the bonus pages - tony hancock appreciation society pages/issue 11...the script was ready, actors...

The Bonus Pages - July 2018 - Page 1

The BONUS PAGESExtra Material From

THE TONY HANCOCK APPRECIATION SOCIETY -

Number 11 - July 2018

In this issue:P1 - Contents and internet linksP2 - Hancock reading The Missing PageP3-8 - The Missing Lot found again - Dave Freak give the inside story of staging Vacant LotP8-9 - Annual Reunion Dinner 2018 Quiz standard questions (answers in the next issue)P10-11 - Annual Reunion Dinner 2018 Quiz tougher questions (answers in the next issue)P12-14 - Unveiling of Canvas of Hancock at the Winter Gardens Theatre in MorecambeP15 - Extract from “I am sure I speak for many others” - The top 20 most watched TV programmes in the UK in the 1960’sP16 - Extract from “Fragments from early years in Sussex (mostly in Bognor) Alan Dearling about the filming of The Punch and Judy ManP17-28 - History of the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth by L.M. Philips

Some internet links that may be of interest:

The New Elizabethans: Tony Hancock BBC Radio 4 Extrahttps://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k2f7z

THAS stalwarts Tim Elms and Lyn Phillips went to Bournemouth to be interviewed byMeridian TV about Tony Hancock - watch this great news feature at:https://youtu.be/G3cWGRAwB0I

Barry Cryer recalls Tony Hancock in this Oldie Podcasthttps://www.theoldie.co.uk/podcasts/july-issue-hancocks-last-hours

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k2f7zhttp://www.theoldie.co.uk/podcasts/july-issue-hancocks-last-hours


The Missing Lot Found! Again!As Vacant Lot returns to the stage, the show’s producer/ director, Birmingham Comedy

Festival’s Dave Freak, reflects on the experience of bringing a lost Hancock story back to life.

It was The Goons what did it!

After bringing The Goon Show to the stage for the first time in 2014, and for a brief tour in2017, the ‘what next?’ question came to the fore. There were a few potentially exciting av-enues, but it was Vacant Lot that was the most intriguing possibility.

With a strong local connection (both Hancock and writer Larry Stephens were born in theWest Mids) and a cracking backstory, it was something that was both old’n’original, and yetessentially utterly brand new – no-one, outside of a very select few, had laid eyes on it forover 65 years.

The story goes like this …

Back in 1951/ 1952, Stephens was busily beavering away on The Goon Show with Spike Mil-ligan, while his pal Hancock was also making a name for himself on radio as a guest star andsupporting player. Recognising Hancock’s genius, Stephens pitched the BBC with an idea fora starring vehicle for Hancock, they liked his concept, and Vacant Lot was born.

Only it wasn’t. The script was ready, actors were discussed, but time moved on, and VacantLot was (criminally) never recorded.

With the original scripts believed lost, the series is barely mentioned, if at all, in many Han-cock biographies, and is often incorrectly referenced.

For example, author John Fisher, in his fine book Tony Hancock: The Definitive Biography(HarperCollins 2008), refers to the series as Welcome To Welkham, and claims that Hancockenjoyed “a lucky escape” when it wasn’t produced.

With all due respect, it’s a chapter he’ll now need to revise if the book is ever reprinted as… Welkham was, in fact, a different, and later, project that saw Stephens merge ideas fromtwo Vacant Lot episodes for an entirely different cast.

No recordings of Welcome To Welkham exist, but contemporary reviews were reportedlyfar kinder than Fisher hinted.

Hancock didn’t dodge a bullet, but he did miss out on an opportunity.

One can’t help but wonder how Tony’s career may have progressed if Vacant Lot had tookoff. Would Galton and Simpson still created Hancock’s Half Hour? Could Vacant Lot havetransferred to television?

The full story of Vacant Lot’s birth is recounted in Glarnies, Green Berets and Goons - theforthcoming biography of Stephens by Julie Warren. It was Julie who discovered an original


copy of Vacant Lot buried deep in the BBC’s archives in 2015, and it was our belated pre-miere, last November, that finally allowed people to experience how good it actually was!

