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____________________________________________________________________________________________ Sunderland Theatres and Halls |
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Right - The Sunderland Empire - From a postcard 1914 It was owned by a subsidiary of Moss Empires that had its own managing director Dickie Reed. He was also Northern circuit supervisor for Moss but there were touches at Sunderland that always made the nearby Newcastle Empire seem like the poorer sister even though that was the more profitable theatre. The band was larger and the usherettes looked very sexy dressed in short military jackets and skirts with forage caps. I had many a memorable night with them. The manager was a formidable character Jessie Challons who came to Sunderland from the Palace Hull when it was sold and it was intended that he would only remain there for a month before going to the London Palladium. He stayed at the Empire for the rest of his days. There was no standing on the front to greet the audience for Jessie he would sit in splendour in his office and leave that to Fred the sergeant commissionaire. In the fifties The Stage newspaper was called The Stage and Television Today for a short time and was in two sections. Every Thursday morning when Jessie's copy arrived in the mail he would carefully detach the Television today section and throw it into the waste paper basket. He refused to see touring managers on a Monday morning, that was ludicrous. One Monday I had terrible problems with a second top of the bill, off I and went to see Jessie. His secretary barred me entrance to his office and said disdainfully Mr Challons does not see touring managers on Monday mornings. I pushed past her kicked his door open and amazingly we straightaway became firm friends and remained so for the rest of his life. The theatre was closed in the late fifties and reopened a year later as Britain's first civic theatre. In fact it was a civic Moss Empire because Jessie was re engaged as Manager and nothing changed even though Tyne and Wear Corporation owned the theatre. Pete Davis was presenting a pantomime that had a fortnight's option on it and it was playing to capacity business. He fell out with Jessie and they refused to talk to each other even to the extent of not communicating about the option. Needless to say the pantomime came off two weeks sooner than need be and a lot of business was lost. Jessie died very tragically he went into hospital for a routine operation that required a blood transfusion. He was given blood of the wrong group and died as a result. He used to keep his cigars in the circle buffet bar and after his death the bar maid knowing that we had been good friends kept them for me when I visited with a tour. There were quite a lot of them and they grew dry, brittle and almost unsmokable but the bar maid thought she was giving me a special treat and as I choked I had to pretend to enjoy them. The musical director was Fred Glover of the orchestra pit rail vaulting fame and a superb orchestra of fourteen was in the pit. Even though the theatre was not profitable during most of the fifties it was kept open because of the power Dickie Reed had within the Moss Empires board. He was a director of that company too. It was not long after he died that the theatre was closed.The stage manager was a great drinking man called Johnny Grieve and there were lock ins most nights at the Dunn Cow Pub. The theatre has its own exclusive ghost, Molly who was stage manager of a touring musical that visited the theatre in 1942. She went out to post a letter and has never been seen or heard of since. The case of the disappearance has never been solved but fingers have been pointed in various directions.ever since because it seems that our Molly had a very varied love life. Her Ghost can be seen in the theatre at postal collection times. The theatre is solvent and though owned by the corporation is run by Clear Channel Television.who are just embarking on a million and a quarter pound renovation backstage. so if you want to see the fireplaces in the dressing rooms and the backstage as it was built you had better get there quickly. The above text is from 'Moss Empire's Theatres in the Fifties,' kindly sent in for inclusion on this site by Alan Chudley. The Theatre was bought by The Ambassador Theatre Group in November 2009. |
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Right - Poster for Fred Lloyd, better known as Horatio Lloyd, and his wife Eliza Newton, better known as Eliza Hornecastle, at the Theatre Royal, Sunderland May 14th 1858 - Click to Enlarge. The poster right is from a large collection of original Lloyd Posters collected since the mid 1800s by members of the family and found recently after being lost for 50 years. To see all these posters click the Poster Index here... |
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People's Palace, High Street West, Sunderland
The poster right is from a large collection of original Lloyd Posters collected since the mid 1800s by members of the family and found recently after being lost for 50 years. To see all these posters click the Poster Index here... |
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