EDWARD HENRY

In this blog there have references to E.H. Williams' Merrie Men before but not until now has there been a photographic portrait of E.H. in solo pose. Here he is in all his glory, waxed moustache an' all:

E. H. (Edward Henry) Williams led his Merrie Men at the minstrel pitch on the beach in Rhyl from 1899 until 1906. He rented the pitch from Rhyl Urban District Council and turned his troupe into a real crowd-pulling act combining comedy and music.

Nearly spoiled by artificial colouring is the following picture of his Merrie Men performing a black-faced routine on the minstrel pitch.

[Note there is a building on left of the picture advertising saddle horses for hire not just donkeys.]

The Merrie Men came to be regarded as a valuable asset in the town, and Mr. Williams' work on behalf of local charities won even wider approval.

The image below shows the location of the minstrel pitch far left (opposite High Street) in relation to the pier (opposite Church Street). The pitch was taken over in 1907 by Gilbert Rogers' Jovial Jesters.

As for E.H. Williams Esq., he appears to have wound up living in London. Contrary to info published in other places, Edward Henry Street in Rhyl was not named after him.

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QUIZ ANSWER # 195

Last Sunday I said that in the late 1950s this entertainer topped the bill at a Sunday concert in Rhyl Pavilion. The question: What is her name?

The answer: Jill Day.
She was Brighton-born, mainly a singer, tried her hand at acting. She was popular on TV before most of us had a TV. As a song stylist she was knocked out of the game by the advent of rock 'n' roll. She died in 1990.

The photo is from Bill Ellis who says her Sunday concert in Rhyl Pavilion was in 1958. This information helped me to date the following, one of my own pix in which Jill Day poster is centre left.

Wow, the roller skating rink looks busy!

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Also I said that in the early 1970s the entertainer below topped the bill at a Sunday concert in Rhyl Pavilion. The question: What is his name?

The answer: Jimmy Tarbuck.

Like other Liverpool comedians, JT played Rhyl more than once. The Sunday concert in question was 1971.

Below: A recent picture of yer man with his wife Pauline after they had been married for 50 years.

Daily Mirror / Getty Images

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RHYL SCORES TWICE
Daily Post has chosen 13 of the best places to get a Sunday roast in Denbighshire. Rhyl is there with Barratt's at Ty'n Rhyl, 167 Vale Road (Tel: 01745 344138) and The Bistro Restaurant, 215 Wellington Road - corner of Westbourne Avenue (01745 344333).
Click here if you wish to see the full list:
http://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/best-sunday-roast-lunch-denbighshire-13875288

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THU 8th FEB 2018 UPDATE: In a Daily Post list of best Chinese restaurants and takeaways in North Wales, Rhyl scores twice again with Laughing Buddha, 88-90 Rhyl Coast Road (Tel: 01745 332163) and Yeung Sing, 133 Wellington Road (01745 350773).
Also listed are one in Rhuddlan and one in Prestatyn.
The full list:

https://www.dailypost.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/chinese-restaurants-takeaway-north-wales-12517341

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FLASHBACK #30

The old toll bridge that preceded the present Foryd Bridge is always an item of interest. The image below tells us little or nothing about the bridge but it has a certain charm. Views from downriver looking northwards to the harbour are quite rare.

The image has been re-shaped slightly Yours Truly. It is from a card postmarked 1916. Printed on the back of the card is a copyright notice by
A. Netherwood, Conway. Arthur Netherwood was an English artist who travelled in Wales. He died in 1930.

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Well boys, we men seem to be boxed into a corner: no longer able to take hold of children and – thanks to predatory film producers and the like – no longer able to take hold of women either. We’ll have to learn to hug each other.

A long way from the dark side is this depiction of a young lady landing in Rhyl and being pursued by interested parties while a policeman looks on. Women would send this kind of card to each other.

This is postmarked 1903. It is intended to be humorous and I hope most sincerely that it offends nobody.

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MON 15th OCT 2018 UPDATE: Ditto the following item, a card postmarked 1910.

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Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

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PANTO DRAWS ON

These recent acquisitions are postcards bearing bottom right the printed signature of Rhyl photographer Rae Pickard and the date 1912. On the back they carry the following message: "BROMESQUE" REAL PHOTOGRAPH by RAE PICKARD, RHYL. PRINTED IN RHYL.

