Three Towns Forum

The Local => Times Past => Topic started by: DaveR on September 14, 2010, 09:56:17 pm

Title: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 14, 2010, 09:56:17 pm
A piece retrieved from the old forum, a Sunday Times article from 1974 about Alex Munro and Llandudno's live theatrical tradition...

Oh, they love it no end! Oh, they love it to death!


The sea off the pier is a surly grey and the sleepless gulls swing crying against the towers of the Grand Hotel. The mountains, the sky, the promenade are grey and wet as Alex Munro stands outside the Pier Pavilion, calling people to ‘Startime’. “Seats available tonight - seats available. Lucky programme. Seats available inside.”

Seats available, lucky programme tonight. Ah – good evening ladies. Have you been to the show before? Well, come inside: there’s no reason why you shouldn’t suffer like all the rest.

[smg id=200]
The cast of Alex Munro's 'Startime' in 1975

Alex Munro wears a bow-tie, a white shirt-front and flowing white handkerchief; on the side of his head he wears a small trilby hat. He has little legs and dancing feet, and tips his hat when he speaks, or waltzes sidelong across the lighted stair, clapping his hands together.

He lifts his voice above the bumping of the Ghost Train next door.
Seats available inside. Good evening ladies. Good evening to you, Sir.” “Where were you from, now?
Leicester.”
He claps his hands. “Leicester!
The man, who carried a raincoat clutched his elbow and murmured confidentially, “Home of the RAF.”
Good evening ladies, Good evening, Madam, take your time now. Give us your hand. There’s no more steps after this. Seats available inside.

Pushed among the strolling crowd comes a figure in a wheelchair, which stops in front of the Pavilion, beside the sea wall. He trips down towards it, through the strolling, different crowd. In the wheelchair sits a clergyman in a beret and slippers, so old he seems to weep as if terribly touched; and in this way, somehow, the clergyman contrives to smile.
We’re going down to see the boat come in.” his daughter said.
Good luck to you Reverend, anyway. It was grand when you came in and saw the show.
He liked the chocolates you gave him, anyway.”
Thank you Sir Alex,” the white lips trembled.
Sir Alex? Why do you call me that Reverend?
The lips moved again with the ghost of a joke.
It’s your title.

Llandudno and the summer season were created as one. The town sprang fully-terraced from the Great Orme rock, the pier followed quickly, in 1876, incorporating the Grand Hotel’s teutonic fancies. All flourished by ministering to the great age of lower-class gentility – this was the resort chosen by Denry Machin for the wooing of Ruth Earp as ‘more stylish than Rhyl or Blackpool, and not dearer’. It thronged, in it’s heyday, with arch and aspiring promenaders, for the diversion of whom large theatres and concert-halls were erected along the North Wales coast.

[smg id=508]

That season is prolonged, for the gentility of Llandudno is miraculously prolonged. Its lofty boarding-houses offer a fastidious welcome, debating between themselves whether it is more prestigious to display in the parlour-window a card which says ‘Vacancies’ or a card which says ‘No Vacancy’. By an ancient ordinance, the long promenade flowing to the pier is kept free of all importuning or trading; from everything save intelligence of high water and the thrice-daily performance of ‘Professor Codman’s Wooden Headed Follies’. At night, the proletarian glow of Colwyn Bay may shine to the east around the Little Orme. Here a simpler communion prevails, between people seated under civic trees, people seated in deck chairs high and low, and the auditorium of the sea, from which a stiff wind blows.

In cutaway coat and silver tie, he trips beside the wet headland along the slippery boards of the pier. The great white gulls descent upon the rail and remain there, arrogant yet abstracted, as he passes by.

He lifts his trilby. He bows.
Good morning ladies. Now have you been to see the show yet?
Yes. Yes.”
And did you enjoy it?
Yes. Very nice.
Well, come again. I need the money.
Oh well,” the ladies laughed, “we’ll give you three-halfpence.

Alex Munro presents his ‘Startime’ in the Pier Pavilion from May to October, each night of the week excepting Sunday. Each afternoon excepting Saturday he presents another show in Happy Valley, an open-air theatre on the slopes of the Great Orme. His face, its trilby aslant, is to be seen all over town; it shines from handbill and hoarding; it hangs by coloured string in chip shops and gift-shops; it decorates the rear panels of the showman’s own mini-bus strategically parked on the road above the Grand Hotel. It promises ‘George Cormack and Irene Sharp, Scotland’s International Singing Stars’, ‘Benny Garcia, Television’s Dynamic Entertainer, ‘Billy Crockett, the Mad Musician from London’s Albert Hall’. It vouchsafes ‘melodious melodies, glamorous girls, clean comedy’ but, above all, the abundant personality of the man who is both star and licensee.

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Alex Munro & the cast of 'Old Tyme Music Hall' outside Pier Pavilion

I’m the last of what you call the old-time real showmen – there’s not many left like me. Do you want a piece of fudge? It’s just some fudge a lady handed up to me the other night; just a bit of fudge she’d made herself. She’s been in to the show two or three times. Because I present a family show. A real family show – no blue jokes; I don’t allow a ‘hell’ or a ‘damn’. And oh, they love it! Oh, they love it no end! Oh, they love it to death!

 [smg id=218]
John Morava (centre) and the Pier Orchestra. This is his last season in Llandudno after 38 years of morning and evening concerts.

He has his competitors, nonetheless. There is still a repertory company in Llandudno, at the Grand on Mostyn Broadway, presenting it’s sequence of thrillers and comedies and comedy thrillers in a theatre founded by Irving. Until this summer there was a pier-orchestra, led by the elegant John Morava. At the other end of the promenade there is the Arcadia, a music-hall built in expectation of a second pier that never came. The arcadia presents a variety show of the same type as Alex, on the same nights of the week throughout the same protracted season. This rival show is called, not ‘Startime’ but ‘Showtime’.

 [smg id=321]
John Creese-Parson's Grand Theatre. The Reparatory Company receive Equity minimum rates of pay and wear their own clothes onstage.

‘Startime’ and ‘Showtime’ do not go in for big names. Their purpose, rather, is to appeal to people’s fondness, on holiday as everywhere, for regularity and routine. Each show advertises three changes of programme. Since the guest houses traditionally book from Saturday to Saturday – an arrangement suited to nobody but the guest houses – it is possible, during one week in Llandudno, to attend three different versions of ‘Startime’, or of ‘Showtime’. On Sundays, when the town is dry, there are orchestral concerts and occasional outbreaks of hymn-singing. Only Saturdays are curiously deserted and dull.

I’m not a young man, but I can still stand on my hands.” He stood on his hands there and then, and his keys and lighter fell out of his waistcoat. His hat remained, however, on the side of his head.

I used to be a professional acrobat. I was what they called top man. My brother and me, we were the Horseborough Brothers; perch-acts they used to call ‘em. I’d be doing a handstand on top of the ladder on the other man’s shoulders. Oh it was a class act. We walked on in evening-dress with the orchestra playing ‘dee-dee o’clock in the morning’, and we played in front of Hitler in Germany. ‘Scottish Phlegmatics’ they called us there. Now, see, i’m really safe as top man. They’re not going to let me fall ‘cause if I damage myself’, the whole act’s gone; but if I think they’re going to let me fall, I’m going to be cheery up there.

I’ve been married, you know, a few times. Ssh!” he guffawed, looking at his young wife Marie in the box-office. “Ssh!, she’s looking; she knows what we’re saying.” He clapped his hands. “Five!"

I do everything myself, you know, here, right down to the sweeping. If I want a packet of nails I’ve got to buy it myself’ because the Council don’t do anything here you know.” (His rival, the Arcadia, is Council-owned.) “I was up a ladder round here the other day and someone calls to me ‘Alex, you shouldn’t be up there’. I think to myself, ‘that’s right, I shouldn’t, i’m an old man.’ Then I thought, ‘well why shouldn’t I? If you haven’t got the confidence in yourself, where are you?’ This is a 2500-seater you know. Before I came here with a show, it died the death. It used to be a picture-house.”

[smg id=222]
Pier Pavilion in 1980

He looked into his theatre. A small light burned in the orchestra pit. The stall seats, in their semi-circular expanse, were quiet, and the balcony seats piled up to the reassurance of the topmost exits. Under the dress-circle hangs a yellow screen. Behind the screen are further seats: as many unseen as exhibited, the linked iron and plush ascending, step by step, to a forgotten back row rounded like a stern of a ship. There are seats even beyond this, hidden through a wall of curtain; in alcoves and posterns and select little boxes, in threes and fives and twos and eights and fours, there are ‘seats available’.

The partnership between Alex Munro and Billy Crockett the Mad Musician has continued intermittently for 20 years since they met on the same bill at the Empire, Oldham. Alex summoned Billy this summer from Durban, where he was appearing in an ice-show.

The Mad Musician in private is small and circular and gentle. His dressing-room at the Pier Pavilion is filled with the music-props from his act: a miniature saxophone, some tiny harmonicas which he plays on his finger-ends, his makeup in cigar-boxes, sleighbells of varying pitches, and the bagpipes used, at the conclusion of his performance, to bow up a balloon.

He carries his life all in one suitcase. “I buy everything as I go along. Then I never have to wake up and think ‘what am I going to wear today?’ because i’ve only got two suits to choose from.

Billy has no wife now. His daughter is married, and he wants to buy a piece of ground near Edinburgh for her to start a riding-school. “That’s the only trouble – you get so bored in these places where you happen to be. I’ve often read the paper my fish and chips are wrapped in,” Billy said, “or i’ll take the newspaper out of the drawers in the bedroom and read that.

Alex holds court in the Stage Door café next to the Pavilion, where the sugar comes in a metal pudding basin and the girl behind the tea urns has purple wounds on her eye and cheek, having been set on and beaten by girls from Liverpool.

Billy is there, and Eddie Read the banjo-man and Benny Garcia, ‘Television’s Dynamic Entertainer’. Benny wears a blazer and plastic raincoat, and somewhat morosely, scans the Radio Times and TV Times for news from the front line of his profession. “I’d love to sleep late,” he said, “but I have to be up for nine where i’m staying or I miss breakfast.

They’re all getting good money,” Alex said as if these members of his company were not present. “Billy Crockett: class act, you know,” he murmured. “And it’s 22 weeks’ work” He guffawed. “Long as they can go without eating.”
He pays you in electricity,” Billy Crockett said “The wages give you a shock.
Eddie Read noted this down in the book where he notes down jokes that he hears.
No, I pay them what they want,” Alex said. “I don’t try beat any of them down. Benny did I try beat you down?
Only a fiver,” Benny said; then he relented: “No.”

And I won’t allow any blue jokes,” Alex said. “I won’t allow a ‘hell’ or ‘damn’. I can be in real trouble, mind you, when people come up on stage out of the audience, I tell them ‘No blue jokes now, this is a family show’’, then they go up to mike and they start, ‘I was sitting in the lavatory the other day…’ Oh my God!” He covered his eyes at the thought of these scatological time-bombs.

And I do a thing with three men out of the audience and a gag with a basin, bowl and jug – I can be in real trouble there as well. Some of them make the most horrible overtures, you know, with that jug.”

A woman sitting at the next table turned to him and said “You must have been up in Happy Valley for about 15 years now, haven’t you? Before they used to have The Great Waldini up there.”
That’s right. His name was Wally Bishop, the Great Waldini. I was following a legend. For the first three years I came they said to me ‘Scotchman go home’.”
“It must be 15 years,” the woman said, “because our Christine had a prize off him – she was eight then, she’s 23 now – she sand and our Philip played a musical instrument and they both got a prize.”
Have you seen the show yet?
Yes – thoroughly enjoyed it. I cried for you last year,” the woman said, “when we heard about your Janet. You’d told us she was going to be in a film and we looked out for it. I cried for you when I heard. Tragedy, wasn’t it?
Yes,” Alex said.

When Sal Thomas announced her intention of leaving The Alexandra, the pub where she was barmaid, in order to start a café, her employer refused to give her, her cards, so certain was the employer she would soon be back. In Llandudno, as along all the edges of the sea, people are always trying to start cafes. The failures stand numerous in every coastal town, as lonely and dank as mines after the gold-rush, though crowded still with customers who are the last to be informed of the disaster.

Sal Thomas started with the Floral Café (now Carlos Restaurant), at the far end of the promenade in Craig-y-Don. Nowadays the Floral does scampi with its chips and has a little wooden bar with coloured bulbs in which, to serve the eccentric whim of Sal’s customers, can be obtained wine and Merrydown and mead and sometimes tequila. At one time she offered theatrical digs at £3 per week, and is still the succour of the Grand Company.

A couple of streets away is the Grand Theatre. They say the Grand was built by Irving; and certainly Irving would be upset now to see the coldness of its galleries and vestibules, the incipient disintegration of its ravishing oval ceiling. Though the Grand backs right against the prosperous Arcadia, somehow, from the town, and its elegant verandahs look out on a piece of waste ground where sailing dinghies lie.

Each night after the play, in which they have to wear their own clothes, the Grand company go along to Sal’s. From Sal they receive the large gins which restore spirit and the baskets of chips which strengthen the resolve. Later, Sal puts the bolts on the café door and looks at photographs of other repertory actors she has boarded, with her two big, curly dogs, newly bathed, under her legs.

