Summer Entertainment on the Isle of Man the Joe Loss Years Part 1: 1946-50 ‘Let the Good Times Roll Again’ by Maurice Powell ‘It Was a Golden Period
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Summer Entertainment on the Isle of Man The Joe Loss Years Part 1: 1946-50 ‘Let the good times roll again’ by Maurice Powell ‘It was a golden period. The mix of reliable old, brilliant new, up and comers, down and outers, has beens, never was-ers and some of the most eccentric acts ever seen . .’* The world of entertainment slowly began to regain some of its pre-war vitality during the immediate austere post-war years. In 1947 the Crazy Gang returned to the London stage with Together Again, and in 1949 Billy Cotton and Tessie O’Shea appeared together in their touring show Tess and Bill. Radio reached the height of its popularity and influence* and two years later Billy Cotton launched the Billy Cotton Band Show, which cemented his enormous reputation, and with his signature tune Somebody Stole My Gal and raucous call of ‘Wakey, Wakey!’ the show became the backdrop to Sunday lunchtimes throughout Britain. In 1948 Frank Muir and Dennis Norden’s Take It From Here was soon attracting enormous radio audiences, mainly due to the weekly saga of the Glum family, starring ‘Professor’ Jimmy Edwards, Dick Bentley and June Whitfield. Ray’s a Laugh with Ted Ray replaced ITMA after the death of Tommy Handley in 1949, and Educating Archie, Peter Brough’s bizarre radio ventriloquist show, began a decade-long run the following year and helped launch the careers of some notable stars who appeared as Archie Andrew’s tutors, including Tony Hancock, Max Bygraves, Beryl Reid and Hattie Jacques. Worker’s Playtime, the popular lunchtime entertainment for factory workers begun in 1941 and broadcast directly from factories ‘somewhere in England’, introduced a myriad of stars including Jack Warner, Elsie and Doris Waters, and later Cyril Fletcher and Val Doonican. Another wartime favourite, Variety Bandbox, ran from 1944 until 1953, and helped launch the career of resident comedian Frankie Howerd, whose hesitant, seemingly disorderly delivery became his hugely successful trademark. In 1950 Crazy People morphed into that warped, anarchic trailblazer The Goon Show. * Roy Hudd’s Cavalcade of Variety Acts. London, Robson Books, 1998. * BBC Radio’s Third Programme, the first new programme inaugurated after the war, began in September 1946. It became Radio 3 in 1967. 1 1946 in a nutshell Clement Attlee was Prime Minister; the American dance craze, the Jitterbug, sweeps Britain; William Joyce, ‘Lord Haw-Haw’, the Nazi broadcaster was hanged in Wandsworth Prison on 3rd January; in March Sir Winston Churchill delivered his ‘Iron Curtain’ speech in America; Alastair Cooke’s first ‘Letter from America’ was broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 24th March; the first post-war FA Cup is won by Derby City in April; in May first class cricket returns after its wartime suspension; Fred Pontin opens his first holiday Camp at Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset; television broadcasting resumes after the war, and on 1st June the Television License was introduced; bread rationing was introduced on 27th June; the Family Allowance was introduced on 6th August; the BBC Third Programme begins broadcasting in September; Woman’s Hour, and the detective series Dick Barton - Special Agent were first broadcast in October; Benjamin Britten’s The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra received its premier with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Malcolm Sargent, on 15th October; Stevenage becomes Britain’s first designated ‘new town’; on 19th November Peter Scott opened the Slimbridge Wetland Reserve in Gloucestershire; W. V. Awdry’s Thomas the Tank Engine was published; the actresses Brenda ‘Vera’ Blethyn and Joanna ‘ubiquitous’ Lumley, and the actors Timothy ‘not quite James Bond’ Dalton and Alan ‘Snarling Snape’ Rickman were born; David Lean’s film of Dickens’ Great Expectations was released on 26th December. The re-birth of the tourist industry on the Isle of Man during the first full post-war summer season was marred by severe shortages, and, despite the remarkable transformation that took place on the Island when barbed wire fences and internment camps began to disappear, something like a traditional seaside holiday atmosphere could not always be felt, even in Douglas. Hoteliers, struggling to provide accommodation for guests, were angry at the slow pace of the decommissioning of their properties by the military, and some hotels and boarding houses were not habitable until after the end of the holiday season. Many premises were handed back in poor condition and some had had floors asphalted and turned into showers and washrooms. The military offered only 50% of any claims for damage to properties, the procedure was protracted, and claims were frequently disputed. Windows had been boarded up for the duration of the war, but now glass was in short supply, as was plaster