Reading a copy of the script for the first time, what perhaps surprised most was howHancock’s voice leapt from the page – just reading his lines, you could hear his voice, hisrhythms, his pauses. Though considering how well Stephens knew Hancock - some referredto their bond as brotherly - it’s perhaps not that surprising! Like any exemplary writer,Stephens could tap into his subject’s character, drawing on key traits, playing to Tony’sstrengths as an actor and comic. It may have been penned two years before Hancock’s HalfHour, but there’s more than a hint of that later Hancock in Vacant Lot. Our Hancock maybean employer, a (mostly) respected small business owner, but he wants to better his lot,reckons he knows best, isn’t going to pay for anything unless he has to, bumbles underpressure … and his plans have a tendency to go awry.

No doubt calling on Stephen’s and Hancock’s own experiences, the eponymous Hancock re-sides in the fictional seaside town of Churdley Bay where he ekes out a living as an auction-eer. When he’s not attempting to flog tat to a variety of colourful Churdley characters inthe local bar, he aspires to join the local council though – as you may expect from a piecepenned in 1952 – there’s no hint of any real-world politics.

Unlike Hancock’s Half Hour, each of Vacant Lot’s 30min self-contained stories feature asizeable cast. Several recur in both episodes - including Hancock’s assistants, the teenageLemon and elder Pemble (a role earmarked for Kenneth Connor), Progressive Party leaderAmbrose Tripfield (Peter Sellers), and Dr Quince (Graham Stark) – but several others appearin just one story.

However, one suspects strongly that as the series progressed and found it’s rhythm, manyof those individuals, such as would-be girlfriend (and Mayor Tripfield’s niece) Helen Locke,would become more familiar regulars as Stephen’s began to understand which characters(and which actors) worked best.

What’s also notable about the scripts is the strong female roles. There’s a lovely long ex-change in Episode II between a desperate Hancock and doddery Miss Bogman, while in theopening yarn, monied hotel guest Mrs Scowley (and her dog Puffikins) and the “level-head-ed” Mrs. Tripfield, are both stand-out roles.

In staging the episodes, we opted for a hybrid performance that combined a script-in-handreading with clear theatrical elements. So although the scene is set up for a mock radio re-cording, with a line of microphones at the front of the stage, flanked by musicians and Fo-ley artist, actors are far from stationary, interacting with each other and playing out keyscenes, as the script allows.

Alongside the core characters, there are a number of anonymous or quick appearances,such as passing urchins and chattering phone operators, giving us a total of 22 charactersacross both stories. That’s quite a cast (which would make for a busy stage), but by working


out who was in what scene, and with some slight editing, we managed to whittle thenumber of actors required down to a more manageable six, all of whom – bar our Hancock– take on multiple roles.

Casting was a breeze. Richard Usher, Mark Earby and Jimm Rennie all returned from ourGoon Show company (with Usher and Earby returning to roles earmarked for Sellers andMilligan, whose characters they’d handled so expertly for The Goons), while Janice Connollyand Linda Hargreaves took on the female roles. An experienced theatre maker, actress andcomedian, Connolly’s credits include Peter Kay’s seminal Phoenix Nights and her own comiccreation, Mrs Barbara Nice (who recently enjoyed her own BBC Radio 2 series), while Har-greaves’ own live shows see her slip between a myriad of comic characters with completeease. Of course, the lead role was key, and there’s no-one better than impressionist JamesHurn, who’s own one-man Hancock-themed shows are no doubt familiar to all THAS mem-bers.

When we gave him a call, to see if he might be interested in something a little more (darewe say it) obscure, an enthusiastic James agreed without a pause. Like all of us, he waskeen to discover more about Hancock’s pre-HHH past, a largely lost era from which so littlematerial exists.

With such an experienced cast, the show came together in just two remarkable rehearsaldays, upstairs in a pub on the Birmingham/ Smethwick border. The performance the nextday was a great success too (and was reviewed in detail in an earlier Missing Page), andnow we’re pleased that the same cast, accompanied by an expert musical duo, will be re-turning for a revival of Vacant Lot later this year.

We’ll be running through the episodes at Stourbridge Town Hall on Wednesday 19 Septem-ber 2018, and then making our grand London debut on Thursday 20 September 2018 at TheBritish Library - where several of us will also be hanging around after the performance for apost-show Q&A. Tickets are on sale now for both performances. We hope some of you canmake it - it’ll be a great opportunity to experience a couple of original Hancock episodesyou’ve not seen before ...

