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The London Palladium, Argyll Street, Oxford Circus, London

Formerly - The Corinthian Bazaar / Hengler's Grand Cirque / The National Skating Palace / The Royal Italian Circus

Above - The London Palladium on the night of the first preview of the revival of the 1975 production of 'A Chorus Line' on the 5th of February 2013 - Photo M.L.

The London Palladium opened on the 26th of December 1910 with a Variety Show and one act play called 'The Conspiracy.' The Theatre was designed by the renowned Theatre Architect Frank Matcham and built at a cost of £250,000, with an auditorium constructed on three levels, stalls, dress circle, and upper circle, with a massive seating capacity of 3,435. Yet despite its size the Theatre is surprisingly intimate, with actors and audiences alike always adoring it. In December 2010 the Theatre, which is one of the most well known in London, celebrated its 100th anniversary.

Right - A 1912 Variety Programme for the newly opened London Palladium under Charles Gulliver's Direction. - Click to see Entire Programme.

Originally on the site now occupied by the London Palladium was the London home of the Dukes of Argyll; Argyll House. In the 1800s the first Earl of Aberdeen lived here until his death in 1860 when the building was demolished and the land excavated so as to build 'Bonded Wine Cellars.' Above the cellars, in 1870, The Corinthian Bazaar was erected as a temporary structure. The land was later acquired by Charles Hengler, who had worked in the Circus all his life. He altered and renamed the building Hengler's Grand Cirque and it opened in 1871. The original architect for this building was J.T. Robinson and it had a capacity of 1,090 but the building was eventually condemned as it was made entirely out of wood. In 1884 Hengler had the building enlarged and almost completely rebuilt by C.J. Phipps. However when Hengler died in 1887, even though his sons continued with the enterprise, Circus was already on its way out.

Another Circus Showman called Edward Wulff took over the running of the building for a short period but was unsuccessful so in 1895 the place was turned into a skating ring, called the National Skating Palace, which was famed at the time for having real ice.

Ten years later in 1905 another go at Circus was tried out in the building when it was renamed The Royal Italian Circus.

Left - A programme for The Royal Italian Circus, formerly Hengler's Grand Cirque , circa 1905 - Click to see Entire Programme.

Right - A Variety Programme for the 31st of December 1928 at The London Palladium, directed by George Black.

But this venture failed as the London Hippodrome had already opened and was a major success with its new form of Circus and Music Hall combined, and the London County Council had near enough condemned the building demanding major alterations and improvements which were too expensive for the present owners, consequently the building closed down and the lease became the property of the syndicate who were already drawing up plans for a new Music Hall on the site; the London Palladium.

Two days before this new Theatre opened The ERA printed a review of the building in their 24th of December issue saying: 'Brilliant in white and gold, with seating in warm red, the house sounds the last word in luxury and appointment, and the magnificent sweep of the dress circle presents a remarkable appearance from the stage.

Right - A variety Programme for the 6th of July 1936 at The London Palladium, directed by George Black.

In the great Palm Court at the back of the stalls, one thousand persons can be comfortably served with tea. This is a very striking feature of the Palladium and the Palm Court is of all Norwegian Rose granite which, especially, looks extremely attractive. In this Palm Court a ladies' orchestra will play daily between performances.

Left - The auditorium of the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

The decorations are very beautiful, Rose du Barri hangings adorn the boxes, and upholstery of the same colour has been employed in the stalls, while the orchestra is enclosed by a marble balustrade, Generally speaking, the colour scheme of the walls is pink, white and gold, with coloured marbles, and certainly there is not a dull note anywhere. The walls of the main vestibule are painted silver. Perhaps the most unique feature is the box to box telephone that has been installed. It will therefore be possible for the occupants of one box, recognising friends in another box, to enter into conversation with them.'

The above text in quotes was first published in the ERA, 24th December 1910.

Above - The auditorium of the London Palladium in 1949 - From the Moss Empires Jubilee Brochure of 1949

Above - A 1970s Seating Plan for the London Palladium

From the beginning The London Palladium was a Variety House where all manner of shows were put on including Music Hall, Melodrama, Farce, Operetta, and of course Variety, and everyone who was anyone played there. Charles Gulliver took over in 1912 and ran the Theatre hard by putting on twice nightly shows and three matinees a week.

Left - A 1917 variety programme for the London Palladium during Charles Gulliver's management.

1922 saw the very successful 'Rockets' which ran for 490 performances, followed by 'Whirl of the World' in 1923 which ran for 627. Then there was 'Sky High' in 1925 for 309 performance and 'Folies Bergeres,' 'Palladium Pleasures of Life,' in 1926, and 'The Apache,' in 1927, all of them successful.

In 1928 The Palladium was bought by The General Theatre Corporation and remarkably they turned it into a Cinema, but this was a dismal failure and only lasted three months.

Right - A Twice Daily variety programme for the London Palladium during the General Theatre Corporation's ownership.

George Black took over the running of the Theatre shortly afterwards and his own style of spectacular Variety Shows was extremely successful. It was black who started a new kind of entertainment at the Palladium called 'Crazy Week' which eventually became the 'Crazy Gang Shows,' with titles such as 'Life Begins at Oxford Circus,' 'Round About Regent Street,' 'All Night at Oxford Circus,' 'London Rhapsody,' and 'These Foolish Things.'

