Mick Crossley, 87, earned his living working at Brown, Muff & Co, but his heart was really in the theatre. At the Alhambra he saw some of the great comics of the variety days. And across the road at the Prince’s Theatre he watched the Arthur Brough Players in repertory. The day before Cinderella opens at the Alhambra, starring Billy Pearce, Mick looks back at previous pantomime greats who appeared at the theatre.

feel a bit ancient saying that it was 1930 when my parents took me to see my first pantomime at Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre. It starred George Lacy and Norah Blaney in Mother Goose.

George Lacey was a renowned pantomime dame and was to play the role 60 times in Britain’s theatres, the last time being in 1984. Norah Blaney was popular as Principal Boy, especially here in the North.

The years following saw many favourite pantomime comics appear at the theatre, including Frank Randle, Betty Jumel, Bunny Doyle, Jack Storey, Joe Black and regulars like Albert Modley and Norman Evans.

The 1947-48 panto saw Wilfred Pickles – very popular at the time on radio – play Buttons in Cinderella, supported by June Whitfield. In those years it was a different age, and with no competition from television until well into the 1950s, most of the big pantomimes ran until Easter.

In those early years of panto-going, one of my favourites was Albert Modley. He made his first appearance on the Alhambra stage in 1932. He was brought up in Ilkley and became a signal lampman at Forster Square Station.

He was soon to work in the northern clubs as a comedian, but was actually discovered by Ernest Binns who was running his concert party at Morecambe. Later he went on to tour with his own revue, On With the Modley. Francis Laidler booked him regularly for his pantomimes at Bradford, Leeds Theatre Royal and Sheffield, and one year in London.

It was at the Alhambra that he developed his tramcar routine with his drumset. He was accomplished on piano, xylophone and drums. In his popular sketch he played his drums for a few minutes, then pulled a cord which caused a canvas to fall over the front of his drums. It was painted to look like the front of a tram.

Donning a tram-driver’s peaked cap, he pretended to drive a tram, cleverly using the two cymbals as the controls. With the trams being the main form of public transport at the time, it was a very unny sketch.

Of course, when at the Alhambra he always pretended to be driving down the steep Church Bank. Asked where he was going, he pointed up to the tram’s destination. “It says DUPLICATE! Well that’s where we’re going. Duplicate,” he would say. “Anyway, I just follow the lines.”

He had an assortment of large caps which he would appear in, and had that catchphrase “In’t it grand to be daft?”

Norman Evans was a great Dame whose first panto in Bradford was in 1940. He was famous for his Over The Garden Wall sketch, appearing as Fanny Fairbottom. His head would suddenly appear from behind a mock brick wall on the stage, shouting at some child whose ball was always in the garden.

Portraying some Northern housewife – mop-capped, toothless, with ample bosom resting on the wall top – he would talk to an unseen neighbour about the weather, women’s problems, next door’s cat, etc. He also had a very funny sketch as a dentist, which he often used in pantomime.

Another great Dame, used a lot by Laidler, was Bunny Doyle. He served in the First World War with the Bradford Pals and was decorated for gallantry. He appeared in many Alhambra pantomimes.

For the 1958-59 pantomime, singer Ronnie Hilton was the main attraction in Dick Whittington. It was the Alhambra’s 1959-60 pantomime, Jack And The Beanstalk, which made Ken Dodd into a superstar. A wonderful show!

The next year, 1960-61, Robin Hood saw a wealth of comedy with Jimmy Wheeler, Freddie Frinton, Joe Baker and Jack Douglas. Bradford favourite, the singer John Hanson, was also in the cast.

The following year Puss In Boots was a sad run for Tommy Cooper, who was strapped up due to a slipped disc. He was supported by comedian George Bolton, but it was regarded as a calamitous panto.

There followed pantomimes with further top comedy stars such as Reg Varney, Jimmy Clitheroe, Mike and Bernie Winters, Freddie Frinton, Harry Worth, Tommy Trinder, Jack Tripp, Charlie Drake, Terry Scott, Cannon and Ball, Barbara Windsor, Les Dawson, Bill Maynard, Little and Large, Russ Abbot and Billy Dainty. What a galaxy of stars!

After the renovation which started in 1984, the Alhambra opened again in time for the 1986-87 pantomime Babes in the Wood, starring Cannon and Ball. Since then we’ve seen the likes of Jimmy Cricket, The Krankies, Jim Davidson, Charlie Drake, Max Boyce, the Chuckle Brothers and Lesley Joseph. And now of course we have Billy Pearce breaking all panto appearance records at Bradford.

Looking back over the Alhambra’s pantomime years, which started with Francis Laidler’s production – and never forgetting our lovely Sunbeams – I feel that Bradford theatregoers can be justly proud of the theatre’s “panto history”.