That was Cathy Greenwood. She used to stand in her slip and wash panties in the kitchen while my mother was sat there, buttering bread. That was a boy called Michael Taylor. He used to go into the bathroom every morning, open the little window and shout ‘up periscope!’ ‘Divine morning’, he used to say, ‘what have you got for breakfast Sal darling?’ And nobody could make his bed as well as he could, as if it hadn’t been slept in for a week, and his pyjamas all folded beautifully along the crease.

I always had the ambition to travel,” Sal said. “I couldn’t do, but I sometimes think that all the interesting people I dreamed of meeting have come here to see me.” Her husband returned from his nightly bingo game and hung up his coat in the passage. Sal courteously inquired if he had won. He replied that he had.

The North Wales summer varies to the point of playfulness. It can be raining along the shore yet clear at the top of the Orme; while it keeps fine on the promenade, a deluge may fall upon the deck-chairs of the Happy Valley. It is not uncommon for Alex to move his show down to the Pier Pavilion, and then up into the open-air again, in the course of a single matinee. But this afternoon it seems as if it ought to keep fine. The sky is like a blue quilt with old grey clothes thrown over it. Slowly, in the little turf amphitheatre, the pink-and-white deck chairs are covered by people with raincoats covering their knees. The cable-cars pass quietly overhead to the top of the Orme. On the hill outside the wire perimeter, a second, non-paying crowd has also gathered.

 [smg id=501]
The Happy Valley Talent Contest

Alex has a special and private love for Happy Valley, In 15 years he has lavished time and attention on it, increasing the lawn around the stone terraces, whitening the stones along the flowerbed, planting the purple flowers with the name which is uncertain. From the stage painted like the deck of a ship he can see the place where the plants grow irregularly despite their daily watering; he can see the slim, new plants which the water has encouraged. He feels that, perhaps the spirit of The Great Waldini has been exorcised. When he is dead, people will say ‘Alex Munro did that’, looking at the grass, the whitened stones, the purple flowers, the name of which he cannot recall.

An audience in the open is always unresponsive; how much more the audience established in deck-chairs? Desiring entertainment, they at once renounce it, for a deck-chair atrophies desire. His purpose is to show them that the entertainment lies in themselves and is the prize of anyone who will speak out. He proposes that, when he says ‘Hello Visitors’, they shall answer ‘Hello Alex’. He says ‘Hello Visitors’, then covers his face with his hands at the paucity of their response. He prevails on them to sing songs commemorating their town, the county or district of their origin. A cable-car passes overhead. A little rain rattles on the trees.

[smg id=192]
Alex Munro at Happy Valley

He places a box against the microphone for the use of competitors in the Junior Talent Contest who now stand, in irregular sizes, behind him. While the Junior Talent Contest is in progress, he jumps from the stage to ascertain that all is well with his wife Marie in the box-office. He dispatches two teenage assistants with collecting-boxes to ‘bottle’: to extract donations from the unofficial audience on the hill. Returning to the stage, he pretends, on a drum roll to fall on his nose. He picks himself up to direct some late arrivals into the mass of deck-chairs that are not yet occupied.

The Junior Talent Contest is still, somewhat inexorably, proceeding. A boy steps up on the box and delivers into the microphone a Tarzan yell of surprising brevity and force. Now there is a girl who does acrobatics. There is always a girl who does acrobatics. The professional acrobat is stirred. He snatches off his dinner-coat. He lies, in shirtsleeves and trilby, on the stage; she does a handstand on his arms.

It’s wonderful to see Alex on the stage again,” said Mr Owen of the Llandudno Advertiser. “We thought he was a goner last year, you know, after Janet died. He was unconscious for two days.”

He and Marie live in rather a large house in a rather select part of Llandudno. Billy Crockett has a flatlet in the next street. “Billy came round Sunday night,” Marie said. “He brought his own television with him so that he wouldn’t interfere with our programme. He said he didn’t want to be any trouble to us, so he brought his own tea-bag with him.

In the lounge hangs a portrait of a girl with a strangely familiar face. Anna-Marie, their daughter, smiled and looked at her shoes. “That’s Janet,” she murmured.

When the evening show in the Pavilion is over, the lights go on and the performers come down from the stage. The drum-kit can be looked at, and the music-sheets on the 1931 Hammond organ. The artists and audience stand in groups along the stage as if they are discussing some topic of quiet mutual interest.

Alex stands in the foyer, at the bottom of the stairs, whither his last exit from the stage has taken him. Just as he greeted them when they came in, he says goodbye to them as they go out. They walk, arm-in-arm towards the darkened promenade. A thrill of silver light has been caught in a spectacle-frame. And a man has taken his wife’s fingers and stroked them with his own.

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Pier Pavilion in the 1960s

He shakes the last hand and scribbles the last autograph. He draws the heavy wooden door across the front of the Pier Pavilion and bolts it. “This is my last job tonight.” He goes into the empty auditorium. Behind the screen there are more seats and behind those, still more seats. He checks between the rows for the cigarette spark which could destroy all 2500 seats. “This is my last job tonight.”

In the dressing-room, with the Chelsea pensioner coat on the wall and the sea air coming in through the extractor, he splashes his face at the sink and dries it. He exchanges his evening trousers for another pair of evening trousers and his shiny patent shoes for some shoes which do not shine. He puts his trilby back on his head, fitting it perkily at the side.

His daughter was the film star Janet Munro. She started her career in Alex’s shows, sweeping up, singing and tearing tickets. She went to Hollywood and became a star for Walt Disney. She grew famous and fashionably-married; it was of her fame and fashionable marriage that, two years ago, she died. Her loss explains many small things in him. It explains his abhorrent of sleeping-pills; his refusal of all drink but apple-juice; the photo-albums at which, even now, he can scarcely bring himself to look. Five weeks before she died, she had come back to Llandudno and was sweeping up after the show.

Outside, the pier is all in lights, in braids and strings and archways of light trembling on the rainy sea. The lights along the promenade are out. He picks up some glasses and bottles left on the sea wall and carries them back to the Pavilion steps. “This is my last job tonight

I’ve never believed in all that Bible stuff- ‘it’s more blessed to give than receive’, i’ve always thought that was a fallacy. But i’ve come to find out lately that it’s true. It is more blessed to give than receive.”

Don’t you think it’s a shame that, when i’m gone there’ll be no one left doing my type of show? A simple man with a simple show. And oh, they love it. Oh, they love it no end. Oh, they love it to death.”

Seats available - seats available inside.” “Seats available now. Lucky Programme.

Alex and Billy under the next dark evening sky are calling the people to ‘Showtime’.

Seats available. Good evening ladies. Have you been to the show yet? Well come inside: there’s no reason why you shouldn’t suffer like all the rest.”
“Seats available. Give me your hand, dear. Take your time now.”
“I’ve thought I was going to be late,
” the lady said.
No, you’re alright. Plenty of time yet,” Billy said.
And anyway, you knew we wouldn’t start without you.

THE SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE
September 22nd, 1974.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on September 14, 2010, 10:33:05 pm
Wow, I can remember seeing Alex Munro in Happy Valley :) and dodging the collecting boxes too ;D
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on September 15, 2010, 12:19:35 am
Merddin..(or rather Andy)
It was great to see you again today,
Remember, massage it all the way in...(you know what I mean)!
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on September 15, 2010, 02:06:18 am
Merddin..(or rather Andy)
It was great to see you again today,
Remember, massage it all the way in...(you know what I mean)!

 :votive: :o :votive:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on September 15, 2010, 07:09:47 am
Merddin..(or rather Andy)
It was great to see you again today,
Remember, massage it all the way in...(you know what I mean)!

 _))*  Well, Helen put some on her back and was very pleased with the result 8)
Good to see your shop so busy after walking down the pier and wondering where all the people were,they were all in your shop! :laugh:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 17, 2010, 09:36:58 pm
Just noticed this Lantern Slide of Happy Valley on Ebay, dating from around 1900. Looks to be a bandstand just in front of where the Victoria statue is now:

[smg id=515]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on September 19, 2010, 07:15:06 am
If you look to the left of the structure, you can see what looks like a striped pole. Perhaps it's a Maypole and the people in the photo are setting-up for the May Day celebrations, which I know were held in the Happy Valley?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on September 19, 2010, 08:08:05 am
I'm interested in the thing just this side of what appears to be a small bandstand.  Look vaguely like a field artillery piece
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on September 19, 2010, 08:25:40 am
I'm interested in the thing just this side of what appears to be a small bandstand.  Look vaguely like a field artillery piece

I was thinking the same Ian. It does look like a 'big gun'
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on September 19, 2010, 08:28:43 am
It's either that or a cart with spare maypoles on  WWW WWW
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 19, 2010, 08:33:50 am
It does look like an artillery piece but I suspect its a decorated handcart  *&(
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on September 19, 2010, 08:36:30 am
It's either that or a cart with spare maypoles on  WWW WWW

 L0L
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 19, 2010, 09:16:44 am
This is one of my favourite Happy Valley shots, shows just how popular the Open Air Theatre Shows were back in the 1930s, there must be thousands of people there. Click photo for full size.

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on September 19, 2010, 09:32:32 am
That's a cool photo. Here's one of my favorites circa 1926:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 19, 2010, 05:54:10 pm
Nice photo, it's apparent how quiet Happy Valley is today when compared with those earlier days.

Here's one from the late 1870s, taken from up in Happy Valley. the path seen zig-zagging up to the right is still there today but disused and hidden by woodland. It goes from opposite the gardeners shed up to the top of the headland and then down back out by the Putting Green.
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You can see the path (marked FP) to the left on this old map:
[smg id=43]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on September 20, 2010, 08:26:53 am
I wonder if the path was originally used by the Y Fach quarry workers?  :Sisyphus:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 20, 2010, 09:15:36 am
That's a possibility, it's certainly well used. What amazes me is how open the entire area is, its heavily wooded today.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 20, 2010, 06:32:44 pm
Happy Valley Theatre in the early 1900s?
[smg id=555]

Happy Valley Opening Ceremony 1890:
[smg id=556]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on October 22, 2010, 09:15:00 pm
Town Band performs at Happy Valley - date unknown:

[smg id=812]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on October 28, 2010, 09:31:38 pm
From 1976....

[smg id=876]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on October 28, 2010, 09:40:42 pm
[smg id=877]

[smg id=858]

[smg id=857]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on October 29, 2010, 09:25:30 pm
The Grand Theatre in Llandudno (now Broadway Boulevard nightclub) was never much of a financial success, probably due to its location:

It went up for sale in....

1905:
[smg id=893]

1925:
[smg id=894]

1946:
[smg id=900]

1956:
[smg id=896]
[smg id=895]

In 1957, it was bought by John Creese-Parsons, who redecorated and refurbished it, then kept it open with a steady stream of Agatha Christie plays until 1980, when non-compliance with fire regulation caused it to close. It reopened in 1987 as the Grand Revivals nightclub, then became Broadway Boulevard in 1990.

Earlier this year, I took a behind the scenes tour of the Grand Theatre to view the parts of the building normally not accessible by the Public. The photos are all here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/sets/72157623521219490/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/sets/72157623521219490/)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on October 30, 2010, 09:35:51 pm
Very good researching, and very clever posting Mr R..!   
It flows very well. &well& &well&
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on October 31, 2010, 09:39:12 pm
From 1916...the mysterious Egyptian Hall surfaces once again....

[smg id=969]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on November 10, 2010, 09:50:30 pm
Some more theatre posters & programmes:

1929:
[smg id=1015]

1946:
[smg id=1014]

1950s:
[smg id=1019]

1960s:
[smg id=1020]

1963:
[smg id=1016]

1968:
[smg id=1011]

1970s:
[smg id=1017]

1975:
[smg id=1013]

1979:
[smg id=815]

1985:
[smg id=1012]

Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on November 11, 2010, 10:35:50 am
Excellent . Loved the 1963 copy :-))
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on November 12, 2010, 02:12:42 am
Excellent . Loved the 1963 copy :-))

Here's another, similar but different....and a ticket for the show.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on November 12, 2010, 07:48:33 am
You had the decent seats, then?


 :)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on November 14, 2010, 03:04:02 am
You had the decent seats, then?


 :)

I wasn't even born then Ian.  :-[
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on November 14, 2010, 08:40:33 am
 ))*
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on November 14, 2010, 09:31:02 am
I wasn't even born then Ian.  :-[
Just.  :D  ;)  :laugh:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on November 15, 2010, 06:44:38 am
I wasn't even born then Ian.  :-[
Just.  :D  ;)  :laugh:

 :cyclist40:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on November 17, 2010, 08:33:29 pm
The 'Red Aces' performing in Happy Valley in 1945:
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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on November 21, 2010, 05:55:01 pm
Advert for the reopening of the Happy Valley Theatre on June 3rd 1933, after the previous building was destroyed by fire in an arson attack:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on November 23, 2010, 12:00:15 am
It seems to me that Llandudno has had more than its fair share of arson attacks.
Ivor Wynne Jones's book is replete with such incidents.
Many great edifices have been lost.

