Juni 2009 in London, Grobritannien.Am 21. The colourful and refined interior of Derby's Palais de Danse (Figs 14 and 15) demonstrates the level of glamour in leading dance halls. The crowd walked round the outside of the dancefloor. "The bouncers used to bet us we would miss the change over but, thankfully, we always made it back on stage in time. .May not have played at the Palais but Im sure played in local pubs, I think both used to appear at the White Gates at Forest Town in the 60s /70s. Interior of the Nottingham Palais, 1925 (Nottingham City Council and picturethepast.org.uk). also a Big Rob Smith spin during those days was Hank Diamond-Soul sauce, another was the Motown girlie spin: Hang on Bill-Little Lisa. Exact figures for the numbers of dance halls built are hard to come by. Especially in new buildings, which were liable to Its very interesting that people remember so much about the Palais, Ive a quantity of records of band stuff, payments for wages etc, and heard of the antics of many. 32 See MOA, MDJ, 3/A, C.L. People of different classes did attend the Nottingham Palais, but they did not necessarily mix. The Leeds Locarno also had an Americana food bar and Flamingo coffee bar, all indicative of a popular interest in travel and the exotic. 12), opened in 1965, included a Locarno, a bowling alley (run by Mecca's onetime rival Top Rank), an additional modern music dance floor (the Highland Room), several bars, snooker halls and even a gym.Footnote 68, Fig. Fig. 8. 8 Rowntree, Benjamin Seebohm and Lavers, George, English Life and Leisure: A Social Study (London, 1951), p. 279Google Scholar, and Daily Mail, 17 October 1956, p. 8. And for 15 minutes we had the whole of the Palais de Danse to ourselves. Elaborate neon lighting at the Hammersmith Palais, early 1960s, As the dance craze of the 1920s expanded, purpose-built dance halls proliferated. Returned to the Palais when I finished working there and remember seeing Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers one night. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. The constraint of the crowded dance floor, for example, demanded a constant process of negotiation. History. He remembered the bands female lead singer, Pandora, was married to the Palaiss manager. I thought "Statue" was great at the time, now it doesn't seem to have any soul at all. On Sunday 25th March 2018 I was at a surprise birthday party for my cousin, Keith Woodcock. The dance floor, measuring 32 100ft, was overlooked by an equally impressive balcony and flanked by two orchestra stages (one on each of the long sides). Hale, Matthew 57 For a full discussion of the moral panic associated with dance halls, based on allegations of immorality, misbehaviour from youths and concerns about race, see Nott, Going to the Palais, passim. A few years later Ric Lee joined the well known rock band Ten years After and actually played at the world famous Woodstock festival. I worked at The Sherwood Rooms part time for a while, firstly as a Bingo checker then as a ballroom assistant, just standing around in evening dress being helpful a really cushy job. In the 1920s, borrowing from US cinema designs, atmospherics was widely used to create escapism in the dance hall.Footnote 87 This design trend was about bringing the outside inside, with interiors made to resemble Spanish patios or Italian villa gardens (as seen in the Spanish Hall at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, and the Italianate lake backdrop on the main stage in the Tower Ballroom). Your first impression is of the red glow of the room red walls, predominantly red carpets, orange and red lights [] The room is crowded. As the Nottingham Evening Post remarked on its opening: With the opening of its new Palais de Danse [] Nottingham falls in line with other progressive cities.Footnote 55 Although the building became renowned for its large illuminated globe, the original exterior design was surmounted by a large statue of the Greek muse of dance, Terpsichore, in a typical dancing pose.Footnote 56 Terpsichore did appear on the exterior as built, but in a series of poses across a large frieze of contrasting darker stone (seen just below the globe in Figure 10). Throughout the interwar period, leading dance bands were resident in elite nightspots: for example, Roy Fox at the Monseigneur Restaurant; Ambrose and his Orchestra at the Mayfair Hotel; and both Jack Hylton and the Savoy Orpheans at the Savoy Hotel.Footnote 15 These well-known dance venues (increasingly popularised by live outdoor broadcasts on the new BBC and by newspaper reports) offered inspiration for public