As Cinderella was falling in love with her Prince Charming on the Grand Theatre stage back in 1961, another love story was being played out for real backstage.
In the wings of the Christmas production John Humphries, from Bushbury in Wolverhampton, was getting to know a 15-year-old chorus girl from Birmingham called Susan. Romance blossomed and this week, nearly half a century later, the couple, now married with seven grandchildren, returned to the Wolverhampton venue to share their memories with fellow theatre-lovers.
Staff at The Grand were spending yesterday and today collecting memories from members of the public to fill in gaps in their archives. The visitors were given a tour of the theatre and listened to talks from city archivist David Bishop and the Grand’s marketing manager Iain Watkins.
Among them were Susan and John Humphries, now of Coven, whose meeting 47 years ago could have come from the pages of a script. John, now 70, who was in the Army at the time, had saved up all his annual leave to take at Christmas, using it to help his brother, the theatre’s chief electrician, and earn himself a bit of extra cash.
He said yesterday: “I worked up in the flies moving the scenery backdrops and it was where all the chorus girls’ dressing rooms were. They had to pass us to get by and that’s how we got talking. I was there for five or six weeks so there was time to ask her out and get to know her.”
The couple left the Midlands as John pursued his career in the Royal Signals for the next 24 years but eventually returned.
Susan, aged 63, recalled: “We say that we met in the wings and fell in love in the flies, so this theatre does hold special memories for us.”
Retired teacher Jill Nicholls went to see Love in A Mist at The Grand in 1956 and didn’t miss a production for years afterwards, going every week with friends and collecting autographs at the stage door later.
She recalls falling for playwright Harold Pinter when he appeared in a play at the Grand under the stage name David Baron.
“In those days we used to judge an actor by how good-looking he was, and he was a dish,” said Jill, of Park Road West, Wolverhampton.
Among her prized autographs is that of Agatha Christie, who complained about the scratchy nib on Jill’s fountain pen as she signed. Jill, aged 63, revealed: “Sometimes I can’t justify them. They’re just people’s signatures – they don’t mean anything, but I still get a buzz from looking at them.”
Jill brought a stack of old programmes and copies of Junior Theatre Club News, a Grand news sheet, one featuring her review of The Irregular Verb To Love at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham.
Les Millington, 61, and wife Margaret, of Coseley, are huge fans of the Grand and are part of the Friends’ group. Among the greats they have seen over the years were Dulcie Gray, Michael Dennison, Constance Cummings and John Hanson.
Les said: “I was 11 years old when I first came and I can remember exactly where I sat, on the right-hand side of the stalls. It was with the school, St Mark’s in Ocker Hill, and after that I went to the pantomime every year and various shows in between.
“Now we come practically every week.”
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