Forum Topic

Chiswick Empire

Someone very kindly gave me these the other day and I thought I would share them. 

As well as the programme they also gave me a single sided flyer that doesn’t have a date. I’m sure Google has the answers somewhere, but I thought the forum would be quicker. Does anyone know what year this is from? 

Colin Potter ● 2063d28 Comments

Some great names there. Such a sweeping decision to knock it down.

Stewart Jones ● 2063d

I agree.I wonder if any posters have memories(their's or their parents' generation)of going there ?Chiswick,up until the mid sixties,had a lot of music halls and places of entertainment.Before my time but interested to know as it was quite a bustling and busy place between the wars.There are vestiges and echoes of this if you look closely above many shop fronts.

Ben Gemmingen ● 2063d

Thanks Colin,very interesting.I've just spotted Dick Emery in one of the programmes,10th on the bill.

Ben Gemmingen ● 2063d

Yes thanks Colin for those Chiswick Empire programme images. Nostalgia indeed.We would attend on Monday evenings to benefit from the cheap seats in the GOD'S...having queued in the side alleyways  of the theatre.I recall the Max Wall occasion...watching him amusingly wobbly-legging it across the Stage. That would have been in the 1950s. We also attended the final show in June 1959...LIBERACE the flamboyant American pianist. The Empire was crazily knocked down soon after...and I went off (crazily)to do National Service in Cyprus and Libya). There are images of the Programmes all over Google Images and Ebay.Arthur Askey,Cliff Richard and Wee Willy Harris all appeared over time.... and just after WW2 Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery received his Freeman of the old Borough of Brentford and Chiswick on stage (I didn't get a ticket for that event!)

Jim Lawes ● 2063d

I have memories of going to a panto' at the Empire. Lonney Donegan in Aladdin sometime in the mid/late 50's.

Jeffrey Cope ● 2062d

Remember seeing Cliff Richard there - and many pantomimes, also waiting in the queue in the side alley and belting up the stairs to the 'gods'. Sobering to think if they tried to knock it down now - there'd probably be a riot!

Vanessa Smith ● 2062d

The year 1951.

Tina Gallacher ● 2062d

Max Wall on Monday 16th September 19xx onwards (1952?)

Jim Lawes ● 2062d

This is all very interesting.I find the inter war (both of them)and post war periods fascinating.I've been looking up some of the performers.I wonder if anyone had the pleasure of seeing'Two Ton Tessa O'Shea'.https://vaudeville-postcards.com/postcards/c28-chiswick-empire.html.JOE LAWMAN(1909-1977) Comedian, singer, pantomime dame.lawman-joe-fvs-tivoli-102Joe Lawman started out as a child clog dancer, and later worked for Clay’s Bridge Theatre Co before making his Tivoli debut in 1930. After playing Nat Phillips‘ off-sider in the Whirligigs Co, he spent almost a decade touring with Stella Lamond.  A popular Tivoli comedian and pantomime dame during the war years, Lawman appeared on radio from as early as 1934, and featured in many community concert broadcasts. He also appeared in at least one film, That Certain Something (1941), and during the early 1940s performed in cinemas in association with Linn Smith [below] and his Trocadero Dance Band. Lawman and his second wife, Joy Robbins worked in Great Britain for ten years beginning 1945.

Ben Gemmingen ● 2062d

I too saw Cliff Richard and The Shadows there at a Christmas gig. If it was the same one you will recall that  everybody attending was given soft snowballs to throw at  the stage.My grandmother who was quite a refined and dainty lady took me because she thought that Cliff was  "such a nice young man" She endured all two-and-a-half hours of screaming and vowed "never again".

N V Brooks ● 2062d

I went two or three times around 1957. The only thingI remember about any of it was Arthur Askey introducingYana one evening. Now I don't know if Arhur Askey was just the compere or what, as I can't remember anything about any of the acts including Yana's from any of my visits. What's strange is that this must have been after1956 by which time Yana was quite famous - amonggrown ups at least. And yet Arthur Askeys introductionwas as if she was an unknown. Or maybe that was just standard compere's patter.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yana_(singer)Unfortunately, the Chiswick Empire like all the variety theatres was simply killed off by TV.    michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2062d

There was an air of excitement around Chiswick Empire in times gone by...as locals queued in the gas-lit side alleyways and mingled especially in the freshness of wintertime. The lighting (except in the alley) reflecting on the pinkish colour of the Empire's architecture, Chiswick High Road's grand trees swaying in the breeze and the newspaper chap calling out "News,Star,Standard"!The Empire was even open during WW2! Just weeks before another wave of bombs was to land locally (Wolseley Gardens and Sutton Lane's United Dairy Depot for starters) the Empire was cheering up the locals.On Monday 20th December 1943, after a programme of entertaining acts, the audience was treated to popular music by non other than Billy Cotton (Senior!) and his Band!In the 1950s,as Michael said, TV was the new attraction. Aspiring entertainers and musicians were hoping to catch the eye of TV executives like Chiswickian BRIAN TESLER!I understand that there were disturbances one year up in the 'gods' between groups of Teddyboys. Cliff Richard had been on stage...Hope Vanessa didn't get involved!

Jim Lawes ● 2062d

Thanks Jim,brilliantly described,very evocative.

