FROM the moment it first burst on to the stage in Glasgow, the Five Past Eight Show was something special. Sixty-six years ago this week, a handful of stars lit up the Alhambra Theatre in what was to become a city institution. The Evening Times review was suitably glowing the next day, on May 27, 1955. Queues for the Five Past Eight Show “Having seen most of the brightest and best shows at the Alhambra since it first opened its doors I never have left the theatre more satisfied than last night, when Five Past Eight had a sky’s-the-limit first performance,” enthused the reviewer.
IT was general election night, May 26, 1955. Forty-five days after taking over from Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden returned the Conservatives to victory with an increased majority. At Glasgow’s Alhambra Theatre, though, the management had something else on their minds: the launch of a brand-new Five Past Eight show. Jack Radcliffe and Jimmy Logan headed the bill, alongside actress Olga Gwynne, Kenneth McKellar, and a “stupendous supporting cast”. The “fast-moving song, dance and laughter show”, presented by Stewart Cruikshank, had Geraldo as the musical director for the special opening performance. Radcliffe and Logan are pictured here, before the first night, with, from left, Joanna Rigby, Katherine Feather, Olga Gwynne, and Margaret Miles.