The Rank Organisation

The Rank Organisation
Company type	Public
Industry	Film and media industry
Founded	23 April 1937 as J. Arthur Rank
Founder	J. Arthur Rank
Defunct	7 February 1996
Fate	Assets sold to Rank Group; Film assets acquired by Carlton Communications;
Successor	Company:; Rank Group; Library:; ITV Studios
Headquarters	London, England, United Kingdom
Key people	J. Arthur Rank (chairman)
Products	Film production, distribution and exhibition; (diversified: radio, television and photocopying manufacturing, record label)
Subsidiaries	Rank Audio Visual Multimedia; Rank Records; Top Rank; Top Rank Suite;

The Rank Organisation (founded as the J. Arthur Rank Organisation) is a British entertainment conglomerate founded by industrialist J. Arthur Rank in April 1937, Rank also served as the company chairman. It quickly became the largest and most vertically integrated film company in the United Kingdom, owning production, distribution, and exhibition facilities as well as manufacturing projection equipment and chairs.^[1] It also diversified into the manufacture of radios, TVs and photocopiers (as one of the owners of Rank Xerox). The company name lasted until February 1996, when the name and some of the remaining assets were absorbed into the newly structured Rank Group plc. The company itself became a wholly owned subsidiary of Xerox and was renamed XRO Limited in 1997.^[2]

The company logo, the Gongman, first used in 1935 by the group's distribution company General Film Distributors^[3] and seen in the opening titles of the films, became a celebrated and enduring film emblem.^[4]

^ "Extent and Scope of Rank's Worldwide Interests Reviewed At London Conv". Variety. 24 April 1946. p. 15. Retrieved 4 April 2023 – via Archive.org.
^ "XRO LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". Beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
^ The Independent July 16, 1999: Obituary: Sir John Woolf Retrieved 2 September 2011
^ Walden, Joshua. S. (2013). Representation in Western Music. Chapter 5 - Video cultures: 'Bohemian Rhapsody',Wayne's World, and beyond. Cambridge University Press. p. 81.

[varapr46-1] "Extent and Scope of Rank's Worldwide Interests Reviewed At London Conv". Variety. 24 April 1946. p. 15. Retrieved 4 April 2023 – via Archive.org.

[2] "XRO LIMITED - Overview (free company information from Companies House)". Beta.companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2019.

[Independent-3] The Independent July 16, 1999: Obituary: Sir John Woolf Retrieved 2 September 2011

[4] Walden, Joshua. S. (2013). Representation in Western Music. Chapter 5 - Video cultures: 'Bohemian Rhapsody',Wayne's World, and beyond. Cambridge University Press. p. 81.

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