1977 Other Employment

Once the outdoor café shut I was out of work for the season. I had to reapply for the shoe shop and oh no they had no vacancies!! I had heard that Floral Hall and Southport Theatre were advertising for staff so off I went.

I managed to get myself a job as an usherette.

I worked odd evenings during the week and weekends.

It was an amusing job to say the least. I was one of the gals with a tray of ice cream (hey my reputation as ice cream queen must have gone before me).

It was a time when Ken Dodd had a show on there with his Diddy Men and the cue to enter the theatre was after the first act Ken would start singing ‘we are the Diddy Men and we come from Knotty Ash’……

with that, us usherettes would cascade from the back of the theatre with our trays of ice cream tubs, lollies and choc ices.

Another show that was a regular there was ‘Mr & Mrs’ with Derek Batey. Where married couples would have to answer questions about their spouse to win a carriage clock or some other naff prize.

I met Derek back stage and was alarmed by his bright orange tan make up but I must say he was a really charming man who took time out to speak to us workers.

But the highlight, I must say, of my 3 months there was the wrestling. It was on a Wednesday or Thursday night and not many of the staff wanted to be usheretting there, so I said I would do it.

I was brought up watching the wrestling on TV on a Saturday … a recipe of the greats such as Big Daddy and shouting at the telly.... so I was really intrigued to see it for real. I found it was actually what you would see on telly and I would stand at the back, inside shouting!….. very dramatic with the acting pin downs, submissions and knock outs. The best, however, was the old ladies with their handbags rushing up to the ring shouting abuse (yes they did do this for real), I wouldn’t have missed it for the world as they got so enraged by the bad boys getting the better of the goodies. Such showmanship to behold!

The Big Daddy sideshow was a family affair with his daughter and family members selling the merchandise at the side of the ring.

I met Giant Haystacks one evening in a narrow corridor that ran at the back of the stage. He really was a HUGE giant of a man … to me as a 70steen he looked 7 foot tall and about that wide. I had to back up with my tray to let him pass.

I also met Jim Breaks who was a real gentleman

.

But the funniest was Rollerball Rocco who tried to chat me up. Thank goodness I was a teen with a modicum of commonsense and walked away!

I only left there as the shoe shop rang me to say they had a vacancy, which paid more plus I was not doing evenings. The pull of shoes was far greater than what a wrestler could ever offer in a leotard.