Fabulous days recalled at a theatre whose shows made those at the
London Palladium look tatty by comparison.
IF the end of the Empire in Glasgow was sad, the demolition of the
Alhambra, one of the finest theatres in the world, was catastrophic. In
both cases there was indecent haste to replace them with office blocks
which remained empty for years.
What made it worse was that here was a place of entertainment that had
the hallmark of quality and style. The adjective ''fabulous'' became an
official part of the title of the Five Past Eight shows staged there and
no one would argue with that. Everything about it was appealing; it was
the best in every department: the management of Bert Lumsden, the
costumes, the scenery, the special effects, the musicians, the singers,
the dancers, and, of course, the stars. Certainly no other theatre in
Britain could match the Alhambra productions as staged by producer Dick
Hurran. Shows at the London Palladium looked tatty by comparison.
The Five Past Eights had been a natural progression from the old days
of Half Past Eights, as well as the lavish Howard and Wyndham pantos in
Glasgow and at the King's, Edinburgh. Douglas Byng and Harry Gordon (the
Laird o' Inversnecky) are a couple of names that spring to mind from the
earlier era. And, as I input these words, I have in front of me a
fabulous reminder of the later period: a framed montage by Reg Allen,
the Howard and Wyndham designer, with an illustration of the Alhambra,
surrounded by many of the top entertainers -- Rikki Fulton, Jack Milroy,
Jimmy Logan, Jack Radcliffe, Kenneth McKellar, John Mulvaney, Una
McLean, Yana, Eve Boswell, Stanley Baxter, Ronnie Corbett, Max Bygraves,
Shirley Bassey, Bruce Forsyth, Norman Wisdom, Harry Secombe, Lena
Martell, Moira Anderson...
Hurran got all the encouragement and money he needed from the late
Stewart Cruickshank, head of Howard and Wyndham. The glamorous years had
started in the fifties when Michael Mills was producer before Hurran
came on the scene. Each year the fabulous factor become more and more
part of the show. On opening night there would be stunning effects, like
the Geraldo Orchestra rising from the front of the stalls on a
hydraulically-operated platform, then moving back across stage to rise
even higher.
The young Lionel Blair, together with the statuesque Joanna Rigby or
the effervescent Margaret Miles were in superb form leading the big
dancing troupes and becoming involved with the comedy. For two years in
the sixties, Margaret Kelly (Miss Bluebell) brought the Bluebell Girls
over from Paris. Hurran would tour the world searching out the top
speciality acts.
Each year's show had to surpass the one before. The theatre had been
more than a match for the early novelty of television but the greed of
some top English comedians came into play. Towards the end, Hurran told
me he had a weekly budget of #11,000. But to get Ken Dodd he had to pay
him #9000. Earlier, another English comedian, on #6500 a week, said he
thought the standard of chorus girl had fallen. Hurran told him to drop
the #500 from his cheque (taken up by tax, anyway) and he would get the
best chorus line in Britain. That was different.
The Alhambra just managed to see it through the sixties and the death
of Stewart Cruickshank (known affectionately as Cruickie) before the
Howard and Wyndham book-keepers sounded the death knell. Jimmy Logan
blames Hurran for squandering money importing English comedians. I do
not think that was the whole reason. It was an era of glamorous nights
and that era had reached an end for a variety of reasons. It went out on
a high note, but the party was over...
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