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Also known as Palladium Theatre
London Palladium
London, England
Agyll Street , London, England, United Kingdom W1V 1AD
( map) +44.0207494.5020
Located close to Oxford Circus in central London's West End. In the 1860's the Corinthian Bazaar was built on this site, to the design of Owen Lewis. In 1871, it was opened as Hengler's Grand Cirque to the plans of J.T. Robinson. In 1884, the building was re-built to the plans of noted theatre architect C.J. Phipps. In 1895, it was converted into the National Skating Palace, with real ice.
Theatre owner Walter Gibbons employed famed theatre architect Frank Matcham to design a new variety theatre. It opened as the Palladium Theatre on 26th December 1910, with a variety programme that included Nellie Wallace, Ella Retford and Ella Shields, plus Martin Harvey in a one act play "The Conspiracy".
Matcham retained the original facade that had been built for the Corinthian Bazaar. It has a Classical temple style front, with Corinthian columns on tall pedestals. Matcham added a sculpture to the top of the pediment. To the left of entrance is a large booking hall. The main foyer is decorated in a French Rococo style, as is the auditorium.
Inside the 2,325-seat auditorium, seating was provided for 984 in the orchestra stalls, 598 in the dress circle and 743 in the upper circle. There are three boxes on each side of the 47 feet wide proscenium. The stage is 45 feet deep and was built with a double revolve. At the rear of the stalls was a large Palm Court with Norwegian Rose granite walls, which in the early days served tea (with a ladies orchestra playing), it is now the stalls bar.
The Palladium Theatre was equipped to screen films as part of the variety shows from its early days, and variety performances continued until the 1920's when revues became the latest vogue. From 19th March 1928, the Palladium Theatre was purchased by the General Cinema Corporation and was converted into a cinema, but this only lasted three months. It came under the direction of George Black and high speed variety became popular. "Peter Pan" was staged here every Christmas from 1930 until 1938, principle 'boys' playing Peter include Jean Forbes-Robinson (1930-1934 & 1938), Nova Pilbeam (1935), Elsa Lanchester (1936) and Anna Neagle (1937). From 1934, the theatre was officially known as the London Palladium.
In 1946, the theatre was managed by Val Parnell and had become part of the Stoll-Moss Group of variety theatres. From 1948, it began a policy of big name variety, with many top stars such as Bob Hope, Liberace, Ethel Merman, Nat King Cole, Jimmy Durante, Gypsy Rose Lee, Judy Garland, Danny Kaye, Frankie Laine and Frank Sinatra topping the bill. The London Palladium became as famous as the Palace Theatre in New York City.
On 25th September 1955, 'Sunday Night at the London Palladium' was televised for the first time. Hosted by Tommy Trinder, topping the bill that night were Gracie Fields and Guy Mitchell. The hour-long 'live' broadcast ran on Independent Television for 15 years. Variety continued into the 1960's and 1970's with artists such as The Beach Boys, The Mamas and The Papas (Cass Elliot died after two days into the run), Ginger Rogers, Donald O'Conner, Liza Minnelli, Diana Ross and even Bette Davis in her one woman show.
In more recent years, big musicals have taken over the stage. "Michael Crawford in "Barnham", Tommy Steele in "Singin' In the Rain" (where film projection was used in one sequence), "La Cage Aux Folles", "Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", Yul Brynner in "The King and I", "Chitty Chitty Bang, Bang", "The Sound of Music" and many more.
The London Palladium has been the location for a least two films; Alfred Hitchcok's "The 39 Steps"(1935) starring Robert Donat, where the final 'Mr. Memory Man' sequence was filmed, and Judy Garland in "I Could Go on Singing"(1963).
The London Palladium is a Grade II* Listed building. Today it is part of The Really Useful Group, headed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Contributed by Ken Roe
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http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/LondonPalladium.htm