Author Topic: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno  (Read 130430 times)

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Offline Trojan

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #45 on: January 28, 2011, 02:27:28 am »
Thanks for that Dave, it brings back memories.

I worked on it a few times, which wasn't easy as the 1725cc 'straight four', forward control petrol engine had difficult accessibility.

He never went camping in it, but used it as a 'work' vehicle. It was always full of costumes, programmes, and paraphernalia for his shows. It was also used as a mobile advertising hoarding, as he often had placards promoting his shows in the side windows.

There was also that wonderful smell of pipe tobacco.........
« Last Edit: January 28, 2011, 02:40:57 am by Trojan »

Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #46 on: January 28, 2011, 08:19:27 am »
I'm sure I remember it around town, with posters of his face (and trilby) on it.


Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #47 on: January 28, 2011, 07:47:12 pm »
The 1964 Summer Season cast up at Happy Valley:

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Offline Trojan

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #48 on: January 29, 2011, 03:53:55 am »
Looks like Stan Ryder back row middle, and Alex's son, Alex Jnr far left.

I think that's his wife to the left of Alex.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #49 on: January 29, 2011, 07:03:34 pm »
Spot on, Trojan. Being as it was taken in 1964, I think this photo must also feature Lorraine Hulme, who used to post on the old Forum. This is what she said back then:

"Hello, I’m the Lorraine Hulme referred to a couple of times herein. I've just found this fascinating forum. There is much I can comment on, and add to, although a lot of the current content is from the later days at Happy Valley and the Grand, when I wasn’t around.

I was in the Summer Seasons in 1964, 1965, 1966 and then again in 1976. I also went to other theatres, and hotels, and places, to appear with Alex. I have a lot to thank Alex and Marie for. They gave me my first full-time theatre job (aged fifteen and a half), and I look back on my days at Happy Valley with great pleasure. Alex was like a benevolent Uncle to me. He wasn’t just a great entertainer and showman; he was really great guy as well! But he was a canny Scot, too, and he knew every trick in the book when it came to making that place pay!

My first visit to Happy Valley was in the days when Waldini was in residence. I must have been a little girl. I particularly remember a rather good pianist who played with his feet (because he had no arms). There was nothing quite like that when I was appearing there, although Mr Bennett came close. He used to enter the talent competitions in the 1960s at the weekends and his act was, well, different. On one occasion in 1966 he asked Alex to only call him by his stage name. “And what’s that?” said Alex; “Mrs Bennett” was the reply. When, I later learned, he moved to Llandudno, Alex gave him an old dress suit, and a job. But not on-stage, as far as I know.

In the 1960s the Happy Valley company included dancers. There was Marie herself, who was also the choreographer, and three others. I was initially employed as a dancer, and did three shows a day, six days a week. Dancing was not allowed on Sundays in Wales, but I was able to work as a singer in the two Sunday shows. That increased my dancer’s wage of £10 per week to a princely £12. Actually that was quite lot for a fifteen-year-old in 1964, so it could never be said that Alex was stingy. In 1966 Anna-Marie was on the way, and Marie was working in the box office rather than dancing herself, so the audience just saw three dancers. By 1976 there were no dancers. I was there just as a singer that summer.

A little trivia: there were two Scots named Scott who played the accordion with me at Happy Valley. Anne Scott from Selkirk was in the 1966 company, and Jackie Scott from the Isle of Bute was there in 1976.

Here’s how the lucky programs and raffle pictures worked: lucky programs were sold on entry, by members of the company, usually the dancers. There was a number on each, and for each program sold we put a raffle ticket bearing the same number in the ‘hat’. Lucky pictures were sold during the interval, again by the company. Each picture purchase included five ‘free’ raffle tickets. Some people just bought raffle tickets and no picture; others bought a picture, got their free tickets and also bought extra raffle tickets. Both draws took place sometime during the second half of the performance. The winners usually got a bottle of ‘Pomagne’, which Alex was given by the manufacturers as a promotion.

The Happy Valley show didn’t just happen at Happy Valley. In September 1964, when the nights got chilly, we took it into the Coliseum Theatre at Rhyl. In 1965 we just went as far as the Gaiety. In 1976 there were no evening performances at Happy Valley. Instead we took the show round various Llandudno hotels.