for damaged walls and general building materials. Plumbing and electrics had to be reinstated; furniture was often found to be defaced or damaged beyond repair, and items such as cookers were often found to have been ‘vandalised’. Thousands of mattresses were damp, moth- eaten or infested with vermin. Those who were invited to retrieve what they believed was their furniture, fixtures and fittings from the Furniture Restoration Division at the Derby Castle Ballroom, found, like the previous year, that many of their items had been appropriated by neighbours who got there first. Whatever was left was eventually auctioned. The chaotic situation was best illustrated by the huge mound of fat-encrusted frying pans left for the Derby Castle staff to disinfect and clean! Nor would the Isle of Man be a ‘food paradise’ that summer, for many hotels and boarding houses could offer only tea and bed and breakfast. Furthermore, bread rationing was introduced due to problems with the supply of flour. Visitors were reduced to queuing for their main meals at local cafes, and there were naturally complaints about the quantity and quality 2 of meals. Surprisingly there was a mini-boom in property sales, and for a period ‘fantastic prices’ were paid for holiday properties - much of it of poor quality and in need of repair - in the belief that a post-war boom would see thousands of tourists returning to the Island.* * A good deal of useful information can be found in the Douglas Weekly Diary of Current Events, first published in June 1928 by The Norris Modern Press Ltd., Douglas. The 1000th edition appeared in August 1947. The founder and editor was Samuel Norris, the Lancashire-born author of Manx Memories and Movements. ‘It’s getting more like old times every day . .’ * Despite these difficulties there was the familiar frantic pre-season race to get everything ready for the first visitors in June, and there was a general ‘polishing up for business’ as the Island moved from a war footing to a holiday footing. In February Sydney Albert Perry, formerly deputy and assistant manager for Eastbourne Corporation, was appointed to the vital position of Entertainments Manager for Douglas Corporation. Everywhere there were signs of activity as towns throughout the Island attempted to brighten up their promenades, kiosks, children’s playgrounds and beaches, and on Sunday morning 14th April at 2.00 am, the first post-war British Summer Time began. The previous month Mona’s Queen – passenger capacity two thousand - was launched at Birkenhead and joined the Steam Packet fleet which now consisted of the Lady of Man, Ben my Cree, Viking, Mona’s Isle, Manx Maid and Rushen Castle. The normal steamer service between Douglas and Fleetwood resumed, and in April the regular daily steamer services from Liverpool re-commenced. * Isle of Man Examiner 22.02.1946. Horses were sought in Ireland for the horse tram service, which was officially re-started by the Lieutenant Governor Bromet in May after the coaches had received a new coat of paint for their 1946 debut. Tenders were invited for the ice-cream and mineral water stand at the foot of Broadway, the weighing machine site on the promenade was re-let and the Loch Promenade fountain was refurbished. Concerns were expressed about the amount of rubble on Douglas beach as early visitors declared their preference for Port St. Mary and Port Erin: ‘the sands are nicer’. A tenancy for the Punch & Judy Show on the beach was sought, an open bowling tournament at the Villa Marina was scheduled for 17th June, and there was a report on the state of the deck chairs by the Chair Hire Superintendent. Nobles Park refreshment facilities and golf course were due to open for Easter and the Summer Hill Glen refreshment kiosk at Whit-week. It was agreed that the lamps on the promenades should be increased to thirty-one during July, August and September; the Palace Ballroom, a naval dining room and later a training facility for D-Day visible signalling during the war, and Coliseum were de-requisitioned, made ‘spick and span’ after weeks of all-out work under the experienced eye of General Manager D. F. Barwell, and would soon once again throb to the sound of dance music. The Villa Marina was ‘attacked by an army of workers and made most attractive’, re-decorated in cream with crimson curtaining, with new carpets and with part of the lower balcony re- designed as a café area. The staff looked splendid in their new maroon and gold uniforms as did the waitresses in attractive frocks, caps and 3 aprons, and not forgetting the imposing figure of the 6’ 2” Commissionaire. The Queen’s Hall, Ramsey was all set to re-open for the summer; the Derby Castle, however, remained out of action for the time being, but longer-term plans were laid to re-open Howstrake Holiday Camp in time for the 1947 summer season.* * The camp was occupied by the Royal Naval School of Music during the war and provided training for four hundred young bandsman, aged 14-18, many of whom would later secure careers in Britain’s dance orchestras.