For more details see:www.bhamcomfest.co.uk | facebook.com/bhamcomfest/

Dave Freak / June 2018


On the 25th June 2018 in remembrance of Tony, marking the 50th anniversary of hisdeath, A Tribute Canvas painted by Dave Miles was unveiled by the Legendary ComedianRoy Walker at 12pm at The Winter Gardens Theatre in Morecambe Lancashire.

Shown below - Dave Miles with the painting. On the next two pages, Dave with comedianRoy Walker who unveiled the picture, Dave with a copy of his book “Tony Hancock -Spiral” and the picture itself.


I am sure I speak for many others ...Unpublished letters to the BBC Colin Shindler

This is an entertaining book - it covers letters sent to the BBC

It is slightly disconcerting to read a letter decrying Alf Garnet inTill death us do part and praising programmes such asThe Black and White Minstrel Show.

Below is a list of the 20 most watched TV progames in the Uk in the 1960’s.The interest for Hancock Fans is Secombe and Friends, in which Tonyappeared. As the decade wore on, the number of TV sets increased andthe viewing figures generally increased, so no HHH appear in the list.

Title Channel Date Audience in MillionsThe World Cup Final BBC1 30/07/1966 32.30The Royal Family BBC1/ITV 21/06/1969 30.69(a documentary)The Royal Variety Performance ITV 14/11/1965 24.20News (John F Kennedy assassination)BBC?ITV 22/11/1963 24.15Miss World BBC1 19/11/1967 23.76Apollo 8 Splashdown BBC1/ITV 27/12/1968 22.55(more people in the UK watched this than the first landing on the moon)The London Palladium Show ITV 03/12/1967 21.89Steptoe and Son BBC 18/12/1964 21.54Coronation Street ITV 02/12/1964 21.36Mrs Thursday ITV 23/03/1966 21.01(a Cockney charwoman inherits £10 million and the controlling interest in a multinational company upon thedeath of her employer (as well as his Rolls Royce and Mayfair mansion and Butler)Secombe and Friends ITV 13/11/1966 20.79(featuring Tony Hancock)Churchill’s Funeral Procession BBC1/ITV 30/1/1965 20.06Howerd’s Hour ITV 12/5/1968 20.02(Frankie Howerd)The Grand National BBC1 30/03/1968 19.86Market in Honey Lane ITV 03/04/1967 19.47(A Cockney soap opera set in an East London street market and covered the traders and customers)Double Your Money ITV 08/11/1966 19.47(gane show)Take your pick ITV 02/12/1966 19.36(game show)The Boat Race BBC1 30/03/1968 19.36(Oxford and Cambridge)Life with Cooper ITV 16/03/1968 19.25(Tommy Cooper)The Morecambe and Wise Show ITV 12/11/1967 19.14


Fragments from early years in Sussex (mostly in Bognor)By Alan Dearling

Tony Hancock’s Punch and Judy ManIn 1962, Bognor w as chosen as the location for Tony Hancock’s second feature film,the ‘Punch and Judy Man’. The radio and TV star w anted a run-dow n-at-heel seasidetow n to be ‘Piltdow n’. Even that name w as an example of Hancock’s off the w allhumour, Piltdow n Man being the ‘man w ho never w as’, w hich was perhaps how hesaw himself. I w as 11 years old and determined to get in on the act. The star w asstaying at the Royal Norfolk Hotel, w hich is w here they held the ‘auditions’ for extras,while most of the crew and lesser stars stayed at the Royal Hotel, w hich was ow nedby the Roberts w ine group.I joined a large herd of kids at the Royal Norfolk to try and get onto the set andmanaged to be part of one day’s filming of the punch and judy scenes on the beachto the w est of the pier, just in front of the Royal Hotel. We saw a fair bit of TonyHancock, Sylvia Sims, Ronald Fraser, Hattie Jacques and John Le Mesurier, w howere in the cast plus their mate Sid James w ho came visiting that summer as filmingtook far longer than expected, mainly because of rain. John Le Mesurier said thatHancock w as really losing his temper w ith the w eather and on one occasion lookedup at the sky and yelled, presumably at Him up there: ‘Go on, make it worse!’ TonyHancock even ended up aw arding the prizes at the Rex ballroom for that year’s MissBognor Regis beauty competition.My parents heard tales of TonyHancock drinking heavily andbeing incapable of filming somedays, which w as very sad for sucha unique talent. The completedfilm attracted at best lukewarmreviews. However, now it is awonderful social documentary ofBognor and does include somegood examples of Hancock’srather bleak humour.

