EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Were you in Old Market's New Empire Theatre on August 21, 1954 - the night that Carroll Levi's show Stairway To Stardom brought the curtain down for good? Gerry Brooke takes a nostalgic look back to those lost days of live entertainment According to a Post reporter, the Empire Theatre revue Stairway To Stardom ended 'after several hours of impromptu buffoonery that kept a packed house laughing uproariously. 'Men masqueraded as women; women as men. They interrupted other acts; plastered the stage with all the ingredients of riotous slapstick to the accompaniment of suitable noises from the orchestra; and then ended the evening joining hands with the audience in the singing of Auld Lang Syne. 'So ended yet another British theatre - one which for 60 years of varied prosperity had provided entertainment of the lighter, escapist sort for those seeking a good rib-tickle and laugh.
' The Empire Palace of Varieties, which cost £40,000, had opened on the junction of Old Market and Captain Carey's Lane in 1893. It vanished, nearly 10 years after its closure, to make way for the Temple Way underpass in 1963. Noted for its 'elegance, comfort, safety and respectability', people could sit in the gallery (the 'gods') for three pence or six pence, or have a better view from the pit for a shilling (12p). In its early years, the Empire had to compete with the already established Tivoli Music Hall, situated in Broadmead. Beset with financial problems it struggled to survive.
But survive it did and in its time virtually every top music hall star trod its boards from the greats, such as Vesta Tilley, Harry Tate and Marie Lloyd, to Barnsby Williams, George Robey and Florrie Forde. The famed Fred Karno and his Army packed the house and saucy Bristol star Randolph Sutton was a big draw, as were escapologist Harry Houdini and American film star Fanny Brice, who inspired the film Funny Girl. Among lesser-known variety acts were Barello And McMillay with their Grotesque Horizontal Bar Business, the White Eyed Musical Kaffir, Charles Noisee - the Living Skeleton, Robert Pinta's troupe of amazing turkeys and geese, Bonner the wonder horse - who could talk and write - and Doc, billed as the dog with a human brain. You could pay to gawp at Chung Sing Hpoo, the 34-inch Burmese midget, or Rosa and Josefa Blazek, the Bohemian twins who, joined together from birth, managed to play both the violin and the xylophone.
Another popular visitor was the male impersonator Hetty King, already an established star with her famous song All The Nice Girls Love A Sailor. Throughout the 1920s and 30s the Empire attracted big names such as Gracie Fields, Flanagan And Allen, Old Mother Riley and Gertie Gitana, but after 'the talkies' became popular, films took over in the afternoon with revues in the evening. In 1931, the theatre was taken over by ABC for the showing of films only and it wasn't until 1939, at the outbreak of war, that the large screen was removed and twice-nightly 'live' shows, featuring comedians and chorus girls, were brought back. Even the Bristol blitzes couldn't stop these lively shows.
The 1940s saw Hetty King back again plus The Three Stooges, the sand dancers, Wilson, Keppel and Betty, (always popular) Jane, the Daily Mirror's famous strip cartoon girl, and crooner Al Bowlly, whose last performance was at the Empire as he was killed in an air raid the following week. After the war, it became obvious that the Empire's glory days were over; in the place of the big names came second-rate acts and seedy nude shows. The sale of the theatre to Bristol Corporation and the sale of a lease to the BBC in 1954 was a sad blow for the faithful regulars, who liked its homely atmosphere. But that wasn't quite the end of the story - the public were still invited in when the BBC wanted audiences for their programmes.
Now the full story of theatres similar to the Empire, up and down the country, is told in a fascinating new book entitled Lost Empires, by Nigel Fountain. It is published by Cassell and costs £16.99. Buy from Amazon UK
The Empire Theatre in Old Market in its final days before it was demolished to make way for the Inner Circuit Road this fine old building dated back to the days of the Music Hall.
The Empire Theatre stage door many a famous name must have once used this entrance inc Bristol born Archie Leach (Cary Grant).
A view of The Empire Theatre being used as a BBC studio in the early days before it had a drinks licence audiences had to nip into the White Hart next door at intervals.
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