Christmas Pantomimes and other shows and appearances
1951/52 Manchester Hippodrome, Goody Two Shoes / Little Miss Muffett
1952/53 ?
1953/54 Leeds Empire Goody Two Shoes
1954/55 Hanley Royal, Little MIss Muffett
1955/56 Oxford New, ??
1956/57 Bournemouth Pavillion, Goody two shoes
1957/58 Sheffield Empire, Goody two shoes
1958/59 Plymouth Palace, ??
1959 15th November - 5th December 1959, The 1959 Birthday Show
1959/60 Leeds Empire, GTS
1961/62 The Frog Prince
November 11 1962 The Ed Sullivan Show
November 25 1962 The Ed Sullivan Show
December 1962 The Frog Prince, Bradford Alahambra
August 18th 1963 Ed Sullivan Show
December 1963 The Frog Prince, Brighton Hippodrome
November 1964 Aladdin London Paladium with Cliff Richard
August 29th 1965 Ed Sullivan Show
December 1965 Tom Thumb
November 1966 Gala de la Pieste, Cirque d Hiver
December 1966 Old King Cole, Liverpool Empire
February 1967 Piste Aux Etoies, Cirque D Hiver
March 1967 Snow White, Oxford New
December 1967 Cinderella, Wembley Ice Rink
March 24th 1968 Ed Sullivan Show, America
December 1968 Jack and the Beanstalk
April 20th 1969 Ed Sullivan Show, America
August 31st 1969 Ed Sullivan Show, America
December 1969 Humpty Dumpty, Wembley on Ice
November 1970 Hansa Theatre Hamburg
December 1970 Jack and the beanstalk, Wembley On Ice
February 1971 Piste aux Etolies
November 1971 Lorry Caberet, Copenhagen
December 1971 Robinson Crusoe, Wembley On Ice
December 1972 Jack and the Beanstalk, Leeds Varieties
27th May 1972 Showtime, the Pier Cleethorpes, 2 performance only
November 1973 La piste aux Etoiles, French TV
December 1973 Cinderella, Wembley on Ice
1974 BBC Right Charlie
1974 Centenary Bradford Alahambra
1974 South Africa Tour, Adventures of Simba
December 1975 Dick Wittington Wembley on ice
December 1967 Sleeping Beauty Wembley on ice
December 1977 Aladdin, Liverpool Empire
December 1978 Aladdin, Wembley on ice
Note - Many return bookings at Wembley Ice rink as the capacity is 7000
For Comparison - the Tower Circus seats only 1200
The Alhambra Theatre opened its doors for the first time over 110 years ago, in March 1914. Take a look at the history of the Alhambra Theatre through the years.
City Varieties Music Hall
A hidden gem. Leeds’ oldest working theatre and the Guinness World Record holder for the nation’s longest running music hall. Not bad for a once smoke-filled room above a pub, where the working class of Leeds would drink and be merry, shout vulgarities at performers and sing-along to pithy ditties.
Established in 1865, The Varieties is a living, breathing homage to the music hall era. You can feel it, touch it, smell it.
If you stop, take a breath and listen, she’ll tell you the story of the stars who have performed on her stage, from Houdini to Russell Crowe; the prince who hid in her balcony to secretly court a music hall queen; the baby that was born during pantomime and gifted free admission for life; the schoolchildren who would fire pea-shooters at the striptease acts; the renditions of Down at the Old Bull and Bush to close BBC TV’s The Good Old Days; the funny man from Liverpool with his tickling stick; and the army of volunteers who have welcomed the people of Leeds through her front doors for over 155 years.
And still the stories are being made. Barring a pandemic in 2020-21, and much-needed facelift in 2009-11, The Varieties has never closed her doors. Audiences from far and wide still flock to see the brightest stars from comedy, music, variety and pantomime perform on her stage, indeed Mr Dara O’Briain said she is: “Steeped in history… still regarded as the best venue for stand-up in the nation.”
Manchester Hippodrome Theatre
44-50 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 5EJ
Located in Manchester city centre. The Hippodrome Theatre was built on part of the site of Hengler’s Grand Cirque, which had opened in 1900. The Hippodrome Theatre was built for Sir Oswald Stoll as a multi-purpose theatre which enabled circus performances, variety theatre use (via a movable 54 feet wide proscenium), and water spectaculars (in a tank containing 70,000 gallons). It was designed by noted theatre architect Frank Matcham in a lavish Arabesque style.
The Hippodrome Theatre opened on 26th December 1904 with a presentation, which included acrobats, performing dogs, elephants and high wire acts and the main attraction was “Tally-Ho! A Hunting Sensation in Four Acts”. Also on the opening programme were animated pictures projected from the Bioscope machine. It operated with the format of circus and water spectaculars for the first six years.
In 1911, it was converted into a full time variety theatre, and attracted famous stars such as Sarah Bernhardt, Ellen Terry, Lilly Langtree, Pavlova, Phyllis Dare, Gracie Fields, George Robey and George Formby. Films were included as part of the variety programme.
In 1933, it presented a season of Shakespeare plays which included “Julius Caesar” and “The Merchant of Venice”. In the autumn of 1934, the Hippodrome Theatre was equipped with a Western Electric sound system and began screening films, the programme included just one variety act. The theatre was sold to the Granada Theatres cinema chain on 15th November 1934, and was closed on 2nd March 1935. One of the last films to be screened was Ronald Colman in “Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back”. The name Manchester Hippodrome was transferred to the Ardwick Empire Theatre.
The Hippodrome Theatre was demolished, but some sections were retained in the magnificent new Granada Theatre which was built on the site. Just days prior to its opening, Granada Theatres sold the building to the Gaumont British Theatres chain, and it opened as the Gaumont on 21st October 1935.
The Gaumont too was demolished in 1990, and the site lay empty for many years until a multi-storey car park was built on the plot in the late-1990’s
Contributed by Ken Roe
