The most recent anniversary we have this week is that of the arrival of Stan Babe in Southampton just over 71 years ago. They had sailed on the Queen Mary and here’s a splendidly coloured image (By Paul Mitchell) taken on the deck.
RMS Queen Mary was an ocean liner that sailed primarily the Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard-White Star Line. She was built in Clydebank, Scotland and, along with RMS Queen Elizabeth, was built as part of Cunard’s two-ship weekly express service between Southampton and New York. She was retired in 1967 and became a floating Hotel. She is still moored and available to visit in Long Beach, California.
The Laurel and Hardy UK tour in 1952 ran from late February right through to the beginning of October and the boys performed a new sketch ‘A Spot of Trouble’, which was based on the 1932 two-reeler, Night Owls. They played at 29 venues which were usually sold out, with only one break – following a two week stint in Belfast in June. While Babe and Lucille took a short holiday, Stan spent the week in hospital, his diabetes had him really run and a full weeks convalescence was essential if he was to be fit enough for the remaining dates of the tour
The Chumps home town theatre, The Sunderland Empire saw Laurel and Hardy quite early in the tour – week commencing March 14th, and they would play again in February 1954 when they met with Stan’s old friend and former Levy and Cardwell performer, Sunderland lad, Benny Barron. Much more on Stan and Babes visits to the empire can be found here: Laurel and Hardy at the Sunderland Empire
Here’s a full list of the venues Stan and Babe played at and when they were there. All engagements were for a full week commencing the date mentioned, unless stated otherwise
February 25th – Peterborough Embassy (2 weeks)
March the 10th – Glasgow Empire
March the 16th – North Shields Gaumont (one night)
March the 17th – Newcastle Empire
March 24th – Sunderland Empire
March 31st – Hanley Royal
April 7th – Leeds Empire
April 14th – Nottingham empire
April 21st – Shrewsbury Granada
April 28th – Edinburgh Empire
May 5th – Birmingham Hippodrome
May 12th – Southampton Gaumont
May 19th – Liverpool Empire
May 27th – Dublin Olympia (2 weeks)
June 9th – Belfast Grand Opera House (2 weeks)
June 30th – Sheffield Empire
July 7th – Brighton Hippodrome
July 14th Manchester Palace
July 21st – Rhyl Queens
July 2 8th -Bradford Alhambra
August 4th Southend Odeon
August 11th – Coventry Hippodrome
August 18th – Southport Garrick
August 25th – Sutton Granada
September – 1st Bristol Hippodrome
September 8th – Portsmouth Royal
September 15th – Dudley Hippodrome
September 22nd – Swansea Empire
September 29th – Cardiff New Theatre
Stan, Ida, Babe and Lucille returned to their homes in California from Southampton on October 9th, this time aboard the Queen Elizabeth.
We hope you found the list of Laurel and Hardy venues interesting; perhaps one of these is near you? Is it still standing like our Sunderland Empire and indeed, still providing live performances? Why not let us know in the box below. We’d love to hear from you and every comment will receive a response on this page.
The Beau Chumps Tent of Sunderland UK 