• Last time we told how Val Parnell brought modern quick-fire variety to the London Palladium for the first time and then, after the war, started a season of international variety . . .

FIRST American to top the bill under the new regime at the London Palladium was Mickey Rooney. But Mr Rooney failed to please either the public or the critics. Yet, if he had heeded “The Guv’nor’s” advice the story might have been very different.

At the Monday morning run through, showman Val sat in the empty stalls and watched Rooney run through his act. He crammed in everything—singing, dancing, playing drums and a few impressions.

“You’re doing too much”, Val Parnell told him. “Your act lacks cohesion. It’s too scrappy, much better to slow it down”.

But the star from Hollywood thought he knew better . . .

Another American artist who didn’t do too well was the comedian Jack Carson. His opening night was hardly a success. This was largely due to his insistence on including comedy material which Mr Parnell told him would have little appeal to London audiences. Afterwards he changed it and had a much better reception.

CHARLES HENRY’S PUSH

After congratulating Danny the Marquis said he thought his cousins would also like to see the show. Danny, not realising who they were, said “Sure, bring them along”.

And they came, too — Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. They brought their parents along as well — the King and Queen. Val Parnell was there to welcome them, the first time a reigning monarch had ever been to an ordinary music-hall performance and the first time Royalty had sat in the stalls with the paying public.

But Val Parnell not only brought vaudeville back to London, but according to Jack Benny he did the same for New York too.

Writing about Val Parnell in “The Hollywood Reporter”, Mr Benny has pointed out that the fabulous success of the variety seasons at the London Palladium were also responsible for the reopening of the Palace Theatre, New York, as a vaudeville house with Judy Garland topping the bill and Max Bygraves in support.

MAX’S CHANCE

Judy Garland was the most nervous star. She was so frightened on her opening night that Charles Henry, Val Parnell’s production manager who still assists him in our “Sunday Night at the London Palladium” series, had to push her on the stage from the wings.

Another nervous performer — Danny Kaye.

“A great worrier beforehand”, says Mr Parnell, “and until he got started, a bundle of nerves. But from that moment on he was terrific”.

Danny Kaye was Val Parnell’s biggest success. He followed Mickey Rooney into the London Palladium in the summer of 1948 and certainly did more than any other performer to establish the London Palladium as the great Mecca of international vaudeville.

On the second night of his opening, Vai Parnell took the Marquis of Milford Haven back stage to meet the American star. The theatre had been packed and the Marquis had seen the show standing at the back of the circle.

It was “V.P.” who gave Max his first big chance too, putting him into the Palladium to deputise for Ted Ray. And he found Ted Ray at the Palace, Luton, giving him a free pass for the Palladium so that he could watch other performers, improve his style.

Peggy Mount came down from Wolverhampton Rep. to audition for the role of the witch in a Palladium pantomine. She was so good that Vai Parnell gave her the job on the spot—after the dress rehearsal increased her salary. It was her first West End part.

LAS VEGAS

The fame of the Palladium bills even reached Las Vegas. The year before ITV started “The Guv’nor” took a party of British performers for a six weeks season at the Desert Inn. They were billed as “Palladium Varieties” and offered a typical London Palladium show — slick and fast moving with twelve acts on the bill.

On opening night, the manager of the Desert Inn took Mr Parnell aside.

“You’ve too many acts, you’ll run overtime” he told him.

“How much do you bet?” Val Parnell replied.

“I bet you 200 bucks [$2,300 in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed] you don’t get through the show under ninety minutes”, said the manager.

WITH A SMILE

The two men shook hands and when Val’s “Palladium Varieties” closed in seventy-five minutes the American paid up with a smile. He didn’t want his customers kept away too long from those gaming tables.

This, then, is something of the show business background to ATV’s Val Parnell.

In the world of British entertainment, his position is unique.

And it was only natural that when Lew Grade — then a variety agent — foresaw the possibilities of commercial television he should seek the help of the man for whom he had supplied so many of the star acts for the London Palladium and the Moss circuit.

“Val” he told him over the phone “You’re in commercial television”.

“But — what’s all this Lew?” asked Val.

“Don’t argue” said Lew “Leslie (his brother) and I are forming a company to apply for a TV licence … and we want you in with us”.

Val Parnell asked for more details — and agreed. But a few minutes later he was back on the phone … to Lew.

