Britannia Music Hall

[Josef]

You all missed a good night tonight. They are having a music hall evening soon.

Indeed you did. Novel wee twist from Willie tonight - showing three versions of the same film. A silent with James Finlayson as lead to Stan, a talkie with Ollie replacing James Finlayson (who played the butler instead), and then a Spanish version with the same cast and a bizarre (real-life) reugurgitation cabaret act.

[HollowHorn]

Bugger! Was working tonight till 8.00 When is the music hall evening?

[Peekay]

I've got an original signed photie of Laurel'n'Hardy (along with various autographs from the Empire) . One more thing that's auction bound soon!

PK

[Willie]

There is a page about the Laurel and Hardy Marathon on 20th July coming to Sloans in Glasgow on Bowler Dessert Online. Plans are coming along nicely and a few surprises are lined up. Go to http://www.bowlerdessert.co.uk. Meanwhile the next Laurel and Hardy evening at the Panopticon is on Wednesday 4th July, starting at 7.00pm. All are welcome.

[Willie]

Tomorrow (Wednesday 1st August) sees us back at the Panopticon for our regular Laurel and Hardy film show. We will recognise the fact that Oliver Hardy died fifty years ago in August, with a few films in which he gets the limelight one way or another. But there will also be some favourite shorts. Please come along.

[mr moto]

Tomorrow (Wednesday 1st August) sees us back at the Panopticon for our regular Laurel and Hardy film show. We will recognise the fact that Oliver Hardy died fifty years ago in August, with a few films in which he gets the limelight one way or another. But there will also be some favourite shorts. Please come along.

what time is it due to start at ? thanks .

[John]

Doors usually open around 7PM and the event kicks off at 7.30. It is a great night.

[Willie]

NO! NO! NO! Doors open at 6.30pm and the films start at 7.00pm prompt.

[John]

Ah! That would explain why I am always late

[Josef]

Slightly disappointing turnout this evening, particularly since the BBC were in filming the event. Or perhaps HG's most wanted had got wind of it and were lying low?

Interesting wee silent with a solo Oliver Hardy.

[Josef]

And since this is the Britannia Music Hall thread, after all, rather than the Laurel & Hardy one : for the more adventurous amongst us -







Miss Leggy Pee, indeed .

[My Kitten]

And since this is the Britannia Music Hall thread, after all, rather than the Laurel & Hardy one : for the more adventurous amongst us -







Miss Leggy Pee, indeed .

Stuck a copy of this in Whats on too

[tommytank]

Im trying to settle a bet with my old man. He's convinced that at some point in the history of the panoptican there was a circus type event held. Exactly what and when is sketchy, but im sure that being a theartre hall this is highly unlikely. Does anyone know if such an event occured? It would have been around the 60s or the 70s!

[gap74]

The main auditorium had a pretty substantial false roof subdividing the balcony from the stalls between about the end of the war and up until only a few years ago, so it seems unlikely it would have been in there - all the other spaces in the building seem a bit low for any type of circus event, but I guess you never know!

[HollowHorn]

Not a Circus, there was a Zoo though, perhaps this would account for the confusion?

Pickard was a man of diverse taste. Between 1906 and 1938 the building housed not just music hall and cinema entertainment, but also freak shows, waxworks, carnival and zoo.

Albert Ernest Pickard (1874-1964)
The last of Glasgow's great eccentrics was a Yorkshireman, Albert Ernest Pickard Unlimited, as he liked to call himself. Born in Bradford in 1874, he moved to Glasgow in 1904, buying Fell's Waxworks in the Trongate. He added his own American museum. introducing many weird freak shows to the stage and even had a small zoo on the premises.

it could be argued that the Panopticon's best years started in 1906, when the Yorkshireman A E Pickard became the proprietor. Mr Pickard was a well liked character in Glasgow, a showman through and through. With his guidance, the Panopticon became a music hall, an amusement arcade, a zoo, waxwork museum, and a freak show.