Left - The auditorium of the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

The Crazy Gang were so successful that they later had a home of their own and ran for years at the Victoria Palace Theatre.

Pantomime was a regular feature at the London Palladium for many years, and the Pantomime 'Peter Pan' became so popular that it was a fixture at Christmas at the Theatre every year from 1930 to 1938.

When George Black died in 1946 Val Parnell took over the running of the Palladium when it also became owned by Moss Empires.

Right - The original Moss Empires letter box from the London Palladium now displayed safely inside the Theatre - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

The George Black style continued under Val Parnell until 1948 when he tried his hand at Variety for the Theatre again, and with spectacular success. And of course, who can forget 'Sunday Night at The London Palladium,' a regular 'must see' for just about everyone in Britain on a Sunday night from 1955-1967 and again from 1973-1974 produced by Val Parnell, and later with his son Jack Parnell leading the orchestra.

Above Left - A programme for a Variety Show at The London Palladium 1st March 1948 , during the Theatre's ownership by Moss Empires.

The London Palladium is also famous for hosting the annual Royal Variety Performance, although it has actually been held at many different Theatres over the years. You will find details of all the Royal Variety Performances from 1958 to the present day here.

Right - The Entrance Foyer at the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

In the 1980s The Palladium became home to a string of successful large scale musicals, such as 'The King and I' with Virginia McKenna and Yul Brynner, 'Barnum' with Michael Crawford, 'Singing in the Rain' with Tommy Steele, and much less successful, the huge and lavish 'Ziegfield' which couldn't be saved even by Topol himself. Later there was 'Show Boat' 'Saturday Night Fever,' and 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' which was such a large production that the famous split Revolve at the Palladium was finally removed and scrapped, although a number of pieces were retained at the Theatre including a section of track and a running wheel. When the revolve was removed the central section of the stage was then replaced with a demountable Steeldeck style stage. Interestingly the revolve which was used for the production of 'Sister Act' which opened in 2009 closely resembled the original but was only a temporary structure designed to be removed at the end of the production.

Above - The finale of the 1948 Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium - From the Moss Empires Jubilee Brochure of 1949.

In February 2013 the Palladium became home to the revival of Broadway's smash hit of 1975, 'A Chorus Line'. I saw the Broadway cast in the show myself when it was produced at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in July 1976.

The revival, which I also saw, on its first preview at the London Palladium on the 5th of February 2013, was an almost exact recreation of the original and well worth seeing, whether you saw the original production or not.

Left - A Programme for the London Palladium production of 'A Chorus Line' in February 2013.

Right - A Programme for the Drury Lane production of 'A Chorus Line' in July 1976 - Courtesy Linda Chadwick.

The London Palladium is currently owned and run by the Really Useful Group whose own website can be found here.

Some Photographs of the London Palladium

Above - The Entrance Foyer at the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

Above - The Entrance Foyer at the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

Above - The Staircase leading up to the Circle and Val Parnell bar at the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

Above - The Val Parnell bar at the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

Above - The auditorium and stage at the London Palladium in a photograph taken in May 2011 - Courtesy Philip Marshall.

Above - The London Palladium during the production of 'The Sound Of Music' in 2006.

Above - The London Palladium during the run of 'Sister Act' in July 2009 - Photo M.L.

Above - Andrew Lloyd Webber and Andre Ptaszynski, Owner and Chief Executive of Really Useful Theatres make short speeches about the Palladium's history before toasting the Theatre's 100th anniversary - Photo courtesy Roger Fox, who is pictured below with Terry Powell.

Above - Roger Fox, Theatre Consultant and Chairman of the ABTT Historical Research Committee, and Terry Powell, assistant to the late Tod Kingman, designer of many memorable Palladium productions. Both of whom have been endlessly supportive of, and regular contributors to, this website.

Above - Introduced as the 'Tiller Girls' Jackie Simmonds, Rosalie Kirkman, Shirley Caught, June Vincent, & Rosemarie Russell cut the cake celebrating the London Palladium's 100th anniversary.

The London Palladium - The Story of the Theatre and its Stars
by Chris Woodward

Readers of this page who have an interest in the history of the London Palladium would be well advised to look at Chris Woodward's wonderful book on the Theatre; 'The London Palladium - The Story of the Theatre and its Stars.'

The book chronicles the history of the site of the London Palladium from its earliest days when Argyle street was first developed in the 1730s and a large house was built for Archibald Campbell, the 3rd Duke of Argyle, through to its days as the Corinthian Bazaar, parts of which still survive in the present building; and Hengler's Circus, of which I have never seen so many wonderful programmes and images depicted all in one place, and with such lovingly researched history of this once famous Arena. After detailing the history of the site Chris's book goes on to tell the story of what is probably Britain's most cherished Theatre, Frank Matcham's wonderful London Palladium, from its opening on Boxing day 1910, through its career as a Music Hall and Variety Theatre, it's days as a television star for Sunday Night at the London Palladium, its Sunday concerts and long running musicals, right up to the present day, and all in such meticulously researched detail. The book is copiously illustrated with an image for almost everything the Palladium has staged over its hundred year history. An absolute must buy for anyone who has graced its stage, sat in the audience, seen it on Television, or simply walked past its facade and wondered to themselves 'what kind of a story can such a magnificent building tell.'

Click here to buy the book at Amazon.co.uk.

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