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{{short description|British theatre impresario}}{{EngvarB|date=April 2015}}{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}

factoids

| birth_place = Small Heath, Birmingham, Warwickshire, England1945144df=y}}| death_place = London, England| nationality = British| education =| alma_mater =

• Producer
• impresario
• theatre manager{edih}| years_active = 1912–1945| spouse =| children = Alfred, George Jr.

}}George Black (20 April 1890 – 4 March 1945)George Black at IMDb. was a British theatrical impresario who controlled many entertainment venues during the 1930s and 1940s and was a pioneer of the motion picture business.George Black biographyweblink

Biography

Early years

Black was born on 20 April 1890, at 3 Court, 7 Sutton Street, in Small Heath, Birmingham.George Black biography: Oxford Indexweblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211020520weblink |date=11 February 2015 }} He left school at the age of eleven to work for his father who had previously been a travelling showman and now worked in the film industry."George Black, Producer, Passes", The Evening Independent, 6 March 1945. Aged twelve, he was looking after his father's Flea Circus.A short George Black biography on BBC Genome mentions Black looking after his father's Flea Circusweblink Black served throughout the Great War as a Private in the Northumberland Fusiliers and rose to the rank of Lance-Corporal. After the war, Black helped his father establish the first permanent motion-picture theatres in the UK. Black was a grafter and learnt about the entertainment business from his father. One of Black's initial jobs in his father's cinema was to show films on a Paul's Theatrograph, which was the name of the first commercially produced 35mm film projector. Within a few years, Black had become proprietor of a circuit of theatres and music halls on the North East coast of Britain.

Managing Director of the London Palladium

In 1928, Black moved to London and took over the management of GTC (General Theatre Corporation), which ran a chain of theatres, cinemas and dance halls. He also took over the management of the London Palladium, which was the flagship of the corporation. The Hippodrome, London in Leicester Square, Brighton Hippodrome and Blackpool Opera House were also under his control. When Black arrived as managing director of the London Palladium he'd previously owned a string of thirteen cinema theatres, which he'd sold for £300,000. Although the Palladium had recently fallen on hard times due to falling ticket sales (the theatre had lain dark during autumn of that year), Black's vision was to revive the Palladium as the number one variety theatre in the UK. On 3 September 1928, he re-opened the theatre with a superb variety bill that included Gracie Fields, Dick Henderson, Billy Bennett and Ivor Novello and a full supporting cast. Ticket sales skyrocketed and Argyll Street outside the Palladium's entrance became congested with a mass of unlucky patrons who'd been turned away at the box office. By headlining top-notch homegrown stars on the bill, Black secured continuous success through the remainder of the '20s and throughout the '30s. In defence of his entertainment policy Black was quoted as saying, 'Variety is an integral part of English life, the finest expression of the English character and as necessary to our social life as food and drink.'BOOK, Woodward, Chris,weblink The London Palladium: The Story of the Theatre and Its Stars, 2009, Northern Heritage Pub., 978-1-906600-39-6, en, From October 1928 until 1931, Black allowed live broadcasts over the radio to be transmitted from the London Palladium, which proved extremely popular with radio audiences.BOOK, Barfe, Louis, Turned Out Nice Again: The Story of British Light Entertainment, 2009-07-01, Atlantic Books, 978-1-84354-381-7, English, Black even looked abroad for acts, bringing many of the top American stars to the UK to perform at the Palladium including Duke Ellington and his Orchestra, Adelaide Hall, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller,London Palladium poster advertising Fats Waller's appearance at the theatre in 1938: weblink" title="https:/-/archive.today/20150217222006weblink">weblink Vic Oliver and Ethel Waters. In 1937, Black brought Josephine Baker over to the UK direct from the Folies-Bergere in Paris to headline a British tour on the Moss Empires circuit, which culminated on 27 June 1938 with her appearance at the London Palladium, her first engagement there.London Palladium poster advertising Josephine Baker's appearance at the theatre on 27 June 1938weblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218081117weblink |date=18 February 2015 }} Film stars were also booked onto the bill including the juvenile actor Jackie Coogan (who'd appeared alongside Charlie Chaplin in the hit film The Kid).BOOK, Cary, Diana Serra,weblink Jackie Coogan: The World's Boy King: A Biography of Hollywood's Legendary Child Star, 2004-09-01, Scarecrow Press, 978-0-585-46687-3, en, Coogan proved so popular he was held over for an extra week.In 1928, Black took over the presentation of the Royal Variety Performance. That year it was staged on 1 March at the London Coliseum in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary. After a gap of one year, on 22 May 1930, Black presented the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, again in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary.Royal Variety Performance 1930:WEB,weblink EABF - Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund / 1930, London Palladium, 2015-02-07, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150227113853weblink">weblink 27 February 2015, dmy-all, The show was broadcast live by BBC Radio.The Royal Command Performance BBC radio listing 22 May 1930weblink Black went on to present and compere at the Royal Variety Performance each year (excluding 1936) thereafter up to 1938Royal Variety Performance 1938:WEB,weblink EABF - Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund / 1938, London Coliseum, 2015-02-07, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150227113929weblink">weblink 27 February 2015, dmy-all, after which the performance was halted for the duration of the Second World War.Pantomime became a regular feature at the London Palladium for many years, and the Christmas pantomime Peter Pan was so popular with audiences that Black made it a fixture at the theatre every year from 1930 to 1938.WEB, The London Palladium, Argyll Street, Oxford Circus, London,weblink 2023-06-29, www.arthurlloyd.co.uk, In the early 1930s, Black, along with his assistant Charles Henry, decided to experiment with the content of the shows they produced at the Palladium. They came up with the novel idea of pairing together comedy double-acts. On 30 November 1931, Black organised Crazy Week at the Palladium, which brought together various comedy acts. It was under Black's watchful eye that this format was developed into the act that became known collectively as the Crazy Gang consisting of Nervo and Knox, Naughton and Gold and Flanagan and Allen.BOOK, Woodward, Chris,weblink The London Palladium: The Story of the Theatre and Its Stars, 2009, Northern Heritage Pub., 978-1-906600-39-6, en, WEB, The Crazy Gang - Theatre,weblink 2023-06-29, www.turnipnet.com, Black devised and produced the shows and revues that starred the Crazy Gang at the Palladium. Many theatre programmes of the 1930s had the words "Produced by George Black" on their cover. The Crazy Gang dominated the Palladium scene until the war years; then subsequently at the Victoria Palace Theatre. The average season attendance at one of the Crazy Gang shows was between 500,000 and 600,000 paying customers. By 1937, Black had signed the Crazy Gang up for a film and stage contract worth £100,000.BOOK, Woodward, Chris,weblink The London Palladium: The Story of the Theatre and Its Stars, 2009, Northern Heritage Pub., 978-1-906600-39-6, en, Black's 1937 production with the Crazy Gang titled London Rhapsody received plaudits from the press. It was considered to be one of the most spectacular shows ever produced at the Palladium. A contemporary critic noted, "whereas Ivor Novello has put Drury Lane back on the map by altering the standard of production there to a point far removed from the theatre's traditions, George Black has achieved the same results at the Palladium by a different process. The London Palladium reviews have been going one better every time. London Rhapsody is the best yet."The Man Who Wrote the Teddy Bears' Picnic by J. J. Kennedy, {{ISBN|9781467885690}}, George Black references on pages 123 and 124:weblink In 1938 Black co-wrote and staged another Crazy Gang show These Foolish Things, which also featured the Sherman Fisher Girls.On 5 May 1940, Black presented A Grand Variety Gala from the London Palladium that was broadcast on the BBC Radio Forces Programme in aid of the Variety Artists' Benevolent Fund.JOURNAL,weblink George Black presents a GRAND VARIETY GALA, The Radio Times, 3 May 1940, 866, 15, In August 1940, Black's musical revue Apple Sauce opened at the Holborn Empire starring Max Miller and Vera Lynn. After the theatre was bombed in 1941, the show transferred to the London Palladium where it ran until November 1941.{{citation needed|date=February 2016}}In her book The Time of My Life, musical star Pat Kirkwood recounts her time appearing at the London Palladium in Top of the World during the air raids of 1940. She had just opened in the new show:"We had raids every night and we never knew who would be on stage when they dropped. Tommy Trinder had a side-bet arranged, based on which of the comics would be on when one dropped. It was always Tommy! I had my turn too: one night in the middle of singing ‘Rhumboogie’ a bomb fell so near to the theatre that all the stalls heavy double-plated doors burst open and the whole auditorium shook. Everyone onstage carried on regardless and the audience never moved. This happened on the Saturday night of our first week at the Palladium.On Sunday morning I had a telephone call from Charles Henry, George Black's second in command, to inform me that the show was closing and that all theatres would be shut down until further notice. What we were not told was that on the Saturday night a landmine had landed on the roof of the Palladium and become lodged in the chimney. The bomb disposal men had defused it then carried it out through the stage door on Sunday morning!"BOOK, Kirkwood, Patricia, Time of My Life, Hodge, Patricia, 1999, 978-0-7090-6367-4, English, By late autumn of 1940 the German bombing blitz was well under way and more producers and stars packed their trunks and headed out of London. Some moved to Northern England, (Blackpool especially), for the duration of the war. Jack Hylton and George Black were just two impresarios who ran their showbiz empires from Blackpool.WEB, The Blackpool Opera House Story by Barry Band,weblink 2023-06-29, www.arthurlloyd.co.uk, The Tower Company who owned Blackpool Tower and its ballroom benefited greatly from this arrangement as their premises were used for shows in rehearsal and for the launch of national tours. Black was president of the VAA (Variety Artists Association) and during the war staged several shows that financially benefited American, British and Allied charities; one such show being Irving Berlin's This Is The Army.BOOK,weblink Billboard, 1943-11-13, Nielsen Business Media, Inc., en, On 7 July 1944, Black's forthcoming production Happy and Glorious, set to open at the London Palladium starring Tommy Trinder, Zoe Gail and Elisabeth Welch, was previewed at the Proms as part of Sir Henry Wood's Jubilee Season of Promenade Concerts and broadcast over the radio on the BBC Home Service.WEB, 1944-07-07, BBC Programme Index,weblink 2023-06-29, genome.ch.bbc.co.uk,

Managing Director of Moss Empires

Black oversaw the merging of GTC with Moss Empires variety circuit in 1932. He was then in charge of the new company Moss Empires Group and was in control of a chain of 53 theatres all over the UK. In 1938, he became the joint managing director of Moss Empires. As manager of the London Palladium and controlling boss of Moss Empires, Black became one of London's most powerful producers. When the chairman Colonel J. J. Gillespie of Moss Empires died in January 1942, Mr. R. H. Gillespie became chairman and George Black was promoted to sole managing director.WEB, Moss' Empires Jubilee Brochure 1899 - 1949,weblink 2023-06-29, www.arthurlloyd.co.uk,

Family

George Black Sr. was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1857. By 1861 the family had moved to live in nearby Sunderland.WEB, The Sunderland Site Page 027,weblink 2023-06-29, www.searlecanada.org, Black Sr. worked for many years at the Comedy Theatre in Manchester (later named the Gaiety Theatre) and at Theatre Royal, Birmingham. In time, he bought a huge waxworks exhibition, which he toured the UK with. In May 1906, Black Sr. opened the Monkwearmouth Picture Hall in Bonnersfield, Sunderland, in a building that had formerly been St Stephen's Presbyterian Chapel. The building had ceased to be a church since 1903. It was in this building he would store and sometimes exhibit his waxworks exhibition when it wasn't on tour. Black Sr. along with his three sons (Gerorge, Alfred and Edward) ran the cinema as the British Animated Picture Company and claimed it was the first permanent cinema north of Birmingham. There is evidence to suggest that moving pictures were put on as early as 1904, as an added attraction to the waxworks.WEB, How To Download Guides for Everythings - Tech Tips and Tricks,weblink 2023-06-29, How To Download, en-US, The paying customers sat in the old chapel pews in front of a white sheet, which was used as the screen and was tied to the lectern. Black Sr. employed his three sons to work at the cinema: his son George operated the hand-cranked kinematograph, Alfred ran the box-office and Edward wrote the prologues for the silent films. The first film shown was a newsreel called The Launching of the Mauretania, (which was released on 20 September 1906). As early as 1907, Black Sr. anticipated the Cinematograph Act 1909, (which came into operation on 1 January 1910), and separated the projector from the audience. They also ran 'twice nightly' shows. The Black family made a considerable amount of money when in 1914 Black Sr. purchased the local areas screening rights to show the film Tillie's Punctured Romance starring Charlie Chaplin, Marie Dressler and Mabel Normand.In 1909, Black Sr. opened the New Picture Palace in Gateshead. He also became sole proprietor of the Palace Theatre, West Hartlepool, the Blyth Theatre Royal and the Borough Theatre in North ShieldsBorough Theatre, North Shields historyweblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209150421weblink |date=9 February 2015 }} and the lessee of the Picture Hall, West Hartlepool and the Tivoli, Laygate Circus in South Shields. Black Sr. was known amongst the community to be a charitable man and distributed food and shoes among the poor children of Sunderland.After George Black Sr.'s death in 1910, the Black brothers controlled a chain of twelve cinemas. In 1916, their original cinema (the Monkwearmouth Picture Hall in Bonnersfield, Sunderland) was renamed the Bridge Cinema. George Black claimed that he and his father experimented with the idea of 'talkies' before 'talkies' arrived:'We collected a couple of old women and old men who saw the film through once, chose what parts they wanted to play, stood behind the screen on the first night of its performance and made up the dialogue as they went along.'When George Black (b.1891) broke his ties with the local entertainment scene by moving to London in 1928, his brothers Alfred and Edward continued with the family business and opened their most luxurious cinema, the Regal in 1932. In 1936, Edward gave up his interest in the family business and turned his hand to film producing and worked for Gainsborough Films, Gaumont British, London Films, Twentieth Century Fox and the Rank Organisation. Eventually, many of the Blacks' cinemas, including the later-built Regal Cinemas and Essoldo Cinemas, were sold to other companies.George Black died in London in 1945.WEB, Toronto Daily Star - Google News Archive Search,weblink 2023-06-29, news.google.com, WEB, The Evening Independent - Google News Archive Search,weblink 2023-06-29, news.google.com, Acknowledging the service he'd given to the entertainment industry, on 12 April 1945, the BBC aired the radio programme George Black Memories.WEB, 1945-04-12, BBC Programme Index,weblink 2023-06-29, genome.ch.bbc.co.uk, After his death his two sons George Jr. and Alfred took over the family's flourishing entertainment empire.George Black (b. 1891) had two sons, Alfred (b. 1913 d. 2002) WEB, Alfred Black,weblink 2023-06-29, IMDb, en-US, and George Jr. (b. 1911 d. 1970)WEB, George Black Jr.,weblink 2023-06-29, IMDb, en-US, who both entered show business and followed in their father's footsteps as successful producers and impresarios. Together they founded Black Brothers TV Ltd. It was George Jr. who gave Nicholas Parsons his first big break in television.BOOK, Parsons, Nicholas,weblink Nicholas Parsons: With Just a Touch of Hesitation, Repetition and Deviation: My Life in Comedy, 2010-11-22, Mainstream Publishing, 978-1-907195-22-8, en, In 1956, Independent Television began. George Jr. and Alfred were keen to muscle in on this new medium and decided to produce a new series together based upon their father's wartime show Strike A New Note and stated in their press handout, ‘to discover the new and unknown stars of Independent Television’.WEB, 2011-06-05, theartsdesk Q&A: Actor Nicholas Parsons,weblink 2023-06-29, theartsdesk.com, en, The first show was transmitted in January 1956 and the comedian Arthur Haynes appeared on it. Nicholas Parsons appeared on the third show. The show received a bit of a panning so after the sixth show, George Jr. said to Parsons, "I'm getting rid of everybody but I'm going to keep Arthur Haynes and you. I think the two of you should do sketches together". George Jr. changed the title of the show to Get Happy and the show continued for another eighteen weeks until George Jr. thought he'd exhausted it all. George Jr. and Alfred also produced several West End musicals together including the 1954 production Wedding in Paris at the London Hippodrome.WEB, WEDDING IN PARIS,weblink 2023-06-29, British Pathé, en-GB, During the Second World War, Captain George Black Jr. along with Colonel Basil Brown and Major Bill Alexander formed the organisation Stars in Battledress (SIB) that entertained the troops.Alfred Black married the actress and leading West End musical star Roma Beaumont (b. 1913 d. 2001).WEB, Bonhams : Henry Marvell Carr (British, born 1894) Portrait of Roma Beaumont 92 x 76.5cm.,weblink 2023-06-29, www.bonhams.com, en, Roma starred in several hit musicals including The Dancing Years,WEB, 2014-06-23, Coward & Novello,weblink 2023-06-29, Operetta Research Center, en-US, Perchance to DreamWEB, Ivor Novello and Roma Beaumont in 'Perchance To Dream' at the...,weblink 2023-06-29, Getty Images, en-gb, and in Cinderella at the London Palladium in 1948.WEB, Roma Beaumont,weblink 2023-06-29, www.telegraph.co.uk, Alfred and Roma's daughter is the actress Susan Beaumont who appeared in many films throughout the 1950s. Roma Beumont's cousin was the dancer/singer Roma King (b. 1934 d. 2013)WEB, 2013-06-13, Merton Park stage star passes away,weblink 2023-06-29, Wimbledon Times, en, who appeared in several West End musicals including Love from Judy (1952–54), Lilac Time and Summer Song (1954).Roma King obituary, The Stage newspaper (retrieved 9 February 2015)weblink Ibell, Paul,weblink Theatreland: A Journey Through the Heart of London's Theatre, 2009-01-05, Bloomsbury Publishing, 978-1-4411-9677-4, en, In January 1959, George Jr. and Alfred (with the film producer Sidney Box) founded the independent TV Station Tyne Tees Television that served North East England.WEB, BFI Screenonline: TV in the 1950s,weblink 2023-06-29, www.screenonline.org.uk, The English writer, composer, musician and comedian Bill Oddie's wife, the writer Laura Beaumont,WEB, Laura Beaumont,weblink 2023-06-29, IMDb, en-US, is related to Roma Beaumont.On 6 May 1975, BBC Radio 2 broadcast an episode of the radio series The Impresarios, devoted to the work of George Black. Narrated by Michael Craig, the series documented the stories of the men who created the world of entertainment. During this episode, George's son Alfred states: "The London Palladium was a dead duck, they'd tried everything there – circuses, films, plays. It was going through a terribly bad patch and they said to my Dad, 'That's yours, what are you going to do with it?' Dad said, 'I'll make it the number one Variety theatre of the world." The programme contains interviews with Tommy Trinder, Roma Beaumont, Alfred Black, Pauline Black and Alec Shanks.WEB, 1975-05-06, BBC Programme Index,weblink 2023-06-29, genome.ch.bbc.co.uk,

Credits

Crazy Gang shows

• Crazy Week – London Palladium – opened 30 November 1931
• Crazy Week (second edition) – London Palladium – opened 21 December 1931
• We Go Crazy – London Palladium – opened 6 June 1932
• Loose Nuts – London Palladium – opened 1932
• Gingerella – London Palladium – opened during the summer of 1932
• The Third Crazy Month – London Palladium – opened November 1932
• The Fourth Crazy Month – London Palladium – opened 6 March 1933
• New Edition of the 5th Crazy Month – London Palladium – opened 9 October 1933
• March Hares – London Palladium
• Crazy Show (sixth edition) – London Palladium – opened 21 May 1934
• Crazy Show (seventh edition) – London Palladium – opened 22 October 1934
• Life Begins at Oxford Circus – (first edition) – London Palladium – January 1935
• Life Begins at Oxford Circus (second edition) – London Palladium – opened 20 May 1935
• Round About Regent Street – London Palladium – opened 26 August 19351935, London Palladium poster advertising Gracie Fields and supporting cast plus commencing on Tuesday 27 Aug – 'Our new production "Round About Regent Street", produced by George Black'weblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218023826weblink |date=18 February 2015 }}
• All Alight at Oxford Circus – London Palladium – opened 11 March 1936
• O-Kay For Sound – London Palladium – opened 14 September 1936
• London Rhapsody – London Palladium – opened 11 October 1937
• These Foolish Things – London Palladium – opened 3 October 1938
• The Little Dog Laughed – London Palladium – 13 September 1939Excerpts from The Little Dog Laughed at the London Palladium broadcast on BBC Home Service on 16 November 1939weblink
• Top of the World – London Palladium – 4 September 1940Excerpts from Top of the World were broadcast on BBC Home Service Basic on 6 September 1940weblink

Other Palladium shows

• Peter Pan – Christmas pantomime produced annually from 1930 -1939
• London Symphony (1938) – with costumes designed by ErtéErté, A Mirror of Fashion for 75 Years – Smithsonian Museum, April 2005, PDF, page 4, illustration of an Erté costume from London Symphony at the London Palladiumweblink
• Gangway (1942) – a musical revue (ran from 17 December 1941 to 24 October 1942)Excerpts from Gangway were broadcast live from the London Palladium on BBC Forces Programme on 16 July 1942weblink
• Best Bib and Tucker (1942) – a musical revueGeorge Black puts on his 'Best Bib and Tucker' – radio broadcast from the London Palladium on BBC Forces Programme on 12 January 1943weblink
• This Is The Army (1943) – an Irving Berlin show with flu G.I. cast
• Happy and Glorious (1944) – a musical fanfare

London shows

• The Fleet's Lit Up (1938) – Hippodrome, LondonOver The Footlights – London Musicalsweblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140910195948weblink |date=10 September 2014 }}An excerpt from George Black's Naughtical Musical Play The Fleet's Lit Up broadcast on BBC National Radio on 26 August 1938weblink
• George Black's Intimate Rag: Black Velvet (1939) – Hippodrome, London
• Black Velvet (1938/39)The BBC Home Service, on 20 November 1939, broadcast live excerpts on the radio from Black Velvet from the London Hippodromeweblink (starring Roma Beaumont)Roma Beaumont in Black Velvet: Sussex Agricultural Express East Sussex, England, 10 November 1939:weblink – Hippodrome, LondonWEB,weblink Robert Farnon Society - Harry Parr Davies,
• Haw Haw! – George Black's Laughter Show (1939–1940) – Holborn Empire (formerly known as Weston's Music Hall, LondonGeorge Black invites you to listen to HAW HAW radio show broadcast on 24 February 1940 by the BBC from the Holborn Empire Iweblink
• Apple Sauce (1940) – opened at the Holborn Empire on 27 August 1940. After the theatre was bombed the show transferred to the London Palladium and ran from 5 March 1941 to 29 November 1941The London Stage 1940–1949: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel by J. P. Wearing, {{ISBN|9780810893061}}, page 37weblink from Apple Sauce were broadcast on the BBC Home Service Basic on 30 August 1940weblink
• Get a Load of This (1941) – Hippodrome, LondonOver The Footlights – London Musicalsweblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211233927weblink |date=11 February 2015 }} The production transferred to London's Prince of Wales Theatre in November 1942Get a Load of This: database:weblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212132609weblink |date=12 February 2015 }}
• The Lisbon Story (1943) – Hippodrome, London
• Strike a New Note (1943) – Prince of Wales Theatre, LondonExcerpts from Strike a New Note were broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 24 April 1943weblink
• Jenny Jones (1944) – Hippodrome, London
• Strike it Again (1945) – Prince of Wales Theatre, LondonGeorge Black invites you to Strike it Again, excerpts from the show broadcast on the BBC Home Service radio on 23 February 1945weblink

Other shows

• Simple Simon (1934) – Christmas Pantomime at Glasgow Empire TheatreExcerpts from the pantomime Simple Simon were broadcast on BBC Scotland Regional radio on 20 December 1934weblink
• Josser's Detective Agency (1935) – A musical revue starring Ernest Lotinga (regional tour)Excerpts from Josser's Detective Agency broadcast on BBC National radio on 1 July 1935weblink from Josser's Detective Agency broadcast on BBC radio on 1 July 1935weblink
• Jack and the Beanstalk (1935) – Christmas Pantomime at the Palace Theatre, ManchesterAround the Pantos, BBC regional radio show broadcast on 20 December 1935weblink
• Mother Goose (1935) – Christmas Pantomime at the Liverpool Empire Theatre
• Cinderella (1935) – Christmas Pantomime at The Empire Theatre, Newcastle
• Red Riding Hood (1935) – Christmas Pantomime at the Theatre Royal, Leeds
• Mother Goose (1935) – Christmas Pantomime at The Prince's Theatre, Manchester
• Twinkle (1936) – A holiday summer showThe show was broadcast on BBC Regional Programme Midland, 14 May 1936weblink
• Will C. Pepper's' White Coons (1936) – A Concert Party showBroadcast on BBC radio National Programme Daventry, 16 July 1936weblink
• Radio Pie (1936) – Radio ShowBroadcast on the BBC Regional Programme London, 5 November 1936weblink
• Cinderella (1936) – Christmas Pantomime at Edinburgh's Empire TheatreExceprts from the Pantomime were broadcast on the BBC radio show Round the Pantomimes 2 on 29 December 1936weblink
• Holiday Fare (1937) – Variety show at Boscombe Hippodrome, BournemouthHoliday Fare from the stage of the Hippodrome on BBC Regional Radio on 27 March 1937weblink
• The Gang Show (1938) – The cast included 150 Boy Scouts from Newcastle and district at the Empire Theatre, NewcastleAn excerpt from The Gang Show was broadcast on BBC Regional radio on 5 April 1938weblink
• All The Best (1938) – Blackpool Opera HouseElisabeth Welch: Soft Lights and Sweet Music by Stephen Bourne, page 41, {{ISBN|9780810854130}}:weblink
• The Silent Melody (1938) – A Musical Play starring Bebe Daniels and Ben LyonBebe Daniels and Ben Lyon in The Silent Melody (radio adaptation) broadcast on BBC National Radio on 7 June 1938weblink
• George Black presents Debroy Somers and his Band (1940) – Radio show compered by George Black featuring Debroy SomersBBC Forces Programme broadcast on 23 February 1940weblink
• George Black presents a Grand Variety Gala (1940) – Radio showBroadcast on BBC Forces Programme, 5 May 1940weblink
• It's That Man Again (1940) – Palace Theatre, ManchesterExcerpts from the show were broadcast on the BBC Home Service on 18 May 1940weblink
• Hullabaloo (Summer 1941) – Blackpool Opera HouseDo You Remember Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth? by Jean Collen, Pamela Davies, {{ISBN|978-1411635234}} – Hullabaloo references, pages 76 & 77:weblink
• Black Vanities (1941) – Brighton Hippodrome from 11 April 1941 before transferring to the Victoria Palace Theatre from 24 April 1941 to 17 January 1942Black Vanities broadcast on BBC Forces Programme on 24 April 1941 live from Victoria Palace Theatreweblink
• Black and Blue (1941) – Blackpool Opera HouseThe Brief, Madcap Life of Kay Kendall by Eve Golden, {{ISBN|978-0813122519}} pages 19 – 20 mentions the Black and Blue revueweblink
• Black Vanities (1942) – Blackpool Opera HouseBilly Bennett (comedian) Dead – Billy Bennett taken ill on stage at the Blackpool Opera House – 1 July 1942 – Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette (retrieved 17 February 2015):weblink
• Youth Must Have Its Swing (1943) – Regional tourExcerpts from Youth Must Have Its Swing are broadcast on BBC Home Service Basic on 4 May 1943weblink
• If It's Laughter You're After (1944) – Birmingham HippodromeBillboard newspaper, 19 August 1944, article, page 21 'English provinces get London premieres(retrieved February 2015)weblink

Filmography

• Just My Luck (1933) – assistant director
• The Penny Pool (1937) – Director
• Calling All Crooks (1938) – Director

References

{{Reflist}}