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____________________________________________________________________________________________ Empire Theatre, Great Horton Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire Formerly the Empire Music Hall / Empire Theatre & Opera House / Later The Empire Cinema
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The Empire Theatre, Bradford was built by W. Sprague and opened as the Empire Music Hall on the 30th of January 1899 with an auditorium on three levels, Stalls, Circle, and Balcony. The Theatre was built across the road from the site where the Alhambra Theatre would later be built in 1914.
Above - A Telegram sent by the famous escapologist Houdini on the 27th of January 1911 reads: My dear H Howes, will you kindly call at the Empire this evening if possible, would like to see you before I leave charming Bradford. Yours etc. Houdini. - Courtesy Harvey Howes. Harry
Houdini is known to have performed at the Bradford Empire in 1911,
a visitor to the site, Harvey Howes, has sent in details of his Grandfather,
H. Howes, who lived at Salt Street, Bradford at the time. Howe's stage
name was Carleete and Harvey says that he tried to hand-cuff Houdini
on stage. A Telegram sent to Howes on the 27th of January 1911 is shown
above and reads: "My dear H Howes, will you kindly call at
the Empire this evening if possible, would like to see you before I
leave charming Bradford. Yours etc. Houdini." Harvey says that
Houdini once came to his grandfather's house for tea and a chat and
even attempted to hand-cuff his uncle. He also took the time to have
a look at his grandfather's water barrel, possibly with the idea of
using it in his act. The building of the Alhambra Theatre across the road from the Empire in 1914 was a serious blow for the Empire and in April 1916 the Theatre closed down. It was then reconfigured and reopened in August the same year as the Empire Theatre & Opera House. Unfortunately a serious fire the following year resulted in the stage being destroyed and its Theatre days were over. In February 1918 the Empire reopened as a Cinema, the Empire Cinema, and ran successfully for many years under various different managements and names but on the 25th of January 1952 a fire broke out after the Cinema had closed for the night doing a great deal of damage to the building and it was never to reopen. The entrance of the Empire was converted into a restaurant
for the adjoining Alexandra Hotel and other areas were also taken over
by the hotel until eventually the whole building was demolished in the
early 1980s and the hotel was itself demolished in 1993. Arthur Lloyd is known to have performed here in 1902 See Below: Bradford Daily Telegraph, Monday 10th March 1902 Empire Theatre Katie Seymour LaBelle Wilma, Paintress in sand and smoke. Tom W. Burrows Arthur Lloyd,
the popular comedian Lily Morris, Harry Bold. The Two Sisters O'Mears, first appearance of the Five Delevines in Musical Melange. Prices of admission: 2s, 1s 6d, 1s, 6d, 4d and 3d.
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