In the 1970's, an Irishman apparently tried to burn down The Grand Hotel ... TWICE !!!

Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: dontheturner on November 23, 2010, 04:17:14 am
It seems to me that Llandudno has had more than its fair share of arson attacks.
Ivor Wynne Jones's book is replete with such incidents.
Many great edifices have been lost.

In the 1970's, an Irishman apparently tried to burn down The Grand Hotel ... TWICE !!!



Oh! dear! Fester, I always wondered where all the UK arsonists were hiding!  Don
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on November 23, 2010, 09:26:07 pm
The Princes Cinema (now HMV), Mostyn Street, goes up for sale in the 1950s. Who knew that Charlie Chaplin performed there when it was the St. George's Hall?  :o

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 18, 2011, 09:21:12 pm
An interview with Alex Munro, featuring many shots of the pier, pierhead pavilion and pier pavilion:

Alex Munro Llandudno Interview.avi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GilXLE0vPvA#)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on January 18, 2011, 10:02:28 pm
An interview with Alex Munro, featuring many shots of the pier, pierhead pavilion and pier pavilion:

Alex Munro Llandudno Interview.avi (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GilXLE0vPvA#)

brilliant, some spooky sounds on there! I remember the tram attendents wearing those brown cowgowns and its a shame the old poles on the trams for the telephones have gone, progress I suppose!
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 25, 2011, 05:24:29 pm
I think this is a fantastic image, Alex defiantly promoting his show against the backdrop of a crumbling Grand Theatre. Dates from the late 1970s, I believe.

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on January 27, 2011, 04:42:40 am
Alex used to drive a cream coloured Commer caravanette, similar to this one pictured below. He had it serviced regularly next-door to the Grand Theatre at L.S.P. Motors.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 27, 2011, 08:22:45 am
I have some pics of the actual Munromobile, which I will stick up when I get a min.   8)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 27, 2011, 01:30:42 pm
Nice little feature about Alex Munro in the Weekly News today.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on January 27, 2011, 02:06:24 pm
Nice little feature about Alex Munro in the Weekly News today.

I've just read it, very nice to see and I noticed at the bottom 'thanks to Three Towns Blog  &well&
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 27, 2011, 10:16:37 pm
Here's the pic of Alex's Commer caravanette putside the Grand Theatre:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on January 28, 2011, 02:27:28 am
Thanks for that Dave, it brings back memories.

I worked on it a few times, which wasn't easy as the 1725cc 'straight four', forward control petrol engine had difficult accessibility.

He never went camping in it, but used it as a 'work' vehicle. It was always full of costumes, programmes, and paraphernalia for his shows. It was also used as a mobile advertising hoarding, as he often had placards promoting his shows in the side windows.

There was also that wonderful smell of pipe tobacco.........
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 28, 2011, 08:19:27 am
I'm sure I remember it around town, with posters of his face (and trilby) on it.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 28, 2011, 07:47:12 pm
The 1964 Summer Season cast up at Happy Valley:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on January 29, 2011, 03:53:55 am
Looks like Stan Ryder back row middle, and Alex's son, Alex Jnr far left.

I think that's his wife to the left of Alex.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 29, 2011, 07:03:34 pm
Spot on, Trojan. Being as it was taken in 1964, I think this photo must also feature Lorraine Hulme, who used to post on the old Forum. This is what she said back then:

"Hello, I’m the Lorraine Hulme referred to a couple of times herein. I've just found this fascinating forum. There is much I can comment on, and add to, although a lot of the current content is from the later days at Happy Valley and the Grand, when I wasn’t around.

I was in the Summer Seasons in 1964, 1965, 1966 and then again in 1976. I also went to other theatres, and hotels, and places, to appear with Alex. I have a lot to thank Alex and Marie for. They gave me my first full-time theatre job (aged fifteen and a half), and I look back on my days at Happy Valley with great pleasure. Alex was like a benevolent Uncle to me. He wasn’t just a great entertainer and showman; he was really great guy as well! But he was a canny Scot, too, and he knew every trick in the book when it came to making that place pay!

My first visit to Happy Valley was in the days when Waldini was in residence. I must have been a little girl. I particularly remember a rather good pianist who played with his feet (because he had no arms). There was nothing quite like that when I was appearing there, although Mr Bennett came close. He used to enter the talent competitions in the 1960s at the weekends and his act was, well, different. On one occasion in 1966 he asked Alex to only call him by his stage name. “And what’s that?” said Alex; “Mrs Bennett” was the reply. When, I later learned, he moved to Llandudno, Alex gave him an old dress suit, and a job. But not on-stage, as far as I know.

In the 1960s the Happy Valley company included dancers. There was Marie herself, who was also the choreographer, and three others. I was initially employed as a dancer, and did three shows a day, six days a week. Dancing was not allowed on Sundays in Wales, but I was able to work as a singer in the two Sunday shows. That increased my dancer’s wage of £10 per week to a princely £12. Actually that was quite lot for a fifteen-year-old in 1964, so it could never be said that Alex was stingy. In 1966 Anna-Marie was on the way, and Marie was working in the box office rather than dancing herself, so the audience just saw three dancers. By 1976 there were no dancers. I was there just as a singer that summer.

A little trivia: there were two Scots named Scott who played the accordion with me at Happy Valley. Anne Scott from Selkirk was in the 1966 company, and Jackie Scott from the Isle of Bute was there in 1976.

Here’s how the lucky programs and raffle pictures worked: lucky programs were sold on entry, by members of the company, usually the dancers. There was a number on each, and for each program sold we put a raffle ticket bearing the same number in the ‘hat’. Lucky pictures were sold during the interval, again by the company. Each picture purchase included five ‘free’ raffle tickets. Some people just bought raffle tickets and no picture; others bought a picture, got their free tickets and also bought extra raffle tickets. Both draws took place sometime during the second half of the performance. The winners usually got a bottle of ‘Pomagne’, which Alex was given by the manufacturers as a promotion.

The Happy Valley show didn’t just happen at Happy Valley. In September 1964, when the nights got chilly, we took it into the Coliseum Theatre at Rhyl. In 1965 we just went as far as the Gaiety. In 1976 there were no evening performances at Happy Valley. Instead we took the show round various Llandudno hotels.

Alex put on other shows as well. I was Snow White in his 1976 panto, with my brother Tony as principal boy. We were at the Odeon, which is now a block of flats, I believe. I also went with Alex to appear in Anglesey, Darlington … I forget the rest. He also had other business interests too; as well as the hotel, he owned a theatrical costumiers. I wonder what happened to it? I read here that Alex said he’d had 5 wives, but I only know of 4. His first was Janet’s mother; then came Alex Junior’s mother; the third was the mother of Jane, Jill and Glenn (was that his name?) and then Marie, mother of Anna-Marie. But who was the fifth?

A plaque would be a wonderful memorial for Alex (a statue would be better) and it could perhaps be at the Town Hall. That was where we rehearsed, prior to the 60s summer shows, and that was where we took the show, and the audience, when it was raining too hard at Happy Valley. Sometimes we would even stop in the middle of a performance to make the move. On one occasion we arrived at the Town Hall to find the Blood Transfusion Unit in residence. It’s amazing how patient audiences were in those days. Sometimes, however, the audience was so small, that we just put them on the stage (which was covered) and entertained them from the auditorium, getting soaked in the process.

But I cannot really imagine a memorial being anywhere except at Happy Valley. If not in the stage area itself, then perhaps on a boulder up on Aberdeen Hill? And if there’s an unveiling ceremony, perhaps we could round up some Happy Valley artists and put on one last show. All we would need is a musician, an instrument, a PA system and two microphones – that’s all we had in 1964!

At Happy Valley we worked incredibly hard and had a wonderful time. I'd be back there tomorrow if I could!"
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 29, 2011, 07:12:43 pm
Looking down at the Open Air Theatre in Happy Valley, sometime in the 1970s:

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(Click image for full size version)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on January 30, 2011, 01:11:03 am
If you notice the white semi-circular part of the structure on the far right - that was the box-office. You can just make out the window facing the pathway.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 30, 2011, 08:07:13 pm
What a shame it's all gone now, eh?  :( It would have been so easy to give it a paint and try and get it going again.

Another one of the stage at the Theatre in the 1970s (click for larger version):
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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 31, 2011, 10:16:20 pm
Alex standing next to Fester's kiosk on a wet and deserted pier...nothing changes!

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on January 31, 2011, 11:22:27 pm
Alex standing next to Fester's kiosk on a wet and deserted pier...nothing changes!

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Ha!  Rain or no rain.... I bet you I was open!
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on February 01, 2011, 09:30:18 am
Quote
What a shame it's all gone now, eh?  Sad It would have been so easy to give it a paint and try and get it going again.

We would need some sort of stage to start with. But I wonder; presumably, the reason for the show's demise was the fall-off in audience numbers. And I seem to remember as a little boy, the audiences that actually paid for the show were pretty small compared with those that sat on the hill outside. I always used to wonder how he made any money at all, even in the early '60s.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on February 01, 2011, 09:35:05 am
you had to play 'dodge the bucket' when on the hill  _))*
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 01, 2011, 10:03:58 am
Quote
What a shame it's all gone now, eh?  Sad It would have been so easy to give it a paint and try and get it going again.

We would need some sort of stage to start with. But I wonder; presumably, the reason for the show's demise was the fall-off in audience numbers. And I seem to remember as a little boy, the audiences that actually paid for the show were pretty small compared with those that sat on the hill outside. I always used to wonder how he made any money at all, even in the early '60s.
According to Anna-Marie Munro, the show only ended in 1985 because Alex was sadly diagnosed with cancer and couldn't carry on. I cant see any new shows being a commercial venture but there's plenty of potential for the local amateur groups to put on shows and solicit donations for charity after costs are covered.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on February 01, 2011, 11:06:13 am
I agree. 
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 01, 2011, 08:37:18 pm
An older looking Alex sitting amongst the deckchairs of the Happy Valley Theatre, in what I suspect is the early 1980s:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on February 01, 2011, 09:00:03 pm
Oh how I wish for a time machine to revisit those days  D)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 01, 2011, 10:14:42 pm
Billy Crockett (usually billed as the 'Mad Musician') worked with Alex in Llandudno for several years and features in the YouTube video found earlier in the thread. He died in 2001, this is his Obituary from The Herald newspaper:

William Davidson (Billy) Crockett, musical entertainer; born November 8, 1920, died February 2, 2001

BILLY CROCKETT, sometimes billed in variety as Crotchet the Mad Musician, has died in hospital at Edinburgh, aged 80.

"He began as a lime boy, lighting the stage for music-hall performers, at the former Palladium Theatre in Edinburgh and went on to tour the world as a comedy musical artiste in cabaret, variety, ice shows, and television. He travelled with a collection of small novelty instruments, including what he claimed to be the world's smallest concertina, and a set of bagpipes which he first learned to play while in the Boys' Brigade at his church in Canonmills, Edinburgh.

His world travels ranged from touring with Robert Wilson and the White Heather Club to ice-shows, roadshows in West Germany, cabaret in London clubs, and summer seasons in holiday resorts from Llandudno to Gorleston-by-the-Sea near Great Yarmouth. He never made the showbiz heights but he kept busy in work he loved.

His grandfather was the Montrose-born ''Professor'' Leon Crockett, an animal trainer who went from circus in Scotland to wrestle in the US with a full-grown lion; until then only coloured performers had tackled that awesome turn. Always on the move, Billy Crockett bought a transit van to live and sleep in during moves between clubs. One midnight, tired after a club gig, he pulled in to the side of a city suburban street and went to sleep. Drawing aside the window curtains next morning, he was confronted by a queue of city business gents in suits, falling apart with broad smiles at the sight of this ''mad musician'' whose Bohemian life-style they must have secretly envied. He had parked at a major bus stop.

An animal trainer cousin Gene Detroy, who presented a top act with Marquis the Chimp on American television, once gave Billy the job of ferrying five of his cleverest chimpanzees across America from Los Angeles to Atlantic City by truck. For five nights and four days the ''Mad Musician'' from Edinburgh had only the chimps for company, and almost succeeded in speaking their ''language''. By the time he reached Atlantic City he said he felt ''like a chimp myself.''

Earlier in his career Crockett tried himself out as a wire-walking act, tackled knockabout comedy with the Elstree Three Stooges, and then moved into instrumental fun-making as an associate of The Musical Elliots. He had a fund of absurd but always true and amusing stories. Once booked for a ''Would You Believe It?'' show, a collection of freak turns, he was billed as ''The Man with the Xylophone Skull''. He was expected, with the aid of xylophone mallets, to extract tunes from his skull. Fortunately, he persuaded the producer to substitute tennis balls attached to knitting-needles to create the ''musical effects''. "
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on February 02, 2011, 03:35:33 am
Oh how I wish for a time machine to revisit those days  D)

It's no Tardis I know, but the  $3towns$ is quite a time machine.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on February 02, 2011, 03:44:47 am
I always used to wonder how he made any money at all, even in the early '60s.

Not many people will remember that Alex did a considerable amount of collecting for charity at his shows.

One of the charitable collection boxes that I remember was that of the Sailors Children's Society which was based in Newland, Hull.
It was a charity that took care of orphaned children of sailors who had been lost at sea or had passed away.

Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 02, 2011, 10:01:57 pm
Alex & Marie Munro at the London pub, Mostyn Street, in 1966:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 02, 2011, 11:35:18 pm
Arthur Sutcliffe's Entertainers at the Pierhead Pavilion:in 1921:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 04, 2011, 08:59:16 pm
What....you thought I had run out of Alex Munro photos?! Many more to come yet!

Here's Alex and Stan Ryder on the Happy Valley stage:
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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on February 06, 2011, 07:03:24 pm
Until about 1860, Llandudno was no more than a small fishing village but rapidly grew into a health resort and holiday town during the latter half of the nineteenth century. The pier, opening in 1878 at a cost of £24,000, was built for both pleasure and commercial purposes being a main landing stage for the Isle of Man steamers and those bringing holiday-makers from Liverpool.
 
In 1887, many of the town’s visitors would certainly have made their way to the pier pavilion in the evenings to hear a concert given by Jules Riviere’s orchestra of thirty-six players. One of the largest resort orchestras, it could not be fitted into the pier-head open air bandstand so evening concerts were always held in the pavilion. The orchestra flourished and its conductor settled into ‘Bodalaw’ (the abode of melody), a handsome, newly-built villa. Riviere (1819-1900) was appreciated in the town and was honoured by a banquet in 1899 at which Lord Mostyn made a presentation.
 
A difference of opinion between Riviere and the pier company resulted in a move for the orchestra. A hall named Riviere’s Concert Hall was built in the town and concerts continued there until 1900, when Jules Riviere finally left for Colwyn Bay and its new Victoria Pier.
 
In his autobiography, Henry Wood tells of a visit he made to one of Riviere’s concerts just prior to 1895 - “As I took my seat I saw an elderly gentleman seated in a gilded armchair, facing the audience. He was elegantly dressed in a velvet jacket on the lapel of which reposed a huge spray of orchids more fitted for a woman’s corsage. He held a bejewelled ivory baton in his hand from which dangled a massive blue tassel. This he wound round his wrist. He bowed ceremoniously to the audience and tapped loudly on his golden music stand. Still seated, he began the Overture …”. Although Wood was shocked on seeing the conductor seated and facing the audience, it was not an uncommon sight in those early days.
 
Nevertheless, Riviere’s concerts remained successful over a long period but there must have been room for two orchestras in Llandudno in the mid-1890s as Wood also mentions a visit to the pier where there was a small orchestra of British musicians performing under the direction of A. E. Bartle with Edgar Haddock (viola) as his deputy. Bartle’s reign however, was almost as brief as his successor’s, Gwilym Crowe, whose See-Saw Waltz gained much popularity. By 1900 Arthur W. Payne (FRAM), leader of the orchestra, had been appointed conductor, remaining for 25 years with a good sized orchestra. Henry Wood had noted Payne’s beautiful violin tone and before long was offering the leadership of his Promenade Orchestra in which Payne served from 1896 to 1902. Payne later became leader of the London Symphony Orchestra (1904-1912) too.
 
In Llandudno, Payne had an orchestra of about 40 players and a deputy conductor, Walter Haigh who also played viola in the orchestra. At the height of the summer season there were sometimes as many as forty-four players which Payne directed from a very high chair facing the band. There were evening performances in the pavilion and if the weather was fine, morning concerts took place in the open air at the pier head.
 
The band at this time had a good number of Hallé players in its ranks. For the 1902 season at least a third of the orchestra were also members of the Hallé Orchestra. John Bridge, who much later would become leader and deputy conductor, T. Southworth, G. E. Stuteley, Walter Haigh, J. Hoffmann and the young John Foulds who appeared many times during the season as soloist in works such as Bruch’s Kol Nidrei (May 4 1902) and Popper’s Gavotte (April 21 1902), were all Hallé string players. Key positions in the wind section of the Pier Orchestra were also occupied by Hallé players L. Brough (clarinet), H. Marshall (horn), J. Branston (trombone), J. Valk (trumpet) and Fred Foulds (bassoon), father of the young cellist, John H. Foulds.
 
Other players of note included Hallé percussionist, H. A. Dunn and flautists Alfred Halstead (1864-1932) and Arthur Wood (1863-1948). Halstead, pupil of Edward de Jong, remained principal flute until the late 1920s and was also principal with the Scottish Orchestra. In Llandudno, Halstead appeared as soloist fairly frequently and 1902 seems to have been a particularly busy season for him. There were performances of German’s Tarantelle (24 April), Edward de Jong’s Rondo a la Tarantelle (9 Oct), Titl’s Serenade for flute and horn with H. Marshall (21 April/11 May) and on 13 June two pieces by P. E. Halstead, presumably his father. He also played the obbligato to an aria from Lucia di Lammermoor sung by Lillie Wormald on 11 April.
 
The versatile Arthur Wood, who had previously played at Bournemouth and in the Harrogate Orchestra, was engaged as second flute and piccolo player but he also appeared as solo pianist and accompanist. In April 1902 he was to be found performing piano solos by Chaminade and Paderewski (18 April). There were also piccolo duets with Halstead including Roe’s Les Deux Rissignols (14, 18 April and 1 July) and on 27 September Walter Haigh conducted Wood’s own composition, Graceful Dance. Arthur Wood was later to make a name for himself as composer and conductor in London theatres and in 1950 the last movement from his My Native Heath became the signature tune for the BBC radio serial, The Archers.
 
At least two other members of the orchestra became known as composers. The principal cellist, John Foulds (1880-1939) and the viola player, John Ansell (1874-1948) both wrote a good amount of light music but Foulds also composed a number of serious large-scale works which until more recently were forgotten or remained unperformed. Ansell, now only remembered perhaps for his nautical overture, Plymouth Hoe, composed much incidental music, orchestral works and a number of operettas. He had studied at the Guildhall School of Music with Hamish MacCunn and then played and conducted in London theatres. Later he worked for the BBC (1926-1930) conducting the QLO Orchestra, eventually ending up as assistant conductor of the newly formed BBC Symphony Orchestra for a short time in 1930.
 
The orchestra at the beginning of the century then, was a large and able ensemble of professionals capable of delivering mixed programmes of light and classical pieces. At first Payne’s programmes were very much on the lines of his predecessor, Jules Riviere, but at weekends and on special nights, symphony concerts were produced which often included well known soloists. Moiseiwitsch, Wilhelm Backhaus, Beatrice Harrison, Marie Hall and Jelly D’Aranyi all appeared at the Pier Pavilion.
 
The programme for the morning concert of Monday 25 August 1902 was typical, opening with Beethoven’s Fifth symphony and including a selection from Offenbach’s La Belle Hélène, Auber’s La Sirène Overture and Massenet’s Suite, Scènes Alsaciennes. The printed programme for the concert announced a forthcoming piano recital to be given by none other than the great Paderewski on the afternoon of 16 September. There was certainly plenty of music in Llandudno at this time catering for all tastes.
 
The decade leading up to the First World War was a prosperous and settled time for the orchestra and concerts continued at 11.00am and 7.45pm daily, with Sacred Concerts on Sundays at 8.15pm, throughout a long summer season. The orchestral personnel remained fairly stable during this period with only one or two notable newcomers. Principal flute, Alfred Halstead brought in Jack Rollo from the Scottish Orchestra to play second and piccolo, Hallé player Ted Stansfield joined the bass section, Jesse Stamp, trombones, Jack Massey, percussion and H. Jarvis had the distinction of being the only player with three roles - harpist, horn player and librarian. George Atkinson (b.1879) came too as solo pianist and accompanist, beginning a long association with the orchestra. He was an exceptional player and became a major shareholder in the Pier Company. From about 1903 until the mid-1940s he remained active with various musical ensembles on the pier and as conductor of the North Wales Orchestral Society.
 
Members of the orchestra continued to appear as soloists. Principal cellist, Maurice Taylor gave a performance of Tchaikowski’s Rococo Variations (24 July 1911), flautist George F. Lee played a piccolo solo, Green’s Picaroon (14 October 1911) and George Atkinson gave Sibelius’s Romance and other piano pieces on the same day. The principal bassoonist, Archie Camden was soon offering solos too.
 
Visitors to Llandudno in 1914 could take a coastal trip or a day trip to Liverpool from the pier on one of the steamers, La Marguerite, St. Elvies or Snowdon and be back in good time to buy a 6d. ticket for the evening concert in the pavilion, which had recently been fitted with an electrical ventilating and heating system. The programmes for the season proudly announced that through this system “the atmosphere is changed every twenty minutes with hot or cold air according to the requirements of the season”.
 
The resort continued to attract visitors and good orchestral players, many of which were still being drawn from the ranks of the Hallé Orchestra. Symphony orchestras like the Hallé did not have a summer season at that time and musicians were only contracted for the winter concerts. This left many players looking for work during the summer months and to be contracted into the Llandudno Orchestra was certainly most acceptable to any musician. The popularity of the resort prompted the Pier Company directors to extend the season of orchestral concerts. This was accomplished but not without some difficulty as all the musicians who played in symphony orchestras were eager to return to their cities once the summer season was at an end. However, from 27 September to 1 November the pier concerts were continued by a smaller number of players under the management of an Autumn Concerts’ Committee.
 
Llandudno’s formula for success continued uninterrupted for another decade or so, before change was in the air, heralding a period of uncertainty. In 1925 the Pier Company decided that a new direction was required in order to attract larger audiences. Apparently, it had been decided that Payne’s contract would not be renewed. Arthur Payne’s resignation was announced in The Times, on Thursday, 16 April 1925 but didn’t take effect until the end of the season when the young Malcolm Sargent took over the orchestra. Once Payne’s resignation was known to the public, there were protests in the town and a collection of £1200 was raised as a testimonial.
 
Sargent’s appointment was not accepted very well in the town or the orchestra but after some of the older players stepped down and new, younger players arrived increasing the size of the orchestra to forty four, he was all set to prove himself. However, further protests, including a torch-light procession up and down the Great Orme followed when Sargent scrapped the sacred concerts in order to play symphonies, but he was eventually to win over his players and at least some of his audiences. Under Sargent’s baton the quality of the music and the playing in the orchestra improved. The morning concerts were left in the capable hands of John Bridge and with increased rehearsal time, Sargent’s programmes were far more ambitious than any heard in Llandudno previously.
 
The concert on Sunday 5 September 1926 included Elgar’s Enigma Variations, one of Sargent’s own works, Nocturne & Scherzo, and a song by Bantock sung by Constance Willis. That same week, on Thursday 9 September, Sargent conducted the Woodland Murmurs from Siegfried and Siegfried’s Funeral March along with Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony and works of his own - Valsette and part of a seven movement setting of Shelley’s Ode to a Skylark. The season also included a Special Wagner Concert and Halstead was no longer playing entertaining piccolo duets but appeared instead with Mozart’s Flute Concerto in D on 26 April 1926.
 
With so much achieved under difficult circumstances, Sargent resigned after two seasons moving on to symphony orchestras and the BBC. His subsequent career is well documented and remembered by many and in Llandudno today there is a commemorative plaque to him fixed to the wall by the pier entrance.
.
John Bridge, previously Sargent’s leader and deputy, took over the orchestra for the next few seasons. He was a respected violinist in Manchester, where he taught at the RMCM and played as a member of the Hallé Orchestra and the Brodsky Quartet. In 1930 he too went to the BBC where he was director of a nonet that replaced the North Regional Station Orchestra during the economic crisis.
 
The Pier Company soon found a successor in the 52 year old George Cathie who had been leader and deputy conductor of the Devonshire Park Orchestra in Eastbourne from 1914. He had also been conductor at Buxton Pavilion Gardens and of the North Pier, Blackpool Orchestra in the 1920s. Both he and his brother, Philip, had spent time in the Queen’s Hall Orchestra and at Covent Garden as violinists. At the same time, George had formed his own chamber music quartet.
 
George Cathie had a wide experience of conducting and playing in orchestras before reaching Llandudno. He could successfully present anything from the standard symphonic repertoire and extracts from The Ring to the Skater’s Waltz and was often willing to give new works by British composers a hearing. Cathie’s work with the orchestra was noticed by Adrian Boult, then BBC Director of Music, who arranged broadcasts from the pier and music in the resort went from strength to strength.
 
In 1935, Cathie was approached by the Directors of the North Pier, Blackpool where he had already spent some time conducting. They were so impressed with what was happening in Llandudno that they offered him a better pavilion, a larger orchestra and a salary to match if he would return. Cathie was happy with things at Llandudno and refused the offer from Blackpool after seeking assurance from the Llandudno directors that they were satisfied with his work and had no plans to change things.
 
However, the very next year he was informed by the Pier Company directors that they had decided that there was no future for the orchestra at the pavilion and were changing to variety and dancing. As Cathie’s contract was seasonal and he had refused Blackpool’s offer, there was nowhere for him to go. Four or five years later, the war put an end to music on Llandudno’s pier for a while and during those years Cathie became music supervisor for Poplar and Bromley Town Council’s park entertainments, retiring soon after to Ewell in Surrey. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, music on Llandudno pier was no longer provided by a large orchestra. There were no longer grand orchestral concerts in the Pavilion every evening. Now a handful of musicians, usually a piano quartet, played the morning concerts from 11.00am - 12.45pm and orchestral concerts eventually became the duty of about 15 musicians under the direction of John Morava.
 
