Blackpool’s prestigious ballrooms and the sounds of the big band era

Band Leader Ted Heath remembered for his appearance at Fleetwood Marine Hall

Big name bands came to Blackpool’s theatres and ballrooms in the 1930s but before we quick-step into the Forties let’s not forget that the Tower Company also employed about 180 local musicians.

Where did they all work? Readers of my generation will be mentally making a list but it may be a mystery to younger folk.

Let’s start with the big ballrooms at the Tower, the Winter Gardens and the Palace (closed in 1961) and remember that the Spanish Hall at the Winter Gardens was often used for dancing.

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Famous band leader Geraldo preparing the music programme for a broadcast from the BBC studio at Blackpool in 1949

There were orchestras in the Opera House, the Palace Theatre, the Grand and the Tower Circus. It may seem incongruous that until the early Fifties audiences for a dramatic play at the Grand would hear orchestral selections before curtain up and at the interval.

The Tower Company also had small ensembles in their restaurants.

But back to big name bands who came to play for dancing in the main summer weeks in the Tower and Empress Ballrooms.

The most frequent from 1946 to 1959 were the bands of Geraldo, Ted Heath and Joe Loss, with mentions due to John Dankworth, Ken McIntosh and Jack Parnell.

English jazz bandleader Jack Parnell at the drum kit in 1954. Photo: Getty Images

Geraldo (Gerald Bright, 1904-1974) had started his career as a violinist at the Tower at the age of 18.

Only a year later he was leading a small orchestra at the resort’s Metropole Hotel before moving to the old Majestic at St Annes, gaining national fame through his radio broadcasts.

Geraldo had a long association with the Blackpool Tower Company and became their musical adviser, alongside other top appointments such as MD for the Cunard Line.

Trombonist Ted Heath (1902-1969) played with Geraldo’s band from 1940 until the end of WW2, when Blackpool saw the emergence of Ted Heath and His Music in a three-week season at the Empress Ballroom of the Winter Gardens and four Sunday afternoon concerts in the Opera House, all in 1946.

In 1947 the Heath Band also played an August week at the Tower Company’s Palace Theatre, twice nightly, billed as “Britain’s Greatest Band Sensation.”

A Gazette advert named the drummer as Jack Parnell, who was to form his own band in the mid-Fifties and played Empress Ballroom seasons before becoming musical director for ATV shows including Sunday Night at the London Palladium and The Muppet Show.

Ted Heath’s short summer seasons at the Empress Ballroom continued until the late Fifties.

Joe Loss (1909-1990) had the longest Blackpool association of any star bandleader, spanning 57 years.

He began as a violinist at the Tower’s Chinese Restaurant in 1929 and was last seen here in 1986 when his ten-piece band played a short season of Wednesday dance nights in the Empress Ballroom.

His band did several summer stints at the Empress until the dance scene declined but Joe and his orchestra returned to the big ballroom for Bernard Delfont’s Stardust Garden venture from 1971-73.