“Lew, there’s a snag in this” he told him “I’ve an exclusive contract with Moss Empires and I’ll have to get an okay from that Board”.

This was obtained and it followed that when Moss Empires finally entered the commercial television field in 1953 through its shareholding in ATV, Val Parnell was put on the TV Board. A few months later he was asked by the Board to take over the managing directorship of the company with Lew Grade as his deputy. Things remained this way until last year when he resigned as Managing Director.

But, as he has already indicated, Val Parnell will still be with us … as executive producer of his “Sunday Night at the London Palladium” series and he also retains his seat on ATV’s Board.

Writing in the Daily Mirror at the time his resignation was announced, Clifford Davis called Mr Parnell “The Last of the Great Showmen”.

I can’t think of a better description … or a finer tribute.

The post The Val Parnell Story: When Judy Garland had to be pushed on… appeared first on THIS IS ATV NETWORK from Transdiffusion.

Last time we described how Val Parnell rose from 5s-a-week office boy to become General Manager of the vast Moss Empires theatrical concern.

Since then, right up to the time he joined ATV as full time Managing Director five years ago, he booked every act for the Palladium and he built up Moss Empires into the world’s biggest chain of live theatres controlling not only the Palladium but 30 other theatres and music halls.

At that time, the Palladium was a cinema — and losing money. Parnell persuaded his board to let him bring his Birmingham policy to the London Palladium.

At the start, it was far from easy. Parnell’s biggest competitor was the Stoll circuit. As well as his provincial theatres. Sir Oswald Stoll [his granddaughter, Yvonne, works in ATV’s Press Office] also ran the London Coliseum and the Alhambra in Leicester Square (the latter site is now filled by the Odeon).

Sir Oswald presented the cream of the international variety talent available. And again he operated barring clauses to prevent Parnell from booking their acts.

TO SMASH STOLL

Parnell set out to smash the Stoll circuit’s grip on the West End music-hall – and he did. He found his own acts and whenever a Stoll artist was available he booked him for Moss Empires.

Gradually the Palladium bills began to outshine those of the Coliseum and Alhambra. Acts that Stoll booked to top the Coliseum bill on their own appeared at the Palladium in support of other performers.

Parnell used the same techniques he had used at Birmingham. He booked many more acts per programme. And the performers had to cut their material, streamline their routines. In most cases Parnell did it for them.

The West End was offered modern, quick fire variety at the London Palladium for the first time. And you could get a reserved scat in the back of the ground floor for only 2/6 [12½p in decimal, about £7 in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed] and up in the top balcony a reserved numbered seat for 1/- [5p in decimal, about £3 in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed].

He found new stars too. Older music-hall patrons will remember Billy Bennett. “The Guv’nor”, as Parnell was called, gave him his bill matter of “Almost A Gentleman”. He also wrote some of his songs. He found and brought to stardom Layton and Johnstone; Sid Field and Max Miller and many more.

NO HOLIDAY

And the same judgment which was in later years to launch Bruce Forsyth and Norman Vaughan also brought the Crazy Gang into being. This was in 1931 and “V.P.”, busy booking weekly variety bills, found he hadn’t time for a holiday.

So he had the idea of putting a show into the Palladium which could run for more than one week — to enable him to get away to the seaside.

The first Crazy Show featured Nervo and Knox, Naughton and Gold and a husband and wife comedy team Billy Caryll and Hilda Mundy.

Parnell had some trouble persuading Nervo and Knox to appear with Naughton and Gold – there had been a row between them over “stealing” material. At the Monday morning band call the trouble flared up again and Parnell had to go down to the theatre to make peace between them.

Parnell gave the comics a free hand to get laughs. They were joined by the comedy juggler Eddie Gray (Parnell also gave him his “Monsewer” title) and later Flanagan and Allen were added to the team.

FLANAGAN & ALLEN

Parnell brought Bud Flanagan and Chesney Allen as unknown comics to the Holborn Empire where they were an immediate and sensational hit—he later added them to the Crazy Gang and Bud Flanagan (Allen having retired) stayed with the Gang until its recent break up.

One of Parnell’s first Palladium revues after the war was “High Time” with Tessie O’Shea. Jewell and Warris and Nat Jackley.

