Macclesfield u3a members were treated to a very informative talk by Marilyn Shalks who talked about the Theatres of Manchester, their history and the amazing performers that appeared there. Here are a few highlights from Marilyn’s talk.
In 1903 when The Midland Railway company wanted to build a hotel in Manchester, they wanted it to be bigger and better than anything else, but they didn’t have quite enough land. So, the Gentleman’s Concert Hall next door were persuaded to sell some of their land, but only on condition that there was a theatre in the new hotel. The Midland Hotel Theatre opened in 1904 in the basement of the hotel for drama and opera performances, but it was short-lived closing in 1922 due to the hotel’s expansion.
And the two ornate archways on the imposing entrance to the Midland Hotel? They were designed to accommodate horse-drawn carriages arriving from Manchester Central Station. The archways provided inward and outward passage for horse drawn carriages which allowed guests to enter the hotel directly from their carriage.
George Formby appeared regularly in Manchester Theatres. He trained as a jockey from a young age and couldn’t read or write. His wife who was something of a control freak, served as his manager and helped him learn his lines. Editor note: George also couldn’t read music and learned all his iconic banjo tunes entirely by ear.
After showing the u3a members a clip of a Wilson and Keppel routine, Marilyn entertained us with how in 1935 Wilson, Keppel and Betty performed their famous sand dance in a Berlin nightclub. Göring and Goebbels were in the audience and horrified by the performance (they thought the amount of skin on display would corrupt young people) ordered the Gestapo to arrest them. Editor note: Legend has it that the trio were tipped off just in time and managed to escape.
Marilyn left school at 16 and worked in retail all her life until her retirement. Marilyn now spends her time as a volunteer in Manchester Archives+, Manchester Jewish Museum Archives and a Women's Aid Group. Marilyn is also a keen genealogist. Through her volunteering role at Manchester Archives+ Marilyn has catalogued their collection of theatre programmes and playbills in the Manchester Archives+ collections.