The cards bear no further details. Mr. Pickard ranged far and wide in North Wales, so there is no guarantee that this production of 'Cinderella' was actually staged in Rhyl. Nevertheless I suspect we are looking at girls from our St. Mary's Convent School in Russell Road which was up and running by then.

Kinmel Bay-based cartoonist/singer/comedian Roy Lance clocked up a few pantos in his time, such as this one:

Roy is on your right as Simple Simon with Trevor Moreton as Dame in 'Jack and the Beanstalk' 1968-69 at Swansea Grand Theatre. Jack was played by pop singer Wayne Fontana; the cast included The Harmon Brothers (later known as The Chuckle Brothers).

If I have identified the wrong production I will go and stand in the corner.

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This year at Pavilion Theatre, Rhyl, we have 'Sleeping Beauty':

Pavilion Theatre says, "The cast is headed by Vicky Entwistle, perhaps best known as Coronation Streeet’s Janice Batterby who plays the Bad Fairy Cararabosse. She is joined by Channel 5’s Milkshake presenter, Amy Thompson as Sleeping Beauty, Princess Briar Rose, and Hollyoaks’ Kathy Barnes, Sarah Jane Buckley, as the Good Fairy.

"The Queen of pantomime dames, Charles Burden, plays Nanny Glucose, and back by popular demand is Wales’ very own Sean Jones as Silly Billy who returns for his 6th consecutive pantomime at the Pavilion.

"There is a full supporting cast which includes two local talented dance schools, The Gay Harris Dancers and The North Wales School of Dance. Sleeping Beauty runs from Wednesday 13th December to Saturday 6th January, tickets are priced from just £9.50."

Website: http://www.rhylpavilion.co.uk/sleeping-beauty/

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FAWLTY CONNECTIONS

Incidentally, recent works by Denbighshire County Council at the Pavilion Theatre include the creation of a new restaurant area which has been given the name ‘1891’ because somebody thinks that’s when the Pavilion first opened. There are faults in this reasoning.

The present Pavilion Theatre which opened in 1991 could be described as a belated replacement for the famous domed Rhyl Pavilion (demolished 1974, opened 1908) but there is no connection that I know of between those two council-owned venues and the Grand Pavilion (destroyed by fire 1901, opened 1891).

The Grand Pavilion, about which I published a book in 2002, was a concert hall built at the shore end of our Victoria Pier by a private company which owned the pier at that particular time. It was not the start of a Pavilion dynasty so ‘1891’ is not an appropriate name for the restaurant.

If the link between the three disparate venues is simply the word Pavilion, then the restaurant might as well be named '1867' which was the date that the Bijou Pavilion opened halfway along the pier. Does all this matter? Well, there is already enough misinformation about Rhyl history out there without Denbighshire Council adding to it.

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FLASHBACK #28

Rhyl is an August resort; this month the town has seen plenty of visitors. Nevertheless you would be hard pressed to produce a long list of the attractions. 'Rhyl's 40 Attractions' above is from circa 1904.

- Of items relating to the short-lived Queen's Palace in West Parade, Constantinople was a large model version of the Turkish city of Istanbul. The management installed this after taking out a similar representation of Venice ('Little Venice'). 

- Bijou Pavilion was a tiny theatre on the pier for troupes such as Adeler & Sutton’s Pierrots. Later it was renamed Pier Pavilion. It is under the blue dot in the image below.

 - Phrenology is the study of size and contours of the head as an alleged indication of character and mental abilities. Phrenological Lectures were presumably by Arthur Cheetham who, if you crossed his palm with silver, would feel your bumps.

- The Doll Man would be Professor Millar (sometimes written as Miller) who operated Rhyl's first Punch and Judy booth featuring his 'talking dolls' on the prom opposite Queens Hotel - just west of High Street:

- Victoria Hall Concerts is an interesting item. I suspect Victoria Hall to be the upstairs premises in Market Street known at other times as Lyric Hall and Central Hall. My reasoning is as follows:

Here is a comparatively recent pic of the premises. Underneath the red dot is inscribed the year 1890. So the building was in existence when the list was drawn up and yet the only Hall named is Victoria.

Round the margins of the list are adverts for Sandoe's books and stationery and a plug for E.H. Williams who rented the council-owned minstrel pitch on the sands for comedy & music shows by E.H. Williams' Merrie Men.

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QUIZ ANSWER # 188

1) Last Sunday I posted the above photo. The question: Where was I standing?
The answer: St. Asaph Street.
Looking across the site on which the Grange Hotel once stood.

