Aladdin and Cinderella

[manofmystery]

This is a question for the slightly "older" members of this community.

I was listening to Radio 2 this morning and Chris Evans played the intro to a song. That intro was a crashing of symbols which sounded familiar to me. It was the intro to "Emperor Theme" from Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp.

I dug out the album and played it whilst I was travelling and it got me wondering.....................

So this is my question. Did anyone here go to see the pantomimes and if they did can they remember (I know it was a long time ago) how the songs tied in with the panto. For example when The Shadows Sang "Me Oh My", what was happening on stage, what scene were they acting out etc. and the same for the rest of the songs.

Best wishes

Paul

[kipper]

hi paul I went to that show but sorry cant remember what was happening on stage at that time. but I do remember I enjoyed it a lot the trip was a works do i only just now remembered that bit. peter

[Paul Childs]

I saw Alladdin at the London Paladium in March 1965. From what I can remember (I was only 12 at the time) songs like Me Oh My and Anything But Friends they sang and did a dance routine accompanied by the orchestra in the pit. They played themselves on Genie With The Light Brown Lamp and with Cliff on I Could Easily Fall which they did twice, early on in the show and again at the end. I remember them using the white Burns and the AC30s & Brian's drums were wheeled in on a Chinese style wagon, I think photographs exist of this.
It's a pity now that the whole show wasn't filmed so it could be put out on DVD. There was a TV version shown not long after though but it wasn't quite the same as the live show, don't know if that version is somewhere in the archives?

[JimN]

There certainly was a version of the Aladdin pantomime shown on TV .

It was what must have been a cut-down version shown on the ITV network on the evening of Christmas Day 1967 (which was a Monday).It had a ninety-five minute slot (19:30 - 21:05), minus commercial breaks and another after its end.

Although Cliff and the Shadows, because of the fact that their management was tied up with The Grade Organisation, most often worked with ATV when they did an ITV show, in 1967 / 1968, they did a number of one-off broadcasts with Rediffusion London, who were the weekday London ITV contractor (which is why the Monday was important - ATV had London on Saturdays and Sundays).
The Shadows did not play (or even mime to) Genie With The Light Brown Lamp or Little Princess. Instead, they mimed, in a very stylised way, to Snap, Crackle And How's Your Dad?, with John "playing" the bass part on a toy grand piano about a foot (35cm) long.

There are several web sources for the TV Times for Christmas 1967.

Here are three images relating to that show:

(a) https://anonimag.es/image/JT9sfli

(b) https://anonimag.es/image/JT9sflv

(c) https://anonimag.es/image/JT9sflj

[drakula63]

Pretty sure there are some photos from one of the pantomimes in Cliff's book 'Which One's Cliff?' I shall have a look.

Here's one from Aladdin...

[manofmystery]

Thanks for your replies. I knew it was a long shot as it was over 50 years ago!

One more question, on the album "Cinderella", the track "Poverty". Is that the Shadows singing along with the Mike Sammes Singers?

Best wishes

Paul

[Paul Childs]

Is there a picture anywhere of the Chinese style wagon with Brian's drums and the AC30s on it in Alladdin?

[strongbow]

The Lewry/Goodall work on Cliff's recordings attributes the Poverty lead vocal to Cliff and the other voices to the Mike Sammes Singers. However, the Shads were on the session instrumentally and may well have added voices also. It was recorded on November 9, 1966, and is identified as an edit of two different takes.

[manofmystery]

If you listen carefully to the vocal I am sure I can hear Bruce's voice.

[PeterfromBerlin]

It was recorded on November 9, 1966

Hi Pat,

I'm afraid that 1966 is wrong, the album came out in 1964, so the recording year must have been 1964, right?