Violinist, Ben Horsfall briefly reported life on the pier in his autobiography. He played there from 1936 to 1939 giving morning concerts from Easter to Whit as a member of the piano quartet. “The combination of piano, violin, viola and cello was small but the reason for its existence was dictated by the tenants of numerous souvenir kiosks, tobacco shops (and a café at the end of the pier) insisting on some attraction being provided to tempt off-season promenaders to walk along the pier”.
 
The pianist and musical director of the small ensemble was non other than George Atkinson. Horsfall went on to write, “George, who was the musical director (without ever exerting any authority) brought with him every morning a very carefully chosen programme of easy pieces: we were never really extended and there was an aura of pleasant relaxation in playing for a handful of people who were obviously resting from their walk along the pier. Applause was rare, partly because so many hands were preoccupied doing more useful things and partly because the audience always appeared to be in and out of the café. If we were required to play solos in any programme, the meticulous George would ask almost apologetically at least two days in advance”.
 
Apart from George Atkinson’s reminiscing, names from the past cropped up in other ways at this time too. Horsfall relates how one morning, George brought along a set of parts from the library and the cellist, Leonard Baker, found it impossible to read the notes. He went on to explain, “The reason was that the notes had been obliterated by corrections to the value of the rests, each of which had been initialled, ‘E. S.’ in ink. The initials, belonged to Hallé double-bass player, Edward Stansfield, who had been a member of the pier orchestra from the early 1900s to the 1930s. During that time he had played from, corrected and annotated, nearly every double-bass part in the library, making certain his initials were there for posterity. Ben Horsfall was a Hallé player himself in the 1930s and well remembered how the bass was entirely suited to this huge man who was such a good teller of stories relating to himself. His five string double-bass was his pride and joy. He eventually bequeathed it to the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society.
 
After 1936 variety shows were the order of the day and the small orchestra continued giving morning concerts. The Pavilion at that time was visited by many major variety artists including George Formby, Ted Ray, Arthur Askey and Semprini, and with the return of holidaymakers after the war, performances in the Pavilion were once again popular.
 
In 1938 John Morava became Musical Director at the pier. He was a violinist who studied with Thibaud and Enesco, and a composer of much light music, a few pieces of which appeared in his programmes from time to time. He had played as soloist at orchestral concerts and with the BBC before serving in the RAF during the war years and later formed his own quintet giving concerts at Bath. Morava had honed his conducting skills at Bridlington, Weston-Super-Mare and Blackpool before taking charge at Llandudno where he managed to maintain the pier’s orchestral tradition until 1974.
 
In 1946, the Pier Head Pavilion was opened as a venue for Morava’s small orchestra of fifteen players. Obviously the band could not manage full symphonic programmes such as those presented in the Pavilion theatre in the early 1900s but they did join with local choral societies from time to time for an evening of Gilbert and Sullivan or music from the shows.
 
The opening season of concerts at the Pier Head Pavilion included music from Eric Coates and Walford Davies along with Morava’s own Peacock’s Parade, all of which were entirely suited to the small orchestra. However, other items on the programme represented a quick look back over the shoulder in so much as Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance March No.1, German’s Merrie England and A Mendelssohn Fantasia arranged by cellist John Foulds were all features of the programmes of larger orchestras of the past.
 
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s audiences for the Pavilion theatre began to fall away and the summer seasons got shorter. Morava’s small orchestra was disbanded in 1974 and ninety-eight years after it first opened, the Pavilion Theatre closed its doors for the last time in 1984. The building was left to deteriorate and was finally destroyed by fire in 1994. All that remains of a once very grand building are a few relics of iron work and a site badly in need of clearance and regeneration.
 
Stuart Scott
2009

Read more: http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Jan11/Llandudno_Scott.htm#ixzz1DCsSXusz (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/Jan11/Llandudno_Scott.htm#ixzz1DCsSXusz)


The picture below is of Arthur Payne and the Llandudno pier orchestra at the pier pavilion in 1907:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 06, 2011, 07:10:08 pm
Nice find, Trojan.  &well&

I especially liked this bit:

"The combination of piano, violin, viola and cello was small but the reason for its existence was dictated by the tenants of numerous souvenir kiosks, tobacco shops (and a café at the end of the pier) insisting on some attraction being provided to tempt off-season promenaders to walk along the pier”

If only the present day pier management were so enlightened!
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on February 06, 2011, 07:40:02 pm
I thought you'd like that one Dave.  ;)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 06, 2011, 08:28:45 pm
Llandudno Pier Company presents Arthur Payne & the Pier Orchestra in 1901:

[smg id=1148]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on February 06, 2011, 09:28:06 pm
I wonder if there's a connection to Charlie Paynes family, or James Payne the plummber's merchants?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on February 15, 2011, 04:52:36 am
July 1939: Thousands of holiday makers watching a Miss Personality competition at Happy Valley, Llandudno,
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 05, 2011, 09:45:21 am
The Arcadia theatre in 1986, with the Grand Theatre being renovated behind:

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5099/5495998745_e934b70881_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/5495998745/)
86 Llandudno Arcadia 3 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedoor/5495998745/#) by stagedoor (http://www.flickr.com/people/stagedoor/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 05, 2011, 07:57:45 pm
The Arcadia Theatre back in 1949:

(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5097/5475796977_1a67b13f1d_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/39112305@N02/5475796977/)
llandudno 1949 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/39112305@N02/5475796977/#) by idlesuperstar (http://www.flickr.com/people/39112305@N02/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on March 06, 2011, 12:36:48 am
That's a good one. I wonder why they removed those two conical towers?"
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on March 06, 2011, 08:40:22 am
Quote
The combination of piano, violin, viola and cello was small but the reason for its existence was dictated by the tenants of numerous souvenir kiosks, tobacco shops (and a café at the end of the pier) insisting on some attraction being provided to tempt off-season promenaders to walk along the pier”

I've often thought how delightful it would be to reinstate a pier-head orchestra of sorts, and that combination could be achieved with the folk already living in town, but the problem would be the acquisition of a decent piano. And the music they'd produce would be unlikley to attract more than a few of the curious.  Might work for one day a week during the peak summer weeks.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 06, 2011, 08:52:08 am
I think it would work well, you'd have to stick to the more popular pieces, of course.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on March 06, 2011, 08:56:32 am
Wonder about a talent competition?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 06, 2011, 09:06:35 am
Again, with a bit of publicity in the local press and a bit if effort, no reason why it shouldn't work well. The plethora of tv talent shows is proof that people like such things and a live talent show gives the performers an opportunity to hone their talents in front of a proper audience.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Micox on March 06, 2011, 08:38:51 pm
Well. What about the Stage Door and the resident band there led by a local lad, Glyn Dryhurst?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 06, 2011, 08:46:23 pm
Let's not forget the Teenbeats either:

[smg id=1186]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 08, 2011, 09:29:42 pm
Hutchinson Leisure Group, who controlled most of the cinemas in North Wales by the 1970s:

[smg id=1188]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 11, 2011, 09:50:25 pm
Alex Munro, looking more sombre than usual. He's leaning on the modern tollgate that was installed in the 1970s to catch people wanting to walk don the main section of the pier:

[smg id=1639]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on March 12, 2011, 07:18:06 am
People often use the phrase 'a true professional' when they talk about folk like him, but he really was special.  His ability to communicate with the audience in any conditions, to always be able to summon the right words and to make it all appear effortless concealed the immense talent and ability he possessed. 
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 22, 2011, 10:05:12 pm
Alex performing before a packed audience at Happy Valley in the 1970s:

[smg id=1647]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on March 23, 2011, 12:09:19 am
Seeing that just makes me sad that I missed those days.... I have seen similar things, but not in Llandudno... it looks a bit special.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: suepp on March 23, 2011, 06:59:53 pm
Let's not forget the Teenbeats either:

[smg id=1186]

Is the White Rabbit missing in this photo?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on March 24, 2011, 04:05:49 pm
Probably away for repair due to vandalism.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on April 10, 2011, 09:42:39 pm
Alex Munro and the cast of Showtime pose on the Happy Valley steps (to side of cafe) back in 1964:

[smg id=2399]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on April 10, 2011, 09:50:42 pm
Alex Munro (right) and the 'Mad Musician' Billy Crockett pose for a promotional shot in the foyer of the Grand Theatre, Llandudno, sometime in the 1970s:

[smg id=2400]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: suepp on April 10, 2011, 10:16:14 pm
I remember Billy playing lots of different instruments, brilliant
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on April 25, 2011, 07:49:27 pm
Alex Munro and John Creese-Parsons outside the Grand Theatre one Christmas in the late 1970s. Mr. Creese-Parsons was the owner of the Grand Theatre at that time.

[smg id=2426]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SDQ on April 25, 2011, 10:35:47 pm
With the Royal Wedding fast approaching (yawn!) it brings back memories of the last time I went to Happy Valley to see the Alex Munro Show. My brother & all his friends had no interest in the wedding of Charles & Diana so they decided to have a Not The Royal Wedding get together & actually persuaded Alex to let my cousin's rock group set up at his show & play a gig after his normal show had ended. They were called Fear Of Flying & had quite a lot of gear which took up most of the stage much to Alex's surprise. The word was passed around and the audience was one of the largest he'd had for a few years made up of a lot of youths dressed in denim & leather with a sprinkling of the 'blue rinse brigade' for good measure. He took it in good humour even when Paddy McDermott got up on stage in his talent contest & proceeded to smash up a guitar as part of his act! As everyone was a 'local' we all knew Alex well so gave him a great reception for his show which seemed to put a bit of a twinkle in his eye & the high kicking Stan Ryder also went down a storm. Even the weather was good & a great day was had by all.
I hope I haven't bored anyone but it's my biggest memory of Alex Munro when I was a youngster.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on April 25, 2011, 10:41:22 pm
I hope I haven't bored anyone but it's my biggest memory of Alex Munro when I was a youngster.

No, not at all......great memories!  :)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 22, 2011, 09:39:32 pm
This is the Running Order sheet for the final ever Summer Show back at the Pier Pavilion Theatre in 1984. Next to each act is written in pencil the name of the backdrop to be used, so I assume this piece of paper used to be pinned up somewhere backstage. I found it whilst exploring the derelict Pier Pavilion a couple of years before it was destroyed by fire:

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(Click image to view full size)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 22, 2011, 09:52:28 pm
1979 saw Bobby Crush headlining at the Pier Pavilion.

[smg id=2448]
(Click image to see full size)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 22, 2011, 10:07:31 pm
You can still book your seats for Alex Munro's Music Hall with 'full star company'.

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(Click image to view full size)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 10:21:03 pm
Alex used to have sheet music for a song all about Llandudno called "Lovely, Lively Llandudno". Does anyone know where I might obtain a copy? I've only ever seen one copy.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 10:29:30 pm
The Happy Valley Entertainers before Alex
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 10:33:11 pm
The Grand Theatre before the revamp by Jeff Dukenfield
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 10:35:54 pm
In the picture above is Jeff Dukenfield former owner of the Grand Theatre, along with Comedian Peter Goodwright, Welsh Singer Tammy Jones, Clive Stock, Ian Turner and the cast of the Arcadia Theatre Summer show of that season.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 10:38:18 pm
As far as I'm aware, the fire curtain that Peter Goodwright is standing in front of on the Grand Theatre stage, is still there fully intact (I'd like to think it is anyway). This next picture is of Peter with Tammy Jones and Arcadia Theatre cast in one of the Grand Theatres boxes.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 10:48:21 pm
Here is a copy of the Official Opening Gala Night invitation of the Grand Theatre under it's then new name 'Revivals' (I was never keen on that name).
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 22, 2011, 10:58:11 pm
Some fantastic photos, Waffagolf, thanks for sharing. The Fire Curtain at the Grand is still intact, I went round all the surviving bits of the theatre last year - the photos of my visit are all here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/sets/72157623521219490/ (http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/sets/72157623521219490/)

Back of the Fire Curtain as it is now, seen from across the Fly Tower:
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/4393459622_5743f50927_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/4393459622/)
Grand Theatre Tour - Llandudno (http://www.flickr.com/photos/davellandudno/4393459622/#) by davidrobertsphotography (http://www.flickr.com/people/davellandudno/), on Flickr
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 11:32:56 pm
It's wonderful that all those things still exist at the Grand Theatre. Fantastic pictures, quite wonderful. How sad they are out of sight though. A well known comedian once told me I should go into the Grand Theatre (in the days when it had been closed for years and was decaying) and do two things, stand on the stage with the old footlights on, and sit in the stalls. Each time feeling the theatre atmosphere.

One day I got the chance to do just that. There were only two of us in the building. I walked onto the stage in picth darkness, followed by the sound of the clunk, clunk, clunk of the footlights being switched on. It was Magical, what a feeling. The theatre spoke to me. I know it sounds daft, but it really did. I could feel the Music Hall, the wonderful acts that had trodden the boards there, they were in the walls. It was a feeling like no other and one I'll never forget. The same thing happened as I sat in the stalls.