[below: Bognor seafront]


The history of the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth and it’s association with the Hancock Family

Project dated January 2018L.M. Phillips

To Tony Hancock, the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre has always been one of his favourite show businessvenues, a place which when he was a boy, had drawn him like a magnet and where performers he sawthere inspired him to become an entertainer himself. In this year which marks the 90 years since theopening of this wonderful and much loved venue it is interesting to look back and remember that this iconof the local show business scene took and extraordinary long time to see the light of day.

The story of the Bournemouth Pavilion can be traced as far back as 1842 when one of the founding fathersof the town Sir George Gervis, owner of the land on which the present Pavilion stands passed away. Thisplot of land and considerable wealth besides was inherited by his son, another George, later becoming SirGeorge Elliot Meyrick Tapps-Gervis-Meyrick. [quite a name!]’ This second George was only a boy when hisfather died so his inheritance was administered by a group of trustees. The trustees put forward the ideathat the area which young George owned (a plot between the sea front and where the adjoining WestoverRoad shops now stands) should be developed for the purposes of providing an entertainment venue forthe slowly but steadily growing population.

The trustees’s first proposal was a Pleasure Garden’s Pagoda but his idea never caught on and the moneywhich had been earmarked for this venture was used to finance the building of other public amenities.However, the site did not remain a scrubland for long. On the 28th June 1838, the very day of QueenVictoria’s Coronation, a large boarding house named the Belle Vue Hotel was opening. Its vista overlookedthe beach and sand dunes (the later being reconstructed and remodelled into the horseshoe shaped prom-enade we know today a project which took place throughout the 1900’s and 1910’s.

Ironically, on the very day the Belle Vue was opened another larger public building had its official openingonly a few hundred yards away. This was the Royal Bath Hotel (now the oldest such building inBournemouth). It was at the Royal Bath that Tony Hancock often stayed during his frequent visits to thetown later in his career.

During the 1830’s and 40’s the area between the seafront and the Westover Road area was namedWestover Gardens. With the agreement of Sir George Gervis this area was re-landscaped and the newlynamed Lower Gardens opened in 1873. Gervis granted Bournemouth the permanent lease of thesegrounds for public enjoyment. This was further enhanced by the extension of the gardens to more land tothe north of the site. This area had been known as Bourne Stream Meadows and since 1851 been ownedby George Durrant. In 1872 however, Durrant sold the land to the Bournemouth ImprovementCommissioners on condition that within a year the land should be formally laid out. So it was thereforethat by the end of 1873 the whole area known today as the Lower, Central and Upper Gardens werejoined into one beautiful green oasis which still cleaves through the centre of the town.

In that same year (1873) Sir George allowed the Commissioners to build a Pavilion on the plateau site(situated very close to where the Pine Walk in the Lower Gardens is situated today). From then on theidea of building a real and substantial entertainment venue was often raised.


This need was even more necessary due to the rapid growth of the town’s population. The railway hadarrived in Bournemouth in 1870. This had not only boosted the tourist industry but also seen a sharp rise inthose wishing to live in Bournemouth, which by this time ad earned for itself the welcome reputation ofbeing a venue where many people recovering from illness and injury could come and enjoy the strong seaair and invigorating scent from the many pine trees which dotted the landscape.

By the turn of the century the hopes the local population had of seeing a large entertainment venue openin the town surprisingly remained a dream. The Belle Vue Hotel was large enough to host dinners, exhibi-tions and such sporting events as bowls and snooker tournaments but nothing on the scale so many peo-ple wanted. One person who was especially kkeen to remedy this was Sir Mertyon Russell-Cotes (whoseunusual but beautiful house on Bournemouth's East Cliff remains a popular tourist attraction). In 1901 SirMerton was quoted as saying "... a seaside Pavilion is an absolute necessity ...." which was backed up in1903 when a local deputation recommended that "... a Pavilion embracing a concert room, reading rooms,cafs ... and all other accommodation ... should be provided for Bournemouth".

In 1908 the belle Vue Hotel was acquired by the local council and plans to build a large public theatre weredrawn up. It was estimated that this would cost £45,000, an amount approved by the authorities.Unfortunately problems regarding the Belle Vue's licensing agreements caused unforeseen delays and itwas not until 1912 when a second idea for constructing a theatre was put forward. This idea seemedcertain to go ahead but the outbreak of World War One in 1914 and Britain's entry into that terribleconflagration in August of that year put on hold any ideas of planning for pleasure.

“The war to end all wars” ended in November 1918 but it was not until 1922 that the Bournemouthauthorities approved the idea that designs should be submitted for; "...the erection of a Concert Pavil-ion..." the idea being to seat 2,000 patrons in the main hall. Entries were invited from the wider public andone hundred competitors submitted designs. Eventually the £300 prize was won by the London architectsMessers G. Wyville Hoare and Shirley Knight. The contract to build the venue was given to theBournemouth firm of Messrs James and Seward. (readers wishing to see the illustration from their originaldrawings can do so by visiting the East corridor of the Pavilion.)

During 1924 the old Belle Vue Hotel was demolished and on the 23rd of September 1925 the foundationstone for the new theatre was laid by Alderman Charles Cartwright. thus finally ending nearly a century ofpublic debate and controversy.

On Tuesday the 19th of March 1929 the opening ceremony of the Bournemouth Pavilion finally took placeand His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (then fourth in line to the throne) was invited toopen it. During his speech the Duke declared that "... I don't have to remind you of the high position heldby your Borough amongst other towns which take upon themselves the pleasing duty of acting as physi-cians to the sick, renewal of vigour to the convalescent and a playground to those in full health ..." TheDuke continued: "I hope you will in due course, see the fulfilment of your desire, that it will make for thebenefit and prosperity of the beautiful town which already affords so many amenities to those who arefavoured by residing here..."

The Duke's speech was witnessed by a large crowd and interest was so great that the speech wasbroadcast on local wireless stations. (Bournemouth's then being 6BM) It is interesting to speculatewhether the crowd included Jack Hancock, who, only two years before had arrived in Bournemouth tohimself improve his health) and his wife Lily and two small sons, Colin and Anthony.

If the Hancock's were not at the opening in person it is probable they would have been listening to the cer-emonies on the wireless from their new home, The railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road. (Jack having beenappointed the hotel's licensee only a few months before.)


After the official ceremony Bournemouth's Municipal Orchestra under the leadership of Sir Dan Godfreystaged a number of classical pieces details of which I have included in this project. The evening perform-ances however were given over to variety. Sybil Vane performed popular songs of the day; William Morrisdisplayed his acrobatic 'Nonsense on Wheels' show; Philip Dore gave an organ sole; Ethel Anderson per-formed a series of dances and the comedy was provided by the duo 'The Two Co-Optimists' otherwiseknown as Wesley Charles and Stanley Holloway. The latter of course went on to become a very popularlight entertainer until well into the 1960's on both stage and screen appearing in such films as 'Brief En-counter', 'Passport to Pimilico' and 'My Fair Lady'.

Jack Hancock particularly liked Holloway's style of comedy. The last stage performance Jack gave in Decem-ber 1934 was at the Regent Theatre, Bournemouth, directly opposite the Pavilion itself. During the per-formance Hancock stole the show with his impersonation of Holloway giving the monologue "Albert andthe Lion". Jack loved performing these comic pieces and his "Albert' performance plus other works fromthe pen of Marriott Edgar frequently featured in both Jack and Holloway's stage shows.

As the 1930's progressed the reputation of the Pavilion as being a centre for all sorts of entertainment,both serious and light grew. As for Jack and Lily Hancock's second son Tony, he was now showing all thesigns of wanting to enter show business himself and it seems it was the Pavilion Theatre that drew himmore and more until the boy become a frequent visitor to the venue. During an interview Tony gave forthe "T.V. Times' in January 1963 in the week his new 'Hancock' series appeared on ITV, Tony admitted thathis school uniform had becomes so familiar at the Pavilion that it had become as well known as the stagemanager's tatty old sweater! Eventually it was not even considered necessary to accompany him, and Tonywas permitted to wander freely through the Pavilion Theatre. Tony would probably have done what manyboys would do; run along the sloping passageways, slide along the bannisters, marvel at the size of the op-ulent ballroom (where his father so often attended as guest of the annual Victuallers Dinners as well asproviding the entertainment), and explore every nook and cranny of the reception rooms and offices. Tonywould be permitted to wait just inside the stage door, where he could spot the celebrities enter the build-ing and at times he would also be allowed to watch from the wings as the performance took place.

Some of the stars he met and the experience he underwent I have included in my book, "Tony HancockThe Bournemouth Connection" (2017) but for the purpose of this article I thought it would be quicker tolist just some of the comedy talents who the young Hancock would have seen at the Pavilion. These includ-ed:- George Fairweather (Local Bournemouth Comedian who became Tony's mentor); Tommy Handley(later star of 'I.T.M.A.' aka 'It's That Man Again' to give the famous wartime show its full name; Elsie andDoris Walters (professionally known as 'Gert and Daisy', Clapham and Dwyer (special favourites of Tony's),and Arthur Clifford Baines who used the stage name 'Stainless Stephen' on account of the steel waistcoatand bowler he wore. Tony learnt a great deal about timing from watching Baines at such close quartersand Hancock in later years acknowledged that it was Baines who had given him "...my first whiff of grease-paint by taking me behind the scenes at Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre

Tony also learnt a great deal about the problems of being an entertainer and how their performances canbe made or marred by their colleagues around them. One night in around 1932 Tony was watching a per-formacne from the Huston sisters (Renne and Billie). As she came off the stage, Renee gave the lighting en-gineer a dressing down for his poor handling of the lights using some words which Tony, then only eight,confessed he only understood after he was grown up! That night at the Pavilion, Tony learnt that showbusiness (even comedy) was not always about glamour and fun.


I thought I would end this mini research project by listing just a few of the stars who appeared at the Pavil-ion and went on to work with Tony. These included:- Charlie Chester, Tommy Cooper, Bruce Forsyth, PeterSellers and the wonderful June Whitfield. The list of other stars who, over the years have appeared at thePavilion read like a who's who of British Light Entertainment and include:- Arthur Askey, Rowan Atkinson,Cannon and Ball, Roy Castle, Harry H Corbett, Paul Daniels, Ken Dodd, Joyce gGenfell, Lenny Henry, More-cambe and Wise, Joe Pasquale, Lily Savage (aka Paul O'Grady), Jimmy Tarbuck and Victoria Wood.

Bournemouth Pavilion has, and continues to attract top comedy talent from across the country, a factwhich Tony would have much admired. Long may it continue!


The Following contains details of the programme of music and general entertainment on the day the Pavil-ion theatre opened on 19th March 1929

The Municipal Orchestra directed by Sir Dan Godfrey

1. Grand March ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ Elgar

2. Overture ‘Tannhauser’ Wagner

3. Serenata (No 2) Toselli Solo violins were Bertram Lewis and Joesph Govaere

4. Selection ‘Merrie England’ Edward German

5. Cello Solo a. peasant dance Wolstenholme b. Internezzo Saint Saens c. Gavotte Popper

6. Carlsbad Doll’s Dance Pleier

7. Marimba Xylophone Solo ‘Gee Whizz’ Byron Brooke W.W. Bennett

8. Extracts from the Musical ‘Show Boat’ Kern

After the interval

Organ Solo By Phillip Dore F.R.C.O.

Ethel Anderson Danseuse

Sybil Vane The Welsh Prima Donna (accompanied at the piano by Leon Domque)

Two Co-optimists Wolseley Charles and Stanley Holloway

Will Morris ‘Nonsense on Wheels’


Above: A panoramic view of the Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth.The English Channel can be glimpsed beyond.

Below: The stage of the Pavilion where young Tony was frequentlypermitted to stand in its wings and watch the performers at close quarters.


Above:

The Ballroom at the Pavilion oftenPlayed host to the town’s annualVictualler’s Ball which Tony’s fatherJack would attend both as guest andalso as an after dinner entertainer.

Left:

Both staircases leading from the foyerof the Pavilion Theatre to the Circleseats are identical showing designs ofelegance and grace reflectedthroughout the building.


Left:

This photo shows the top of the Eastcorridor just by the door leading to theFoyer.

To the right of the arched recess, onecan see part part of the framed poster,dedicated to Tony’s career andpresented to the Theatre by his friendand mentor George Fairweather.

George was Bournemouth based semiprofessional comedian who for manyyears owned a hairdressing salon innearby Westover Road.

Right:

The slope of the East Corridor isparticularly pronounced in this2015 photograph taken by theauthor.

The Art Deco themed light shades,deeply layered arches and thegentle golden coloured paintworkbeautifully reflecting the light, allperfectly convey an almost neo-classical atmosphere.


Above: Stage door at the Pavilion. As a small boy Tony would be allowed to stand justinside the stage door watching the performers arrive.

Below: When I was given a private backstage visit to the Theatre in May 2015, I wassurprised to see how basic the dressing rooms were. The simplicity did not worry theyoung Tony who, recalling his first visit backstage later wrote that it had been “.. Amagic night for me and thereafter I made a beeline at every opportunity ...”


Being a great comedian Tony Hancock would have loved hearing about some of the “Gaffes” and“Esoteric” comments which have sometime taken place between the ever patient box office staff atthe Pavilion and some of the patrons. Here are just a few for your amusement:

Clerk: Would you like stalls or circle ?”

Patron: “Is the circle upstairs?”

Clerk: “Yes”

Patron: “Could I have the £8.50 seats in the stalls, in the circle?” _________________________

Clerk: I’ll seat you over the doorway so no one will be in front of you

Patron: “Won’t that be dangerous? We don’t want to fall out of our seats.” _________________________

Patron: “Can we get a drink in this building?”

Clerk “Alcoholic?”

Patron “No, I am NOT an alcoholic!” _________________________

Clerk: “What is the name on the credit card?”

Patron: “Mine” _________________________”

Clerk: “The seats are halfway back in the middle”

Patron “Halfway from the front, or halfway form the back?”

_________________________

Clerk: “Would you like to sit in the stalls?”

Patron: “Well, I’d prefer a seat”

_________________________

Patron: “How much are the £6.00 seats?”

_________________________

Patron: “I’m not ringing to book tickets. I want to sell my plane.”


Ten Facts about the Bournemouth Pavilion1. 20,500 cubic yards of earth and sand was excavated from the site and the founda-

tions of the building consists of 5,000 cubic yards of concrete, 1,200 cubic yardsof reinforced concrete, 98 tons of steel joists, 570 tons of gravel, 70 tons of rein-forcing rods, 8.630 cubic feet of Portland stone and over one million bricks !

2. Much of the material came form Chesil beach, near Weymouth. It was on theshoreline of this beach that some of the initial tenting for Sir Barnes Wallis’“Bouncing Bomb” took place prior to the Dam Busters raid in May 1943

3. The builders, Jones and Seward won the contract for the sum of £136,585 .I wonder how much that would have cost today?

4. As well as the general lifts the floor of the orchestra pit can be raised level with thestage

5. The Pavilion is said to be haunted. An apparition known as “Emily” has been spotted when the Theatre is empty of visitors. She wears a long dress and bonnetand was once seen by the stage manager Barry Beresford who saw the figure walk-ing up the central aisle, passing through the curtains and through the solid door atthe rear of the circle!

6. On the subject of strange sightings, apparently a Red Admiral butterfly sometimesappears and flies around the theatre. Once it landed on one of the chandeliers andstayed there for weeks. This is odd as butterflies only live fore a few days. It hasapparently been accidentally stepped upon but it still survived.

7. It was decided in 1968 that the original fountain which adorned the area directly infront of the entrance should be replaced. For years the fountain would, on verywindy days, shower passers by and cars with water, a problem that has been large-ly corrected by the installation of the new and present fountain which appeared inMay 1969.

8. I n 2004 after the Bournemouth and Boscombe’s Light Opera Company hadperformed “My Fair Lady” the stage manager Mr Simon Bagnall stepped forward,knelt down in front of the leading lady Miss Rebecca Weeks and proposed to her!The answer happily was Yes!

9. As we know the Pavilion was built on a sloping site and therefore contains manysteps but how many? Believe it or not there are 619 inside and out although I’mglad to say I have not had cause to use them all!

10. Mr George Fairweather, friend and mentor to Tony Hancock once presented amemorial plaque to the Pavilion, a plaque that features photos from Tony’s lifeand career. Today this plaque can be seen in the east corridor on the ground floorof the Theatre that Tony loved so much, a fitting tribute.

the bonus pages - tony hancock appreciation society pages/issue 11...the script was ready, actors...

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