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2a) The question: Where in Rhyl was the Hippodrome?
The answer: On the sands.
It was a later, fancier name name for the outdoor performance area known originally as the minstrel pitch. This advert for E.H. Williams' Merrie Men, written probably in 1904, refers.
Click on it to read small print.

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2b) The question: Where in Rhyl was Constantinople?
The answer: Queen's Palace.
Constantinople was the name of a new attraction that replaced 'Little Venice' which may have lost its novelty value and/or been a franchise whose time had expired. 
A previous post refers:
http://rhyl-life.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/without-paddle.html

Now, let's see. You can award yourself one win for the correct answer to Question 1, two for 2a and two for 2b, plus an extra win if you got all of them right = a total of 6 wins.

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• The Marlborough Hotel, 16 East Parade, Rhyl, has been renamed as Braga Hotel. Tel: (01745) 353036.

• Local radio station Point FM appears to have ceased trading. The Wellington Road premises no longer bears the station name.

• Here is a summery snapshot of girls named Terry and Caroline having a tug o’war with unseen forces on Rhyl promenade in 1957. Holiday-makers or locals, I wonder.

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Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

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SPORTING LIFE

Recently the first photo below was on sale on Internet, hence the seller's logo. It shows Rhyl Pickwicks football / soccer team 1899-1900. Chances are, this was a team that played for charities – because the top-hatted gent on your right is E.H. Williams the leader of Rhyl's 'Merrie Men' minstrel troupe; he was involved in fundraising activities.

For indexing purposes the names above are repeated here.
Back row (left to right): E.D. Davies, B. Smith, F. Mudd, E.H. Williams.
Middle row: EL. Jones, J. Fell, Tom Moore, H.H. Davies, J. Brookes.
Front row: R. Salt, E. Nelson, R. Newing, T. Keene, T. Roberts.
Name of the original owner of the photo is given as John Nickels, 14 Vale Park, off Victoria Road, Rhyl.

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The next item is captioned Rhyl Snooker Hall 1911. The location of the hall is not given. The group in the photo would be staff.

Here, a walking race in East Parade, Rhyl,  presumably dating from before World War 1:

The following shot of Rhyl Bowling Green, Seabank Road, is undated and looks like the work of Rhyl photographer Rae Pickard but I've no evidence that it was taken by him:

From 1947-48 here is a medallion inscribed for the Rhyl & District T.T.L (Table Tennis League) Youth Singles Winner. First mention of table tennis in this blog!

Wrestling is a Rhyl favourite and continues this summer at the town hall. Here are the centre pages from a programme of wrestling at Gaiety Theatre (formerly Pier Amphitheatre) on the prom, dated 1964.

For indexing purposes the names above are repeated here.
Wryton Wrestling, Count Bartelli, Alf Rough-house Cadman Bury, Ted Hannon Scotland, Frank Riley Wigan, Bert Royal Bolton, Vic Faulkner Bolton, Martin Conroy referee, Terry Nylands Rochdale, Dennis Wade St. Helens, Seamus Donlevy Ireland, Mike Donlevy Ireland, Francis Gregory, Reg Williams.
Master of Ceremonies is our very own, recently deceased, Roy Turner.

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A seaside resort is not a place you would expect to find a gun shop for field sports, but we have one in Elwy Street where until a few years ago the proprietor was the late Reg Gizzi (airman and ex-musician).
This photo was taken earlier in 2017. Last I heard, a few weeks ago, the business was up for sale.

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FRI 7th SEP 2018 UPDATE: Just arrived here at Jones Towers - an advert for the gun shop, dated 1985:

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My YouTube channel featuring Rhyl videos and slideshows goes by the name of RhylTime. Click on the following link if you would like to see RhylTime's Top Ten:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7BKgZiQNRSaVpnyTl8PgEpPusmd3dl_z

Only YouTube items labelled RhylTime are mine.

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MINSTRELS, PIERROTS AND JOLLY BOYS

This being Red Nose Day, let’s salute early Rhyl entertainers in whose acts comedy played a big part. These images are all new to this blog:

The above is from the 1880s. Tom Wood's Merry Men was the first troupe at our council-owned 'minstrel pitch' on the sands. Minstrel shows were a combination of music & comedy. Tom Wood was a professional comedian who died aged 27.

Merry had given way to Merrie by the time E.H. Williams & his Merrie Men took over from Tom Wood at the pitch. Mr. Williams was a canny self-publicist well known in Rhyl.