The person who showed me around suggested I went up into the Gods for another experience, which I duly did. On reaching the Gods, this guy was on the stage looking up at me, and in almost a whisper asked, "well ***, what do you think". I could hear his every word, right up in the Gods. The accoustics were / are incredible WOW!!!

I had the whole tour, even to under the stage with the coffin. It was one of those unforgettable moments...

Here's an old programme from the theatre
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Waffagolf on June 22, 2011, 11:35:04 pm
Heres the next few pages
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 19, 2011, 08:19:20 pm
A contract for comedian Richard 'Stinker' Murdoch to appear at the Pier Pavilion, Llandudno, on April 4th 1947 at 7.45pm 'for not less than 20 minutes'. He received 75 Guineas as payment.

[smg id=2472]
(Click to view full size)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Murdoch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Murdoch)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Trojan on September 20, 2011, 09:59:44 am
A view of the Happy Valley Theatre.....1920's?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 20, 2011, 10:09:32 am
A view of the Happy Valley Theatre.....1920's?
I would say so. It shows the original Happy Valley Theatre (destroyed by fire in 1933) and you can see that the rock gardens at upper left had not yet been fully constructed.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on November 03, 2011, 10:06:47 pm
Some more photos of Alex Munro from the Archives...

Alex Munro in front of the Grand Theatre (now Broadway Boulevard):
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Alex on stage at Happy Valley:
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Alex dishes out the prizes at a talent competition...lemons again!
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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on December 19, 2011, 10:41:53 pm
I've been nosing lately at the archives of the North Wales Chronicle (available online for a small fee) and thought I'd do a bit of research into the Pier Pavilion's construction.

Early view of Pavilion:
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Interior of Pavilion:
[smg id=2596]

We tend to look back on these sort of construction projects as an example of 'how it should be done these days' but, in the case of the Pavilion, its design and construction was an ongoing saga that gripped the town of Llandudno and was little sort of a disaster that nearly bankrupted the Llandudno Pier Company.

Work started in 1882 and included the building of what became known as the 'pier extension' - the section between the present promenade and the Happy Valley Valley road entrance. The total cost of the scheme was £10,000. Work was supposed to be completed by the 15th June 1883 in order for a grand opening in July but it never happened. Problems with the design and several sets of contractors abandoning the project due to its complexity meant that work was still progressing in January 1884 under the direct control of the Pier Company. After two years, the only part of the building to be open was the Reading Room (which was 'comfortably warmed' and with 'splendid views of the bay').

Gales had been hampering construction work for several days when, on Saturday 26th January 1884 at about 3pm (not during the night of January 25th, as was commonly thought), what was described as a 'hurricane' from the South-West caused the glass roof of the Pavilion to collapse, the section nearest the sea being first to give away, with workmen running for their lives as several further sections collapsed and glass panels shattered. Some large iron girders narrowly missed the fleeing workmen as they fell. Falling debris also damaged the side of the neighbouring Baths Hotel and glass covered Happy Valley Road.

Pier Pavilion after storm damage:
[smg id=541]

This was the last thing the Pier Company needed, the Pavilion project was running both over time and budget already. The Company's AGM took place in early February and it was announced that the architects and builders were were dismissed, to be replaced by Messrs Holmes & Vawdry of Liverpool (architects) and Mr Handysides of Derby (builders). Mr Vawdry surveyed the damage and declared that 'whoever had designed the upper part of the building had no experience/knowledge of what was required to make it fit for purpose'.  The redesign and repairs to the Pavilion roof were to cost £1500, with the idea of a glass roof being scrapped and a sturdy zinc one installed instead.  This sum, together with existing cost overruns, called into question the very future of the Pier Company, it was said that £11,000 being needed to stave off the  financial problems and the suggestion being made that the Pier Company should be 'wound up'. Fortunately, the largest shareholders all chipped in to save the day. The Directors did declare themselves pleased with the one area of the Pavilion that had opened to the Public - the sea water swimming baths in the basement - which had taken £25 8s 1d in the two weeks at the end of the 1883 season that it had been open!

The Pavilion eventually opened for business in September 1884 and was an immediate success. Besides the orchestral and vocal performances in the theatre, the Egyptian Hall Annexe also housed a Mr Reddish, a man who could remain underwater in a tank for nearly 4 minutes and was capable of 'eating and reading a newspaper underwater'!

To try and recoup some of their losses, the Pier Company's Directors decided to try and keep it open all year round, and installed a reading room and games such as chess, lawn tennis etc. A programme of regular concerts, featuring guest vocalists, was also arranged. The aim was to make it a 'home of amusements' in the Winter.

It took until 1888 for the Pier Company to get back onto a stable financial footing, with the directors admitting at the AGM that only the barest minimum of maintenance to the Pier had been carried out in the previous few years, with no money even being available for it to be painted. Some  things never change, eh?

Exterior - Seaward side - Pier Pavilion:
[smg id=2598]

Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on December 19, 2011, 11:23:36 pm
 *&( very interesting article!  $good$
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on December 19, 2011, 11:34:07 pm
Great article Dave.
I can't get enough of pictures and information about the Pier Pavilion.
To see it resplendent and new on that very first picture is very poignant.

When it comes to the Pier Extension, I wonder, is it because of this 'project complexity' that the decking where the new part joins the original pier (at Happy Valley Gates) is not at the same level?
It slopes away toward the sea on the extension side,  and it seems to have been forced or contrived to join at an imperfect level.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on December 20, 2011, 07:34:34 pm
The following is an excerpt from a letter published in the North Wales Chronicle in February 1887, written by a Dr Nichol who was chairman of the Llandudno Pier Company. It illustrates the hostility and deep distrust that existed between the Company and the Llandudno Improvement Commisioners.

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(Click to view full size)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on December 29, 2011, 01:00:49 pm
I see in the NWWN that a new book about Llandudno's lost theatres has just been published, looks pretty good.

'Loves Lost In Llandudno' is available from Venue Cymru and Lewis' Bookshop in Madoc Street.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on December 30, 2011, 10:03:09 pm
Postcard showing the newly completed Pier Pavilion Theatre. Click to view full size, it all looks very pristine and new!

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 03, 2012, 06:53:02 pm
I see in the NWWN that a new book about Llandudno's lost theatres has just been published, looks pretty good.

'Loves Lost In Llandudno' is available from Venue Cymru and Lewis' Bookshop in Madoc Street.
I bought this book from Lewis' bookshop today. Its a 104 page large format paperback for £10 and is well worth the money. Quite a few previously unseen photos, including a 1970s shot of the interior of the Pier Pavilion and a rare interior view of the St Georges hall (now HMV). It's a must buy for anyone interested in the town's history.

Even my Alex Munro numbered programme made an appearance on page 84:

[smg id=465]

It appeared in the book courtesy of someone called John Lawson-Reay. Bit odd, as I own the only original copy with that particular 7181 number..but there you go!  :-X  :roll:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 06, 2012, 09:57:53 pm
Easter attractions at the Pier Pavilion in 1954:

[smg id=2624]

[smg id=2623]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Llechwedd on January 07, 2012, 12:27:46 pm
That theatre book needed a good editor.  many spelling mistakes peir warshies etc. etc.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 26, 2012, 11:02:07 am
Pierhead Pavilion show in 1907:

[smg id=449]
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 28, 2012, 08:17:32 pm
Alex Munro quits the Pier Pavilion in December 1975:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 28, 2012, 08:19:40 pm
Advert for the Town Hall Shows from 1970:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 28, 2012, 08:21:07 pm
Advert for the Happy Valley Theatre in 1968:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 28, 2012, 08:22:59 pm
Alex signs to appear in 'Holiday On The Buses'. In case you were wondering, he is the patient waiting to see the nurse.

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 23, 2012, 09:04:17 am
I have been fortunate enough to gain access to a considerable amount of old photos/memorabilia belonging to Alex Munro. It's going to take a while to sort though, but I'll be posting bits and pieces on here on a regular basis. My thanks to Alex's daughter, Anna-Marie Munro (who is a lovely person), for allowing me access to this archive.

This photo shows (Left to right)- Stan Ryder; Lorraine Hulme; Marie Munro; Anna-Marie Munro; Alex Munro; Jackie Scott & Kathryn Ashworth at the Happy Valley Theatre.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 24, 2012, 08:41:03 am
Alex Munro & fellow performers at Happy Valley:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on July 24, 2012, 09:29:52 am
Those were the days! It will never be the same again sadly!
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Llechwedd on July 24, 2012, 01:43:23 pm
bring back Waldini!!! 8)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 31, 2012, 10:32:59 pm
Poster on Augusta Street/Trinity Sq advertising the Happy Valley Show back in the 1970s:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 31, 2012, 10:39:27 pm
Alex being filmed for a tv show, don't have any more info sadly:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 31, 2012, 10:43:23 pm
The cast of Snow White take a bow - December 1976 Pantomime at the Astra(?)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on July 31, 2012, 10:46:23 pm
Poster on Augusta Street/Trinity Sq advertising the Happy Valley Show back in the 1970s:

'Fun in the sun' they could not have used that this year sadly! :(
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 31, 2012, 10:50:01 pm
Alex's daughter, the film star Janet Munro, pictured with Tommy Steele during the filming of 'Tommy The Toreador' in 1959. She sadly died in 1972 at the age of 38.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 12, 2012, 08:34:02 pm
We know Alex Munro best for his shows at the Happy Valley Theatre, Pier Pavilion & Grand Theatre in Llandudno, but he also had a very successful career touring the UK as one half of the Horsburgh Brothers for over a decade back in the 1930s. Here is just one poster advertising the Brothers:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno, Tammy Jones.
Post by: Tosh on August 13, 2012, 12:15:08 pm
I have just found this and I am absolutely amazed.
All those people from all those years ago and it brings back so many memories.
My uncle and aunty always came to Llandudno and Happy Valley was their favourite place, now I know why.
You can still hear Tammy singing Let Me Try Again on You Tube.

Tammy Jones - Let Me Try Again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmtwVaBG-xg#)

Follow the link, if it doesn't connect just go to You Tube and search for Tammy Jones and there she is.
I can remember her on Opportunity Knocks, what a voice.
Thanks for the memories.
Tosh
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on August 13, 2012, 10:57:20 pm
The link worked perfectly Tosh.  $thanx$ $good$

I really enjoyed that, and I have heard that song many times performed by any number of good cabaret singers.
But that was a joy,  and I had never previously heard of Tammy Jones.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DVT on August 14, 2012, 01:12:10 pm
Poster on Augusta Street/Trinity Sq advertising the Happy Valley Show back in the 1970s:

Wasn't there a rider to this ... "IF WET, IN TOWN HALL" ???
Title: Tammy Jones
Post by: Tosh on August 14, 2012, 05:51:20 pm
Tammy was the Opportunity Knocks winner for 6 weeks back in 1975.
Originally from Bangor she went to live in New Zealand but I believe she is back in Wales now.
Another link for those who are interested
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Jones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tammy_Jones)
Tosh

Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: born2run on August 14, 2012, 06:07:27 pm
That's interesting - I wonder how many winners of the X factor and the newer shows will still be remembered in 30 plus years
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 14, 2012, 06:47:13 pm
Tammy has a truly fantastic voice.  $good$
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 24, 2012, 10:49:23 pm
I found Alex's original sheet music for one of his favourite Scottish songs, "I love a Lassie" (originally performed by Harry Lauder):

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 24, 2012, 11:06:35 pm
Stan Ryder & Alex Munro in the 1970s at Happy Valley:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 24, 2012, 11:11:21 pm
"Alex Munro and his world famous Happy Valley Show"

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 24, 2012, 11:15:11 pm
Crowds at Happy Valley in the 1970s:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on September 15, 2012, 09:24:27 am
One of my little campaigns this year has been to try and get some sort of memorial to Alex Munro installed in the town. I'm pleased to say that this has now been given the go-ahead at a meeting last night of Llandudno Town Council, who have agreed to install a red plaque detailing Mr. Munro's achievements at the site of the Happy Valley Theatre and, also, will rename the short section of road leading from the Grand Hotel up to Happy Valley as 'Alex Munro Way'. It'll probably be next year before the paperwork is sorted but I look forward to inviting Alex's daughter, Anna-Marie, along for some sort of small ceremony.

My thanks must go to Ian Turner for providing invaluable advice in this matter and also to Llandudno Town Council; in particular Cllr Phillip Evans and the Mayor, Cllr Myra Wigzell.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on September 15, 2012, 10:56:44 am
Congratulations, Dave;  Alex Munro was surely one of the greatest assets this town had and played a big part in creating Llandudno's prestigious position among holiday resorts. A memorial is long overdue.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on September 15, 2012, 12:21:59 pm
Yes, well done! Long overdue, I remember seeing him in Happy Valley, must be over 40 years ago!
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on November 21, 2012, 09:29:44 pm
I saw on another website this anecdote by gap toothed comedian Terry-Thomas, concerning his visit to Llandudno:

Once during a ‘Music for the Millions' tour I was playing the Pier Pavilion Llandudno. I could see my name in huge letters from my hotel window.
There was no hyphen.
I complained at once to Sidney Piddington, the mind-reading chap, who at that time had retired from the stage and was Harold Fielding’s General Manager.
Sidney apologised and assured me that it would not happen again.
And it didn’t. Throughout the rest of the tour all was well.

