Overdoing it

Our school (nearly) did a production of Jesus Christ Superstar back in 1974. We were on a run- Joseph, Rock Nativity, Godspell. At the full dress rehearsal, as Jesus stood dying on the symbolic cross, I lit the theatrical smoke pellets to show up the light beams for the resurrection.

One would have been more than enough. Two was way too much and the rehearsal quickly ground to a halt as the musicians couldn’t see their music. They then couldn’t see the exit as everyone coughed their way out of the hall!

Then the bombshell- we didn’t have musical clearance, wouldn’t be able to get it and were told we couldn’t perform it. (If we had gone ahead we would have been prosecuted).

The music teacher was gutted. So was I- I had a tube of pellets left & now knew they were far too smoky! I stuck to flashes and dry ice after that.

It wasn’t immaturity-just lack of experience. (H/T James)

Taking my Mum down memory lane

I took my Mum up to Tyneside a couple of months back to give her a chance to see how places had changed (or stayed the same).

We started in the West End, where she had lived with Neil (and eventually me as well) after getting married in the mid 50s. The West Road is a secondary retail area and some of the shops were still going, ran by the youngsters of the original tradesmen. It wasn’t a wealthy area and still isn’t, but it felt vibrant and on the up, especially with the increased cultural mix. We got some Black Bullets in Walkers the Newsagent, reminisced about Spicker the Optician (still going as a Partnership, I probably still have the odd glasses case with M.C.M. Spicker FSMC FBOA (Dunelm) engraved on it). We looke din the window of Jimmy Quinn the butcher (I burned my finger on his motorbike manifold and broke my Avengers John Steed plastic sword (in an umberella) with his Dad’s knife sharpening stick in an “ON GUARD!” moment). We went to look at our old flat (plural, upstairs and downstairs, now amalgamated into one) and she reminisced about her friend who had a flat over some of the shops, different smells in every room!

After driving down to look at my first school (much bigger than she remembered it) we checked out the council estate where we moved to and where she ran a Goldfinch Wines shop for a number of years. (It did a good trade in draught sherry, bring your own bottle!) We went up to the smaller Leech Estate where we subsequently moved to (& they both lived in for another 15 years) where she was pleased to see the garden looking fine.

We then went over to Gosforth, where she had been the Manager of Moods, a Fancy Goods store. This was her first disappointment, the High Street looking bleak, grubby and uncared for. The shop had to go to make way for the Regent Centre, which felt so empty and bereft of shops that it almost had Tumbleweed rolling through the malls.

We finished off the day down by the “NewcastleGateshead” Quayside, an area that has improved by leaps and bounds. Pat wasn’t really up to climbing Dog Leap Stairs but enjoyed the Baltic and the Millennium Bridge. The Sage Coffee Bar was a bit overpriced though, so we went to Scotch Corner Services instead on the way back to Leeds.

(This way to the egress…)

A favourite photograph

David as an older chubby baby…

People make places

I have rambled on about those wonderful entertainment venues of my formative years. Let us not forget the people who made them, as otherwise buildings have no purpose.

At the City Hall, I have mentioned Moose, before, or as he preferred to spell it, MØØse. He had set up camp in the electrical intake room behind the Manager’s office with all sorts of strange musical gadgets and improvised circuits, which he collectively referred to as MØØseCrap. He had a girlfriend called Marie and claimed to be an american (although I was told by others later that he was actually from Jesmond). He de-camped from the electrical intake room to the former projection room which had a bit more space but was a long way to go to answer the back door when the bells rang. Moose left rather suddenly in early 1976 and was replaced by Colin Rowell.

Colin was a very amiable guy, with long curly hair, tinted glasses and a jovial manner. Colin had been the Manager of a musical instrument store in the West End owned by Lindisfarne’s promoter, Barry McKay. (Barry could play the Organ and had done so at the City Hall for Christmas Concerts and the like). Colin had a side-kick called Neil Humphrey (or perhaps Pomphret?) and it was a joy to be on their team.

Colin had particular expertise with flatulence and used the catchphrase “I’ve dropped me lungs” after each virtuoso performance. After a year or so, this changed to “I’ve dropped me guts”, as he was courting a young girl not too long out of school who must have advised him of what she had learned in biology lessons. In subsequent years, he met a smashing lass called Angela who was a lifeguard in the Baths next door and they were still together last time I saw him in the early ’90s.

Colin & Neil had a great banter and one of Neil’s little singing ditties was:

“I’ll lever forget…
the night that we met…
…the back of the Raby”

(The Raby was an extremely rough Pub in Byker, to the east of Newcastle).

They also had a range of joke chat-up lines, like “Gizasniffofyourfrontbumpet” and “Geddahadamenob“. They only used them within the crew, however, as the pulling power was zero! One catch phrase that I still use is “Bozee Speakahs” (prounounced Bow (like grow) Zee Spee Cars”when they had heard some drunk punter admiring a Bose PA system down at the Assembly Rooms on the keyside. (Bose is pronounced like Rose).

I also have to mention Bob Brown, the Manager of the venue who put me straight on a lot of the realities of the business. He looked after several venues that the Council owned and had a bit of a chip on his shoulder about Freemasons running the Council. (He was old enough to have seen all of the T-Dan Snmith and Poulson scandals tearing the elected memebrs apart over the previous decade). He had an office in the Civic Centre (The T-Dan Smith memorial) and had ambitious plans to build a world class Concert hall to replace the City Hall and Baths Complex but he died in the late 70s.

Bob’s Wife used to help out in the Box Office and his Son worked the lighting control- until he had an affair with the high wire girl from Circus Hoffman and he ran off with her. This is how I ended up getting the job, so have the circus to thank for that…

Down at the Royal, Ernie Savage was an excellent house electrician and admired by the touring community all over the UK for his capability and helpfulness. (I still meet people who speak highly of him). He had originally worked at the Newcastle Empire with Andy Kent and they both transferred to the Royal when it had a vintage Strand Electric Grand Master control located on a platform stage left. (As a boy, I can remember gazing through the Dock doors fascinated by this ironmongery). They had a little room in the bowels of the building (next to the boilerhouse which was also their duties, of course) but they also spent quite a lot of time over the road in The Adelphi, the Stage Door Tap. (They both once took me down to a CIU club down towards the river, drinking in clubs being much more amiable (and affordable) than City Centre Pubs. Sadly, whilst I was at college, Ernie had an accident, falling off a tallescope (an extendible ladder access system), injuring his back and being off work for a long time. He came back to light duties but died unexpectedly shortly afterwards. he is sadly missed.

Andy went on to be Chief and I visited him in the late 90s, when he was near retirement. He also died a couple of years into his actual retirement, the all too frequent sad fate of active men who lose their purpose.

On a lighter note I went to see Snow White (starring Dana) with my mum in the late 70s when I was back from college once and we went into the Adelphi for a pre-show drink. I was surprised by the large number of “persons of restricted growth” in the bar, but when I counted them and noticed that there were actually seven, I guessed correctly that they were in the cast!