Alhambra Theatre Glasgow
Encyclopedia
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
under the direction of Sir Alfred Butt
Alfred Butt
Sir Alfred Butt, 1st Baronet was a British theatre entrepreneur, Conservative politician and racehorse owner and breeder...
and was acknowledged as one of the best equipped theatres in Britain, planned to accommodate 2,800 people.
The Theatre was designed by architect, Sir John James Burnet
John James Burnet
Sir John James Burnet was a Scottish Edwardian architect who was noted for a number of prominent buildings in Glasgow, Scotland and London, England...
. It was built on the site of the popular Waterloo Rooms, which had previously been Wellington Street Church. The name derives from association with the Moorish palace in Granada, and was styled in “a cubic design with a colonnade of deep eaves, topped with twin oriental domes.
Its exterior was red brick banded with black and panels of white-glazed tile towards the top. Inside were canopies with sparing Louis XVI
Rococo
Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...
decoration.” .. It was always regarded as a modern theatre and one of the Number One theatres, known also as A1 theatres, of which by the 1960s there were only 14 remaining in Britain.
The theatre had a revolving stage, and from 1961 the stage was doubled in size to become the Starlight Room for the Five Past Eight shows.. Throughout most of its life the theatre was owned by Glasgow Alhambra Ltd.
The Alhambra opened with Yvonne Guilbert from France and specialised in variety
Variety show
A variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is an entertainment made up of a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling...
, including artistes from America, Australia and Continental Europe. Pantomimes began, using the Wylie-Tate production company. Scottish performers included Harry Lauder
Harry Lauder
Sir Henry Lauder , known professionally as Harry Lauder, was an international Scottish entertainer, described by Sir Winston Churchill as "Scotland's greatest ever ambassador!"-Early life:...
, Will Fyffe
Will Fyffe
Will Fyffe was a major star of the 1930s and 1940s, a star of stage, screen and shellac.Fyffe made his debut in his father's stock company at the age of six...
, Alec Finlay
Alec Finlay
Alec Finlay is a Scottish-born artist currently based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Finlay's work takes various forms and media, including poetry, sculpture, collage, audio-visual, neon, and new technologies; often it reflects on our relationship, as a culture, or cultures, with landscape...
, and Harry Gordon
Harry Gordon
Harry Gordon was a popular Scottish entertainer, comedian and impressionist, touring throughout Scotland and further afield. From the 1920s through the 1950s Gordon also produced a large number of recordings, including several under assumed names...
; revues and musical plays were added, featuring Cicely Courtneidge
Cicely Courtneidge
Dame Esmerelda Cicely Courtneidge DBE was an English actress and comedienne. The daughter of the producer Robert Courtneidge, she was appearing in his productions in the West End, by the age of 16, and was quickly promoted from minor to major roles in his Edwardian musical comedies.After the...
, Jack Buchanan
Jack Buchanan
Walter John "Jack" Buchanan was a British theatre and film actor, singer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George Grossmith Jr., and was described by The Times as "the last of the knuts." He is best known in...
, Evelyn Laye
Evelyn Laye
Evelyn Laye, CBE was an English theatre and film actress.-Early years and career:Born as Elsie Evelyn Lay in Bloomsbury, London, Laye made her first stage appearance in August 1915 at the Theatre Royal, Brighton as Nang-Ping in Mr...
, Jessie Matthews
Jessie Matthews
Jessie Matthews, OBE was an English actress, dancer and singer of the 1930s, whose career continued into the post-war period.-Early life:...
and Ivor Novello
Ivor Novello
David Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
; and also opera, ballet and dance. From the 1940s, the new Wilson Barrett Repertory Company, not the 19c company, made the Alhambra their largest base in Scotland.
The theatre became a part of the Howard & Wyndham Ltd
Howard & Wyndham Ltd
Howard & Wyndham Ltd was a theatre owning, production and management company, founded in 1895 by Baillie Michael Simons of Glasgow to formalise and extend an 1883 partnership between Irish born John B. Howard and Edinburgh born Frederick WP Wyndham which had first formed in order to run the Royal...
theatre company, in 1953, which purchased the theatre after selling its Theatre Royal
Theatre Royal, Glasgow
The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow, located at 282 Hope Street in Cowcaddens. The theatre originally opened in 1867, changing its name to the Theatre Royal in 1869, and is the longest running theatre in Scotland...
, to Roy Thomson, founder of Scottish Television
Scottish Television
Scottish Television is Scotland's largest ITV franchisee, and has held the ITV franchise for Central Scotland since 31 August 1957. It is the second oldest ITV franchisee still active...
. Their linked theatres throughout the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
shared production costs and permitted touring to Britain's major cities. Examples included, the fabulous Five-Past Eight (Summer shows) and Wish for Jamie pantomimes. These shows included early stars of the television era, such as: Rikki Fulton
Rikki Fulton
Robert Kerr Fulton, OBE , more commonly known as Rikki Fulton, was a Scottish comedian and actor best remembered for writing and performing in the long-running BBC Scotland sketch show, Scotch and Wry. He was also known for his appearances as one half of the double act, Francie and Josie, alongside...
, Jimmy Logan
Jimmy Logan
Jimmy Logan OBE, FRSAMD , born as James Allan Short, Dennistoun, Glasgow, was a Scottish performer, producer, impresario and director.-Family:...
, Stanley Baxter
Stanley Baxter
Stanley Baxter is a Scottish comic actor and impressionist, best known for his British television shows. He worked in radio, theatre, television and film.-Early life:...
, Fay Lenore, Eve Boswell
Eve Boswell
Eve Boswell was a successful pop singer in Britain in the 1950s.-Career:...
, Kenneth McKellar
Kenneth McKellar (singer)
Kenneth McKellar was a Scottish tenor.-Career:McKellar studied forestry at the University of Aberdeen, after graduation working for the Scottish Forestry Commission. He later trained at the Royal College of Music as an opera singer...
, Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves OBE is an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs...
and Frankie Vaughan
Frankie Vaughan
Frankie Vaughan, CBE, DL was an English singer of traditional pop music, who issued more than 80 recordings in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after one of his early hits.-Life and career:...
.
The theatre had the distinction of staging Scotland's first Royal Variety Performance
Royal Variety Performance
The Royal Variety Performance is a gala evening held annually in the United Kingdom, which is attended by senior members of the British Royal Family, usually the reigning monarch. In more recent years Queen Elizabeth II and The Prince of Wales have alternately attended the performance...
on 3 July 1958, and the Scottish première of My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
in May 1964. Glasgow Scouts performed their first Gang Show
Gang Show
A Gang Show is a theatrical performance with a cast of youth members of Scouts and sometimes Guides too, by invitation. Adult leaders and parents help out behind the scenes. The aim of the shows is to give young people in Scouting and Guiding the opportunity to develop performance skills and...
here in 1936; and Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
performed at the Alhambra from 7–11 November 1966.
The theatre continued to be well attended but the company were selling off their theatres, and after the final show by Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
on 24 May 1969, the theatre closed. It was demolished in 1971. The site is now occupied by an office block, Alhambra House.