MGM-British Studios Meanwhile, Amalgamated Studios Ltd constructed a large studio on the north side of Elstree Way between 1935 and 1937. A January 1937 deal for eight films to be made for the American studio Columbia Pictures soon collapsed. The company was unable to meet the cost of building work, and sold the facility to the Rank Organisation, which was not interested in using the studios itself, but wanted to stop John Maxwell's rival British International Pictures (BIP) from being able to compete more effectively with its own new Pinewood Studios. During the war, the studios were leased from Rank by the
J&R Lamb Studios J&R Lamb Studios J&R Lamb Studios, America's oldest continuously-run decorative arts company, is famous as a stained glass maker, preceding the studios of both John LaFarge and Louis C. Tiffany. The J&R Lamb Studios was established in 1857 by brothers Joseph (1833-1898) and Richard Lamb (1836-1909) in Greenwich Village in New York City. They had previously left Lewisham, England to come to the United States with their family since their father, a landscape architect, was engaged to work on Niblo's Garden, an exhibition hall and open-air theater. Originally, the company also did mosaic, murals, monuments, and other work for churches,