The Empire Theatre

[latviaman]

Does anyone remember the hey days of what was an excellent Theatre, what memories do you have, the Boys Brigade shows???

[Scotty]

before my time  :004:

but see this thread which has much reminiscing

http://www.caleythistleonline.com/index.ph...msg8396#msg8396

[Kingsmills]

If we had had a more enlightened council in the early seventies then perhaps the money spent on Eden Court would have been spent on restoring this splendid edwardian thearte with it's larger auditorium to its former glory.

[givmeaccccc]

I remember going to the Empire to see Tyrannosaurus Rex. Yes Marc Bolan and Mickey Tooth (was that his name?) There were about 20 people there max. We were in the cheap seats, when Marc came out he invited the few people in the cheapies to come forward to the expensive seats.

Does anyone else recall being at that gig? There can't be many of us!

[Guest chasbain]

yes i remember the empire danny williams with his chart hit moon river. plus shane fenton (shakin stevens]

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

Theback rows were smashing fer a fumble.

[beachcomber]

Shane Fenton

became Alvin Stardust

[img width=600 height=450]

not Shaking Stevens

[Guest chasbain]

very popular then was the wrestling  remember mick macmanus ricki star and george Kidd.                                                  also summer shows lasting eight weeks every year,with change of programme every thursday. season started of with a show called flying high (variety show). the world record for non stop piano playing was attempted in the theatre by syncopating sandy final show was the corries before the final curtain.

[latviaman]

I remember a local group playing with Shane Fenton at the empire , lending them their new VOX amp and they blew it, said thanks and did a F Oscar

Does anyone remember the other groups who p[layed the Empire, Fortunes, Johnny Mike / shades. Barron knights, ok showing my age but John Worth brought some great groups there and gave stage time to all the local groups like tge Wildcats Flock, Accents, Size Four, and where are they all now Charles might have the answer, I also remember Marek and the Mobsters anyone else?????

[Guest chasbain]

sorry lost touch with localscene. i do remember however emlie ford and the checkmates (what do you want to make those eyes at me for) asking members of the audience to come on stage and do a dance called the fly.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Sure do.

Went there once with Mater und Pater in , or around, 1948-1950--a variety show--the comedian had me in stitches.

Mind you I was really little and no doubt my sense of humour had not at that time  been touched with cynicism but I laughed uproariously at one of his jokes and the other folks in the crowd for some strange reason did not see the joke. But I remember the comedian looked directly at this little boy in the seat close to the front and smiled appreciatively. I was touched, recognition......wheee!.

It was at that time that I realised for the first time that Scarlet was possessed of an unusual and somewhat....er....different sense of humour. And that's his saving grace and probably the only reason I tolerate him in the house these days.

It was indeed a great Theatre , much loved and patronised as far as I can tell by the locals. :003:

[Guest Jock Watt]

Ah the BB shows !  I remember one that contained a sketch that couldn't be performed today - a bunch of us

sitting round a campfire (red tissue paper covering a light bulb) with blackened faces and singing old negro songs like Old Man Ribber !!!!!!! :hiding01:

[Charles Bannerman]

Does anybody remember "Singing Together" on the radio in Primary school? UIn these days we used to sit in the class, singing away at songs which would get you arrested these days. "De Camptown Races" was one of the tamer ones!

[DJS]

Singing Together - I remember it well.

[absent friend]

The Empire offered greats (Scots) entertainers like Robert Wilson of' Down in the glen' fame - Andy Stewart of 'Donald where's your trousers' fame - Sydney Divine of 'Murder that song' fame and , of course, Will Starr, the foremost accordian player of 'Often imitated but never bettered' fame.

Edwin Heath, the Hypnotist, who married a local girl, also had a very good stage act - good clean fun.

We also had that great Gaelic singer Callum Kennedy who could change the mood of an audience by the first line of a song - a Scottish treasure for sure!

Yes I also remember the BB concert, with a sketch from Emergency Ward 10, where a make belief operation was being carried out behind a thin see through screen, with arms and legs being cut off and sewn back on and the anesthetic being a hammer! If I remember correctly the fourth also did a club swinging routine with lights on the end of them and this act was performed in the summer in the Islands, for the tourists.

[Guest Jock Watt]

If I remember correctly the fourth also did a club swinging routine with lights on the end of them and this act was performed in the summer in the Islands, for the tourists.

Yes, it WAS the 4th whose PE team (of which I was the leader) swung the clubs with light on the ends.

Our foils fencing team also performed in one BB show in the Empire and it was only afterwards that I was told that the protective vest I wore that night had a large rust stain on the front that looked to the audience as though I'd been run through !!!

[Charles Bannerman]

Clubs and swords! What he **** were they thinking about dishing out weapons to the boys from the Ferry!?

(But now you remind me, I do remember the 4th Company's illuminated clubs.)

At the game yesterday there seemed to be a party of what our generation would call Life Boys. And, incredibly, the woman in charge of them was the same woman as used to be a Lifeboy leader when I was in the Lifeboys! Now if that isn't long service.... Sir William Smith was still a young man in these days.

Remember when Lifeboy Leaders wore navy blue twinsets with a pale blue lanyard round one shoulder and navy blue three cornered hats? (Well the women did anyway.)

absent friend...

"I can sing like Calum Kennedy,

I can sing like Calum Kennedy,

I can sing like Calum Kennedy,

And there is no f*****g remedy!"

[absent friend]

Charles, it is evident  from your last line of the above posting, that your Westcoast/Gaelic genes are well and truly gone - if indeed they were ever there in the first place!!

You should realise that the remedy is amber, liquid and excellent for any occasion from a ceilidh to a wake and makes any singing voice most acceptable.

[Charles Bannerman]

Absent Friend... you're probably right. I'm an Invernessian of partial Caithness extraction. (Up 'ee Rodd)

[Guest iTS ONLY ME]

Had a slight disater here in that my apartment was broken into whilst away playing, and slightly ransacked, well no electrical goods were left!!

Hence my new name, new computer but not new brain!! Mr Bannerman u are correct, Mr Galloway was the man in the wee shop at the bottom of Hill street