In Depth History
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In Depth History We are often described The building however is a as being a big old barn, mere shell, it is the people having one of the largest and productions who come auditoriums in the country and work here that make us with over 2,300 seats. a living breathing theatre. Contents Chapter 1: The Early Years 3 Chapter 2: Under Attack from Cinema and Hitler 6 Chapter 3: A Change of Name for the Return of Live Shows 8 Chapter 4: The Rock ‘n’ Roll Years 10 Chapter 5: The Return to Live Theatre 13 Chapter 6: The Threat of Closure 15 Chapter 7: Born Again - The Mayflower Years 17 Chapter 8: Musicals Fit for The Mayflower 19 Chapter 9: The Changing Face of Christmas Productions 22 Chapter 10: Preserving and Modernising 23 Chapter 11: New Leadership and a New Foyer 24 Chapter 12: Regeneration for the Next Generation 26 2 3 Chapter 1: The Early Years The prospects were good in the late theatre as the most popular night 1920s, when the Moss Empire theatre out. Soon after, the Wall Street crash group planned a major expansion, sent economies into recession and building six huge 2000 seater venues unemployment rose, even in the throughout the country, comprising previously prospering shipping port Southampton, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Southampton. Oxford and The Dominion in London, as well the Empire Theatre Glasgow, No expense was spared in providing which sadly no longer survives. The audiences and performers with theatres were built by William and luxurious surroundings. The front T. R. Milburn of Sunderland using of the building was enclosed in a principles that T. R. Milburn learnt façade of white stone with fake pillars from his visit to the United States reminiscent of a building of the Italian in 1925. He probably studied the renaissance. Local townspeople theatres of Scottish American Thomas thronged to ‘open days’ in early Lamb who perfected a technique of December. Inside they found that the holding up the circle with a length of lower walls were lined with streaked steel girder rather than the traditional marble from North Africa, as seen pillars. This allowed long rows, thus on the floor of the amphitheatre at bringing larger audiences than was Pompeii. There were mahogany previously possible closer to the panels and doors produced by out-of- stage with an unobstructed view. work shipyard carpenters. On 1 February 1928 the Managing The seats were well sprung and Director of Moss Empires, R. H. upholstered in Rose du Barry velvet. Gillespie, laid the foundation stone. There were heavy Durham carpets Built on shallow foundations because and staircases with brass handrails. the land was barely above water The latest lighting technology was level, the building was and still is available to provide a magical the largest theatre in the South of experience. The relatively new- England. The stalls were built on the fangled ‘electricity’ powered much natural slope of the land. Its massive of the equipment, though gas still auditorium covered nearly all the provided the auditorium lighting. available land, leaving little room at the front for a foyer and bars. By the Backstage artists enjoyed hot and time the Empire Theatre opened in cold running water; the two ‘star’ Southampton on 22nd December dressing rooms had phones and 1928, ‘talkies’ had transformed the baths. A lift operated by a page entertainment business and the boy went between the six floors. cinema was rapidly replacing the One thing lacking was wing space 4 though this was not remarkable because touring productions came Commissionaires in peaked caps and by train in those days (hence the blue uniforms with red braid, wearing location close to the station) and their wartime medals, were among sets comprised primarily of painted the staff welcoming customers. cloths. Indeed there was a special Leading the Front of House staff was road from a railway siding to the back chief commissionaire ‘Uncle Ted’ of the theatre, so that scenery and Edwards. The female staff who did costumes could be loaded in and out the ‘serving’ jobs, including bringing of carriages and carried by trailer to tea to customers in their seats, were the doors of the theatre. dressed like waitresses in black and white. The design was described as ‘neo- Grecian’ though the influence of the Four Page Boys in pill box hats popular ‘art deco’ of the time was and jackets with 61 brass buttons evident.The dominant colours were operated the lift and were used for cream and gold, with touches of the more active duties. One was blue and strawberry. A dome in the local man Brian Mongan. He started ceiling of the auditorium opened to work