The Golden Age

The Chairman of the new ownership company was Mr Harry Smirk; other associates were Alderman JW Carleton, Councillor William Birkett Clarke, Alfred Edmondson, AR Walmsley and Dick Inman.

After large-scale renovations and alterations had been carried out, there was a grand opening on March 26th 1934. The directors had hoped that their sweeping changes and lavish expenditure would bring about instant success but they were disappointed; at first the Winter Gardens failed to attract sufficient numbers to justify the expense. Eventually business picked up, however, after Mr Smirk retired from business and took a more active role in the day-to-day running of the theatre. Slowly but surely Morecambe’s Winter Gardens became one of the most important theatres in the country. Many acts were seen in Morecambe before London, and many shows had their debut in Morecambe before going to the capital. The successes of these times were largely due to Mr Smirk, who travelled thousands of miles to see and book shows himself, rather than leave it to the agencies, which had proved unsatisfactory.

The 1930s and 40s were undoubtedly the ‘Golden Age’ of the Winter Gardens; the list of artistes who appeared contained household names from stage, screen and radio, such as Layton and Johnson, George Formby and Laurel and Hardy. There were also the big bands of Jack Hylton, Jack Payne, Roy Fox, Billy Cotton and Geraldo. On September 3rd 1939, Ben Lyon and Bebe Daniels were booked to appear, but all the theatres in the land were closed due to the outbreak of war.

The wartime ban on indoor entertainment lasted only ten days and the theatre was reopened quickly. As well as the best in variety, there were now performances of plays, large musicals, opera and ballet. Appearing were stars such as Flanagan and Allan in Panto, Lupino Lane in ‘Me and My Girl’, Richard Tauber in ‘Land of Smiles’ and the ‘Dancing Years’ of Ivor Novello. During the war years Morecambe was considered a safe area and became home to hundreds of evacuees, civil servants and the Royal Air Force. The gardens at the rear of the Pavilion were replaced by a large car park, which was used for drilling thousands of RAF recruits. During the day the theatre was used for lectures and instructions, and at night played to a full house. The theatre flourished more than ever, its 2,000 seats were filled night after night, and the venue was on the list of all the major show business stars of the day. Another notable ‘scoop’ for the Winter Gardens occured when the Labour Party chose the venue for their annual party conference in October 1952. 15,000 delegates and 5,000 press men were in attendance, and, coming as it did after Labour’s defeat by Churchill’s Tories in 1951, the conference attracted worldwide attention (op cit, 257).

Until his death in 1953, Mr Harry Smirk continued his progressive booking policies and the theatre was as popular as ever. Virtually anyone who was famous in show business appeared at Morecambe’s Winter Gardens, whether in acting, singing, comedy, variety, or dance bands. The bill for the year before Mr Smirk’s death aptly illustrates this point: Ann Shelton; Max and Harry Nesbitt; Norman Evans; Max Wall; Beryl Reid; Peter Brough and Archie Andrews; Donald Peers; Al Reid; Frankie Howard; Winifred Atwell, as well as the dance bands: Ted Heath; Jack Parnell; Harry Roy; Syd Phillips; Vic Lewis; Geraldo; and Edmundo Ros. Mr Smirk’s popularity frequently found him socialising with the entertainment stars of the day.