Scottish Music Hall &
Variety Theatre Society

INFORMATION WANTED

If you have any information which will help with these requests, please contact our Secretary Bob Bain at bob.bain@ntlworld.com

Royal Quixotes Concert Party

Roy Barbour

My Grandfather was Roy Barbour, the Northern Comedian. I know he worked in Scotland many times but do not know where. I would be glad of any information anyone can give me. His father Alfred Ernest Crawley or 'Al Norman' or 'Curly Jackson' also worked as a light comedian and appeared in Scotland.

My parents Jean and Peter Barbour performed at Her Majesty's, Aberdeen in pantomime and in many other theatres in Scotland. As Sue and Peter Barbour, my father and I also performed there, as well as in Ayr for Butlin's in 1975 and later at the Adam Smith Centre, Kirkcaldy with Frankie Howard and at the Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow.

I have started to do research on the days of 'Variety Theatre' and would be pleased to hear of anyone who toured in those days. Also, any 'Children of Variety' who like myself, had an unusual childhood.

I have great memories of performers like Denny Willis, Johnny Mulvaney, and of course, Johnny Beattie. Please could you tell him that I am still in touch with Spike and Chris Black of 'Fresh Aire' who appeared with him at the Gaiety Theatre, Ayr in 1975. In fact, I am going to stay with Chris for a month in September nr. Brisbane, Australia and see Spike frequently in the UK.

Once again, thanks for a great website,

Best regards,

Sue Barbour

sbigbootb@gmail.com 

Dear Sir,

I am researching the life of a juggler and top-spinner called Gintaro.He toured with Sir Harry Lauder and appeared in Scotland throughout his long career (eg in 1903 at the Glasgow Empire and in 1946 at the Palace Theatre (Edinburgh, I think).Towards the end of his career (1941 onwards) he used the name Ziska instead on Gintaro.

His wife Isabella McAndrew was Scottish The earliest record of his appearing in Scotland that I have was on 23 September 1903 at the Glasgow Empire. He toured America with Sir Harry Lauder from 1922 - 1924 (I am awaiting a photo of this tour from a library in Scotland). In the 1930s he appeared at "The Empire Theatre" which I think was in Edinburgh, and in 1946 appeared there under his new name of "Ziska".He died in 1952.

I am interested in finding out more about my grandparents family who were all working in Music Hall and the theatre in the late 19 and early 20 century. After doing some research I wrote to Roy Hudd at the British Music Hall Society. He suggested I contacted you for information about the theatres in Edinburgh from 1871 to 1906. My grandfather, Charles John Cawood (1868-1943), was Acting Manager of the Empire Palace Theatre there between 1899 and 1906 and I have a scroll presented to him, recording this. I have recently spent a few days in Edinburgh and was delighted to find in the library, details of the Edinburgh theatres at that time, including a receipt book from the Empire Palace in 1903 for the fees of artists like Harry Lauder and Little Titch. Charles was classically trained, a violinist, and leader of a theatre orchestra, somewhere in Edinburgh in the 1890s.

His father John Cawood 1837-1903 was also a theatre manager, in fact is noted on his marriage certificate in 1868 as Acting Manager of the English Opera Company. This I think was in Leeds, from where the family moved to Edinburgh in 1871. In 1873 on his daughter’ s birth certificate he is noted as Acting Manager of the Princess Theatre Edinburgh, which I believe was staging Gilbert and Sullivan at the time. In the 1875 professional directory he is a theatrical agent, and in 1881 and 1891 census again theatrical manager.

I enclose a copy of the script of the scroll and details about my grandmother, who probably appeared on the halls in Edinburgh from 1900 till the family moved down to London in 1910. I just wondered if you could add any further details for me about the English Opera company, and the theatres and Music Halls that were active in Edinburgh at this period, or refer me to someone else who had a similar interest. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for any help you can give me, including any book titles you can suggest.

Yours faithfully

Brenda Young

Script from Scroll

Presented to Charles J Cawood by the staff of the Edinburgh Empire Palace Theatre on the occasion of his vacating his position of Acting Manager. This address is an acknowledgement and appreciationof his kindly and courteous disposition and as a token of the high respect and esteem in which he was held by the entire staff of the theatre. The staff assure Mr Cawood that he carries with him their most sincere good wishes for his future welfare and success.

11 May 1906

George Sinclair, Hewel Hall, Harry Stewart, James Howorth

CORRINA BOLTON

If you have any information for Corrina, please email it to either:

Derek Green: Chairman -  ghost.green1@btinternet.com

Bob Bain: Secretary -  bob.bain@ntlworld.com

I have for a number of years been trying to obtain information on my Grandfather who was involved on the Music Hall circuit during the first three decades of the 20th century, using the stage name of Harry Lamb.  His real name was John Alexander Burke, born in Dundee on 6th April 1881 and died at 31 St Andrew Street, Glasgow on 1st March 1951.

The only information I have regarding his Music Hall career is a copy of a business card which contains the following details:- HARRY LAMB, The Paradox Comedian, Author and Composer - On Tour.

Any information you may have on my late relative's career would be greatly appreciated.

Alan Melville

24 Gleaneagles Way, Livingston, EH54 8EW

I'm researching the career of Peter Sinclair, who was a singer of comic ballads in the Harry Lauder tradition. He also sang ballads that had been popularised by Will Fyffe. In his comic patter, between the songs, his styleof humour was much like Lauder's.

He was born in 1901 in Kirkintilloch. Before the Second World War, he toured the Scottish music-hall circuit, where for a time he had a double-act with Dave Bruce. In the late 1930s he began to appear in the North of England,where he was billed as the "Cock o' the North" after the traditional Scottish ballad of that name, which was the song that was most associated with him.  He was on the Collins circuit in the immediate post-war period. He appeared at the Winter Gardens, Rothesay in the 1950's, and at The Tivoli Theatre, Aberdeen in the Forties and early Fifties, as a top-liner. He also played the Clyde holiday resorts.

He had an unusual hobby, of collecting crooked sticks, which he may have gotten from Sir Harry Lauder, who also collected them. Or it may just have been a gimmick, adopting an eccentricity that people associated with Lauder in order to strengthen his own association with Lauder in the public's mind. Peter Sinclair played Scottish parts in musicals in London, and became well known on the radio as the grandfather to Lancashire comedian Jimmy Clitheroe. His daughter, Wenda Sinclair-Cohen, was also in show business. He died in 1994, at the age of 94, and is buried in the Auld Aisle Cemetery in Kirkintilloch.

I'm particularly trying to find any details of his pre-war career on the Scottish music-hall circuit, or any information about his act with Dave
Bruce.

Best wishes,
Sandra

Sandra Skuse & Stephen Poppitt
Jimmy Clitheroe - The Kid Himself
www.JimmyClitheroe.co.uk/