as a 14 year old in 1929 and allow heat and cigarette smoke to remembers earning 12s 6d (63p) escape. A permanent 26 member a week. His day began at 9.00am. orchestra provided the music. This Following an afternoon break, he was particularly important in the days worked from 7.00pm until 10.00pm, before amplification and pre-recording six days a week. Subsequently he allowed much smaller bands to became a member of the stage produce a big sound. crew, responsible for lighting the boiler in winter, lighting the gas lights We used to have a to have a and filling up the perfume holders attached to the air ventilation. When garden on the roof! he left in 1939 he was earning £2.10s.0d (£2.50) a week. In anticipation of even larger Arthur Smith of Eastleigh started work audiences than the nearly 2300 seats as a Page Boy in 1937. He recalls could accommodate, 22 standing being used as a ‘runner’ and also boxes for a further 142 people were operating the lift in the evenings. to be found on all three levels. On the roof, albeit short-lived, was a The manager was Ernest Lepard, garden where tea could be taken a man who had already spent a while enjoying an excellent view of lifetime in theatre first on stage as a the ships in Southampton dock and ventriloquist and then managing a the water. number of London theatres. He and 5 Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge in The House That Jack Built (October 1929), Stanley Holloway in The Co- Optimists (November 1929). In 1930, the legendary ballet dancer Anna Pavlova performed, followed two weeks later by the great American singer and actor Paul Robeson. And from Boxing Day that year, Gracie Fields, perhaps the most popular British entertainer at that time, appeared in This Week of Grace. The great Scottish entertainer Harry Lauder could be seen ‘twice nightly’ in November 1931. Jack Buchanan was back on 25 April 1932 with his own musical Stand Up And Sing his family lived in accommodation which included in the cast Richard within the building. A man full of Murdoch and Anna Neagle. Ivor bonhomie, he proved popular with Novello starred in I Lived With You customers and could often be in the week commencing 29 August found entertaining friends after the 1932. In 1933, the American actress show into the early hours. The staff Tallulah Bankhead starred in The liked him too (despite his habit of Lady of the Camellias. practising his ventriloquist skills on unsuspecting employees). Prices for the best seats in what was then called the Grand Circle The opening night saw a presentation were typically 5s 9d (28p) but you of Winona, a new musical bound could get a seat at the back of the for London, and featuring over 100 balcony for 1s 3d (6p). But then you artistes. The show ran late and the could buy a four bedroom house for Council laid on extra trams to get £700! Seats could be booked two people home. While the show proved weeks in advance. The Refreshment popular at the new theatre, it never Saloons provided a waiter/waitress reached the West End. service of tea, coffee and soft drinks. Programmes indicated that smoking The early years saw a number of was permitted but ‘confined to Cigars theatrical successes. Among the most and Cigarettes’ and ‘Ladies are memorable in the first year were Jack requested to remove hats’. Buchanan in That’s A Good Girl, Jack 6 Chapter 2: Under Attack from Cinema and Hitler Many other musicals and concerts The theatre sustained damage in the followed but by 1933, it was clear blitz at the end of 1940 when two that despite the best efforts of the bombs left holes in the back wall. general manager Ernest Lepard, the John Shawyer was on fire watch with theatre was going to have to give in the Territorial Army in 1942, when and welcome in the brash newcomer, he was called the theatre to kick cinema. A projection box was built incendiary bombs off the roof, a task at the very back of the Balcony, or that also fell to Empire staff such third tier, and a screen installed that as Arthur Smith. Now the Empire could be raised and lowered at the was almost entirely a cinema and in front of the stage. On 14 May, the 1942, The Gaumont British Picture first film was shown. Elsewhere in Corporation took over from Moss Southampton, The Grand Theatre Empires. and The Hippodrome continued to present pure theatre, whilst cinemas During the latter years of the war sprung up all around. and just after, Police Concerts often At the time, Southampton, still the took place on Sundays. Memorably country’s number one passenger port, in 1945, Ted and Barbara Andrews was recovering from the recession introduced their ten year old daughter with a new dry dock opening in Julie Andrews to the stage.