Camberwell Palace, one of Camberwell’s most significant entertainment buildings
On Monday 5th June there’s a fantastic opportunity to hear about Camberwell’s fascinating entertainment history, taking place in a building which in itself is worthy of a visit.
The Golden Goose is a long-established pub which has recently been repurposed to become a 70-seat theatre. The theatre has generously donated its space for this event.
As part of the Camberwell Festival of Arts, seasoned presenter, historian and enthusiast Richard Norman has been invited to give another entertaining presentation under the festival’s theme of SHOWTIME!.
In Richard’s fascinating talk, you’ll discover Camberwell’s contributions to the world of entertainment during the early days of pioneering film production and music hall, variety theatre, and comedy.
With film clips, songs, and music, this special Camberwell Talk promises to be an memorable evening!
Richard Norman is a local historian specialising in buildings designed for entertainment and has given numerous talks at the Victorian and Albert Museum, Tate Modern and many local history societies.
It takes place on Monday 5th June at 7 pm at the Golden Goose Theatre, 146 Camberwell New Rd, SE5 0RR, which is just 10 mins walk from Oval tube or Camberwell Green. Ticket prices are £10 (£7 concessions) and include a complementary glass of wine.
The talk starts at 7pm and runs about an hour. Don’t miss out on the raffle with prizes at the end of the evening, with all proceeds going to SE5 Forum, which aims to improve the area for benefit of all visitors and residents.
See you there!
Your dapper host for the evening, Mr Richard Norman!
What better way to celebrate Music Hall and Variety Day than with a celebration of the Crazy Gang.
The Crazy Gang “at the races”
The Crazy Gang was a unique combination of three double acts – Flanagan and Allen, Naughton and Gold, Nervo and Knox. Occasionally they were joined by “Monsewer” Eddie Gray (who had been working with various members of the Gang since the twenties). Their compatible styles, combining music, interruptions and knockabout comedy with seemingly unscripted verbal and physical acrobatics, slapstick and rapid-fire visual gags was hugely popular with British audiences for over three decades.
It all started at the London Palladium. George Black, the impresario and Managing Director of the Palladium, had in 1928 revived the Palladium’s reputation as the premier variety house in the UK, with spectacular success. The biggest names in variety appeared on ambitiously mixed bills, and the management were not averse to experimenting- pantomime was tried in 1930, to great success, and became a staple throughout the thirties at the venue, running in extended seasons from December to Easter.
The Crazy Gang came into being by accident. All relatively successful double acts themselves, in 1931 two of the pairs – Naughton and Gold and Nervo and Knox – were booked, together with another double, Billy Caryll and Hilda Mundy, to appear at the London Palladium in the same week. Bud Flanagan recalled that “in 1926, Nervo and Knox were appearing in a show, Young Bloods, in which they interfered with every act on the bill”. By 1931 it was well-known across the business that Nervo and Knox had a reputation for interrupting other people’s acts, and although George Black initially considering cancelling one of the teams, he was persuaded by Val Parnell to let the bookings proceed, allow Nervo and Knox their head – and see what happened!
The bill was promoted as Crazy Week, opening in November 1931 and booked for two weeks. Two weeks became eight months as crowds jammed the Palladium – Crazy Week became Crazy Month – and in June 1932, Flanagan and Allen replaced Caryll and Mundy to create the classic line up that was celebrated for the next three decades. All participants experienced more success together than they had apart, fused in the public mind as a unit.
The Gang played long seasons each year in the 30s at the Palladium in various shows all tailored to their particular style. They also found time to make a number of successful films for Gainsborough Pictures. When the war came, they split, to perform for the troops as three double acts again, so that they could cover more ground. This was a time when Flanagan and Allen’s songs came to the fore and cemented them in the public mind as a key link between the home front and the battle front.
The Gang was persuaded to reunite in 1950 by impresario Jack Hylton (without Chesney Allen who had decided to retired from the stage), they took up residence at London’s Victoria Palace, where they stayed for the next twelve years, presented by Jack Hylton in a variety of vehicles all loosely constructed to allow the Gang’s magic of mayhem to flood across the footlights and keep packed houses well-satisfied. Eddie Gray, a comedy juggler with a hilarious Cockney-French accent who had worked with the team early on in their careers, became a regular addition to the Gang from 1956 onwards.
The Gang’s last show together was entitled YOUNG IN HEART and ran from December 1960 until May 1962, when it was announced that the show would close and the Gang would retire. Although the separate acts continued for a few years, the Gang was gone…
The TV highlight of the week in May 1962
Thankfully for us, ATV filmed the last night of their last show on Saturday May 19th, and it was networked on ITV the following evening as The Last Night Of The Crazy Gang, running 90 minutes. It’s a very special nostalgic night, and there’s a guest appearance by Chesney Allen (who comes up from the audience), and the band in the pit is conducted by producer Jack Hylton himself.
So here, thanks to YouTuber Pete Faint, we can all enjoy The Last Night of the Crazy Gang – and raise a glass to these (sadly) long-gone heroes of Music Hall and Variety
EXTRA: You can read my article about legendary impresario Jack Hylton here
For more information on the Crazy Gang you may enjoy a visit to this specialist site http://www.thecrazygang.co.uk/
architects’ illustration of completed project in 2024
Theatres Trust, the charity that campaigns to protect the UK’s theatres, has announced that it has removed the magnificent Grade II* listed building – reopening next year after extensive restoration work as Soho Theatre Walthamstow – from its Theatres at Risk Register.
The Theatres at Risk Register, which has been running for 17 years, calls attention to important theatre buildings, their challenges, and the cultural opportunities they bring to local communities. Since the list began, more than 80 theatres have been restored, revived or rebuilt. Soho Theatre Walthamstow is one of only three buildings removed from the risk register this year. to which it was first added in 2015.
