Saturday 26th October 1985 was closing night for Keighley Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society’s production of ‘Underneath the Arches’. The production starred Keith Marsden as Bud Flanagan and Geoff Rundle as Chesney Allen. The production played for a week at the Victoria Hall in Victoria Park, Keighley.
The show was previewed in the Keighley News of Friday 11th October 1985. The article revealed a connection between Marsden and the real-life characters: “Keith Marsden’s delighted to be playing Bud Flanagan in Keighley Amateurs’ production of Underneath The Arches. For his dad was apparently in at the ‘birth’ in Keighley of the famous Flanagan and Allen partnership. It all began, according to Keith, when his father, Ernest – an Amateurs stalwart – wrote a song for the golden jubilee of Keighley Gala in 1926. Florrie Ford heard it in a local pub, liked it, and wanted Ernest to write new lyrics so she could use it in her summer season at the Isle of Man.
“Negotiations were taking place in the old Kings Arms when two young downtrodden comics who were being tried out in Florrie’s revue arrived – saying they’d had enough and were going to become bookies,” Keith told me this week. “Florrie pleaded with them to change their minds – and offered to get them a few variety dates. Eventually she talked them round; was as good as her word, and a few months later Flanagan and Allen stopped the show at the old Argyll, Birkenhead. Within a year they were topping the bill at the Palladium.””
The newspaper cuttings were provided by Glenis Hey in 2020. The main photograph of Victoria Hall was taken by Roy Willoughby circa 1987. The sheet music for Ernest Marsden’s gala song is part of the John Normington Collection, donated by John’s daughter Liz Hornby in 2021.
