Older readers will recall the days when at the cinema you saw not only the main feature but also got to see the supporting feature or B-movie. Even older readers will recall when you also got a cartoon and a Pathe newsreel. However, let us not go that far back on this walk down Memory Lane.

One of the forgotten studios from the Hollywood of England is the Danzigers New Elstree Studios, which ironically was the only one sited in Elstree as opposed to Borehamwood.

At this point I must lay to rest an urban myth that the famous Elstree Studios, situated in Borehamwood, adopted its name out of snobbery. The actual reason was simply to identify its location. Back in 1927 when it opened, Borehamwood was little more than a farming village. Elstree was a well-known watering hole between London and St Albans. The telephone exchange used an ELS code and the railway station was called Elstree as was the local council.

I digress so back to the Danzigers, who were two American wheeler dealers named Ed and Harry. They spotted a market in England for cheaply made television series and supporting features. Fed up with hiring space at various studios, they bought a jet engine testing base in Elstree and converted it into what they called Danzigers Brothers New Elstree Studios. This was in the mid 1950s and for a handful of years it flourished. Most of the productions were, let us say, cheap and cheerful, with the emphasis on the former. One of their regular directors told me he was asked to make up a name for himself on the credits so it did not look like they were using the same person too often. If he was overrunning, one of the Danzigers would appear on set and rip some pages out of the script, saying "now you are back on schedule".

Brian Clemens, a script writer who went on the create The Avengers and much more, remembered for me his start in the business at the Danzigers. He recalled they would ask him to write a script which must include a submarine, a nightclub and a phone box as they were left over from a previous production. Nothing could be wasted.

A friend of mine, the late actor Francis Matthews, told me it was a place where newcomers or down and outers worked to earn a few bob. He was told that if you forget your lines during a take, ad lib as we do not want to waste film on a second take.

That great screen and Oscar-winning cad George Sanders recalled how he was enticed to make a film at the studio. He said: "I was told the director would be Wilder and my co-star Monroe. It turned out to be not the Oscar winning Billy but his brother, and an unknown who happened to share the same surname as Marilyn."

The studio was also hired out to other production companies so the likes of Brian Donlevy, Sidney Poitier and Jeffrey Hunter came from Hollywood to work there.

Alas, the days of cheap productions came to an end at the beginning of the 1960s. The studio had given employment to up-and-comers like Christopher Lee and fading stars of yesteryear like John Longdon, who had starred in the first multilingual film made at Elstree decades earlier. The studio closed and was taken over by RTZ. A business park now occupies the site and back in 1996 I organised a plaque to be installed at the entrance. I would love to hear from anybody who worked at the studio.

Until we meet again I hope you have an enjoyable week. I have been invited for lunch at Knebworth House by the lovely couple who run it. We go back a long way and I will report back next week. Not bad for a council kid.