Lancaster University will join in the celebrations to mark Eric Morecambe's 100th birthday with a focus on his younger days as an up-and-coming comic.
The event will feature ‘An Audience with Peter Jetson’, the resident organist at Morecambe’s Winter Gardens who worked with many of the great names in British comedy.
He will talk about his time in the entertainment business, perform on the banjolele and open the floor to questions from the audience.
Afterwards, Gary Brannan, keeper of the Archives and Special Collections at Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York, will give a talk about their own Eric Morecambe materials.
And later, Katie Waring, Lancaster University’s Special Collections and Archives Manager, will share more about the Jack Hylton archive.
Jack Hylton – band leader turned impresario – discovered the 12-year-old Eric Bartholomew (later renamed Morecambe after his hometown) during auditions for his touring youth revue ‘Youth Takes a Bow’.
The show also featured Ernie Wise, who at the age of 13 had already worked on shows produced by Hylton.
Morecambe and Wise
During the tour, Hylton was persuaded to put the two young stars together, where the ‘Morecambe & Wise’ double act was born.
After Hylton’s death in 1965, his family wanted to organise a memorial concert to raise funds for a cause to help musicians in his home county of Lancashire (he was born in Greater Lever near Bolton).
They chose the newly founded Lancaster University, and the funds they raised were used to support the construction of the Jack Hylton Music Room in the Great Hall Complex.
Jack’s archives were stored in the Adelphi Theatre, one of several London theatres he managed in his career.
When the theatre was sold in the late 1980s, materials relating to his music and theatrical production career were donated to Lancaster University, comprising of over 120 metres of musical arrangements, promotional materials, and photographs.
The event will host a small display of these materials from the Jack Hylton collection on Morecambe and Wise and will take place in the Events Space at Lancaster University Library on Wednesday May 13 at 2.30pm.
Register online HERE.
The event will coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week (May 11-17) and will be hosted by the Special Collections and Archives team in relation to the Jack Hylton Archive.
ric Morecambe, renowned for his TV comic partnership with Ernie Wise, was born John Eric Bartholomew on Buxton Street in the town on May 14 1926, and lived on Christie Avenue as a boy.
Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show TV specials were massively popular during the 1960s, 70s and 80s, peaking at 28 million viewers in 1977.
Eric died, aged 58, in 1984.
The comic's statue on the Promenade pulls huge numbers of visitors each year.
A programme of events is taking place in the town that week honour the memory of the Morecambe and Wise star.
Beyond Radio will host a special broadcast to celebrate Eric's 100th birthday with special guests, live from the Kings Arms opposite the Eric Morecambe Statue, on Thursday May 14 from 10am to 3pm.
Read more: LISTEN: Sing along as venue celebrates Eric Morecambe's 100th birthday - Beyond Radio
Beyond Radio to broadcast live on Eric Morecambe's centenary - Beyond Radio
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