Star-studded Rialto nights

NEWS that York's famous Rialto might soon be reduced to rubble will bring a nostalgic tear to many an eye. During its golden age, between the 1930s and mid-1960s, it was the premier city nightspot and one of the best in the North. It was the place York went to relax, to play, to date.

Everyone who remembers this venue at its legendary best will be telling their Rialto story tonight. Those with the longest memories might think back to when international superstar Louis Armstrong took to the Fishergate stage. Others will recall the days The Beatles came to town.

Yet more will tell of their nights courting in the double seats at the back of the cinema, or dancing into the early hours at the Cat's Whiskers nightclub.

If the Rialto should be wiped from the cityscape, it will not be forgotten: it has a special place in many York hearts.

Historian Van Wilson is in the middle of a three-year project documenting an oral history of popular music in York between 1930 and 1970. She has already conducted more than 70 interviews and has been left in no doubt about the contribution of the Rialto to the city's cultural life.

"It was very important from the Thirties on," she said. "Jack Prendergast, who owned it, had contacts with people all over the world of entertainment.

"In the 1940s and 50s he was able to promote a lot of acts, bringing stars to York who wouldn't otherwise have come.

"There were a lot of famous Americans, for instance - people like Louis Armstrong and Stan Kenton. They had Sunday night concerts while it was still a cinema.

"A lot of the people who went on to play there in the Sixties talk about how they were influenced by going to the Rialto and seeing those musicians."

The Rialto's heyday is synonymous with its ownership by entrepreneur Jack Xavier Prendergast. He owned a chain of cinemas in the North, the Fishergate venue being the first and the flagship.

He cut a distinctive figure, wearing his trademark trilby and sitting in a high-backed chair in his Rialto office. Jack would often reminisce in private about the stars, some of whom, like Thirties comedian Jack Buchanan, were his good friends.

Jack Prendergast came to York in the late Twenties, when he bought what was then known as the Casino Cinema. It had begun life in 1909 as the City Roller Skating Rink. Four years later it was split into two: a cinema at the front and the rink at the back.

Jack rechristened it the Rialto, and turned the skating rink into a ballroom. The cinema, too, was to break new ground. It became the first to show 3D films in the city. Musical concerts were organised in addition to the picture shows. Another of Jack's good friends, Sir John Barbirolli, brought his Halle Orchestra to the Rialto.

Disaster struck in 1935 when a fire razed the Rialto to the ground. One eyewitness described the scene as an inferno, with flames 40ft high. Incredibly, it was rebuilt within six months.

Jack became something of an expert on fire: during the war he led the York Auxilliary Fire Service. Meanwhile, he organised Sunday concerts for the forces at both the Rialto and the Clifton cinemas.

Similar events were organised for York youngsters. In 1947, 2,000 children assembled at the Rialto and Clifton for a free Christmas film show to take their minds off post-war austerity.

In 1951, when York held its own festival as part of the wider Festival of Britain celebrations, the Rialto played a central part again. It staged classical music concerts, one conducted by Sir Adrian Boult.

As Britain slowly regained confidence in the post-war period, Jack's showbusiness knowledge and flair convinced a new generation of stars to drop in to York. Many appeared without signing a contract, such was his esteem. He also benefited from the closure of the Empire in 1956. In that same year, the king of skiffle, Lonnie Donegan, appeared at the Rialto.

The venue became part of the circuit for package shows: a number of bands who appeared on the same bill in a different city every night. This was how Cliff Richard, the English Elvis, took to the Rialto stage in 1959.

But Mr Prendergast did more than bring the big stars to York. He encouraged new talent, most famously, perhaps, his son John Barry. His band, the John Barry Seven, made their debut at the Rialto.

Similarly, a young fellow called Steve Cassidy enjoyed his first professional gig there. Now known to countless schoolchildren as Norman Fowler, recently retired teacher of St George's RC Primary School, in the Sixties Steve Cassidy and the Escorts were a top band.

In an interview with Van Wilson, he recalled his big break. "We learnt two or three songs and said to people who ran dances, 'would you like us to play at the interval of your dance - for nothing?' and then we got in front of an audience and we got the bug.

"Eventually we auditioned for Jack Prendergast at the Rialto and he put us on a show with Michael Holliday who had some big hits. It was magical to be on a wonderful stage, singing with good microphones. That would be in 1958 and that was what hooked us."

Three years later, the Rialto changed hands. Mr Prendergast sold the venue to the Mecca Group.

It promptly shut the cinema: the last Fishergate picture show featured The World Of Suzy Wong, starring William Holden.

New manager Don McCallion was determined to build on the Rialto's reputation as a live music venue. And it was under his stewardship that the biggest group in pop music history arrived on the Rialto stage: The Beatles.

When they first came to town, however, The Beatles did not top the bill, but footed it. A poster for the show, on March 13, 1963, had American singer Chris Montez, of Let's Dance fame, headlining. "Britain's Dynamic Beatles" were to be found right at the bottom.

Nevertheless, teenagers who had paid between 4s 6d and 8s 6d to attend one of the two evening shows certainly got their money's worth. The Beatles treated the audience to songs that would become pop classics - Love Me Do and Please, Please Me. And when they returned for the second concert their contract stipulated, they were huge, huge stars.

Among the other artists to appear at the Rialto were Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer, Cilla Black, Roy Orbison and Dusty Springfield.

The big band sound also echoed around the ballroom, courtesy of Count Basey and Buddy Rich. Comedians like Des O'Connor and Jimmy Tarbuck appeared on the bill. In the late Sixties and into the Seventies, the Rialto was better known as The Cat's Whiskers, York's main nightclub.

In 1982, its music licence was not renewed, and it became a snooker and leisure centre. A £400,000 refurbishment followed, but the original intention of turning it back into a live entertainment venue was never fulfilled.

But it's still home to many musical memories. As Van Wilson said: "It will be a big shock for people if it goes."

Updated: 10:41 Thursday, February 08, 2001