Alex put on other shows as well. I was Snow White in his 1976 panto, with my brother Tony as principal boy. We were at the Odeon, which is now a block of flats, I believe. I also went with Alex to appear in Anglesey, Darlington … I forget the rest. He also had other business interests too; as well as the hotel, he owned a theatrical costumiers. I wonder what happened to it? I read here that Alex said he’d had 5 wives, but I only know of 4. His first was Janet’s mother; then came Alex Junior’s mother; the third was the mother of Jane, Jill and Glenn (was that his name?) and then Marie, mother of Anna-Marie. But who was the fifth?

A plaque would be a wonderful memorial for Alex (a statue would be better) and it could perhaps be at the Town Hall. That was where we rehearsed, prior to the 60s summer shows, and that was where we took the show, and the audience, when it was raining too hard at Happy Valley. Sometimes we would even stop in the middle of a performance to make the move. On one occasion we arrived at the Town Hall to find the Blood Transfusion Unit in residence. It’s amazing how patient audiences were in those days. Sometimes, however, the audience was so small, that we just put them on the stage (which was covered) and entertained them from the auditorium, getting soaked in the process.

But I cannot really imagine a memorial being anywhere except at Happy Valley. If not in the stage area itself, then perhaps on a boulder up on Aberdeen Hill? And if there’s an unveiling ceremony, perhaps we could round up some Happy Valley artists and put on one last show. All we would need is a musician, an instrument, a PA system and two microphones – that’s all we had in 1964!

At Happy Valley we worked incredibly hard and had a wonderful time. I'd be back there tomorrow if I could!"

Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #50 on: January 29, 2011, 07:12:43 pm »
Looking down at the Open Air Theatre in Happy Valley, sometime in the 1970s:

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(Click image for full size version)

Offline Trojan

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #51 on: January 30, 2011, 01:11:03 am »
If you notice the white semi-circular part of the structure on the far right - that was the box-office. You can just make out the window facing the pathway.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2011, 01:12:56 am by Trojan »

Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #52 on: January 30, 2011, 08:07:13 pm »
What a shame it's all gone now, eh?  :( It would have been so easy to give it a paint and try and get it going again.

Another one of the stage at the Theatre in the 1970s (click for larger version):
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Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #53 on: January 31, 2011, 10:16:20 pm »
Alex standing next to Fester's kiosk on a wet and deserted pier...nothing changes!

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Offline Fester

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #54 on: January 31, 2011, 11:22:27 pm »
Alex standing next to Fester's kiosk on a wet and deserted pier...nothing changes!

[smg id=1124]

Ha!  Rain or no rain.... I bet you I was open!
Fester...
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Offline Ian

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #55 on: February 01, 2011, 09:30:18 am »
Quote
What a shame it's all gone now, eh?  Sad It would have been so easy to give it a paint and try and get it going again.

We would need some sort of stage to start with. But I wonder; presumably, the reason for the show's demise was the fall-off in audience numbers. And I seem to remember as a little boy, the audiences that actually paid for the show were pretty small compared with those that sat on the hill outside. I always used to wonder how he made any money at all, even in the early '60s.
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline Merddin Emrys

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #56 on: February 01, 2011, 09:35:05 am »
you had to play 'dodge the bucket' when on the hill  _))*
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Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #57 on: February 01, 2011, 10:03:58 am »
Quote
What a shame it's all gone now, eh?  Sad It would have been so easy to give it a paint and try and get it going again.

We would need some sort of stage to start with. But I wonder; presumably, the reason for the show's demise was the fall-off in audience numbers. And I seem to remember as a little boy, the audiences that actually paid for the show were pretty small compared with those that sat on the hill outside. I always used to wonder how he made any money at all, even in the early '60s.
According to Anna-Marie Munro, the show only ended in 1985 because Alex was sadly diagnosed with cancer and couldn't carry on. I cant see any new shows being a commercial venture but there's plenty of potential for the local amateur groups to put on shows and solicit donations for charity after costs are covered.

Offline Ian

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #58 on: February 01, 2011, 11:06:13 am »
I agree. 
Nothing is so firmly believed as that which we least know.  ― Michel de Montaigne

Si hoc legere scis, nimis eruditionis habes.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Alex Munro & Live Entertainment in Llandudno
« Reply #59 on: February 01, 2011, 08:37:18 pm »
An older looking Alex sitting amongst the deckchairs of the Happy Valley Theatre, in what I suspect is the early 1980s:

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