London Palladium
The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in the famous area of Soho. The theatre holds 2,286 seats. Of the roster of stars who have played there, many have televised performances. Between 1955 and 1969 "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" was held at the venue, which was produced for the ITV network. The show included a performance by The Beatles on 13 October 1963. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the increasingly hysterical interest in the band. While the theatre  has a resident show, it is also able to host one-off performances, such as concerts, TV specials and Christmas pantomimes. It has hosted the Royal Variety Performance 43 times, most recently in 2019. In March 2020, the venue closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic's effect on the theatre industry, but reopened over four months later on 1 August 2020. Architecture. Walter Gibbons, an early moving-pictures manager, built the Palladium in 1910 to compete with Sir Edward Moss's London Hippodrome and Sir Oswald Stoll's London Coliseum. The facade (on the site of Argyll House, demolished in  the 1860s, from which the pub opposite took the name "The Argyll Arms"), dates back to the 19th century. Formerly it was a temporary wooden building called "Corinthian Bazaar", which featured an aviary and aimed to attract customers from the recently closed Pantheon Bazaar (now the site of Marks & Spencers) in Oxford Street. The theatre was rebuilt a year later by Fredrick Hengler, the son of a tightrope walker, as a circus arena for entertainments that included promenade concerts, pantomimes and an aquatic display in a flooded ring. It then became the "National Skating Palace" – a skating rink with real  ice. However, the rink failed and the Palladium was redesigned by Frank Matcham, a famous theatrical architect who also designed the Coliseum, on the site that had previously housed Hengler's Circus. The theatre retains many of its original features and was Grade II* listed in September 1960. The building now carries Heritage Foundation commemorative plaques honouring Lew Grade and Frankie Vaughan. The Palladium had its own telephone system so the occupants of boxes could call one another. It also had a revolving stage. History. 1910 to 1928. The theatre started out as "The Palladium", a premier venue for variety  performances. Pantomimes were also featured there. In 1926, the pantomime starred Lennie Dean as Cinderella, footage of which remains to this day. The theatre is especially linked to the Royal Variety Performances, where many were, and still are, held. In 1928, for three months the Palladium also ran as a cinema. Following this 'Cine-Variety' episode the theatre fell dark for a short period in the autumn of 1928. The George Black era. From 3 September 1928, the Palladium reopened under the directorship of the impresario/producer George Black as part of the General Theatre Corporation (GTC). When Black took  control the theatre was close to bankruptcy. He revived its fortunes by returning to the original ethos of the Palladium by staging large variety shows, with a capital 'V' – and as well as headlining Britain's homegrown acts he brought over big American stars such as Duke Ellington and his Orchestra (on June 12, 1933, his first ever concert hall performance), Adelaide Hall, Louis Armstrong and Ethel Waters for two-week engagements. Before too long, under Black's management the Palladium was soon gaining praise again as 'The World's Leading Variety Theatre'. In 1935, Black initiated the Crazy Gang  revues at the Palladium (for which he is chiefly remembered) with "Life Begins at Oxford Circus". The revues continued at the Palladium as an annual event until they transferred to the Victoria Palace theatre in 1940. Black managed the Palladium until his death in 1945. The climax of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock spy thriller "The 39 Steps" was filmed at the Palladium. Second World War. The theatre was hit by an unexploded German parachute mine on 11 May 1941. The device had fallen through the roof, becoming lodged over the stage. A Royal Navy bomb disposal team was sent to  deal with it. After the mine was located, the fuse locking ring had to be turned to allow access to the fuse itself. Rather disconcertingly, the fuse began ticking as soon as it was touched. This caused a rapid evacuation of the immediate area, but the mine did not detonate. The two team members cautiously returned, extracted the fuse and removed other hazardous components, rendering the mine 'safe'. It was then lowered to the stage and disposed of. The George Medal for gallantry and undaunted devotion to duty was given to Sub Lieutenant Graham Maurice Wright for his action in  the Palladium on that night. He was later killed, on 19 Aug 1941, while en route for Gibraltar on board the torpedoed troopship . The Val Parnell era. Val Parnell took over as managing director after George Black's death in 1945. He adopted a controversial, but very successful, policy of presenting high-priced, big-name American acts at the top of the bill. Among many, the list included Carmen Miranda, Judy Garland, Sophie Tucker, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Channing Pollock, the Andrews Sisters with Vic Schoen and his orchestra, Bob Hope, Liza Minnelli, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy  Lee, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray, freezing out many British stars of the day, who were relegated to second-billing. From 1955 to 1967, the theatre was the setting for the top-rated ITV Network variety show "Sunday Night at the London Palladium" hosted first by Tommy Trinder, followed by Bruce Forsyth, Norman Vaughan, and Jimmy Tarbuck. The programme was broadcast live every week by ATV, which was owned by the famous theatrical impresario Lew Grade. Production was by Val Parnell. Six programmes aired as special episodes in the United States between May and August  1966 on NBC. British stars on the show included Cliff Richard and the Shadows, Petula Clark, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The Beatles' publicist Tony Barrow said that after the band's first appearance on the show on 13 October 1963, Beatlemania took off in the UK. Their performance was watched by 15 million viewers. One national paper's headlines in the following days coined the term "Beatlemania" to describe the phenomenal and increasingly hysterical interest in the Beatles – and it stuck. Parnell became associated with a property development company and began to sell Moss Empires' theatres for redevelopment . When it became known in 1966 that this fate awaited the London Palladium, The Victoria Palace and even the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Prince Littler organised a take-over to save the theatres and Val Parnell retired to live in France. The new managing director of Stoll-Moss was Louis Benjamin, who took on the role while continuing as MD of Pye Records within the ATV Group. By 1965, the Wine Society was operating out of a cellar under the Palladium. Additionally, it was also using one at Joiner Street under London Bridge Station and one at St James's  Bond in Rotherhithe (which flooded at high tide). In 1968, Sammy Davis Jr. starred in "Golden Boy", the first book musical to be produced in the venue. A Johnny Cash album was recorded there in 1968, but Columbia Records never released it. Bootlegs of the performance are in circulation. Jose Feliciano also recorded a hit USA gold status double LP for RCA records called "Alive Alive O!" in April 1969 Post-Parnell. On 6 December 1970 Dorothy Squires gave a concert at the Palladium, recorded for an LP release the following year. In January 1973, glam rock band Slade played  a gig in the theatre which resulted in the venue's balcony nearly collapsing. In July 1974, singer Cass Elliott performed for two weeks. 48 hours after her final performance she died in her sleep in her rented flat in Mayfair. Also in 1974, Josephine Baker performed in the Royal Variety Performance. The 1991 film "The Josephine Baker Story" implied that, like Cass Elliott, she died after a show there, but this is not true. She actually died in Paris four days after a show there.<ref>