Stratpicker wrote:Interesting to see Frank Ifield so low down on the Bill (if its representative of Star Order).
It was. Most people at the Empire Theatre would never have heard of him before. Chas McDevitt and Shirley Douglas would have been better known. I'd certainly seen them on TV, but I was completely unfamiliar with the name "Frank Ifield".
Stratpicker wrote:"Probably" in 1962 I went with my Mum (well I was only 14 or 15) to the Palace Theatre, Oxford Street, Manchester to see them both.
AFAIK - The Shadows closed the First Half and Frank Ifield was Top Of The Bill.
Can anyone put a date to that performance please?
Frank Ifield hadn't had a hit by April 1962, and was probably on the bill as a bit of showbiz bartering by Peter Gormley (who managed Frank as well as Cliff & The Shadows). He would not have been able to top a big variety or package tour bill until after his summer 1962 hit with
I Remember You and even then, it would have taken some time to put such a package together. I don't think that Cliff or The Shadows would
ever have played second billing to Frank. Not unless it was "his show" and The Shadows were special guests or some such formulation.
JN