Planning my research trips to America and the UK

Below is a summary of the areas of research I hope to cover on my trip to America in July and to the UK in September/October. Any help or advice would be welcome.

I hope I can visit the Margaret Herrick, UCLA and USC libraries while in Los Angeles, and the BFI, The National Portrait Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Society of Miniature Painters when in the UK. I also hope to add other institutions as my plans develop and people advise me.

1. Documents referencing: Kay Harrison or Montagu Marks; also the Prudential (UK) in connection with London Films, Korda, Gerrard Industries or Technicolor.

2. How and when Montagu Marks and Kay Harrison met Alexander Korda? Was it in 1933/4, as described in Tabori’s and Drazin’s biographies, or was it earlier when Korda was in the USA?

3. Was there a relationship between Montagu Marks, Sir Connorp Guthrie, Sir Robert Vansittart and Claude Dansey that pre-dates Monty’s introduction to Korda? Was there a link to Monty’s earlier friendship with Sydney Reilly or Korda’s rescue from arrest in Budapest by Brigadier Maurice? How and when was Korda introduced to Churchill or visa versa?

4. How and when did Kay Harrison become a director of the film colour processing company, Gerrard Industries? Who were the other directors and investors?

5. What were the facts behind The Prudential’s investments in Gerrard Industries, London Films and Technicolor Ltd. What were Monty and Kay’s true roles in this?

6. Connections between Z Organization and London Films.

7. Facts about London Films/Korda and British propaganda before and during WWII in England and Hollywood.

8. Montagu Marks’ activities in Spain during WWII, including the roles of Aileen O’Brien and Hugh Ellis-Rees. Facts about allied film propaganda efforts in Spain during WWII.

9. The story behind Douglas Fairbanks International.

10. Monty and Kay dealings with Mike Frankovich in the 1950s.

11. Further facts about the provenance and current whereabouts of Monty’s and Stella’s artworks - miniatures, oils, watercolours and drawings between 1906 to 1976.