dance halls of more diverse working-class origins. The largest entertainment venue in Europe at the time, it included an ABC cinema with over 800 seats, a Locarno ballroom, a Silver Blades ice-skating rink, a casino and several licensed bars, all served by a large multi-storey car park. Then of course later as we got a bit older there was "Grab a Granny" on a Wednesday Night (Over 21's), boy I have some wonderful memories of the Palais. The New Bristol Centre was perhaps the zenith of these multi-purpose buildings. In Liverpool, for example, the Grafton Ballroom (opened in 1924) was designed by Alfred Ernest Shennan (18881959), whose output in the Merseyside area included cinemas, hotels, banks and office blocks in a signature Art Deco style, together with a synagogue distinct in its Swedish-inflected functionalism.Footnote 41 The architect commissioned to design the Palais de Danse in Croydon (also built in 1924) was Hume Victor Kerr (b. Blackpool Locarno, one of Mecca's new multi-purpose entertainment venues, 1965 (Simon Mallett/public domain). This multi-class audience for dance halls, and the democratisation it represented, was reflected in their design and even their names. Suzanne Gallo designed the costumesloose fitting white tops and pants. Beginning as a practical necessity of separating the musicians from the dancers, the bandstand developed into a distinctive architectural feature. Then the Palais again, then Oceana, and currently Now reside in Norwich,Mansfield visit to see family every 6/8weeks Ron Brown. Heimann, Joint Chairman, Mecca Ltd (London, 1963), p. 23Google Scholar. I know Curly is around and about, just not bumped into each other yet but I'm sure we will soon. Stuart hails from Rainworth and now lives in Worthing whilst Keith was from Huthwaite and now lives in Swinton, South Yorks. Love reading this kind of thread, thanks! "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)", "Buildings in the Broadmarsh Area of Nottingham: An Architectural and Historical Investigation", "These are the Nottingham nightclubs you went to in the 80s and 90s", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ocean,_Nottingham&oldid=1035028559, Infobox mapframe without OSM relation ID on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, 30,000 (equivalent to 1,940,000 in 2021), This page was last edited on 23 July 2021, at 07:10. Without this, dancing could be uncomfortable and tiring and particularly wearing on the knees and ankles. The floor was both one of the principal technical challenges for the architect of a dance hall and a principal attraction for customers. Often went there for a couple of beers before going over the road to the Palais. The Palais De Dance with Jack O'Boyle. The new bandstand at the Ilford Palais in 1959 had a large painted backdrop depicting an Italianate garden, with fountains, cypress trees and urns, and three metal arches placed in front of it.Footnote 90 At the Leeds Locarno in 1964, two giant screens on either side of the bandstand projected similar images in full colour in order to evoke mood.Footnote 91 Ilford Palais even had a Tudor Room, with mock beams and accessories. The strike action by RCN members is expected to lead to delays for planned operations at the trust affected, Investigation launched as man is injured after getting trapped between truck and trailer, He has been taken to hospital to be treated for his injuries, Revolution in Leicester to close two days a week amid rising costs, 'Inadequate' GP surgery's delays to cancer referrals and patient care slammed, One person waited seven months for "urgent" blood tests. Such spaces increasingly became formalised as publicans and entrepreneurs saw the potential profits to be gained by opening separate dancing rooms and halls in urban areas. 45 Dancing Times (September 1929), p. 551. The main dance hall with a floor of 105 feet (32 m) by 85 feet (26 m) which accommodated 600 dancers. Harry had an amazing drum kit, hand-painted with psychedelic designs. top palias sounds well there's been quiet a few but here go's. I used the title as my "handle" when CB's were big only to find out that everyone thought I was a copper just not so. [1], It reopened as the Astoria Ballroom after the Second World War on 29 March 1948. Alternative Dance, Alternative/Indie Rock, Edmund de Waal: 2010s - 2020s It subsequently changed its name in the 1990s to MGM and in 1999 became Ocean[7] a club mainly used by students. In September 1931, the Nottingham Palais paid more than 1000 laying a new dance floor, and in October 1933 the Hammersmith Palais spent 5000 on a maple floor. Used to love it. Dance halls are also distinct from ballrooms, which were dance floors within buildings with other purposes and often not open to the general public for example, ballrooms in country houses. Happy (but strange) days! 92 MOA, WC, 48/C, 1938, p. 1. The so-called dance craze spread rapidly. 