Ben Gemmingen ● 2062d

Colin Potter asked" As well as the programme they also gave me a single sided flyer that doesn’t have a date. I’m sure Google has the answers somewhere, but I thought the forum would be quicker. Does anyone know what year this is from? "January 1952"Mother Goose" featuring Edith Revnell and Arthur English was broadcast on Monday Jan 7th 1952 livefrom the Chiswick Empire on the Home Service ( rather then the light programme) according to this BBC archive link,https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/schedules/bbchomeservice/basic/1952-01-07michael adams

Michael Adams ● 2062d

Colin Potter asked" As well as the programme they also gave me a single sided flyer that doesn’t have a date. I’m sure Google has the answers somewhere, but I thought the forum would be quicker. Does anyone know what year this is from? "michael adams answered1952Wrong !!!!!!The production which the poster refers to beganits run in December *1951*.So its 1951. 3 weeks earlier the Jan 1952 broadacast.  michael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2062d

Wow !I've not come across the genome bit of the beeb before.Thanks very much ,hours..decades of entertainment lie ahead.

Ben Gemmingen ● 2062d

You can see the Chiswick Empire masquerading as a 'Palais' in the film 'Dance Hall', sometimes shown on Talking Pictures ( Petula Clark, Diana Dors amongst the cast). I have heard that opera companies sometimes appeared there, Carl Rosa perhaps, or some Italian touring groups such as I occasionally saw perform in Leeds - anyone recall?

Arnold Saxton ● 2061d

'I understand that there were disturbances one year up in the 'gods' between groups of Teddyboys. Cliff Richard had been on stage...Hope Vanessa didn't get involved!'Unlikely - I don't know why I went to see Cliff I was never a fan!

Vanessa Smith ● 2061d

I vaguely remember the Carla Rosa Opera Company appearing at the Empire and also Al Martino. In fact anybody who was anybody at the time, appeared there.

Vanessa Smith ● 2061d

Arnold Saxton suggested" You can see the Chiswick Empire masquerading as a 'Palais' in the film 'Dance Hall',According to Reelstreets the exterior for the "Chiswick Palais" was in fact the Gaumont Streatham. They feature a capture from the film and a photo from 2013 when the exterior was largely unchanged. Unlikethe Chiswick Empire of course.https://www.reelstreets.com/films/dance-hall/According to http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/19961It was demolished in 2014 but the frontage was retainedWhile a quick look at Google Streetview showa that it remains there, in spirit at leastenveleoped by the frontage of the modern developement - and minus the side road. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4390698,-0.1262521,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0QzDc5_FCUQ20RiLJHBVKw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192The frontage with the pillars is not that dissimilarto the Forum in Ealing which is due for similar treatment.As the Forum and Gaumonts were possibly in the same chain, they were possibly designed by the same team of architects. There is a short Pathe film of the opening of the Forum Ealing avaibale online somewhere. michael adams

Michael Adams ● 2061d

Thanks for the memories and the answer, it is a bit before my time.  They also gave me this. It's not Empire related, but I guess it is from the same era, early 50’s. 

Colin Potter ● 2061d

You may well jest.Here's a Urodonal Advertisement from November 1920https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im19201120ILN-Uro.jpgmichael adams...

Michael Adams ● 2061d

Didn't they used to have some framed posters from the Empire in the front bar(?) of The Old Packhorse?(Possibly still do - haven't been in in a while)

Richard Cathcart ● 2061d

Hallo Jim Lawes,  Lovely to read about the Chiswick Empire.  When I was a younger person I remember going to see Cliff Richard and the Shadows perform, sitting in the GODS.  I would certainly need strong glasses to see the stage now!  Cliff wAs dressed in tight  black jeans, big black shoes and the brightest pink socks.  I can't remember seeing the last of his performance as my friends and myself shot off down to the stage door for an autograph but no luck. Such a waste.  Janet Hennum New Zealand

Janet Hennum ● 2059d

If you enter "Chiswick Empire Poster" in Google,using the images option, you get loads of thumbnailimages of different posters, some of which can be enlarged slightly if selected.Down the bottom of the page are posters from otherEmpire theatres in the extensive Moss Empires Chainwhich included the London Palladium.It was as part of this chain that Chiswick Empirehosted most if not all of the major acts who appearedin, or toured the UK.michael adams

Michael Adams ● 2059d

In response to Arnold'squestion..he will perhaps find a part answer via Google. ..(Chiswick Empire: article from the Brentford and Chiswick Local History magazine article.There is also reference to the "Empire Bar" at the Old Packhorse Pub close by.

Jim Lawes ● 2058d

I think the Empire was designed by Frank Matcham who also designed Richmond Theatre which is very similar to the Empire. Matcham was very well known for theatre arhitecture.

Vanessa Smith ● 2057d

“I think the Empire was designed by Frank Matcham”...Absolutely right Vanessa – as were many other Victorian and Edwardian theatres.They were beautiful too.  But alas far too big and built for an age of no TV and radio when audiences of two and three thousand were perfectly common.But Matcham wasn't the only important theatre designer we should remember with gratitude.    CJ Phipps was actually my favourite designer from that age (slightly before Matcham).It was Matcham who developed and changed Phipps' use of classic pillars - to support a dress circle above the stalls and even the “gods” above the dress circle.  Instead, Matcham pioneered the use of cantilevered steel - leaving far more space for seating.  But unfortunately condemning so many of his theatres to be demolished after WW2. So if you ever stray to places like the Royal Theatre Northampton (Charles Phipps) pop in for a look see.  Glorious Victoriana and pretty as a picture, only seats about 500 but a fabulous stage to work on..

Stuart Kerr ● 2057d