But the next time I played Llandudno I looked across the bay from my hotel room and there again were the huge letters, Terry Thomas. No hyphen. Bad show! I was livid.

I left the hotel in a fury, got out my bike and pedalled madly along to the pier. Sidney Piddington was unabashed. ‘No hyphen?’ he echoed. You’re kidding! Of course there’s a hyphen. A bonza one. Come outside and look.

Well we had a look. There was the hyphen, large as life.
How was it done?
Just for a gag, Sidney had fitted up a cardboard flap over the hyphen and a man on the roof was working it with a bit of cotton.

Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on January 19, 2013, 11:28:43 am
Pavlova performs at the Pier Pavilion (1930s?)

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Llechwedd on January 19, 2013, 12:05:02 pm
The Pavilion "only" held 2,000!
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 14, 2013, 09:57:36 pm
North Wales Journal - 16 June 1899 - The directors of the Llandudno Grand Theatre Company, Limited, have decided to go to an allotment of the shares applied for recently, a large additional amount of capital having been sub- scribed. The plans and specifications are to be at once prepared by the architect, Mr A. G. Humphreys, in consultation with Mr. Sachs, of London, with a view to the early letting of the contract, and an effort is to be made to secure the attendance in August next of an eminent member of the dramatic profession to lay the foundation-stone. This theatre will be the first dedicated exclusively to the drama to be erected in North or Mid-Wales. From an artistic point of view. therefore, the starting of the work will be an event of importance.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: corky on April 15, 2013, 11:57:25 pm
Stumbled on your site whilst looking up Alex munro and the Grand Theatre and it brings back many memories.My mum used to sing for Alex in the late 70's when he had his old time music hall. I live in Kent now but lived in the Colwyn Bay and this brings many good memories of  my  time  in North Wales.Thank you   $thanx$
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on April 16, 2013, 07:07:43 am
Welcome to the Forum, Corky. What name did your Mum go under when she was performing?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: corky on April 25, 2013, 07:49:41 am
Good morning,I think she went under the name June St Paul.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on April 25, 2013, 08:15:39 am
Good morning,I think she went under the name June St Paul.
Ah, thank you. I was just wondering if I had any posters/programmes that featured her. When I get 5 minutes, I will have a look through them.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on April 25, 2013, 12:00:27 pm
That name rings a bell.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: corky on May 09, 2013, 11:48:27 pm
Good morning,I think she went under the name June St Paul.
Ah, thank you. I was just wondering if I had any posters/programmes that featured her. When I get 5 minutes, I will have a look through them.

many thanks look forward
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 12, 2013, 09:13:39 pm
Some interesting old photos of the Grand Theatre have popped up today, in light of the nightclub closure:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 18, 2014, 09:44:45 am
George Formby pulling in the crowds at the Palladium Cinema in 1941:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on February 18, 2014, 10:08:44 am
Great pics, love the old adverts! For some reason though I'm not allowed to view the George Formby picture?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 18, 2014, 10:12:53 am
Great pics, love the old adverts! For some reason though I'm not allowed to view the George Formby picture?
Really? Can you view this one below:
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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on February 18, 2014, 10:41:58 am
No, I've had this happen before with some pics on here. This is what I see.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 18, 2014, 10:45:25 am
Hmm. I've no idea why that should be, Are you able to view photos in the Gallery?
http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=media;sa=album;in=4 (http://threetownsforum.co.uk/forum/index.php?action=media;sa=album;in=4)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on February 18, 2014, 10:47:34 am
No,  " An Error Has Occurred!
Access to this album is denied"
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on February 18, 2014, 10:57:35 am
No,  " An Error Has Occurred!
Access to this album is denied"
I shall investigate, thank you!  $good$
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: snowcap on February 18, 2014, 09:49:49 pm
all.s well on mine dave
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on February 18, 2014, 10:24:22 pm
I can see all the pics, and the gallery.... via Google or Firefox
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Blongb on February 23, 2014, 12:47:23 pm
Look's like ME needs to update his drivers and flash player perhaps  ££$
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on March 17, 2014, 08:12:35 pm
I'm pleased to announce that, after a long campaign on this Forum (dating back to the Craig Ollerton Llandudno Local forum days), a tangible memorial to 'Mr. Llandudno' Alex Munro is now finally in place. Street signs (covered up at the moment) are in place at the bottom and top of the road stretching from the Grand Hotel to Happy Valley and this stretch of road will be named 'Alex Munro Way'. A worthy tribute to a man who devoted so much of his life to providing live entertainment in Llandudno for many years.

Thanks must go to Cllr. Phillip Evans and Llandudno Town Council for their efforts in renaming this road.

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on March 18, 2014, 06:51:09 am
That's really good news. And it's long overdue.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Cavernite on April 20, 2014, 02:56:02 pm
Had a bit of a dig around and found some old pics of Alex etc.  As a teenager, completely enthralled by all things theatre, I worked for Alex backstage and as a lime operator for a few seasons. panto and at the Valley. In celebration of 'Alex Munro Way' here's a pic I took of him during Snow White rehearsals at the Astra.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on April 20, 2014, 05:10:26 pm
Look's like ME needs to update his drivers and flash player perhaps  ££$

I'm mostly on an iPad, no flash on that.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Hugo on April 20, 2014, 06:18:32 pm
Had a bit of a dig around and found some old pics of Alex etc.  As a teenager, completely enthralled by all things theatre, I worked for Alex backstage and as a lime operator for a few seasons. panto and at the Valley. In celebration of 'Alex Munro Way' here's a pic I took of him during Snow White rehearsals at the Astra.

That's a lovely photo of Alex and that's how I remember him, always with a smile on his face.  I'm pleased that he's been honoured in this way as he did so much for the town.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Fester on April 20, 2014, 11:48:51 pm
What a great picture, happy memories of the golden age of showbiz!   $good$ $good$
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on May 28, 2014, 09:48:19 pm
There's a very interesting article about Llandudno's theatres over on the Arthur Lloyd website, well worth a read:
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/LlandudnoTheatres.htm (http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/LlandudnoTheatres.htm)

They seem to have made a bit of a mistake, however, with the location of the 'Unbuilt Theatre'. Their map indicates it was roughly where Osborne House is now; however it was actually planned for the triangular garden area between the Pavilion and the Pier Entrance.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 10, 2014, 09:28:47 am
A nice aerial shot of the Pier Pavilion from 1946. You can clearly see the stairway leading down into Tusons Amusements:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on June 10, 2014, 09:42:24 am
I'm not allowed to see it again. :-(
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 10, 2014, 09:51:53 am
The gardens and Scootaboats area in front of the Pavilion in 1953:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 26, 2014, 07:18:38 pm
Flyer for Alex Munro's Pantomime at the Astra in 1978:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on June 26, 2014, 07:25:15 pm
'Golden Years of Music Hall' at the Grand Theatre in 1979:

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Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on June 26, 2014, 09:53:48 pm
I'm not allowed to see it again. :-(
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Ian on June 27, 2014, 07:45:35 am
:-)))   It's because Dave is calling the image from the media library and that's the problem. You can see all the images which are simply attached using the 'usual' method, but Dave and I both upload images to the Aeva system on here, then call them, because that allows for greater flexibility. I suspect the problem is probably a permission issue in the Aeva gallery section. I'll try to sort it this weekend.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on June 27, 2014, 08:05:19 am
Thanks Ian, does anyone else have the same problem I wonder?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SDQ on June 27, 2014, 02:21:23 pm
Thanks Ian, does anyone else have the same problem I wonder?


What you need I guess is someone using the same set-up as you.
Are you using a PC, Laptop, Tablet?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on June 27, 2014, 11:04:07 pm
Usually an iPad.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: karenjadejoy on June 28, 2014, 12:03:06 pm
There's a very interesting article about Llandudno's theatres over on the Arthur Lloyd website, well worth a read:
http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/LlandudnoTheatres.htm (http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/LlandudnoTheatres.htm)

thanks for the link, its enabled me to find a programme with my great grandfathers name on it, J southworth trombone and euphonium   lol  have enjoyed reading this  interesting thread.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: lizcj on July 11, 2014, 08:59:49 am
I hate that Sunday Times article with a passion! Let me be clear here, Sal Thomas is my Nanna, the husband mentioned was my Grandad,  John Edgar Thomas, the article implies that she did all the work in the Floral, when in fact my Grandad did all the prep and  my abiding memory of them living there was of him in the kitchen. He was not into the showbusiness side of things and left front of house to my Nanna, who revelled in it.
 He would usually escape to the RA club in the evening, meeting up with his friends, real Llandudno people who didn't fit the image my Nanna liked to portray. Rant over.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 28, 2014, 02:47:57 pm
I'm pleased to announce that, after a long campaign on this Forum (dating back to the Craig Ollerton Llandudno Local forum days), a tangible memorial to 'Mr. Llandudno' Alex Munro is now finally in place. Street signs (covered up at the moment) are in place at the bottom and top of the road stretching from the Grand Hotel to Happy Valley and this stretch of road will be named 'Alex Munro Way'. A worthy tribute to a man who devoted so much of his life to providing live entertainment in Llandudno for many years.

Thanks must go to Cllr. Phillip Evans and Llandudno Town Council for their efforts in renaming this road.

Hi Dave, just got round to reading this article. It is nice the seed of an idea from the Llandudno Local days has came to fruit after I spotted the absent street name during my time at The Local. I recall having an inaugural conversation with Cllr. Evans some years ago about the names which were suggested at the time, and I can only thank you Dave for following this through. I cannot think of a more fitting tribute to someone who gave so much to the town.

http://tvconwy.net/alex-munro-way/ (http://tvconwy.net/alex-munro-way/)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 28, 2014, 02:56:01 pm
I am wondering Dave if you have the skills to expand the Wikipedia article further? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Munro_(comedian) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Munro_(comedian)) I am sure much there is more which could be said than as it stands presently.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 28, 2014, 07:49:01 pm
I am wondering Dave if you have the skills to expand the Wikipedia article further? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Munro_(comedian) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Munro_(comedian)) I am sure much there is more which could be said than as it stands presently.
You're right, it could be expanded considerably. I'm pretty busy at the moment (just moved house), maybe it's a little project for those dark Winter months?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SteveH on July 29, 2014, 05:20:28 pm
Hi Craig.   
           I have tried researching a bit more about Alex, but, could find nothing new, still trying...I did however try his earlier history in Scotland, should explain I was born in Glasgow, but my father was from Rhos, so I am connected to both areas, and I remember seeing Alex many times.
           I have a friend in Glasgow, Bob Bain, who runs the site for the old Empire theatre, and has a vast knowledge and collection of material on past entertainers, when I asked about Alex, he said he had visited the local theatres a few years ago, and had been in touch with his granddaughter, also that he was a good friend of the late Billy Crocket who worked with Alex for many years, when Billy died he gave Bob photos and videos of them both. Bob is recovering from an operation, but, will let me know what he has, soon as he can, so here's hoping.                                                           
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 29, 2014, 09:16:39 pm
Great stuff Steve.

The problem with Wikipedia can be those who moderate it half the time, any citations generally need source references from reliable sources as opposed to here'say. Books are always a good starting point, but there are none that I am aware of concerning him. Any materials which you can source will certainly be helpful toward building up the article further, and I am sure Dave will be able to help you further with that. May we hope Bob has a full recovery and look forward to seeing those materials soon.

The street sign is a great start, but there is plenty more which can be done including updating the Wikipedia page. I had also suggested in the past a bust of some kind. Over to Dave, could we table a question to the town council to approach Nick Elphick on Builders Street, a highly reputed local sculptor who would have no trouble creating a sizeable bust statue, also question the possibility of reviving the amphitheatre space, as an open-air community theatre perhaps. It could provide a commercial boost to the adjacent cafeteria whilst benefiting the general tourism package Llandudno has to offer.

Some suggestions anyway.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Yorkie on July 29, 2014, 09:52:27 pm
Hi Craig, nice to see you on the Forum again.
Whilst I appreciate the gesture of a Bust to AM, I think it would not be too long before every man and his dog would be wanting other memorials all over the town.  If the Pier pavilion site was developed that would be an ideal location but otherwise I don't know where one could place such a memorial.   Good luck to the cause!
 Z**
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 30, 2014, 08:38:59 am
Hi Craig, nice to see you on the Forum again.
Whilst I appreciate the gesture of a Bust to AM, I think it would not be too long before every man and his dog would be wanting other memorials all over the town.  If the Pier pavilion site was developed that would be an ideal location but otherwise I don't know where one could place such a memorial.   Good luck to the cause!
 Z**

Hi Yorkie,

Thankyou. Having studied local and social history for many years, he is one figure I am very passionate about. We can all live in hopes about the pavilion, but for this post I am not wasting any breath on the subject here.

