Top of the Hip parade
This year marked the 120th anniversary of Birmingham’s famous Hippodrome Theatre. Paul Cole looks at some of the stars who have trodden the boards...
IT’S the gig to end all gigs – a veritable Live Aid of legendary names. The Beatles, Judy Garland, Laurel & Hardy, Mae West and more... all coming to a theatre near you.
To Birmingham’s famous Hippodrome, to be precise.
And did we mention Harry Houdini, Julie Andrews, Gracie Fields, Sammy Davis Jnr and Ken Dodd?
The Hurst Street theatre marked its 120th anniversary this year with a giant playbill (pictured right), featuring some of the big names to have trodden the boards.
The 30-foot long poster, in the style of the old music hall bills, has been installed in the main foyer.
When The Beatles appeared in 1963, they had to disguise themselves as policemen to escape screaming fans.
Houdini’s Hippodrome escape act, meanwhile, was captured by a Daily Mirror sketch artist in 1904.
But it’s the more obscure acts that intrigue most, recalling the theatre’s variety past, including:
Claire Heliot offered animal education and tricks in a cage of 12 lions and two boarhounds, in a less-enlightened era.
Master phantasist The Great Carmo, all the way from Australia, took a different tack – he made his lion simply vanish into thin air.
Sparks doubtless flew when Dr Walford Brodie, the Modern Anatomical Miracle Worker of Bloodless Electrical Surgery, took to the stage.
And who can have failed to be impressed by Princess Trixie and her equine cash register: queen of all educated horses?
“This commemorative artwork has been another way for the Hippodrome to mark our 120th anniversary,” said artistic director and chief executive Fiona Allan. “We hope it prompted visitors to recall some of the great performers they have seen here over the decades.”
The playbill was unveiled by city historian Professor Carl Chinn, who added: “The Hippodrome has been at the heart of cultural activity in the city for many decades and is a landmark theatre in Birmingham, and the UK.
DANNY KAYE
Danny Kaye’s week-long appearance in a variety show in
June 1949 sparked great excitement. Due to unprecedented postal bookings, it was decided to open the box office on a Sunday, solely to take bookings for his performances. People started queueing the day before but were encouraged to go home and return the following day. When the queue reformed the following day, it wound around the streets of Birmingham from the Hippodrome and eventually made it to the Bull Ring. It was estimated that there were 10,000 people in the queue, although not all of those who had waited could be served. Half of the 24,000 tickets available were sold on that one day.
HARRY HOUDINI
Escapologist and illusionist
Harry Houdini performed at the Hippodrome during three variety weeks, two in 1904 and one in 1908, demonstrating his handcuff act and then his underwater escapology act. During his 1904 appearances, he borrowed a ‘straight waistcoat’ from the authorities of Winson Green prison and constructed a model of a Birmingham police cell on the stage from which he escaped during every performance.
GRACIE FIELDS
With nine appearances at the Hippodrome spanning 13 years from 1925 to 1938, Gracie Fields was one of the most popular comediennes of her time. Billed as ‘England’s Greatest Comedienne’, she composed a number of songs, including Sing As We Go, Mary Rose and Sally, which became her theme song. Her appearances at the Hippodrome in the late 1930s broke box office records each year. In 1937, she had sold out all 15 performances of her variety week, including three matinees, less than a week after they were put on sale – 4,000 were sold in one booking.
JOSEPHINE BAKER
American-born French entertainer Josephine Baker appeared at the Hippodrome during a variety week in December 1937, just a week after she had got married in Paris. She sent her costumes, scenery and her two dancing partners a week in advance of her visit, but when she arrived in Birmingham, she was told that they had been held up by customs and wouldn’t be at the theatre in time for her first performance. She was forced to wear a white frock with blue shoes, and she was unable to dance during her performance because her dress wasn’t made for dancing.
LAUREL & HARDY
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy brought their slapstick style to Birmingham Hippodrome in 1947, 1952 and lastly in 1953. Their appearances were much anticipated by the Birmingham audiences, but according to reports of their first time at the theatre, the anticipation was not lived up to in reality. Their allocated time slot was not long enough for the duo to display the sequence of events comedy style that people knew from their films and although the standard of acting was up to the quality of their movies, people left feeling a bit deflated.
