First Lady of Midland T.V.

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Meet Noele Gordon

When ATV began its Midland service, Noele Gordon was already well known to theatregoers as a gay personality who had graced many of our top musical shows and pantomimes.

Among other successes she played more than 1,000 performances as Meg Brockie in “Brigadoon”, and thrived on the long-running “Let’s Face It”, “The Lisbon Story” and the late C. B. Cochrane’s “Big Ben”. She was honoured by selection to appear in the Royal Command Performance in 1949.

From the stage she went to America to study television techniques and joined ATV on her return as adviser on women’s programmes.

“Though I knew the Midlands well before I.T.V. programmes began here, I have been astonished by the immediate and tremendous impact ATV programmes made”, she says.

“I soon became convinced of television’s power to transform social life. Midlanders are very friendly people … I know that from the letters they write, from their calls and their greetings.

“Their response is whole-hearted and sincere. Through the screen, I feel I am welcomed into their homes as a friend. No-one who has shared an outside broadcast—such as when we tour “Lunch Box” — can have any doubt about that welcome.

“It’s equally spontaneous when audiences come to Aston to see shows produced. Requests for personal appearances pour in, and I would accept more if there were more than seven days in a week or 24 hours in a day.

“The splendid support we get from the studio back room boys and girls helps to strengthen this contact between performers and the audience at home. It’s delightful to share such experiences”.

About the author

'ATV the Midlands' is a promotional brochure produced by ATV in Birmingham in 1963

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