Built in 1930 by architect Cecil Masey with interior decoration by Theodore Komisarjevsky, the Walthamstow venue opened as the Granada, an opulent ciné-variety theatre. Thirty years later it embraced live music concerts in between film engagements, hosting scores of famous acts including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash and The Ronettes. The Granada was given a Grade II Listing by English Heritage on 24th February 1987. The cinema then carried on through a number of changes of hands, including Virgin and ABC, before closed in 2003 as the EMD cinema, and the building was then bought by a group who planned to turn it into a church. The local community and Theatres Trust objected, on the grounds that the borough would lose its only working theatre and access to entertainment, the purpose for which the building was originally intended.
Local residents’ groups campaigned for the building to continue as an entertainment venue and in 2012 Waltham Forest Cinema Trust and Soho Theatre presented its vision of the building’s future to Waltham Forest Council. A decisive public planning inquiry ruled the following year in favour of the building continuing as an entertainment venue. After the church group sold the building a year later, part of it reopened as a bar, but the rest of the building, already in a terrible state from almost 20 years of neglect, fell into further disrepair.
It was added to the Theatres at Risk Register in 2015. Meanwhile Soho Theatre and Waltham Forest Council developed plans to acquire, restore and run the venue as an exciting new cultural hub – a local theatre with a national profile – and in 2019 the Council purchased the building with Soho Theatre on board to run the theatre. Thanks to the support of Theatres Trust, in 2020 they awarded Soho Theatre a Theatres at Risk Capacity Building Programme grant which enabled them to business plan and continue to support the project.
Coming off the At Risk Register in 2023 marks another major milestone in the building’s rich and fascinating history, and is cause for celebration indeed!
Soho Theatre Walthamstow during renovation work in 2022
Slap bang in the middle of Blackpool Prom, next but one to the iconic Blackpool Tower, Showtown is coming soon! It’s a new attraction that captures the spirit of this amazing town and its vibrant entertainment history.
The museum, opening later in 2023, will welcome people of all ages, allowing them to get up close with the entertainers who put Blackpool on the map. The comedians, dancers, singers, clowns, acrobats, speciality acts and characters who turned the resort into one of the UK’s premier hubs of show business.
You too can get on the dance floor, smell the sawdust, discover the backstage secrets – whether you’re a fun-seeker or future star performer.
And, if you are curious to dive in deeper, then their History Centre is a living archive through which everyone can discover the untold stories of the town and its people. Behind the scenes the museum’s team are right now busy collecting, researching and sharing proof of what makes the town unique.
Most of all everyone is welcome to take part. Share your stories or participate in talks, tours, fun activities, useful courses, learning opportunities and academic study.
Showtown aims to improve the lives of local people by creating approximately 39 jobs, making 20 training placements available, engaging with 40,000 local people through their activities, engaging with 7,500 school children annually, supporting the town’s regeneration plans, raising aspirations and opportunities for local people, and attracting around 300,000 local, regional, national and international visits each year.
It’s a great addition to Blackpool’s entertainment offer and I wish it every success!
Fayard and Harold – The Nicholas Brothers, undisputed kings of tap, in motion during a routine in STORMY WEATHER (1942).
Christmas is a time when many of us like to get out and see a show with our special friends and family, and song and dance often feature high in the sort of entertainment we seek out, to match the exuberant and cheery feelings many feel about the holiday season.
For those of you who may prefer celebrating from home, I have picked out a few things you can see online, which I think you may enjoy in this time when we relax and indulge ourselves a little.
Still on BBCiPlayer (for UK licence-holders) is the big musical ANYTHING GOES. Filmed live at the Barbican in London, this major new production of the classic musical comedy features an all-star cast led by renowned Broadway actress Sutton Foster with Cole Porter’s timeless songs and a sprinkling of dance, including a good bit of tap.
If tap is really your thing, you’ll enjoy this rarely-seen and recently rediscovered documentary, first broadcast in the UK on Channel Four in 1983, MASTERS OF TAP- with contributions from legends such as Will Gaines, Honi Coles and Chuck Green.
FOSSE/VERDON was a great series about the relationship between legendary choreographer Bob Fosse and his second wife, the dynamic performer Gwen Verdon. In eight parts, and boasting great performances by Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams, with a guest spot by Lin-Manuel Miranda, it’s well worth your holiday time.
For fans of classic tap, you can’t go wrong with Ann Miller, Guinness World Record holder as the fastest tapper in history (for many years). There’s a nice new print of a long-unavailable Miller movie, TIME OUT FOR RHYTHM from 1941 currently on YouTube. It’s a very lumpy but passable musical, but definitely worth seeing for Ann’s numbers (starting at 24:15) which are delightful, especially the number she does with comedy character actor Allen Jenkins, in what I believe is his only dance routine on film – and its enormous fun! (Find it fast by going to 37:07). Foghorn-voiced Jenkins was one of the group of Irish-heritage actor/singer/dancers who worked their way up, through being chorus boys on Broadway in the 20s and then onto Hollywood in the 30s, whose number included close friends such as Pat O’Brien and James Cagney.
And if you’d like to know more about my personal (and Fred Astaire’s) top tap stars, the Nicholas Brothers, you can see a great biography of them below with lots of clips of them in action. If you watch nothing else, jump to the end, at 49:43, where they project their movie routine LUCKY NUMBERS from 1936 behind them, while performing it perfectly almost 60 years later. I saw this routine live when they performed it at the all-star gala STAIRWAY TO THE STARS in November 1989 at the London Palladium, and it absolutely brought the house down. Enjoy!
