"Missed Chances":

Comedien Bob Monkhouse - a really nice guy that I met on two occasions, but first.... ‘Curtain Down for Mister Cinema’: The man who earned the title of Hull's 'Mr. Cinema' died in a hospital in York over 30 years ago. He was Mr. Brinley Evans, and over a period of more than 50 years he had built up a large empire of picture houses in the city. I was proud to have met him some years ago, when I visited Hull. He always kept his age a secret, but he started work as an estate agent, in his father's firm of H Evans and Son. However, he decided that was not the life for him, and branched out into the film industry, and bought a cinema in Cleveland Street, which opened in 1914. Later, he bought another picture house called the Monica, and in 1919 acquired the Theatre de Luxe, which became known as the Cecil., It stood on a site opposite the present Cecil, and was bombed during the Second World War., He also owned the National in Beverley Road, and in 1926 bought the Hessle Picture House from a Sheffield firm. He built the largest theatre in the north of England at that time, the Langham in Hessle Road, which seated 2,800 people. The Carlton, on Anlaby Road, was added to his empire. That seated 1,500. He also possessed the Savoy on Holderness Road. Just before the Second World War he controlled the Plaza, and the Priory, and had the Central in Prospect Street. He acquired the Grand Theatre, which became the Dorchester, from the famous Hull family, the Mortons, along with the Princes Hall, and the Majestic, which was the former Criterion Cinema. During the blitz of 1941, the Central and the Cecil, were entirely destroyed, and five other cinemas, including the Carlton, were damaged. After 12 years of bargaining with the Corporation, Mr. Evans obtained another site for the new Cecil, which opened in 1955. During a visit to Hull, the Prince of Wales, who later became Edward VIII, asked him to provide an evening's entertainment. As the Prince was staying at Hotham Hall, Mr. Evans arranged a temporary theatre there, and showed a film about the Mons Campaign of the 1914-18 war, and a Charlie Chaplin comedy. During the 1950s, when many cinemas were closing, he opened a new cinema, the Berkeley, on Bilton Grange Estate in Hull. One of his hobbies was playing tennis. In later years he belonged to the Hessle and Brough Golf Clubs. He lived in Tranby Lane, Swanland, and left a widow and two married sons. 85 He had retired, due to ill-health, as managing director of the Cecil Cinema the year before his death, though he remained a director of Hull Cinemas Ltd. They were rare people who deserved more praise than they got; here's another: ‘Missed Chances – Harry Geatorex’: It's odd how each area has certain people who have done much for the cinema and theatre, and accrue a special name like 'Mr. Cinema', 'Mr. Entertainment', 'Mr. Showbusiness', etc; etc. One night the telephone rang, and it was Harry Greatorex, who I hadn’t come into contact with before, even though I knew quite a lot about him from the 'kinematical grapevine'. He had given me a call about a programme we were playing the following week, and enquired if I would make sure that the supporting programme was retained at Heanor, and not sent back to the distributor; someone would call and collect it. From the start we found that we got on very well together, and shared many of the same interests, both in cinema and theatre. No entertainment story could ignore people like Harry, they are born with a determination to survive, in what is virtually a dead end job , with no great profits, but still they battle on with the best they have. I discovered that he owned a personal colection of old stage costumes, which he later sold, and these were quite valuble. He had just finish with the old Ripley Miner’s Welfare, which he gave a new life for a while. Along with the Co-operative Hall, and of course ‘The Regal Ballroom’ in Ripley, which he had run for many years, giving the youngsters dancing, and live groups on stage. He was then to take over the lease of the 'Hippodrome', from the 'Star Group of Companies'. Entertainment journals told the story how he had once turned down a booking with ‘The Beatles’, before they were famous, because he thought their fee of £100 was too much. 86 The most famous of his stories was told by Ian Samwell, once one of 'The Drifters', which were Cliff's original backing group which goes: “The first really significant event was the arrival on the scene of a dance hall manager named Harry Greatorex who came from the town of Ripley just a few miles northwest of Nottingham. He was a very pleasant middle-aged gentleman with wavy grey hair and rimless eyeglasses. He wore a trilby hat, a raincoat and was carrying a briefcase. He had come to London in search of groups to appear at his Regal Ballroom and had naturally arrived at the 'Home of the Stars', the 2 I's Coffee Bar. Harry Web, (Cliff), wanted a stage name. It didn't take very long for us to come up with the name Cliff Richard. We rattled off various names such as "Russ Clifford, Cliff Russard," and finally Johnny Foster said, "Cliff Richards." Everybody said, "Great." And I said, "Why don't we leave off the 's'? That way people will naturally say Cliff Richards, and we will be able to correct them. Then they will have heard the name twice, and be more likely to remember it." The amazing thing is that to this day some people still make the same mistake. We hurried out of the pub, all very excited, and immediately ran into Ricky Richards, a young photographer we had recently met. Cliff said, "Hi, Ricky, I've just stolen your name." Ricky is now Rick Hardy, and recalls that Cliff later signed a Columbia Records publicity photograph saying "To my pal Ricky, Sorry I pinched your name." We returned to the 2 I's, and told Harry Greatorex the news. He rushed off to find a telephone so that he could call his local newspaper, the ‘Ripley and Heanor News,’ and add the name "Cliff Richard and the Drifters" to the advertisement which would appear the next day. It was the very first time that the name "Cliff Richard" would appear in print! 'The Drifters' name was later abandoned because of the American group of the same name, and replaced with 'The Shadows'.Mr. Greatorex said that he would try to catch part of our set that night, but wouldn't be able to stay for all of it as he had to return to Nottingham by train. Whether he did come back or not, I am not certain. 87 Harry Greatorex paid them a fee of five pounds, with a further ten pounds to cover travelling expenses. 'Cliff Richards and The Drifters made their debut on Saturday May 3rd; which was their biggest booking so far! Many people claim to have been their that night, the point is debateable, but thanks to Harry Greatorex, the ‘Regal Ballroom’ in Ripley, Derbyshire, was to became a part of the British ‘pop’ scene of the era. A Hero of the Cinema Page. ‘Just By Chance’: I was lucky enough to have met Bob Monkhouse on two occasions, the first was in 1980, when I came into possession of a film entitled “To See Such Fun” (1977), it was a compilation comedy film, made by The Rank Organisation. The film contained film clips from hundreds of past features, which had been compiled by Dick Vosburgh, who like Bob, at that time, wrote scripts for television and radio. I advertised the 35mm. copy in a well known magazine; bear in mind that this gauge would appeal to a very selective buyer, being mainly for commercial use. Cloak and dagger type arrangements were made for me to meet the buyer at Watford Gap Service Station on the M1 Motorway, where I would take the film, and we would exchange a cheque. Everything worked out fine, and I had the surprise of my life, so I need say more on this subject? Our paths crossed again a decade later, when Bob was hosting a series called “Bob’s Full House” for Central Television, at their Nottingham Studios. I was working as an entertainer at a well known Midland’s theme park, and Central filmed a three minute segment for use in one of the programmes in which myself, and a few others, had to do a dance routine. It was all great fun, because none of us could dance, but modern techniques took care of that, and later, the director sent us word that Bob had requested a copy of the segment for his private use. Tragedy struck the family in 1992 when son Gary, who suffered from cerebral palsy died; and again in 2001 when his other son Simon, was found dead in a Thai Guest House, due to a heroin overdose. They hadn’t spoken to each other for years, and Bob took it deeply, and with much regret. 88 Please go to the next web page.........