LONDON PALLADIUM |
The home of Saturday Night at the London Palladium, a cult TV variety show from the 1950's and 60's
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The London Palladium
has gone through a rollercoaster of changes and performances in it’s
time. In 1910 it was originally a temporary wooden structure named the
Corinthian Bazaar. In 1911 it was built into a theatre by the son
of a tight-rope walker, Frederick Hengler, as a circus venue. After
that, it became an ice rink, until finally a very famous theatre
architect, Frank Matcham, redesigned the building for performances.
The London Palladium, dating from 1910 and first opened as a circus venue that included an aquatic display in a flooded ring.
Photo © Jeherv (CC)
Since
then it has hosted such big names as Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Ella
Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. Int the 1950s and 60s,
it hosted the ITV variety show Sunday Night at the London Palladium.
Glam rock band Slade played a concert there in 1973, almost literally
bringing the house down as the balcony nearly collapsed during their
show. Later in the 70s, Marvin Gaye recorded a live album there, to
hugely great acclaim by Marvin fans. More recently the London Palladium
has hosted famous shows Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Sound of Music, as well as hosting the BAFTA awards in 2007.
Did You Know?
The most famous episode of Sunday Night at the London Palladium,
took place during a strike by a British acting union, who refused to
allow its performers to appear. Exempt from this, Bruce Forsyth and
Norman Wisdom performed the entire show themselves, improvising wildly
to the delight of the audience.
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