MAE WEST
Controversial playwright, singer, comedian and actress Mae West was known for her double entendres and troubles with censorship. In December 1947, she made her only appearance at the Hippodrome in her own play, Diamond Lil, which ran for a week. The play was about an easygoing, racy lady of the 1890s, with Mae in the title role. The Birmingham reviews of her performance made more comments about her increased weight, stating that she was literally bringing more to her role in the UK than she did when on Broadway.
JULIE ANDREWS
Julie Andrews’ first performance at Birmingham Hippodrome, in April 1949, was at the age of 13, alongside her parents Ted and Barbara Andrews. She was described as having a mature voice for her age. When she returned in her own right in the variety show Look In, a review from the Birmingham Daily Gazette stated, ‘She goes to the hearts of the audience by the shortest and quickest route.’
JUDY GARLAND
In July 1951, Hollywood legend Judy Garland appeared on a variety bill that also saw the appearance of another act featured on the giant playbill: Professor Duncan’s Collies! Her performance was tumultuously applauded by the audiences who flocked to see her every performance. She appeared nervous on stage, giggling with the audience and mopping her brow, but her performance was reported as a ‘technical triumph’. During the week she performed at the Hippodrome, Judy, who had not seen her five-year-old daughter in three months, was reunited with Liza.
KEN DODD
From 1957 to 2010, Ken Dodd made 17 appearances at the Hippodrome in shows including pantomime, variety and his own Laughter and Happiness solo comedy performances. His first appearance at the Hippodrome began on April Fool’s Day 1957 and was described as ‘the performer-audience contact is kept alive, and this is what makes such a profound impression”. The affection of the Birmingham audiences meant he was invited by the theatre to lay the foundation stone for the 1999 major redevelopment work, which saw the complete knocking down and modernisation of the foyer spaces and backstage areas.
SAMMY DAVIS Jnr
When impressario Bernard Delfont presented Sammy Davis Jr. r. Swings and Sings at the Hippodrome for two performances in
1961, it was because Sammy owed d Bernard a favour. During his stint at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London, Sammy asked Bernard if he could take time off to honour the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur. Bernard, also Jewish, agreed, which ch meant that two London shows had d to be cancelled at the last minute and d at great cost. To compensate, Sammy y offered to perform at two shows in n Birmingham for free.
THE BEATLES
The year of 1963 saw the Fab Four our visit the Hippodrome twice. In March arch they were at the bottom of the bill – but by November they were headliners. Birmingham City Police ce met the group at their Steelhouse Lane HQ, then dressed them up in n mackintoshes and police helmets before driving them in a Black Maria to the theatre. Decoy police cars preceded their arrival, allowing the black van to slip through the crowd and into a small gated yard by the stage door. The two Sunday performances sold out within two days and extra theatre staff had to be laid on to deal with gatecrashers.
MARLENE DIETRICH
As part of a six-week solo tour of week’s visit at the Hiippodrome in August 1965. Her limited vocal range and husky voice were enhanced by the accompaniment of an 18-piece orchestra and by musical arrangements by Burt Bacharach. Marlene made a special visit on Tuesday August 10 to meet the Lord Mayor of Birmingham who had been a fan of hers since he first saw her on the big screen. He described her as ‘a distinguished visitor to the city’ and
dous interest to meeting her’.
PROFESSOR DUNCAN’S COLLIES
Professor Duncan’s Collies was an act which appeared at the Hippodrome no fewer than 18 times between 1900 and 1955, appearing on variety bills alongside the likes of Harry Houdini and Judy Garland. The act included the collies skipping, somersaulting, leapfrogging and dancing to bagpipes played by their dogs acting out a tragic scene either involving a car crash or a rescue from a burning building. In both scenes, at least one dog would ‘die’ from either their injuries or due to shock, and their grief-stricken widow would then fall to her knees at his side.
MISS MOTO
The act of ‘Hooping the Hoop’ was performed in July 1903 by Miss Moto. It involved a 60ft inclined track leading to a hoop 63ft in circumference. The motorcar was released at the top of the incline through a trap door and after completing the manoeuvre, was caught in a net at the end of the track. During the first house on the Tuesday night, the car hit a guide rail, causing it to lose momentum and crash through the hoop. Miss Moto miraculously survived with only a few abrasions, but the car and hoop were severely damaged. Audiences flooded in
she would make it out alive.
CLAIRE HELIOT
In February 1904, for two weeks 12 lions and two boarhounds performed on the Hippodrome stage in a 12ft high cage with ‘absolutely no danger to the audience’. Claire Heliot, a lion tamer from Germany, took her lions through a routine which included them lying on the ground for her to recline upon, the dogs leaping over a number of the lions, and the lions performing a circus routine. One scene involved the lions sitting on stools at a table whilst Claire fed them raw meat. The finalé involved Claire carrying a 159Kg lion across her shoulders and out of the ring.
THE FIRST ORIGINAL GREAT KETTLE ACT
Billed as ‘The greatest performance ever witnessed on any stage’,
The First Original Great Kettle Act had a lot to live up to when it was seen in November 1904. American Ralph Dean used liquid air, which he made himself, to show a number of feats. He made rubber balls so brittle they would shatter to pieces, turned grapes into hailstones in a matter of seconds, poured ‘boiling water’ onto eggs, freezing them into a block of ice so they could be broken by a hammer.
DR. WALFORD BODIE
Between 1905 and 1918, Dr. Walford Bodie ‘The Bloodless Surgeon’ performed his act five times on the Hippodrome stage. Predominantly featuring the power of static electricity, his act involved using it to hypnotise young men in the audience, making them sing, dance and give speeches and – more controversially – using electricity to ‘cure’ people of their paralysis. The show’s review from March 1906, described
Bodie as a ‘modern miracle worker’ who would offer any person a £1,000 to prove his cures were not genuine.
ELECTRA
Electra is a mysterious act which appeared on a variety show in October 1907 on a bill that also featured comedians, a magician, gymnasts and a dog act. Electra was billed as the dance of 10,000 lights – absolutely the prettiest show ever put on the stage – that must be seen to be appreciated. A review of the show stated that the dancer wore dresses of “ever-changing colours and the display of lights makes one of the most artistic and beautiful shows ever seen on these boards”.
PRINCESS TRIXIE
The ‘Queen of All Educated Horses’, Princess Trixie appeared at the Hippodrome in two variety weeks during 1908. She was a light grey mare, born and trained in America by her master Mr. W. H. Barnes. She was able to perform a multitude of tasks, including basic arithmetic, selecting coloured handkerchiefs to match colours called out by the audience, spelling words using wooden blocks with painted letters – and using a cash register to give change of up to $2. She even wrote her own autobiography, where she gives an account of her life with her master...
THE GREAT CARMO
During eight appearances at the Hippodrome from 1911 to 1932, The Great Carmo brought his circus full of exotic animals to Birmingham. The magician made animals and inanimate objects vanish and reappear at will, including a caged lion. In March 1930, Birmingham proved to be particularly unlucky for Carmo. He pitched his travelling circus tent in Digbeth, but a heavy snowfall broke the wooden poles holding up the canvas, collapsing the entire marquee. After paying out for a new tent to enable the performances to continue, less than a week later the tent caught fire and burned down.
FRED BARNES
Brummie comedian Fred Barnes was a popular star of British music halls in the early 1900s and made a total of five appearances at the Hippodrome between 1912 and 1932. He was known as the ‘Adonis of the Halls’, due to his blue eyes, wavy hair and tendency to dress as a debonair man-about-town. Fred was openly gay and he wrote a song entitled ‘The Black Sheep of the Family’, which became his theme song. Two weeks before his 1913 performance at the Hippodrome, his father tragically committed suicide ‘due to shame’ and Fred wrote that the Hippodrome was “a place full of memories of my father. To this day, I don’t know how I got through that week.”
GEORGE ROSS
Billed as ‘The Topsy-Turvy Pianist’ and the ‘One-Man Music Hall’, George Ross appeared at the Hippodrome as part of a variety show in May 1913 along with Dorothy Ward and Shaun Glenville. His performance as a pianist was taken to the next level by the positions in which he played it, one of which was whilst standing on his head, earning him his nickname.
GERT & DAISY
Played by Doris and Elsie Waters, the characters of Gert and Daisy were popular with Hippodrome patrons, making a total of 15 appearances between 1933 and 1955. The characters would talk about anything and everything, including tales about their fictional husbands Bert and Wally.