and was in fact what we called a Greek God or Adonis.

He became the 4th Rankin Gongman in the mid 50s following in the footsteps of other strongman types. He became the quintessential Gongman for decades to follow.

In Night and the City his role was Nikolas of Athens. One of a stable full of sweaty men with muscles ripplin' in those tight wrestler briefs.

I got all tingly every time he banged his gong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzmj4k1343E&list=TLGGNnfy-2PzeX4xMzA1MjAyMg

Use the above link to play the video

 

[W!nston]

I found this little trivia blog about The Gongman:

The Rank papier-mâché gong & the Gongmen who struck it

The papier-mâché gong displayed at the London Film Museum

There are many conflicting accounts on the history of one of the most famous British trademarks, the Rank Gongman. Many believed, incorrectly, that Bombardier Billy Wells was the first. The actual count is four men have struck the gong that appeared on cinema screens. There has also been one or two who were trialed and ruthlessly dropped.

In 2012, to celebrate the Gongman’s 75th anniversary, The Rank Group, the gaming company that in 1996 acquired the remaining business interests of The Rank Organisation as well as the rights to its logo and name, commissioned a new version of the Gongman featuring a model. The sequence was filmed in Sale, Manchester, above the Mecca Bingo Club. This version was to promote a nationwide competition to find a new Gongman, or woman for the 21st century revamp of the famous trademark. The production of the latest version displays a real talent on how this new title has managed to retain the dramatic impact of the original format, and yet makes it more acceptable in this digital age. Chris Rowley from Stoke won the Gongman competition.

In the 1930’s Charles M Woolf and J Arthur Rank founded General Film Distributors. They required an opening trademark. Predictably, a wolf howling was one of the first ideas put forward. This was deemed to be similar to the MGM’s roaring lion. Woolf’s publicity secretary suggested a man striking a gong. When the Rank Organisation was established much later, with General Film Distributors within the company’s framework, the trademark title was adopted for the whole organisation. The Gongman filmed sequence depicts a man striking a huge gong with a deep resonant sound. The gongs used in the films were props made of papier-mâché, with the sound of the gong done at one recording by James Blades on a Chinese instrument called a tam tam.

Carl Dane

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLRvJI64PV8

Use the above to play the video

Carl Dane a former circus strongman, was the first gong-banger. He filmed the first strikes in 1932 for the opening logo of General Film Distributers. Fast deteriorating nitrate film stock meant the sequence had to be re-filmed frequently. Dane struck the gong 3 times. Later gong men struck it only twice.

Billy Wells

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VRmBJSsSb0

Use the above to play the video

Phil Nieman

Then in 1948, it was deemed that Wells should be replaced and his successor was Phil Nieman, who was filmed at Gainsborough Studios, Shepherd’s Bush. Nieman’s image headed J Arthur Rank’s films until he too was replaced in 1955 by the most famous Gongman of them all, Ken Richmond.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoFBkm43YQY

Use the above to play the video

Ken Richmond

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzmj4k1343E&list=TLGGNnfy-2PzeX4xMzA1MjAyMg

Use the above to play the video

https://www.chestercinemas.co.uk/rank-gongman-bangs-papier-mache-disc/

 

[turkeyboy]

Thank you Dear W!inston for your post, as it bought back my lost memories of the "Rank Xerox" era, from the 70's.
I was unaware that "The Gongman" was featured much longer than that in various forms and of years gone by.

:cheers: