Manchester Cabaret Clubs.

[bilco]

Does anyone recall these clubs around the late 50s/early 60s?
Southern Sporting Club, Birch St. Levenshulme Sporting Club. Stockport- owned by man mountain Bill Benny, the wrestler, or the Empress, Stockport?
Lots of up and coming stars cut their teeth in these clubs. I remember seeing Gerry Dorsey (Engelbert) Sid and Eddie (Little and Large) and many others. I recall every drink was 2 bob (10p) Great nights out in those days!
Another great act was the Karl Denver Trio who also had a residency at the Yew Tree in Wythenshawe.
Have a listen to them on you tube....Bill.

youtube.com/watch?v=EZteIxKb1pM&feature=related

[maggs]

hi bill remember all of them but i only went to wythenshawe yew tree, and golden garter, saw little & large there, saw karl denver at another club on oxford rd, great times maggs

[bilco]

Hi Maggs, I'd forgotten the Golden Garter. I remember seeing Bob Monkhouse there when I lived in Woodhouse Park. He was much funnier live than on T.V.

Bill

[maggs]

hi bill. yes we had some great times there. do you remember Ronnie Gibson that owned the Yew Tree, he was a fab singer. i saw Bob Monkhouse & yes wouldnt say funnier but more rude. i loved him on tv he was the best, maggs

[bodzy3]

Bilco I remember the Southern very well considering I worked there for abour 5 years Sid Elgar was th man that owned it , Johnny Feeean, Harry Harrison were the managers there Oh there was Mike who went to the Oceans Eleven Club , Paul Kendal was the compare (real name Harry Hunt )Bobby and Anita,was on drums and organ, Terry McDonald, Fred the Cop ,and Brian Londons dad Jack London were the doormen, Rita Margaet and Jean were the Cashiers ,Doerthy was the Cloakroom Girl,Mitch was the head barman ,Cliff was the Head waiter for a time then Keith Harrison,then me , the place was brillient ,the only place to be in Manchester Mild beer was 1s 9d per pint and bitter was 1s 11d per pint Ive seen the best artist like Wee Willy Harris .Johnny Ray , Alma Cogan , Lonnie Doniggan, Frank Ifield oh millions of them top liners in there day, Tommy Bruce , Hienz, Karl Denver (real name Angus McKensie) Who was living in Droylesden til his death a few years back Then you mentioned Syd and Eddie , I also worked at the Domino Club on Grey Mare Lane for the owners Ronnie and Dennis Moss where those two started ,and I worked in the Poco a Poco Club in Stockport for Kieth Marsden ex City player and I used to serve Sir Matt Busby and Joe Mercer , and Maggs I remember Ronnie Gibson ,a gorton lad used to sing in the Gorton Brook at weekends or at talent comps , I also used to work at times for Sid Elgar at his other clubs like the Offerton Palace ,or the Hyde Palace ,or Bury Palace It was all a part of my training for my later life in the booze industry but thats too long a story for one post
Wonderful days Wonderful memories and Wonderful women
nice chating to you
bodzy

[bilco]

Hi Bodzy, We were regulars at the Poco when it first opened as the Empress. Could win a few bob in the casino until they got a grip and tightened the rules ;D. I remember the poor bass player in the resident group- he used to go bright pink when the stripper strutted her stuff lol. Ray Curtis was the compere who was poached from Levvy Sporting Club and "Chunky" was their
Mr Fixit. great nights

Bill

[OLLY]

HIYA BILCO.......I USED THE SOUTHERN.......AND HEARED OF THE OTHERS........BUT HAVING TO GET UP AT 4 IN A MORNING 7 DAYS AND CATCHING A TRAIN AT BELLE VUE STATION AT 4-30 AM
A JUST COULDNT DO IT MUCH......I WAS MILKING 16 COWS BY 6AM EVERY MORNING......THEY WERE THE COWS THAT DIDNT LIKE THE MILKING MACHINES.......IT WAS MY FIRST EXPERIENCE OF COWS LIKING THE HUMAN TOUCH....... ;D ;D ;D

[maggs]

wow Bodzy, ya famous all the people you know, sounds like you have had a great life, did you know Bunny Lewis use to have a club on Hyde rd, we always went in the Devonshire on Stockport rd good nights in there but dont remember anyone famous going in, shame they pulled it down, no clubs now is there, not like it was, love to get my teen years back.

[bodzy3]

Hi Maggs I knew Bunny Lewis very well , His club was just of Hyde road, well Club ,it was a pub really called the Marsland ,a Chesters pub just at the back of the Dolphin ,which is at the bottom of Clowes Street ,Hyde Road end (the Dolphin is still there today ) when i was a young-un about 17 I worked for a friend of mine at the Band on the Wall in town where Bunny used to work in drag with Jackie Carlton ,Eric Leroy , Dimond Lil and Billy Dennis , I must say that I knew them all , professionally of course , but had a million laughs with them and later at the Napoleon on Cornwall Street,we had Bunny and Co do an adult pantomine for us they called it "A Puff in Boots " or "Cindys a Fella " That went down a storm

P.S. I went in the Devonshire so you can say you DO know somebody famous that went in Ha Ha

[bilco]

Hey Maggs, Olly and Bodzy. Lets set up a geriatric clubbers club. Bodzy should know all the dives where they allow zimmers ;D ;D ;D

Bill

[maggs]

Hi Bill yea anything you get up im in there, gud old bodzy knows em all ,but dont think bunny &co can do it now , never hear off em, all too old now or gone like Foo Foo. all worn out, saw Jackie carlton, he was good, also saw cindafella, who was the one who use to mime to rawhide cant think of his name right laff he were, So you went in the Dev then Bodzy bet you were there same nights as me, dont know why they pulled it down perfectly gud pub that was, did you ever go in the pub next to th apollo was it the empire where all the stars from the hip went, maggs

[maggs]

Hey Bill less of the zimmer frames you can bring yours if you must, im still dancing doing line dancing & sequence, & swimming, ya as young as you feel, im dancing my way up there ha ha

[bodzy3]

HI Bilco and Maggs , there is a geriatric club in town with live music your supposed to be over 30 to get in (dont know how i managed to get in ) its owened by Elkie Brooks 's family whos real name is Elsie Bookbinder the club is called "Bookbinders", they say "if you go in alone and dont come out without a woman, you must be gay" its that kind of club .
But Maggs your right about most of the "Drag -Queens sadly most are dead now ,but i was talking to Diamond Lil in a pub last year , only a shadow of his former self but still does all the old jokes , As a cab driver I went to pick up at Jackies shop on Oldham street a few years back and enquired about his health only to be told by his son that Mr Carlton had passed away that night , so much for timing eh , yeah Bunnies gone as well as FooFoo ( Frankie Pearson , Still see his brother though, hes still fit and drinking plenty, the pub your thinking about next to the Apollo is the Ashley Arms ,yeah been in it lots of times and there used to be a Indian restaraunt just a little futher up Stochport road that we used to frequent, on the oppsite side of the road , cant think of the name of that at the moment but it will come,but like most people in town everybody had their Currys at the Piccadilly Curry house at the bottom of Piccadilly Station Approach on London Road
good days Oh to be 21 again
bodzy

[tony38337]

As I recall the one who used to mime to Rawhide was Johnny Goontweed, he used a shoelace when the whip cracked. Just before we moved down south my wife & I went for a curry in the Piccadilly curry shop (As I recall in the late 60's there were two fairly close together so with your back to the dilly I mean the second one) and had chicken of the four legged variety, got to say I ate half of it and knew it wasn't chicken but I found out later from my neices husband who worked for the Manchester health inspection department that they had cat in their freezer. Aah! Jackie, Foo Foo, Bunny all of 'em entertainment in spades, does anyone remember the drag act where he came out onto the stage in a sparkling evening gown and played all sorts of wierd instruments, one being a length of hosepipe with a trumpet mouthpiece on one end and a funnel on't other, I also remember a brass bedstead was another but the most memorable thing about the act was that musically he was fantastic and played solo classical pieces very well. Oh yes forget the West End and the Smoke, Manchester was the place for entertainment.

Tony T.

[maggs]

Hi Tony & Bodzy, yea all those good times are gone now, funny how things change , even the clubs have gone, i use to live at the back of Frank Pearson when i got married, could see him dressing up in ladies clothes from our bedroom, in c on m didnt like his club thou in m/c very small, but had few good nights in there, dont remember a curry place on Stockport rd did you mean Chiappi,s dont know if thats spelt right, it was Italian they had chip shop next door, we went in there every night with one hot vimto, and Tony hope you didnt go in that curry house again, ugh you dont know what ya eating, i believe one killed his wife in Levenshulme but they never found her body, he had one of them restaurant,s thats not the one i remember that sang Rawhide, id know the name if i heard it, hey Bodzy did you ever see a Larry Stone he was disabled but he played the piano & sang like a man or woman, he sang passing strangers he was great, only saw him once dont know what happened to him, bye maggs

[maggs]

Hi Bill, just watched Karl Denver, just great good old Joe Brown brill they are, thks for that, maggs

[bilco]

Yes I remember Johnny goon Tweed and his one man goon show, a very funny guy. Also Al Showman, funny but a bit blue
Bodzy, I think the name of the curry house on Stockport Rd was Manzil's, upstairs on the right going away from Ardwick Green. We often ended up there after a night in one or other of the clubs.
Maggs, going back to Karl Denver,I believe he did a few spots at the "Grand Ole Opry" and then got deported as an illegal immigrant!!
Bill

[Lisa]

Hi Tony, Was the restaurant the one called THE MAN FANG? I used to go in there on a Saturday after a night at the Manchester Sports Guild (MSG). I also heard the rumours about the cats.......

[tony38337]

Hi Lisa,

I thought that the Man Fang was a Chinese restraunt somewhere near what is now Chinatown, I think it was one of the first big Chinese restraunts as was the Manzil in Ardwick, I could never afford to go in there.

Tony T.

[bodzy3]

Bilco you got it exactly right it was the Manzil Curry House at the bottom of Stockport road ,we used it a lot when we worked at the Southern Sporting Club, lots of staff would meet down there after work ,we used to take many of the artist there as well ,we must have spent pounds there after working so hard to make it but we were young and couldn't care less as long as we enjoyed it great times eh

[barbara]

We used the curry house at the bottom of the approach for years, also the chinese near the Queens Hotel.
There was a pub near Stevenson Square we visited often upstairs brilliant artists.
When we lived in West Gorton my parents were regualrs in the Devonshire.

[Lisa]

Hi Tony, The Man Fang was on Piccadilly along that row of shops opposite where the bus station is now with your back to the buses. The same row where Woolworths was only nearer towards the station.

[mavis]

Hi Bodzy,
Do you remember Alan Black as compere at the southern sporting club, nobody mentions him?

[bodzy3]

Wow Mavis , you've stired a memory there with Alan Black , Yes is the answer , when i was working for Sid Elgar I used to go around andvwork the other clubs as well , well me and Alan went from the Bury Club and opened one in Accreington cant rememberhow long it was open but just before we shut we got in everybodys membership fees for the next year , yeah and Alan always used to drive me there and back as I had no transport at the time , yeah we had a few laughs me and Alan , Smashing fella great personallity and a lot of fun to be with
dont know what happened to him ??

[mavis]

Hi Bodzy so pleased you remembered Alan Black as nobody else seems to remember him, great voice!!! he really got the Southern Sporting club going!!!! I remember him coming on stage and singing "give me the simple life" Quite a jazzy sort of entertainer!!!!

[mavis]

Hi bodzy, I was telling my husband how Johnny Ray came out and jumped off the stage and sang shake a hand shake a hand wasn't it fantastic!!! I can understand that being a highlight of the evening for your mother!! What showmanship!!! What a concert!!!! We were reminiscing yesterday as my husband is a New Zealander and didn't have the advantage we had of all these entertainers in the 60"s I can show him your letter now as he thinks i made it all up about Johnny Ray jumping down off the stage and shaking everybodies hand!!!! Great orchestra he brought with him too.

[bodzy3]

Hey Mavis Johnny Ray wasnt the only star there , we really did have loads of them as you know , but another big one was Guy Mitchell (she wears red feathers in a hula hula skirt) he put on a great show as well then there was Marvin Rainwater , Alma Cogan, Lonnie Donnigan
Eric Delaney(drummer) and most of the up and coming rock and roll groups ,you must remember Wee Willy Harris , Tommy Bruce , Heinz ,Screaming Lord Sutch they were all regulars Oh Jimmy James and the Vagabonds were an absolute hit from the first time they played there Then there was that one from your side of the world Frank Ifield (I remember you ),He used to get £60 a week till he recorded that song then he wanted £120 for a one night stand ,and he still owes me a Fiver for a dress shirt I sold Him , he spilt jucie on his just before going on stage and didnt have a replacement so I sold him mine ,but sadly I never got paid for it .
I met Guy Mitchell years later when I worked at Heathrow and I made him a b****y Mary with all the spices in, just the way he had them at the Southern , and he turned to me and said I only ever knew one bartender in England make a b****y Mary like that , I said" yes it was at the Southern Sporting Club Manchester and I was that Bartender so we got on quite well till he boarded his flight and went back to the States and that was the last time I saw him .
Hope this little piece on the club will throw some more light on the education we had in Manchester Clubland scene back in the 60's

[mavis]

HI Bodzy,
Thanks for that, about the clubs!!! Really was a great time of our lives wasn't it?Don't think there was drugs and things around then was there? Do you remember another club in town called "Chez Joey "I had a friend that worked there. Do you remember the male resident singer? Can't for the life of me remember his name?or hers? Not sure what gender? know it if I heard it?? Well known at the time though.

[johnnyowen]

sorry i havent been on for ages working 7 days at the moment and dead busy. love this thread. i remember the man fang on piccadilly it was underneath burtons which was the first job i had. we used to go in on a friday lunchtime for the set menu but i was too scared to order a "chinky" so i had steak and chips. i remember manzils we used to go in on a friday night after d jaying in the piccadilly club owned by bill kerfoot. the doorman was a huge bloke who i remember died young,he hated all us djs and sometimes wouldnt let us in even though we were working there. bill also owned oceans 11 in longsight i worked there as well in about 71 . you could set your watch by it. every fri and sat at eleven it would kick off good style, the compare was a great guy called pete maclaine. frank pearsons gran used to live near us in bradford and she would come out and tell us off for playing football outside the house and frank would be standing behind her clutching his poodle(no really he had a poodle) he was supposed to be some kind of relation but i never got to the bottom of it(no pun intended}

[bodzy3]

Hey Mavis your showing your age now , "The Chey Joey" one of the nicest little clubs in town if I not mistaken , we used to go down stairs to a beautifully decorated plush and intimate lounge and sip our drinks through very fine glassware to the beautiful and velvet voice of Tony Hulme ,Mr Manchester they called him , his suits must have cost a fortune alone , gold suits red suits , that man had style he was Mr MANCHESTER