The Shows Just Go On; Some of entertainment's biggest stars owe their

Talk to any Glaswegian of a certain age about their city's famed humour and you will, inevitably, end up reminiscing about Chic Murray, Stanley Baxter, Rikki Fulton and a whole host of comedians who made their names in Glasgow's famous variety theatres. With the 100th anniversaries of the best known of those playhouses, The Pavilion and The King's, upon us, the city is braced for a veritable festival of nostalgia.

In the early 20th century, Glasgow was a major centre for the entertainment industry. As the famed "second city" of the British Empire, it teemed with skilled workers, such as shipbuilders and engineers. Unlike the generations of rural labourers who had gone before them, they had a certain amount of disposable income and were determined to spend some of it in the many theatres which sprouted up around Clydeside.

In the early 1900s Glasgow had about 30 theatres. For many people a night out was synonymous with a cigarette or 10, and many of the playhouses burned to the ground as a consequence. Others, such as The Alhambra and The Empire, closed as their audiences were lured away by movies or TV.

Iain Gordon, general manager of The Pavilion since 1989, believes that the secret of its success lies in the way it caters to an audience which still wants to go, in the words of the theatre's slogan, "back to the days of variety theatre".

"The Pavilion is a good night out," he says. "It's not an expensive night out, it's kept affordable in all areas. I think the majority of people in Glasgow have had a night out at The Pavilion at one time in their life."

Janette Tough, aka Jimmy Krankie, has been providing people with nights out at The Pavilion for 40 years. "My first professional job after leaving school was at The Pavilion," she recalls. "I was in a panto with Jack Milroy called The World Of Widow Krankie. That would have been 1963 or 1964."

It wasn't only Tough's career which started at The Pavilion. She met husband and Krankies partner Ian there. He was an electrician at the theatre, and his relationship with Janette took him onstage.

Such a transition might seem unusual, but it is, explains Gordon, par for the course at The Pavilion. "Some of my girls in the box office have been used on the stage. Most of the people here are part- timers, and they're at drama college or they're studying something to do with media. They like being part of the show."

Indeed, Gordon himself began working at the theatre, also as an electrician, back in 1978. He reckons he's the only theatre manager in Scotland to have worked so long at the same venue.

When I meet Caroline Notman, development manager for the 1700- seat King's Theatre at the People's Palace museum in Glasgow, preparations are well under way for a major exhibition celebrating its centenary. She tells me that there has been something of a resurgence in the popularity of the Bath Street venue.

Ticket sales for the 2002-2003 were up 20% on the previous year, to 377,808. Almost a quarter of King's patrons saw two or more shows at the theatre in 2002-2003. The Pavilion, which has 300 fewer seats, also enjoys creditable box office success, selling more than a quarter of a million tickets in the year to April 2004.

Notman says that under the management of Glasgow City Council (between 1967 and 2002), the King's could be left dark for a number of weeks each year. Now, although still owned by the council, the King's is run by the London-based Ambassadors Theatre Group. The new managers have returned the theatre to the sort of full programming it enjoyed in its heyday under the famous Edinburgh theatre management company Howard and Wyndham.

For Notman, looking over the images for the exhibition has brought to life a history which goes beyond the great Glasgow comedians. "In the early days," she says, "the King's was seen very much as a theatre for the trendy West End of Glasgow." Indeed, it was The Theatre Royal which presented the Christmas pantos, while The King's was seen as the more illustrious venue - a fact which showed up in the cast lists of many of the visiting productions.

"People like Katharine Hepburn, Tyrone Power, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, John Gielgud and Noel Coward all came to The King's," explains Notman. "I was amazed that they performed on the stage there."

Comic actor Gerard Kelly has played The King's many times, most recently with Elaine C Smith in the theatre's highly successful pantomimes. He admits to being overawed by the heritage of the playhouse. "The sense of history when you stand at the front of that stage in The King's is incredible," he says. "They've all been there, from Rikki Fulton, to Stanley Baxter, to Billy Connolly."

In these days of heated debate over the level of public subsidy given to theatres, it is noteworthy that neither The King's nor The Pavilion receives external financial support. The King's, which is overwhelmingly a receiving theatre (only its panto is an in-house production), is not forthright in criticism, but The Pavilion, which produces about half of the shows which go on its stage, is scathing of Scotland's arts establishment.

"I think we're probably everything the Scottish Arts Council says we shouldn't be," says Gordon. "We don't 'do culture', as they say, but we put bums on seats."

It is not just the arts council which Gordon has a bee in his bonnet about. The theatre is currently involved in a "very bad" dispute with a national newspaper over comments made in relation to the skin colour of the black singer, and Pavilion regular, Christian.

Although it certainly sounds as if the performer and his union, Equity, have a point, there will be some eyebrows raised at The Pavilion taking offence at comments of a perceived racial nature.

After all, its stage is not always a place of racial sensitivity. This month, for instance, the notorious comedian Bernard Manning will be playing there.

"I'll take a chance on anything, as long as it doesn't harm the reputation of being a family theatre," says Gordon.

"With Bernard Manning, Jim Davidson and Roy Chubby Brown, if you advertise it properly, then fine." He points out that he barred Brown for five years after the comic engaged in the anti-Semitic abuse of an elderly Jewish couple.

There has been no such controversy for Janette Tough, however. "It's a joy to play The Pavilion," she says. "You can be feeling down, and you go on that stage, and it suddenly lifts you." Kelly has an equal affection for The King's.

"What's astonishing is that, for such a vast theatre, when you stand there as a performer there's a real sense of intimacy in that place. It's my favourite theatre of all to perform in."

Copyright 2004 SMG Sunday Newspapers Ltd.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.