The third St. John’s Church annual pantomime produced by Keith Marsden and Geoffrey Rundle was announced in the Ingrow Parish Church Messenger of December 1952 as ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’. Rehearsals began after the church’s Christmas Fair with Margaret Shackleton playing the principal boy title character once more. Elsie Greenwell made her debut as the Squire’s daughter, Susan. Geoffrey played Dame Trot while Keith played that character’s son Jimmy. Stanley Peckover played Squire Grabbem and Shirley Lister played Prince Florizel. Victor Thompson concluded his trio of animal impersonations by playing one half of Jessie the cow, joined by Terry Marsden. The giant was played by Fred Kidd and his two henchmen (Blood and Thunder) were played by Derek Lund and William Bebb. This was the only one of the six pantomimes in which Joan Scott did not appear.
The show opened in the schoolroom on Monday 9th February 1953 and ran for six nights. It cost two shillings and six pence for adults and one shilling and six pence for children. Tickets were available in advance from Geoffrey’s father W. Rundle from his home on Caister Grove in Ingrow.
Press photographs were taken by the Keighley News and the paper’s review was published on closing night, Saturday 14th February 1953, and had this to say about the show: “The pantomime has fully lived up to the reputation set by the previous productions and with large audiences each evening this week it has been a distinct success. The pleasing back-cloths set off the bright and decorative costumes of the cast, while the subtle lighting effects and effects department each have a valuable contribution to make in enhancing the show. Topical scenes and comments gave an authentic up-to-date approach to the traditional pantomime fare while still retaining the age-old situations. Dame Trot’s cottage gives Keith and Geoffrey plenty of scope for laughs, and that scene in which a jet aeroplane is introduced are two of the highlights of the evening.”
Selling the majority of tickets in advance turned out to have been a financially fortuitous move because the week of the performances was hit by heavy snowfall, affecting the numbers able to attend. Those who did brave the elements were fully rewarded by the excellent entertainment and nearly £100 was raised.
The photographs and programme are all from the History Society archive on Flickr and were donated by Patsy Marsden (widow of Keith Marsden) and Liz Hornby (daughter of John Normington). Researched and compiled by Tim Neal.
