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   This
Special Feature is about The Empire Theatre Leicester Square's opening
night of April the 17th, 1884.
The Feature was first created in May 2004 but has been added to many
times over the following years.
The feature includes the whole of the opening night programme, with
transcribed text, including a detailed history of the site, the Theatre
itself, its construction, and accommodation.
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 A
brief history of all the incarnations of the Empire Theatre follows
but you can dive right in to the original opening night programme
feature by clicking here.
The First Empire Theatre
The first Empire Theatre was designed
by Thomas Verity and
opened in 1884 with a
production of 'Chilperic' which was a 'Grand Musical Spectacular' by
Florimund Herve.
The Empire later became a Music
Hall called 'The Empire Theatre of Varieties,' in 1887.
A new vestibule and side entrance were added in 1893
by Frank Verity.
The building was renamed The Empire Theatre again in
1898 but was closed and
demolished on the 22nd January 1927.
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The Second Empire
Theatre
The
second Empire Theatre was built primarily as a cinema and opened on
the 8th of November 1928 with the silent film 'Trewlawny of the Wells.'
Below is a film clip from British
Pathe of the opening night.
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Opening of the Empire Theatre, 1928
This British
Pathe Film shows the opening of the rebuilt Empire Theatre,
Leicester Square on the 8th of November 1928. The shots are all
outside the building and show an incredibly busy Leicester Square,
just like today, but back then cars were able to drive round the
square too, making it quite a chaotic scene.
The film showing for the opening night was 'Trewlawny of the
Wells' with Norma Shearer in the lead role.
Clip opens in a new window.
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Despite being built primarily as a cinema the second Empire Theatre
was equipped with a fully functional stage which was used for cine-variety
productions, and from 1949 Ballet and dancing shows were often produced
there.
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Command Performance 1954
This excellent silent British
Pathe Film is for a Command Performance of '"Beau Brummell'
at the Empire Theatre in 1954. It begins with the stars and celebrities
arriving outside the Theatre, including Elizabeth Taylor, Jean
Simmons, Stewart Granger, Jack Warner, Mary Bell, Freddie Mills,
Janette Scott, Susan Stephens, John Mills and wife, Jane Russell,
Peter Ustinov and Peter Finch. The Royals arrive and the cameras
move into the Foyer.
Five minutes into the clip the action moves into the Theatre
itself where we get to see excerpts from the evening's entertainment
including a film montage of London Theatres and shows - Clips
opens in a new windows.
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 'Cine-variety
was presented at the Empire for several years during the late 1940s
and early 1950s, the live shows were very elaborate affairs with a large
cast and a large pit orchestra, and were similar to shows presented
at Radio City Music Hall, New York. At normal West
End Cinema ticket prices this type of entertainment was very good
value for money. The programmes were issued free of charge.
Left - A Cine-Variety Programme for the Empire Theatre,
Leicester Square in March 1950 - Courtesy Alan Chudley -Click
to see the Programme.
The Empire had a large auditorium at that date, also a large stage,
albeit, on a different axis to Leicester Square then the original Empire.
Sir Alfred Butt, had insisted on the retention of a stage as a condition
of sale when he sold the original Empire in 1927. The stage lighting
for the shows was mainly overhead spot bars with Strand Patt 76 Acting
area floods and booms of Stand Patt 50a pageant lamps from the wings,
which gave very effective lighting. Unusually for a West
End Theatre, the house stage lighting switchboard, was not the usual
Strand make but a Blackburn & Starling job.' Text in quotes courtesy
Alan Chudley.
This second Empire Theatre was closed in May 1961 after
a 76 week run of 'Ben Hur' and the interior was completely reconstructed.
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The Third Empire
Theatre
Above - Three faces of the Empire, Leicester Square.
Left: 1884 - the original
Empire opens. Centre: 1928 - the MGM Empire opens with a Norma Shearer
'silent.' Right: 1959 - start of the 76-week run of "Ben-Hur,"
which closed the old Empire in a blaze of glory.
The
Empire Cinema that we know today is actually the third incarnation of
this iconic building in Leicester Square. The Theatre opened
on the 19th December 1962 with the film 'Jumbo'. A ballroom was built
below the Theatre in what was once the Stalls of the second Empire Theatre.
This is now used as a Casino. The Theatre has since been split into
two large cinemas but remains pretty much in its original form, and
is one of Leicester Square's major Cinemas, currently run by UCI.
See this July
2003 Special Feature on the reconstruction and opening of the third
incarnation of the Empire Theatre.
Click here to begin this month's
Feature on the opening of the first Empire Theatre
Index
to other Theatres and Cinemas in London's Leicester Square
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