A few routines by E.H. & his M.M. who are shown above on the minstrel pitch, were captured by Rhyl film maker Arthur Cheetham. These included the 1899 knockabout sketch illustrated below. The still is from the book 'Wales And Cinema' by David Berry:

Click on any picture to see a bigger version.

Above is a card postmarked 1907 - Adeler & Sutton's Pierrots at a kiosk on the pier. Halfway up the ladder is Arthur Sutcliffe. The lady at the foot of the ladder is no lady, it's female impersonator Bert Erroll.

Below is a 1907 photo of Adeler & Sutton's Gay River Company posing opposite East Parade near sandhills. Front centre is Frank Dunlop who has been described by Bill Ellis as the company's leading man, and on your right of him is - yes - Bert Erroll again.

Finally an item from Easter 1912 or '13: Jolly Boys visiting the ornamental fountain opposite West Parade to render the song 'By The Fountain' which was generally popular at the time.
Later the name Jolly Boys was used in 1920s by Billy Churchill's resident troupe at the Coliseum on the prom. Perhaps it was a generic term for this kind of daftness.

[Incidentally, the song 'By The Fountain' had words by F.E. Weatherly and music by Stephen Adams who was a Liverpool-born composer of mainly religious songs. Stephen Adams and his brother James have both been suspected of being Jack the Ripper - and that's no joke.]

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FRI 21st APR 2017 UPDATE: Speaking of Jolly Boys, what do you make of this Jolly Boys Football Club card postmarked 1911?

Names of the personnel illustrated, who appear to be younger than the entertainers of same name, are listed here for indexing purposes:
B, Craighill, J. Lamb, T. Burns, C. Manley, R. Jones, W. Jones, W. Davies, H. Lloyd, T.A. Williams (Captain), H. Jones (Chairman), G. Simcock, J.E. Pritchard (Vice Captain), T. Roberts.

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GIVE 'TIL IT HURTS

Time to focus on gifts and presents. What can I suggest for the Rhylite who has everything? A Rhyl-crested china miniature grandfather clock, teapot, three-handled loving cup or jug? 

How about these suggestions from Dave Williams: on your left a travel charm for your bracelet, and on you right a little badge for your lapel.

How about a pig? Don't see many of these in Rh . . . Oh I don't know, though . . .

Much appreciated might be a Bicycle brooch, Rhyl Golf fridge magnet or an old Pavilion sugar bowl.

And here is a T-shirt for wearing on days out in Llandudno:

On the general subject of giving, here is a tankard inscribed, "CYRIL JONES ESQ. ON THE OCCASION OF HIS OPENING THE CLWYD MARKET RHYL JULY 4TH 1972"

Who can tell me who Cyril Jones was and/or where Clwyd Market was? This is not a quiz question - I am looking for the information.

Colin Jones / email: rhyl.colin.jones@live.co.uk

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Statistics watchers may like to know that the total number of pageviews of this blog has now passed the 400,000 mark.

Last month the number of pageviews from United States of America was more than double the number from the UK.

Germany, France and Netherlands are showing a lot of interest, and so are Russia and Australia.

My thanks to everybody who contributed comments, info and pix. Diolch!

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JUST FOR A LAUGH # 2

Roller skating is always good for a laugh unless you're the one underneath a pile-up. Costumes may not be an accurate guide to the date of this item, but the venue would be either the Queens in West Parade or the Olympia Skating Rink in Wellington Road. The back of the card holds no clue:

The following Marine Lake item tickled my ribs. Not only are some of the buildings in the background sketched by hand, the picture is captioned accidentally as Morville Lake:

Is this where the Morville Hotel used to brew its beer? Only joking!!

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FOOTNOTE:

Years ago the Morville seemed a disreputable place. The name was changed to the Fiorenzo Cazari Hotel. Now I read that the present proprietor, a qualified solicitor, has been jailed for trying to pervert the course of justice:

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/washington-fiorenzo-rhyl-hotel-jailed-11830572

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TUE 22nd NOV 2016 UPDATE: Daily Post reports that the Fiorenzo Cazari Hotel has been closed down because of unsafe electrical wiring.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/rhyls-worst-hotel-britain-shut-12214592

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SUN 4th FEB 2018 UPDATE: The Fiorenzo Cazari Hotel has been renamed as The Mews Inn. The word Mews used to mean converted stables. I wonder what it means now.

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