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Old Bordesley Palace, Digbeth

F

florence butler

master brummie
Elizabeth & Ted Biddle used to do a song and dance routine at the Old Bordesley Palace, probably early 1900's....These are the maternal Grandparents of a friend and I'm trying to help her to research their entertaining years.

Any help would be much appreciated...Florence :)
 
Astonian,

No. Digbeth Civic Hall was not Bordesley Palace which was in Bordesley very near the railway station on the left hand side of the road going towards the city centre. I usd to pass it every day on the tram but cannot quite remember if it was on Coventry Road or High Street. If asked to put money on it I would say it was on the High Street.

Old Boy
 
Can't speak from experience, but it was next to Clyde St on High St, just before the Coventry road
Mike
 
A couple of different photos to those that have been posted previously. One is a drawing of the theatre when it was the Imperial the other is a photo of it again when it had been renamed the Palace.

Phil
 

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Hi Guys
Many thanks mike and phil for the down load of the sketches
and for giving me the location some think else i will be probeing
have a nice day best wishes astonian ;;
 
hi any-body
can some body can confirm that the old civic centre was in time gone bye as far back as the early 1900,s a old time music hall and ifso could any-body tell me any such name i was told there was big bands playing there as well
what it was called i beleive my grand mother used to dance there on stage
one again i thank every-body for there valuable time
best wishes astonian ;;;;;
 
Maurice.... Enjoyed looking at the forum link - and the pics Phil. They kind of bring the Palace back to life. I'll bet it was wonderful in it's heyday.

Florence :)
 
Florence:

Yes, a great pity there were no video cameras around in those days. Thinking about that always reminds me of the short scene towards the end of the original film (with Robert Donat) of the "Thirty Nine Steps" with the memory man. I think they must have captured that theatre atmosphere pretty well! :)

I'm sure there must be a few playbills archived somewhere, though not necessarily in Central Library. Some I've requested in the past, though not for that theatre, were showing in the catalogues, but when they came to dig them out, they had mysteriously disappeared. :(

I must have a look around and see what I can find!

Maurice :cool:
 
hi florence
during your research have you come across the name harry levene
he ran a dance troupe of girls for the stage dancing in the halls
as i am researching my grand mother and my mother whom used to dance for him up and down the country my grand mother used to keep a monkey with her where ever she went it belonged to her mother whom was an amercican lady and when she died she kept it i remember seeing it when i was a lad and they lived down on new cannal street digbeth apparently it was fashion for the americans to keep monkeys for pets
 
Hi Astonian...I've only just started helping my friend research her Grandparents, so we haven't come across much at all. If we do find anything on Harry Levene, I will let you know....What a fascinating story about your Mother, Grandmother and the monkey. I'd love to write that up for inclusion in my family history.

All the best....Florence :)
 
hi florence
just like to say thanks for keeping an eye out for us and i will do like wise
for you, my yougest sister is not to well at the moment she,s hitting a
bad patch which could result in her looseing her life [ i prey to god not]
i recently lost my youngest brother pete the youngest member of the
but any way she had kept alot of the pictures of grand mother and grand
dad in the loft that belong to my mother from there younger days
when in the music halls stage dancing,and also they was associated with
billy cotton,and wee wee george, any way they all used to travel abroad
about every 3months and because my sister is ill she has had a complete
clear out of moms old letters and pic if any think goes wrong and to
also to her own house she as told me that she has given my brother
the pics of her parents with her self and billy cotton and wee george
on holiday i think it was venice if i remember it corretly co,s that had
george on that one then there is them and billy at other resorts
i live in worc , and my brother lives in kings heath brum
so iam going to try and see him and get some copys of itso i can put
it on the thread to show,
best wishes astonian ;;;
 
Hello Astonian...So very sorry to hear about your family troubles. I do hope there will be a positive outcome for your sister.

How fortunate all the pics and memorabilia were given to your brother rather than being thrown out. So often these valuable family items somehow get 'lost' over the years. It will be lovely to see them on the forum if you have time.

Kind regards....Florence :)
 
HI Florence
many thanks for your thread and thoughts today
i am going to resovoir rd selly oak b.ham today so i will be going
to call into my brothers house whom lives in kings heath
with a special camera to take a copys of what my sister has given him
and thats hoping he is in of course and i will be calling in to my sisters
just up the rd at west heath see what she as got left
i knew what pic my mother had and my sister knows that these two are
younger members of the family whom do not know the people on
the pics my sister was only a baby of one years old when my father
died, she never knew him andmy brother was,nt much older
my sister did tell my brother to asked me to tell them who is who
on the letters and the pics so i know he will onlyto eager to get them
and show me the pics. floe; as soon as i can get them i will certainly
get them on the thread.so now i am hoping that i can catch them in
today , have a nice day flor; best wishes astonian ;;;
 
Linda,

Your friend would probably do better to try to sell the theatre posters at a specialist auction I think collectors would be very interested.

Old Boy
 
florence butler said:
Elizabeth & Ted Biddle used to do a song and dance routine at the Old Bordesley Palace, probably early 1900's....These are the maternal Grandparents of a friend and I'm trying to help her to research their entertaining years.

Any help would be much appreciated...Florence :)
Click to expand...
Dear Florence, I am researching some musical Biddles, there names were Charles and Ernie and I have references to them playing an instrument called a dulcimer around the time of the first world war. I wonder if these are in your friend's family? Charlie Biddle played at Bordesley Palace in 1915.
 
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