Page 7 - Colin Wheeler's Memories

My Palace Theatre and other Memories Redditch Heritage

My first memory of visiting the theatre was in 1937 when as a very small child

my dad took me to see the Great Levante, real name Leslie Cole. He was an
Australian and was internationally famous magician and illusionist and had just

returned to this country from a world tour. He had a spectacular supporting
programme.

I can remember some of the tricks he performed including the coin snatch, the
sixpenny Woolworths tin kettle trick which involved pouring a wide selection of

drinks from an empty kettle and giving the to the audience to drink afterwards,
and throwing the kettle away for anyone to take home. I remember going home

and trying to do the tricks exactly as shown, none worked. He concluded the
show with a spectacular firing a girl from a cannon situated at the rear left hand
corner of the stage into a net on the front right hand corner. A short time

afterwards, he was doing this trick in a northern theatre and when the girl
landed in the net she was struck on the temple by a supporting post, and she died.

It was hushed up for obvious reasons, but a short time afterwards he has
another girl performing the same thing.

Although the poster shown is a very much later one from a theatre in Margate,
it shows a similar bill to that which appeared at the Palace Theatre in Redditch

so many years earlier.

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