As for you thinking it would not be too long before every man and his dog would be wanting other memorials all over the town, that might well be so, but why not Alex? Llandudno isn't particularly overrun with statues for starters (dismissing the Alice sculptures), and why not celebrate some of the towns greats as do other towns similarly, and by doing so tell the story of the town at the same time. As for placement, perhaps at the top of the steps, or integrated as part of my proposed community open-air theatre. Just think, Tudno FM could even broadcast from there in the summer...

I am thinking something along the lines of the H M Stanley Statue in Denbigh High Street, by Nick Elphick, Llandudno...
http://nickelphicksculpture.co.uk/hm-stanley/ (http://nickelphicksculpture.co.uk/hm-stanley/)

Dave, was there any talk with Cllr. Evans re: any future exhibit for Alex at the local museum?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Yorkie on July 30, 2014, 09:23:39 am
Can't argue with that Craig!   ££$

Of course there are a number of other people who have been instrumental (not musically) in helping in the development of the Town, and all who many think should be, or who are already, honoured!   Any suggestions from anyone, before I add my own?   ;)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: born2run on July 30, 2014, 10:10:43 am
If you ask me, and you don't have to cos I will tell you anyway.

The only fitting memorial to him and the town is to bring back a similar family style entertainment show in the happy valley area.

I'm not holding my breath

 ££$ with your statue
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 30, 2014, 10:35:48 am
Can't argue with that Craig!   ££$

Of course there are a number of other people who have been instrumental (not musically) in helping in the development of the Town, and all who many think should be, or who are already, honoured!   Any suggestions from anyone, before I add my own?   ;)

Well as Dave now has a reputation for making things happen... over to you Dave. No pressure.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 30, 2014, 10:44:44 am
If you ask me, and you don't have to cos I will tell you anyway.

The only fitting memorial to him and the town is to bring back a similar family style entertainment show in the happy valley area.

I'm not holding my breath

 ££$ with your statue

I think there are two ways this could be done, clear what is at the rear of the cafeteria and build a dedicated space with stage, tiered concrete seating and build a small dwelling to lock away equipment etc. Or, use a stage which can be stored and erected/removed and people sit on the grass hill (bring your own towel), that would of course be the cheapest option. There is an open air theatre in Cornwall I visited recently which is thriving! Come on Llandudno, take a leaf out of their book. No one can say there is no call for this kind of thing, it is a major attraction. It just requires some forward thinking and a can do attitude from the local council.

Take a look...
http://www.minack.com/ (http://www.minack.com/)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: born2run on July 30, 2014, 12:14:28 pm
Just needs a bit of drive - there is already at least 3 musical groups in Llandudno going the acts are already there - they just need a headline act and somewhere to perform
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: mull on July 30, 2014, 06:05:08 pm
Have a look at Minack Theatre Porthcurno Cornwall.
Thats the way to do it.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SteveH on July 30, 2014, 07:38:39 pm
Liked the Minack theatre site, very determined, lots of drive......
It would be good to find out, which local groups (dance/theatre/bands etc.) would be interested in performing there, the more support , the stronger the argument.  $walesflag$     
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: born2run on July 31, 2014, 10:29:22 am
I see loads of them on those sign things.

Llandudno show players are the only ones I know but there are about 3 or 4 others I'm sure. Another one is a wartime thing.

Ricky Tomlinson seems popular perhaps he could do a guest spot one day  D)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: born2run on July 31, 2014, 11:03:40 am
http://thoughtsofoscar.blogspot.co.uk/?_sm_au_=iVVHWR04vH5DZFf7 (http://thoughtsofoscar.blogspot.co.uk/?_sm_au_=iVVHWR04vH5DZFf7)

Oscar doesn't like the statue idea  :twoface:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 31, 2014, 11:54:37 am
http://thoughtsofoscar.blogspot.co.uk/?_sm_au_=iVVHWR04vH5DZFf7 (http://thoughtsofoscar.blogspot.co.uk/?_sm_au_=iVVHWR04vH5DZFf7)

Oscar doesn't like the statue idea  :twoface:

Re: 'The Alex Munro bust subject has reared it's head again by the boy Ollerton, it will soon be like a bloody theme park if they all get their own way!'

You could say there are enough dinosaurs in this town Oscar it already looks like Jurassic Park, that including yourself. Looking at some of the 'anon' comments published, quite frankly it's disgusting you permissed them. A total lack of respect for Alex, and his family who I am sure will see them. As for the usual attacks on myself, that's really old news now.

Back to the topic in hand, let's not get distracted.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 31, 2014, 12:11:58 pm
Liked the Minack theatre site, very determined, lots of drive......
It would be good to find out, which local groups (dance/theatre/bands etc.) would be interested in performing there, the more support , the stronger the argument.  $walesflag$   

Absolutely Steve. This venue would be another bow to the string of Llandudno's tourism portfolio, it could provide an entry level setting for amateur dramatics, local groups, bands as you say, and progressively more professional performers. It could eventually provide a venue for evening outdoor entertainment as does the Minack in Cornwall. And like the Minack, it would be set against the picturesque backdrop of the Great Orme's Head and Horizon. It might be worth looking at other community venues such as 'Chapter' in South Wales, which is a successfully run community hub with it's own indoor performance spaces, but the concept of community performance spaces could be looked at to ensure the viability of the project. Could it be partnered with Venue Cymru perhaps, I am sure just that thought alone will stir some controversy but it could work out complimentary to their commercial causes if thought through carefully.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Yorkie on July 31, 2014, 05:11:49 pm
Alternatively, we could all move down to Cornwall . . . . . . A sort of Exodus of The Three Towns!   ZXZ
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on July 31, 2014, 06:10:48 pm
I actually think the Bandstand on the prom is a more viable performance space, being as it is already equipped with a stage, power, lighting etc and the ability to set up plenty of seating via the deckchairs. Why don't all the amateur groups commit to doing a show there one afternoon and evening a week?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Yorkie on July 31, 2014, 06:33:26 pm
It is a pity the Bandstand is not used more, but I think the vagaries of our weather could put many performers and spectators off.    Worth a try though!   :D
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 31, 2014, 06:47:00 pm
I actually think the Bandstand on the prom is a more viable performance space, being as it is already equipped with a stage, power, lighting etc and the ability to set up plenty of seating via the deckchairs. Why don't all the amateur groups commit to doing a show there one afternoon and evening a week?

Its called a band stand for a reason. It does not have the same qualities of a purpose built amphitheatre space, elevated seating for one. Seating can be built permanently into the amphitheatre space out of concrete, local stone or grass topped, chairs don't have to be put out and taken down, you cant sell anything on the prom, the cafeteria could provide refreshments that the bandstand cannot, there's the commercial sense straight away. It's easy to be trigger happy and dismiss the suggestion, but why not embrace our heritage and bring something once great back rather than put it down to changing times. Look how well the Minack does it. I won't bang on, just throw my suggestion out the window as you please. I tried  :-X
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Bri Roberts on July 31, 2014, 06:47:57 pm
DaveR, Llandudno Musical Productions put on a show at the bandstand on a Sunday afternoon as well as in the Town Hall on a Tuesday evening.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SteveH on July 31, 2014, 07:04:46 pm
Cannot dispute the viability of the bandstand, much easier access etc. and why not, but , that does not help the Happy Valley situation, in the meantime all we can do is explore all the possabilities
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on July 31, 2014, 07:10:35 pm
Cannot dispute the viability of the bandstand, much easier access etc. and why not, but , that does not help the Happy Valley situation, in the meantime all we can do is explore all the possabilities

Have you tried accessing the Minack Theatre Steve? go there one day, only then will you know what I mean. Hardly a stroll in the Park to get there yet the flocks come. From the photos I've seen of 'Aberdeen Hill' that didn't put people going up there. All this negativity.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: DaveR on August 01, 2014, 02:19:55 pm
DaveR, Llandudno Musical Productions put on a show at the bandstand on a Sunday afternoon as well as in the Town Hall on a Tuesday evening.
Thing is, Bri, I've never seen any Bandstand Shows mentioned anywhere on a poster? How will these Shows get a decent audience if people don't know about them?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: mull on August 02, 2014, 09:55:55 am
I know the Porthcurno area very well and access to the Minack is good .
There is plenty of parking, tarmac area for visitors during the day and extra parking for performances in the evening and matinaes.
Any attracation of this sort needs easy access.
Can anyone come up with how this could be achieved in the Happy Valley area.
How about demolshing the Grand Hotel and make use of the Pier Pavillion site for this purpose.
Visitors travel 30/50 to attend perfomances at the Minack and would not come if parking was not available on the site, this would be no different if you tried to operate a similar theartre in Llandudno.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on August 02, 2014, 12:09:12 pm
I know the Porthcurno area very well and access to the Minack is good .
There is plenty of parking, tarmac area for visitors during the day and extra parking for performances in the evening and matinaes.
Any attracation of this sort needs easy access.
Can anyone come up with how this could be achieved in the Happy Valley area.
How about demolshing the Grand Hotel and make use of the Pier Pavillion site for this purpose.
Visitors travel 30/50 to attend perfomances at the Minack and would not come if parking was not available on the site, this would be no different if you tried to operate a similar theartre in Llandudno.

Of course people would come, parking isn't in issue. You only have to look historically at the site in use, it never prevented people in the past, and it wouldn't prevent people now. If your in the town on holiday parked up with your hotel, and your capable of walking the full length of the prom, or even negating the Great Orme (as most visitors do), then walking up to Happy Valley to see a performance isn't an issue here. Yes people tend to go out their way to get to the Minack, but the issue isn't quite the same here. There is already sufficient access for minibuses/taxi's, and a footpath along the Colonnade.

I'm not quite sure where the idea came from about demolishing the Grand Hotel. That isn't going to happen, nor would I support the idea. It part of the scene and that classic image you see time and time again when looking over towards the Orme and Pier. Could you really imagine Llandudno without it?
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Merddin Emrys on August 02, 2014, 12:38:43 pm
Just needs a very long stair lift up to Happy Valley, Thora Hird may be able to help!  :twoface:
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on August 02, 2014, 01:03:31 pm
Your legs that bad Merddin?

 _))*
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SteveH on August 02, 2014, 02:03:57 pm
I think we could go round and round this issue, but looking back, both the Minack and Happy Valley had two determined characters, responsible for their success, and the more I think about this, I feel that we need the same,somebody willing to take on H.V.   a manager who could run the site, both the gardens and the entertainment and make it a viable proposition,  or find another "ALEX"
 
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Yorkie on August 02, 2014, 02:07:38 pm
Regarding Alex Munro, about whom I know absolutely nothing. 
I have been reliably informed that some chap called Rockford has all the files.  Apparently in the past generally referred to as The Rockford Files!  However, I am also further informed by the media, that the said Rockford passed away a short time ago and the files went with him, as did his Oscars, and other personal effects.
Hope this helps.
 _))*
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on August 02, 2014, 02:21:59 pm
I think we could go round and round this issue, but looking back, both the Minack and Happy Valley had two determined characters, responsible for their success, and the more I think about this, I feel that we need the same,somebody willing to take on H.V.   a manager who could run the site, both the gardens and the entertainment and make it a viable proposition,  or find another "ALEX"

I doubt we could find a replacement for Alex, however I like your suggestion for management of the Happy Valley site as a whole, I am sure there is scope to develop the area further. It is a shame there isn't something like a butterfly jungle up there in the middle of the gardens, or a large hot house with tropical plants, terrapins and Koi Carp which people I am sure would pay to go in and see, I visited a place like that once somewhere not so long ago, but can't think where now. It all sounds rather imaginative I know, but i'm a visionary.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on August 02, 2014, 02:23:33 pm
Regarding Alex Munro, about whom I know absolutely nothing. 
I have been reliably informed that some chap called Rockford has all the files.  Apparently in the past generally referred to as The Rockford Files!  However, I am also further informed by the media, that the said Rockford passed away a short time ago and the files went with him, as did his Oscars, and other personal effects.
Hope this helps.
 _))*

Rockford Files? must be before my time? &shake& never heard of it lol.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SteveH on August 02, 2014, 02:38:43 pm
Nothing wrong with vision, and I like your ideas, and I am sure there are many more inexpensive ideas that a manager could build on....     now all we need is someone in the council with a bit of this elusive vision .
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on August 02, 2014, 02:39:51 pm
Nothing wrong with vision, and I like your ideas, and I am sure there are many more inexpensive ideas that a manager could build on....     now all we need is someone in the council with a bit of this elusive vision .

 $good$
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: Yorkie on August 02, 2014, 04:25:51 pm
Craig, was there not a Butterfly Jungle in the gardens at Bodlondeb?  Don't know if it is still there.  ZXZ
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: craigollerton on August 02, 2014, 05:04:25 pm
Craig, was there not a Butterfly Jungle in the gardens at Bodlondeb?  Don't know if it is still there.  ZXZ

Yes, it closed down several year ago not sure exactly why. Nearest I think Anglesey now? Pilli Pallas.
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: SteveH on June 02, 2015, 05:36:15 pm
Found this old Alex Munro Interview ......not sure if on here already.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GilXLE0vPvA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GilXLE0vPvA)
Title: Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
Post by: shnugs on October 07, 2020, 11:55:56 am
He was my Godfather, used to give me a couple shillings on the way in to Happy Valley and take them off me at the entrance Scottish Justice he would smile.