61 Nottingham Evening Post, 9 November 1929, p. 6. Lovely post Martyn , would Sharon be from Langley Mill by any chance ? As we got a little older we would brave the Crystal Palace pub and buy our pints of bitter shandy, to give us a little more courage to maybe actually chat the young ladies up! I used to go to Hanford & Richards mid forties early fifties. 44 Architectural Journal, 26 February 1930, pp. The Palais de Danse on Humberstone Gate, Leicester. You know that sign really should have been written "Through these doors pass some of the most beautiful SOULS in the world", heres a photo of some of the Palais staff circa 1974. Smithford Way, on which the Locarno was located, was pedestrianised and multi-storey car parks were constructed close by. They did not develop in a logical sequence over time, however, but responded to changing social and economic patterns. The democratisation of pleasure that dance halls represented is nowhere better illustrated than in the varied social profile of the Hammersmith Palais's customers. This crowd was going to get bigger as the day progressed. It is possibly best remembered by club goers as the Ritzy and by clubbers across the Upload or insert images from URL. 13).Footnote 70 The sense of theatricality was enhanced by the entrance to the main dance hall being reached via a glass-sided covered air bridge, two stories above ground level, which linked the tower with the main building above the shops. Great memories of this place. Powered by Invision Community, Fly Fishing, Golf, Gardening, Reading, 1960s Music, Gilbert & Sullivan, Cricket, Notts County, Archery, Railways, Movies, Art, Travel. except they were a three piece, there's been talk here of "The night chicago died" listen to this, http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=3+little+bears+jimi+hendrix&aq=6&oq=3+little+bears ! The architecture of dance halls reflected these modernising trends, as well as a democratisation of pleasure. One of the first to be installed in Britain was in the Tower Ballroom, Blackpool, in 1899.Footnote 21 Sprung floors made dancing less tiring and wearing, as they bounced gently with the movement of dancers, rather than resisting them. Two bandstands, one at either end of the dance floor, allowed multiple bands to play for the dancers. The Locarno, Stevenage, which was completed the same year for a slightly more modest 150,000, was designed by Leonard Vincent, the chief architect of Stevenage Development Corporation. Regular contributor, Michael Clarke, caught up with Adrian Tilbrook, who was the bands drummer at the Humberstone Gate Mecca dance hall in 1968-69. Despite Crewe's talents, the overall design of the dance hall was clearly compromised as a conversion and its former uses as a tram depot and a rink (Fig. The way in which the space was used also differed according to class. never missed a soul do there, from feb 78, until 83 (then the bank hol sunday nights , late 90's). BTW is M Raynor any relation to Beryl Raynor who I worked with at Ladybrook Primary School in 1961? The two I remember most at both the Palais and Coleman's were the Malibus - Gee Baby (I Love You), and Johnny Ross and the Soul Explosions' version of I can't Help Myself - a 200mph belter. The faade of the main dance hall was given a canopy edged in slate to match the surrounding buildings, while the rest consisted of red and grey dark-brick panels separated with recessed blind windows of brightly coloured glass mosaic, bordered above and below with fascias of Sicilian white marble.Footnote 71 The mosaic was the work of Fred Millett (192080), a mural artist with an extensive portfolio in both the public and private sectors, having worked on commissions for London County Council, Hertfordshire schools, the Post Office and National Westminster Bank.Footnote 72 The dance hall's internal illumination included strip lighting around the edge of the balcony and bandstand, interspersed with frequent use of sputnik-like spotlights in the contemporary style. 14 Richardson, Philip, A History of English Ballroom Dancing (19101945): The Story of the Development of the Modern English Style (London, 1945), pp. 