Tessie O’Shea made her entrance on an elephant but at a matinee performance she was thrown into the orchestra pit. This put Tessie out of the revue for three months — an accident which never would have happened if its trainer had realised the elephant was 12 months pregnant. Six months later she gave birth.

After “High Time”, Val Parnell put in another revue “Here There and Everywhere”. In between he ran five week’s variety — George Formby topping one bill; Laurel and Hardy the other.

JERRY ALLEN’S START

He also turned his attention to the Prince of Wales Theatre — presenting Sid Field in a revue there. This was “Piccadilly Hayride” and it gave a whole crowd of talented newcomers their first West End break—among them Terry-Thomas, Derek Roy and swing organist Jerry Allen, now resident with his trio in our Midlands “Lunch Box” series.

He altered the Hippodrome, so that it could present a floor show type of entertainment “Starlight Roof”.

The stars of “Starlight Roof” were Vic Oliver, Pat Kirkwood and Fred Emney. Among many unknowns, three people were auditioned by him to whom he gave their first Chance in this show. They were Michael Bentine. Jean Carson and Julie Andrews, who was then 12. Bentine offered a comedy act with a chair back and a rubber plunger; Jean Carson played a cigarette girl and was understudy for Pat Kirkwood. Julie Andrews sang a soprano solo. The show ran for two years.

With three shows running in the West End. Val Parnell began to plan future policy. It was then he decided to build the London Palladium into the world’s No. 1 vaudeville theatre.

STAR HUNT

To succeed, however, he needed stars — big top of the bill attractions. In January 1946, he flew to New York on his first international star hunt.

But not only stars, he brought back a whole list of good supporting acts — reasoning he had to offer the public something special if he wanted them to pay 14/6 [72½p in decimal, about £22.50 today] for a stalls seat. This is why big time, international variety came to the Palladium under Parnell’s management.

The list of stars who came to appear for him still reads like an international Who’s Who of Show Business… Danny Kaye; Lena Home; Johnny Ray; Bob Hope; Jack Benny; Kay Starr; Guy Mitchell; Dorothy Lamour; Duke Ellington; Grade Fields; Ella Fitzgerald; Edgar Bergen; Martha Raye; Phil Harris; Jean Sablon; Danny Thomas; Betty Hutton; Frank Sinatra; Eddie Fisher; Judy Garland; Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis; Sch-nozzle Durante; Sophie Tucker; Howard Keel; The Andrew Sisters; Tony Martin; Allan Jones; Jo Stafford; Nat “King” Cole; Benny Goodman…

They were all given the star treatment — dressing rooms were redecorated, modernised and the current headliner had his or her name outside the famous No. 1 dressing room — on a brass plate with the date of appearance. The plates were unscrewed — mounted on polished wood and given to them as a souvenir at the end of their engagement.

He booked Katherine Dunham’s Dancers for the Prince of Wales Theatre. One girl in the show also had a small solo spot in which she sang a number. Her name? One of this year’s Royal Variety Show performers — Eartha Kitt.

NEXT TIME: Mickey Rooney’s flop . . . when Charles Henry had to push on Judy Garland . . . Peggy Mount’s début . . . how Max Bygraves got his chance.

The post The Val Parnell Story: Crazy, Gang Crazy! appeared first on THIS IS ATV NETWORK from Transdiffusion.

VAL PARNELL gives up his post as our Managing Director this month and will be succeeded by Mr Lew Grade, his Deputy.

He has had a remarkable career — rising from a 5/- a week office boy to holding Managing Directorships of two of Britain’s biggest entertainment organisations — Moss Empires and then ATV.

He built up Moss Empires into the world’s biggest theatre circuit — at one time controlling 30 theatres and music halls.

He has brought the public — first in theatres and then on television — the world’s greatest entertainers. Many of them were unknown performers till “V.P.” gave them their first chance.

He came into commercial television at the start. In 1957 he took over as full time Managing Director of ATV and turned our £1,500,000 losses into a profit.

He will still continue his association with the Company — as Executive Producer of “Sunday Night at the London Palladium” and as a Director of ATV.

But now, for the first time in 57 years, “V.P.” will no longer arrive in a theatrical or television office in the morning for the start of a day’s work …

VAL PARNELL was born into show business.

His father was Fred Russell, a famous top of the bill entertainer and the pioneer of ventriloquism as it is known today.

