Thursday, June 20, 2013

A spiffing palace

The Palace Theatre in High Street, Swansea, opened as the Pavilion Theatre of Varieties in 1888. Stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Lilly Langtry and Marie Lloyd all appeared on its stage and Sir Anthony Hopkins made his first professional stage appearance here in 1960. Since then it's been a cinema, bingo club and nightclub.

And now this Grade II listed building is derelict. Can't you just imagine what could be done to bring it back to its former glory? All we need is a millionaire or two.

My trouble is I really want to inhabit the world of the Bunty and Judy comics I read as a girl where spiffing groups of girls - including the snobby but ultimately good-hearted one as well as the impoverished but hard-working one - banded together to rescue and bring new life to old theatres. (Or save dance schools, injured horses, falsely disgraced favourite teachers etc.) It turns out the snobby one has an uncle who always wanted to be an actor but instead was forced into the family business and is now a rich but unhappy man who is not only delighted to pour his money into their project to revive the theatre but also along the way meets and falls in love with the widowed mother of impoverished girl, and they all live happily ever after.


6 comments:

Katney said...

Life was simpler then.

I can just see Mickey Rooney shouting "Let's put on a show!

Ole Phat Stu said...

Judging by the sketch of the blond girl, I'd hazard a guess that she was drawn by the same artist who drew "Dan Dare" in the 1950's boys' comic "Eagle" :-)

Liz Hinds said...

Oh, yes, let's put on a show, katney!

Could be, stu.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Oh, it should definitely be restored. I, too, loved "Bunty" and especially "The Four Marys". Those were the days!

nick said...

I loved boys' comics when I was young, but I loved girls' comics as well. I was always pinching my sister's Bunty and Judy and Girl. The hyperactive tough guys got a bit tiresome after a while.

Anonymous said...

I was really captivated by this picture. Such a lovely building heading for ruin. I looked it up on the internet and found that Edward Fox has been campaigning for its restoration. The info said he had been trying for 5yrs so far.
Do hope he has some success eventually.
Wendy (Wales)