Ron Drew's Theatre Pages
Local Professional Theatre
In 1913, architects Gibson and Steinlet of North Shields designed The
Borough Theatre in Mile End Road, South Shields. It was built by
WT Weir of
Willington-on-Tyne and originally designed as a traditional theatre. However, a
last minute change of mind saw it opening as a "Pictures and Variety Hall", with
a change of name to the Queen's Theatre. It
had also been designed to show films by now becoming a popular form of entertainment.
The theatre was owned by (and
presumably initially built for) the Thompson family, a name that was well known
throughout the area through the family's engineering company, J G Thompson and
Sons (Contractors) Ltd. John George Thompson is believed to have instigated
its building, and he and his son (also John George Thompson) owned the theatre
throughout its life. J G Thompson (senior) is perhaps more famous in horse-racing
circles, having owned a horse which came 5th in the Derby.
The theatre was a grand
affair, capable of seating an audience of 2400, and with a stage that was 40ft
by 40ft it could take large touring shows. The main entrance was marble, with
granite columns and a mosaic floor. The staircase to the circle was a
particularly grand affair, with steps of marble and a large mahogany handrail.
Inside the auditorium were modern and luxurious tip-up chairs, and there was a
lot of red plush in varying shades. It was hailed by building
experts and theatrical entrepreneurs from all over the country as "standing
alongside the finest and most up-to-date in the country".
The Queen's Theatre opened on August Bank Holiday, August 4th, 1913
and being also a Cinematograph Theatre, in
its early days it would show films between the music-hall acts. The first programme
on the opening night was Miss Aimee
Parkerson (contralto) and Les Georgis ("sensational
acrobats"). But
the top of the bill was a film, 'East Lynne', advertised in the local newspaper,
The
Shields Gazette, as "The Greatest Exclusive Picture Ever Produced". There were two British
films of that title produced in 1913; both were silent and in black
and white and both adapted from Henry Wood's novel of the same name.
.A billboard of the time
The theatre secured many exclusive rights to films such as those starring
Fatty Arbuckle and
Ben Turpin,
. Of course,
the silent movies were accompanied by music and this was supplied for many years
by James Todd and His Orchestra who had links with the theatre throughout
its life.
Because of its status and
its links with other theatrical chains, the management was able to engage
high-class acts from the British and Continental circuits, including names like
Harry Lauder, Houdini and Charlie Chaplin. As well as music hall
acts they engaged musicians who were popular at the time. In November !919, W
H Squire, cellist, (composer of 'In an Old-fashioned Town') and also
in April 1920 Haydn Wood, violinist, (composer of 'Roses in Picardy')
appeared. By the mid-30s, the
Queen's was doing a lot of live entertainment, including revues such as
'Marvellous' and 'Laughter after Dark'.
But is wasn't just films
and music hall that the theatre was known for. The South Shields Choral
Society and the South Shields Amateur Operatic Society (widely known
just as "The Amateurs") both performed there. In fact it was the home for
The
Amateurs from its formation in 1917 right through to the start of World War II,
when their 1940 production of 'Wild Violets' had to be abandoned.
Prior to the war, Solly Sheckman, who was now running the theatre, was expanding his cinema company,
"North East Coast Cinemas Ltd".
Music halls all over the north were being converted into cinemas, and by 1939 he
had something like a dozen in his chain. Eventually, the name of his company was
changed to something a bit more memorable - he took the first two letters of his
wife's name (Esther), his own (Solly) and his daughter's (Dorothy) to make
Essoldo,
a name that eventually became well known all over the country with over 200
Essoldo cinemas operating by the 50s.
And the first Essoldo cinema was the
Queen's Theatre in South Shields. However, its life as part of
the Essoldo circuit was short-lived. It was back to being
The
Queens.
The Queen's Theatre, was
destroyed in an air-raid during the 1939-45 war. The dramatic end occurred on
9th April, 1941, in the week when the Queens (by now it had lost the apostrophe in its billings!)
was playing host to Arthur Lucan and his wife, Kitty McShane. Their show,
Old Mother Riley and her Daughter Kitty, was hugely popular all over the
country, particularly with children, and they were playing to a capacity crowd.
During the night that followed the show, South Shields was subjected to what
the Shields Gazette called "a savage attack on the North-East coast by Nazi "moon
raiders". Some 6,000 incendiary bombs and high explosives fell throughout the
town. For a vivid account of the Nazi bombing raids on that night visit another
of Mike Todd's web sites:
www.miketodd.net/tree/archives/queens/gazette-bombing.htm
The Queens was
one of the victims. By dawn, firemen were still playing water on the
theatre. The Gazette reported "During the night they had fought the fire,
increasingly ignoring the dangers to which they were exposed when huge tongues
of flame leaped up into the sky and made the blazing building a target for the
overhead bombers." Lucan and McShane lost most of their props.
Until then The Queens had continued the world of Music Hall
with Variety of a very high standard and although there was some talk
in 1946 of rebuilding the theatre, it was never rebuilt.
South Shields was left without a purpose
designed theatre or cinema for many years.
Thanks are due to Mike Todd (http://www.miketodd.net)
for most of this information, based on items from his web site.
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Copyright (c) 2004 Ron Drew
Last revised:
May 25, 2004.