Fred Russell was the first “vent” to face an audience with a single dummy. Till then, ventriloquists worked with as many as a dozen dolls. Arthur Worsley, Peter Brough and all the others have followed in his footsteps.

REVOLUTIONISED

Years later, it was his son who revolutionised the British Music Hall by streamlining running orders, cutting artistes’ time on the stage and presenting, for the first time. “High Speed Variety” as we know it today.

Val Parnell, born on St Valentine’s Day, was two years old when his father gave up the editorship of the Hackney Gazette to become a full time entertainer with his Pearly King dummy “Coster Joe”.

He had been given a tryout at the Palace Theatre — for £10 [about £1,100 in today’s money, allowing for inflation – Ed]. He did so well he stayed 20 months.

At that time, Victorian England was rocked with a sensational divorce case involving an Irish politician named Parnell and Kitty O’Shea, a married woman. To avoid confusion, Thomas Frederick Parnell became Fred Russell.

For the next 40 years Fred Russell was a star. He was a contemporary of Marie Lloyd, Little Tich, Charles Chaplin—all the great entertainers in the lush golden hey-day of British music-hall.

But conditions were very different to those today. Artistes had little or no protection. There was no standard contract between managements and performers. Fred Russell saw the need for variety performers to organise themselves.

With the help of a few fellow performers he organised a trade union — the Variety Artistes’ Federation. And Fred Russell became its first chairman.

BRIEF STRIKE

Managements, however, didn’t take too kindly to the idea. And although, after a brief strike, the music-hall performers won the right to negotiate conditions of employment and obtained a standard contract which, with modifications, is still in use today, Fred Russell found himself ostracised.

For four years he was unable to secure any worthwhile bookings in this country. So, instead, he embarked on World tours visiting America, Australia, Canada, South Africa and other countries — anywhere where they spoke English.

The postscript to this, of course, is that earlier this year his son found himself in dispute with the same union his father founded. But, fortunately for all, the disagreement was short lived.

Fred Russell died in 1957 — aged 95. And there is a bronze bust to “Variety’s First Gentleman” in the foyer of the London Palladium.

TOY THEATRES

With this background, it is no surprise that his son’s first playthings were toy theatres.

At 13, Val Parnell ran away from boarding school in Margate, to enter show business. But he never thought of himself as a performer. It was the managerial side that attracted him.

His first job — as a 5/- [25p in decimal, about £26 now] a week office boy with Sir Walter de Frece, husband of Vesta Tilley, who ran a theatrical company and a few small theatres. At night, he went to Pitman’s to learn shorthand.

When he was 15, he added 12/6d [62½p in decimal, about £64 now] to his 7/6d [37½p in decimal, about £38 now] a week wages by going from his day time office job to sell tickets at night at the box office at the Metropole Theatre, Camberwell.

BOOKING ACTS

A couple of years later he was booking acts for four small provincial theatres.

The end of 1914 saw Parnell in the army and he served overseas until 1919 when he returned to England to resume his employment with Sir Walter de Frece.

When de Frece sold out to the Charles Gulliver circuit, Val Parnell became booking manager for 10 of Gulliver’s provincial theatres — one of these was the newly opened Birmingham Hippodrome.

Here, Val Parnell found himself in opposition to two Moss Theatres in the same town. Both were regarded as No. 1 dates.

The stars naturally preferred working for the well established Moss circuit. And, just to make things more difficult, all Moss contracts had a barring clause against appearances at Birmingham Hippodrome.

Parnell, finding he couldn’t get headline attractions, decided on a new policy. For a start, he booked many more acts per bill. He cut their time, streamlined their routines. And at Birmingham Hippodrome, modern fast moving variety was born.

In 1928, the Gulliver circuit was sold to The General Theatre Corporation and Val Parnell took over the booking of the whole chain of theatres, including the London Palladium. In 1931 the newly formed General Theatre Corporation took over the management of The Moss Empire Chain of Theatres and Val Parnell became General Manager and in complete charge of the booking of all artistes and attractions.

NEXT TIME: His battle with Sir Oswald Stoll . . . The start of the Crazy Gang . . . When Tessie O’Shea fell off an elephant . . . How Jerry Allen of “Lunch Box’’ got his start.

The post The Val Parnell Story: They called his father ‘Variety’s first gentleman…’ appeared first on THIS IS ATV NETWORK from Transdiffusion.