Church Events

What a wonderful night we had being entertained by Will Adams, a music hall sing-a-long with Cathy & Barbara, dancing by the Weymouth School of Ballet with the Decadettes closing the first half.

Cosmo the Clown opened the second half with a tribute to Harold Cordell, which included magic tricks and an appearance from Benny Cordell.  This was followed by a poetic interlude from Cathy & Barbara, operatic singing from Sean Roberts, dancing by the Weymouth School of Ballet followed by more songs and dancing from the Decadettes before the Grand Finale.

£580 was raised on the evening which will be put towards the upkeep and fabric of Holy Trinity.

In 1957, Harold Crump joined a local group of amateur entertainers “The Young Revellers” run by Madge Moon. The group’s first public show ‘The Mad March Hare’ was at the newly built Upwey and Broadwey Memorial Hall on Friday 1st March that year. Harold’s debut performance was a solo comedy sketch “Life On The Railway”.

Harold went on to appear in many of Madge Moon’s shows, adding comedy mime and ventriloquism to his repertoire. During this time, Harold got to know fellow performer Douglas Thorne and they occasionally performed as a comedy double act.

In 1968, Harold presented his first Pavilion show “June Revels”.

Following ‘June Revels’ success, Harold was invited  to compere the Sunday night Pavilion shows during the 1968 summer season. The theatre manager suggested a stage name for Harold and so from July 7th onwards, Harold’s stage name would be Harold Cordell. As well as compering, Harold also performed his ventriloquist routine in some of the shows. Some of the artists that featured in that summer season were Tony Melody, Dick Emery, Arthur English, Ray Allan, Acker Bilk, Billy J. Kramer and Nancy Whiskey.

In 1972 and 1973, Harold and Douglas Thorne presented  ‘Variety Ahoy’ and ‘Variety Showtime’ at the Pavilion featuring local entertainers. Following the success of these shows and at the suggestion of Bill Duxbury, a friend from the days of “The Young Revellers”, Harold decided to try an Old Time Music Hall format for his next show on Friday 4th October 1974. The Music Hall was intended as a one off but was so successful that Harold kept the Music Hall format for all his subsequent Pavilion shows.

Each year’s show was a success and in 1977 there was such a demand for tickets that 1978 saw two nights of Music Hall which then continued each year. The 10th anniversary show was a sell out; 1986 and 1989 saw history made for the Pavilion with Royal guests of honour; the 20th anniversary show featured special guest star Don Maclean and in 1994 the show sold out four nights in a row as part of  Weymouth’s 50th anniversary commemorations of the D-Day landings.

The shows continued annually until 2007. A change of format was planned for his next show. Several ideas were discussed but that new show idea didn’t happen and Harold never organised any further shows at the Pavilion.

Throughout those 39 years of Pavilion shows Harold raised an amount, when adjusted for today’s value, of over £256,000 for local and national charities and he gave many local entertainers their first chance of performing in a prestigious 1,000 seat theatre. Harold flew the flag for Old Time Music Hall and kept the songs of that era alive with shows that were regularly supported by an audience who dressed for the occasion in Music Hall era attire! What would end up being Harold’s final Pavilion show rounded off his part in six decades of local entertainment that will always be an important part of Weymouth’s wonderful ‘Showbiz History’.

The local press affectionately referred to Harold as Weymouth’s ‘Mr Music Hall’.                       

For Harold, there could be no greater accolade.

by Brian Crump