'Hanford and Richards' on, I think, Columber St is something I recall when learning to dance. The Nottingham House of Correction on St Johns Street is now the modern day junction of Glasshouse Street and King Edward Street where the club sits. Has data issue: true I do need to take in an East Anglian event. From the mid-1920s to the mid-1960s, the dance hall occupied a pivotal place in the culture of working- and lower-middle-class communities in Britain. 76 Baxendale, John, into another kind of life in which anything might happen Popular Music and Late Modernity, 19101930, Popular Music, 14.2 (1995), pp. 86 MOA, Worktown (WC), 48/C, Shall We Dance?, 1938, p. 3. During the late 1980s the Palais de Danse reinvented itself as a popular nightclub venue. The History of the British Holiday Camp, A Broken Wave: The Rebuilding of England 19401980, Coventry: The Making of a Modern City 193973, Workers at Play: A Social and Economic History of Leisure 19181939, The Measurement of Consumers Expenditure and Behaviour in the United Kingdom, 19201938: Volume II, into another kind of life in which anything might happen Popular Music and Late Modernity, 19101930, CLH says The Collected Observations, Instructions and Philosophies of C.L. On its growth in northern English towns in 1920, the Cheltenham Chronicle commented: Dancing, with the pictures and football, fill in all the non-working hours in our great manufacturing towns, and, as a consequence, dancing masters not only teach the young how to step, but provide handsome dancing halls for them.Footnote 2, By 1938 it was estimated that around 100 million admissions were made to dances every year, and the figure doubled by 1953.Footnote 3 The dancing halls that sprung up to cater for this unprecedented demand developed into unique social spaces and a distinctive new building type of the twentieth century. 84345. Yes I was a little naive at 16-17. Originally named the Palais de Danse when it opened as a dance hall in 1925, it later became the popular nightclub Ritzy in the late 1980s. My dad was always smartly dressed and I use to love watching him getting ready for work complete with his bow tie and liberal spraying of Cossack for Men hairspray (it was the early 70's ffs). One record that stands out for me at the Palais is Lester Tipton, this won't change. Sequence dances, where everyone performed the same steps, gave way to dances formulated specifically for couples, which involved much greater physical contact between partners the Bunny Hug and the Grizzly Bear, for example, required dancers to embrace. 10 Peter, Bruce, Form Follows Fun: Modernism and Modernity in British Pleasure Architecture 19251940 (London, 2007)Google Scholar. 8), constructed at the expense of local businessman Thomas Bolton in 1928, is a striking example of how dance-hall frontages could make eye-catching statements on street corners. Yes Colemans was a big oblong room with seats round the outside. Despite the nod to classical tradition in much of its external architecture, the Hammersmith Palais embraced modernity in its role as an important venue for the introduction of jazz to Britain. There was a good crowd in and we had a really great night. Yes its still there and think its used as a theatre now. Handsome corner entrance to the Astoria Palais de Danse, Bolton, 1928 (Bolton News/Newsquest Photos), Although the construction of purpose-built dance halls declined from the 1930s, it did not end, and a second wave occurred in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Palais was an enormous dance hall, capacity probably 3000, oblong in shape, with a surrounding balcony, where we would sit, eye up the talent, spot someone you fancied and make a beeline downstairs to get them up to dance. In 1984, it was acquired by Barry Noble and adopted its former name Astoria.[6]. 34 Kimber, Jane, Danse to the Music of Time, Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group Newsletter, 19 (Autumn 2008), p. 7Google Scholar. The hundreds of permanent dance halls in operation in Britain between 1918 and 1965 represented a significant expansion of the leisure industry in an age of growing mass entertainment. However, this was a temporary structure, not a permanent dance hall. I used to love the deserted streets. The Crystal Palace, a few yards to the right on the corner of Parliament St.was The Corner Pin and lower down Clumber St. was the (Red) Lion, Co;emans was on a tiny sidestreet called Maypole Yard. I featured on a few backing vocals too until someone actually heard me!. 15 See Godbolt, Jim, A History of Jazz in Britain, 191950 (London, 2005)Google Scholar. 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Of pleasure that dance halls built are hard to come by but they did necessarily!
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