A Royal Command Performance
The first of the two Royal Varity Performances of 1955 – and the first ever staged outside the capital – featured many acts familiar to Blackpool audiences. The organised Reginald Dixon who has become a popular resident in the Tower Ballroom was there, with the signature tune he made all his own, ‘I Do Like to be Beside the Seaside’. Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warriss delighted their fans as usual. From the Tower Circus came the Musical Clowns Charlie Cairoli and Paul, while George Formby and the American star Eddie Fisher added to the star-studded line-up, along with Arthur Askey and couple of young comedians by the name of Morecambe and Wise.
The highlight slapstick act of the evening belonged to the consummate comedians, Lauri Lupino Lane and George Truzzi, who treated the Blackpool audience to their celebrated paper-hanging routine. This was centred round two people trying to paste a piece of wall-paper on a wall with different coloured paste. The consequences can be imagined, and at the end of it both comics had to have a good wash-down before next appearing on stage.
LAURI LUPINO LANE
GEORGE TRUZZI
PETER GLAZE
KENNETH SANDFORTH
PAMELA BROMLEY
VERA DAY
THE JOHN TILLER GIRLS
VICTORIA PALACE BOYS & GIRLS
KATHRYN MOORE
FLYING DE PAULS
BARBOUR BORTHERS & JEAN
THE AMANDIS
THE CRAZY GANG
MORECAMBE & WISE
BILL WADDINGTON
JOSEPHINE ANNE
THE SHOWGIRLS
ARTHUR ASKEY
GERALDO & ORCHESTRA
JEWEL & WARRISS
LITTLEWOOD'S GIRLS CHOIR
JOAN REGAN
FIVE SMITH BROTHERS
ALMA COGAN
GEORGE FORMBY
1ST LIVERPOOL SCOTTISH
BERYL GREY with JOHN FIELD
JACK TRIPP
CHILDREN FROM BLACKPOOL TOWER BALLET
CHARLIE CAIROLI WITH PAUL WILFRED AND MABLE
ALBERT MODLEY
FLANAGAN & ALLEN
EDDIE FISHER WITH BBC ORCHESTRA
AL READ
Charlie's, Thoughts... when asked after the show this is what Charlie said!
How different from that wonderful evening in Blackpool, when I had the honour of appearing in a command performance before Her Majesty the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh!
I must tell you a story about that night.
You may have noticed that during my act I often give a friendly little flip-flip wave of my fingers—my own personal greeting to the audience. Well, before the performance someone backstage said to me:
“You’d never dare wave at the Royal Box, Charlie!”
But I did.
And to my delight, the Duke leaned over the edge of the box and waved back—perfectly imitating my own flip-flip gesture.
Later, when I had the honour of being presented to the Queen and the Duke, I apologised for working him into the act.
“Only too happy to oblige, Charlie!” grinned the Duke.
A wonderful, happy moment for me—and a wonderful picture it made in all the papers the next day. A framed copy hangs above my dressing-room mirror now.
